Working The Works Of God

Posted on May 26, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Neil Smith: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-boat-on-sea-during-sunset-3701176/

John 6:22-29 The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; 23 (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) 24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. 25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

The Mystery Of The Manna & Christ

Last week we saw Jesus feeding above 5000 people with two fish and five small biscuits. At the end of the meal, the disciples took up twelve baskets of bread that was not needed. This was God’s way of showing us that Jesus is God’s Manna from Heaven.

Just as God provided manna for Israel as they journeyed toward the Promised Land of Canaan, God provides Jesus to SAVE us, to SHEPHERD us, to FEED and PROTECT us as we head toward our Promised Land.

When God gave Manna to Israel, they were to gather it in the morning (Exodus 16:14-15) at the beginning of their day. Gathering manna required both FAITH and FEET. You were to gather what you needed for that day, and were only allowed to gather more than you needed on the day prior to the Sabbath. You could only be sustained by partaking of the mystery of the manna. When Israel found the manna, they asked “What is it?” It was incomprehensible. The Bible tells us of Jesus that He is a wonderful Mystery from God. The Apostle Paul preached:

Colossians 2:1-3 (ESV) For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Illustrate: What goes up, but never comes down? When you think about this mystery, it seems impossible to solve. God has given us gravity. No matter what goes up, eventually comes down. But there is one thing that goes up but never comes down … and that is your AGE. You get older every year. But there will come a day when you will not get any older – if you have received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Your life will be eternal because of the mystery of Christ.

“God’s mystery … is Christ”. In Jesus Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. Everything you need to know to live life powerfully in God is in Christ, by faith in Him. Jesus gives those who believe in Him power for living, which is why the Apostle says:

Colossians 2:6 (ESV) … as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…

It is a Mystery that God sent His Son to give Himself for us. It is a Mystery that God would become Man (Isaiah 9:6) and dwell among us and in us. The Grace of God that so impressed Paul calls all who believe in Him into the Family of God. The Apostle wrote:

Ephesians 3:2-6 (ESV) you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The World Is Focused On Common Grace,
But Saving Grace Is More Important

Theologians recognize that there are two types of Grace mentioned in the Bible. The first type of Grace is called “common”, for God gives it to all of His creatures. But the second type of Grace is called “efficacious” or “saving” Grace. The feeding of the 5000+ is a picture of “Common” Grace. God fed them, and God entertained them. They did not want to come to Jesus for Everlasting Life (efficacious Grace) but for more free food (common Grace). We read:

John 6:24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus…

Word Study: The words “took shipping” is the Greek ploion (pronounced ploy’-on) which means “they went into ships”. They were “seeking” (Greek zēteō) “consumed with desire, seeking desperately”. The people were fed yesterday. They want to be fed today. Their bellies are empty, they are hungry, and want Jesus to feed them once more. They wanted temporal blessings. They are like Esau. Do you remember the story of Esau? (Genesis 25). Esau was a hunter, and was me centered. He care for no one but himself. Esau came in one day from an unsuccessful hunt when he smelled some red lentil stew that his brother Jacob was cooking. When he asked for some stew, Jacob told him “sell me your birthright”. Esau’s response was:

Genesis 25:32 … “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

The Bible says of Esau:

Hebrews 12:14-17 (ESV) Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy {profane persons, KJV} like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Esau sold that which was of great worth – his birthright – for a temporary blessing. Many people today do the same thing. They sell their birthright of eternal life in Jesus for lentil stew – the temporary pleasures of life. These are “Profane Persons”.

The Saving Grace of God offers true life with God to whosoever will come to Jesus. Jesus did not come to feed us temporary food, but to give us eternal manna, to give us Himself. He said:

John 5:40 … I am come that ye might have life.

He came to give us spiritual life with our Creator. He came to bring us into a saving and permanent relationship with God. I have often heard people say,

“We’re ALL God’s Children”

That sounds good – but it’s not true. The Lord Jesus told us “unless you are BORN AGAIN, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). You must be born – not just of the flesh – but “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-6) if you are to be made spiritually alive unto God. God the Father sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, to bring us into His Family, to make us Children of God. Once you believe on Jesus, the Holy Spirit causes you to be adopted into the Family of God:

Romans 8:14-17 (ESV) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We who are saved are Heaven bound Children of God. “if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ”. We who have received Jesus as God’s Manna are “all SONS OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS” (Galatians 3:26). We as God’s Children share the Gospel of Jesus with others so that they, too, might receive Jesus and be saved. These people who were chasing Jesus were not seeking Him as Messiah and Lord of All, but as an Entertainer and a free Lunch Counter. Jesus told them:

John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Everything that you see and have around you each and every day is temporal. Your bodies themselves are temporal. What is permanent, never changing? God is permanent, never changing. But also our souls never cease. If we leave this life without Jesus, then our souls go to a place where death is, a place called hell. Jesus saw hell as a place of consciousness and torment. He told us of a certain rich man who:

Luke 16:22-23 … the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments

The rich man did not cease existence. His entire life he rejected thew Manna of Christ for the temporary joy of riches and finery. The rich man enjoyed the “common grace” of God:

Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made

Matthew 5:45 {your Father which is in Heaven} maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust …

God in His goodness provides what theologians have called “Common Grace” to all. It was Jesus Who, in “Common Grace”, provided a meal for 5000+ largely unbelievers, because He was concerned for their hunger. The same God Who gave enough fish and bread to feed 5000+ people is the same God Who daily “gives us rains from Heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). It is God’s Common Grace that withheld the Flood of Noah for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), and Who delays the punishment of the wicked today (Romans 2:4) so that they might repent and come to Christ. God tolerates us every day, and we cannot live apart from Him because “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Jesus warns these “seekers”:

John 6:27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Jesus Is The Only Seal And Sign Of God

Word Study: Jesus Christ is the “Son of man” Who gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. Jesus said “him hath God the Father sealed”. The word “sealed” is the Greek sphragizō (pronounced sfrag-id’-zo) which means “to place an image upon, to bind an authenticate as from a king, to authenticate”. In ancient times the King had a signet ring that he kept on his hand. When he wrote an order, he would melt wax, then press his ring into the melted wax, proof that the letter or document came from him. Jesus Christ is the only authentic way unto God. Only of Jesus did the Father say:

THIS is My BELOVED SON, in Whom I am WELL PLEASED
(Matthew 3:17), and,

THIS is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am WELL PLEASED,
HEAR YE HIM (Matthew 17:5)

The Apostles preached:

Acts 4:10-12 … by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

It is popular in our world today to be INCLUSIVE in what we believe, but salvation to God is VERY EXCLUSIVE. Jesus Christ is offered and has offered salvation and eternal life to whosoever will. BUT YOU MUST COME THROUGH CHRIST. Jesus said:

Mark 8:34-35 … Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

If you wish to be in Heaven one day, if you wish to “come after Jesus”, then you must deny yourself, turn from your appetites, take up His Cross, and follow Jesus. The world tells us to “just do you”, to maximize our own desires, to satisfy ourselves. This is what the world teaches:

No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I’m free!

Yet this is not what Jesus teaches. The Way of Christ is to follow Jesus, to do as He commands. When Jesus tells these confused people to “seek the meat with endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27), they ask:

John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

What are the “WORKS OF GOD” (plural) that WE must DO? Jesus tells them simply, “believe on him whom he hath sent”. Believe that Jesus is the Only Savior, and there is no other. Believe that faith in Jesus is the only way to peace with God. Believe the things that Jesus bids we do. Jesus told us in another place,

John 14:15 (ESV) If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:21 (ESV) Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

John 15:10 (ESV) If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Israel was fed manna in the wilderness. But they had to KEEP GOD’S COMMANDMENTS to be fed. They had to gather the manna in the way that God decreed. If you wish to be saved, you must come surrendered to Christ. If you wish to be blessed, you must do as He says do. These people wanted to argue with Jesus. They said:

John 6:30-31 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

They wanted Jesus to “show us a sign”. But they still didn’t understand – Jesus IS THE SIGN. He IS THE MANNA from Heaven.

John 6:32-40 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus is the “BREAD OF GOD” Who came down from Heaven “TO GIVE LIFE TO THE WORLD”. Those who come to Jesus will be received as they are, and given life from death. Every person who “seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life”. Jesus promises to raise that person up from death. Those who believe in Him shall never die. Blessed be the Name of the Lord! May God move upon your lives to “take up the Cross and follow Jesus” if you are not already doing so. When you reach eternity (and your age is ALWAYS going up) the one grand question you must answer when you stand before God is, “Does Jesus KNOW you?” If not, I beg you to come to Him this very day. Amen and Amen!

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The Strange Case Of Samson Pt 1

Posted on May 23, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Alexa Popovich: https://www.pexels.com/photo/portrait-of-a-shirtless-strongman-handling-wooden-blocks-10540745/

Judges 13:8-10 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. 9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.

Last week we saw that God sent His Angel to the wife of Manoah to tell her she would have a child. Her child was to be special. The Angel told her that her child would be a “a Nazarite (see Numbers 6:2-8) unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5). Israel has failed God 11 times, so this time God will hold Israel into Philistine judgment for 40 years – similar to what God did with the first generation of Israel under Moses. Samson would start the process of freeing Israel from the Philistines. Another “Nazarite unto God from the womb” Samuel would continue the process. Then King David would take over, and the Philistines would be subdued. The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“The Philistines continued to frustrate the Israelites until David subjugated them early in his reign (1004 B.C.; 2 Samuel 5:17-25). However, the Philistines continued to oppose the Israelites until the Babylonian Captivity removed both people groups from the land (Isaiah 14:29-32; Jeremiah 47; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8). The “land of the Philistines” became known as “Philistia.” The designation “Palestine” is a Greek word that derives from “Philistia.” The Roman emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) gave Canaan the name Palestine.”

It would not be a judge nor a king that would ultimately free Israel from Philistia, but the Assyrian Empire. In time, the Philistines would be absorbed into the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

When God told Manoah’s wife that she was going to have a special baby, she ran to tell her husband what the Angel told her. At that point Manoah prayed to God:

Judges 13:8-9 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. 9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

Manoah seeks God in prayer. He wanted to know how to raise up this special child.

What is interesting about this is that “God hearkened to the voice of Manoah”, but God did NOT send the Angel to Manoah himself. Why?

I looked this up in various commentaries, and could find no answer. The commentaries I use just ignored this. Why did God send the Angel to Manoah’s wife, and not Manoah? I think the answer can be found in the name of “Samson” (Hebrew šimšôn, Assyrian Šamšânu), which means “Child of the Sun” or possibly “Child of the Light”. Among the Jews the husband, not the wife, named the child. Yet when we read to the end of this chapter we see:

Judges 13:24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

When John the Baptist (also a Nazarite) was born, he was not named until Zechariah his father named him (Luke 1:63). Manoah’s wife, though we do not know her name, was strong in faith. God knew her name. Yet Manoah was weaker in faith – and perhaps, somewhat worldly if not outright lost. When Manoah prayed …

Manoah entreated the Lord {Yᵊhōvâ}, and said,
O my Lord {ăḏōnāy}

It is possible Manoah prayed just as many pray to God in our day. He knows the words, but has no real relationship with the Lord. The Bible makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the believing father to train his children in the faith. We are told …

Deuteronomy 4:9 … take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children …

Deuteronomy 6:7 {teach these laws} … diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Samson grows up with no genuine training in godliness from his father. This would show up in his adult life.

Though his parents would object, Samson would marry a Philistine woman contrary to the Word of God. Samson would take honey from the carcass of a lion – a violation of the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:6). Samson would hire a prostitute, and fall in love with Delilah, another Philistine. Many of Samson’s sins and shortcomings can be traced to poor training in godliness from his father. When Manoah prays, God hears his prayer – but sends the Angel to Manoah’s believing wife.

Judges 13:10-14 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. 12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.

Manoah’s wife runs and brings her husband to the Angel of God. The Angel repeats what he told Manoah’s wife to him. Manoah does not understand that this is the Angel of the Lord, but thought this creature was just a Prophet. As such, Manoah offered to feed the “Man”:

Judges 13:15-16 And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 16 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord.

Manoah was offering hospitality to – he thought – a prophet of God. The Angel suggested that – instead of feeding him – that a “burnt offering” be made to God.

The Amazing Love Of God

Judges 13:17-18 And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor? 18 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

Manoah wanted to know the “Prophet’s” name so he could honor him when little Samson was born. The Angel refused to give his name, saying that “it is secret”. The word translated “” is the Hebrew pil’î, which means “wonderful, remarkable”, unrecognizable because of its glory. The same Hebrew word is used in:

Psalm 139:5-6 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

The Hebrew means “to be so fantastic as to be above our concept”. If we cannot fully comprehend the name of an angel, how can we ever hope to comprehend God? The answer is, WE CANNOT! The Precepts Commentary notes:

“Who can understand such a God—the God who wrote the 3-billion-letter software code in the DNA molecule of every human cell? Who can fully comprehend the God who knows everything, even our inner thoughts? Yet many Old Testament saints knew and loved this God. They experienced the joy of His grace and forgiveness, even though they didn’t completely understand how a holy God could forgive their sins.

As Christians, we too stand in awe before the majesty and mystery of an incomprehensible God. But we have a great advantage because we see Him revealed in Jesus, who said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). And when Jesus hung on the cross, He revealed God’s compassion and love, for He died there for us.”

Not knowing the Angel’s name, Manoah sets up a sacrifice for the Lord.:

Judges 13:19-21 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 21 But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

As the burnt offering is being made, the Angel rides the flame of the sacrifice to Heaven. It is only with this that Manoah realizes this was an “angel of the Lord”. As soon as Manoah and his wife see this they become frightened:

Judges 13:22-23 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 23 But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.

Manasseh believed that by seeing this Angel – representing God – that he would die. When Moses wanted to see God’s face, God told him:

Exodus 33:20 … Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

Moses was not able to see God face to face in his own power. If a fallen human looks on God without God’s intervention, the very act can kill us. Yet the Bible tells us that Jacob saw God face to face at Peniel (Genesis 32:30). and Isaiah saw God in a vision (Isaiah 6:5) and lived. I believe the way to understand this is to view God through His Trinity. To see the Father face to face will kill us. But to see Jesus, the Manifest Member of the Godhead, will not kill you. We are told in:

1 Timothy 3:16 … without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Jesus Christ is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus told us, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). The Scripture declares:

Colossians 2:9 For in {Jesus} dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form … (my paraphrase)

This is why John the Revelator could see Jesus in Heaven and live. We read:

Revelation 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

When Manoah realized that he was seeing the Angel of the Lord, or God manifest in bodily form, he panicked! He said, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God”. But his wife – a woman of faith – brought him back to reality. She said, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us” – if God wanted to kill us – He would have done so before we offered Him the burnt offering. If God wanted us dead, He would have killed us before He told us all that He did. Our God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Praise God for His abundant Grace!

Samson – Though Flawed – Was Gifted Of God

Judges 13:25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move {Samson} at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

The Holy Spirit began to move Samson about. Whatever Samson did, God either decreed, or allowed, for a greater purpose. The Enduring Word Commentary notes:

“the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon Him: This is the source of the great strength we see in Samson later. We usually think of Samson as a man with huge, rippling muscles; but others couldn’t figure out why he was so strong. It is reasonable to think that he did not look very strong. Whether he looked strong or not, it was the Spirit of God who made him strong.”

The GIFTS and EMPOWERMENT of God are not talents that we can hone and build up. They are abilities that God Himself gives us for His glory. We are told in:

Romans 11:29 … the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

When God chose the Apostle Paul, He told Ananias “Paul is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). When Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to be an Apostle, He said, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70). Though Samson was greatly flawed, he was chosen by God to be the 12th Judge of Israel. Samson did not earn nor deserve this great honor, no more than you or I have earned or deserved the appellation “sons of God” (John 1:12; Romans 8:14; Philippians 2:15; 1 John 3:2). God chose Samson, then God used Samson to do His bidding.

Judges 14:1-4 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

As a Nazarite Samson was supposed to be dedicated to God. He was also to avoid all grape products. So where do we see Samson go first? “Samson went down to Timnath”. Timnath is a famous WINE producing region about 4 miles southwest from his home town of Zorah. Samson “saw a woman” in Timnath. The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“The word woman in verse 2 is in the emphatic position in the Hebrew text, meaning “a woman I saw.” He had been greatly impressed with this woman. Samson described her to his parents as the ideal woman from his viewpoint, and he wanted to marry her.”

Among the ancient Jews (and in many third world countries today) people did not “date”, but their parents arranged their marriages based on family needs. Families would bind together to strengthen one another. God had told Israel when they entered the Promised Land:

Deuteronomy 7:2-5 … You shall make no covenant with {Canaanite unbelievers} and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.

When Samson asked his parents to arrange his marriage with the Philistine, they begged him to marry within the faith. Yet Samson was relentless. He demanded this woman, and only this woman. The Bible tells us that Samson’s parents (and very probably Samson himself) did not know that:

it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines

As the family went to Timnath to make the arrangements, we read:

Judges 14:5-9 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. 8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. 9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

We do not know where Samson’s parents were at the time, but a “young lion roared against him”. A lion will roar just before attacking in order to cause it’s prey to freeze in panic. The Bible tells us that:

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

This lion was ready to eat something, and Samson was on the menu. But the Bible says “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him”. It was not Samson’s human muscle that gave him power, but God the Holy Spirit. Samson tore the lion in pieces with his bare hands! Tossing the body to the side, he continues on his way to Timnath. After visiting his Philistine lover, Samson returns home. Inside of the skeleton of the lion (probably pillages by vultures and crows) bees have made a nest, and have made honey. Samson grabs the honey – regardless of the bees – and carries enough home for his family as well. We read:

Judges 14:10-18 So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: 13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? 16 And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. 18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? and he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

As Samson’s father made the arrangements, Samson along with his intended Philistine Bride had a 7 day feast that preceded the wedding. The bride’s family invited 30 guests to the feast (see verse 11). During the feast Samson gave a riddle to the guests where the prize was “thirty sheets and thirty change of garments”. This was a day where there was no Walmart nor department stores. The Soniclight Commentary states,

“The linen wraps (v. 12) were “large rectangular pieces of fine linen that were worn next to the body by day or by night” (as undergarments). The Hebrew word for wraps is rare (Proverbs 31:24; Isaiah 3:23). The Hebrew word translated clothes means “festal garments,” namely, garments for very special occasions, which were quite expensive and very beautiful (Genesis 45:22; 2 Kings 5:22).”

The 30 guests – all relatives of the Philistine Bride – cried to Samson until he told her the secret of the riddle. She, in turn, told her relatives. Bible Teacher Warren Wiersbe said, “First the Philistine woman enticed him (Judges 14:1), then she controlled him (v. 17), and then she betrayed him (v. 17), which is the way the world always treats the compromising believer.” How did Samson respond?

Judges 14:19-20 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house. 20 But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

Samson abandoned the feast and his wife. He went to Ashkelon where another wedding feast was being held, crashed the party, and killed 30 Philistines so he could take their wedding clothing. Samson then gave this clothing to his now ex-wife’s relatives. Did Samson learn from this encounter? No, for he would keep playing with fire, until it destroyed his life.

We’ll be back with Samson next week. Until then God Bless you!

Posted in Judges, Sermons Preached | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Walking In Truth

Posted on May 23, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Ylanite Koppens: https://www.pexels.com/photo/beige-analog-compass-697662/

2 John 1:4-8 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Try The Spirit By The Scripture

Opening: I believe that we ALL need to “try the Spirit by the Scripture”. What do I mean by that? I mean, we should check the truthfulness of what is said by what the Bible says. When Sherry and I were young, and had three young kids, we loved to hike. I loved hiking off trail, that is, I would lead my family into wooded areas that had no marked path. Before going into the woods, I would always check my compass. I’ve heard that you could check your direction by which way the moss grows on a tree … but I can’t remember which side its supposed to grow on. I also heard you can follow the North Star, but you often can’t find that in the daytime. The best – absolute BEST – way to make sure you don’t get lost is to check the compass.

If you are a Christian, your spiritual compass is the Bible.

I like to read Max Lucado. Though from the “Church of Christ”, he writes so as to reach all Christians with God’s Truth. But I don’t always agree with Max. For instance, I read this statement the other day:

“God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.”

Now let’s break that statement down. Does God love you? Let’s test it with the Scripture. The Bible says …

1 John 4:9-10 (ESV) In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation {satisfactory payment} for our sins.

Does God love us? Yes, He does. Does God love us as we are? No, He doesn’t. That is not Bible truth.

If God loved us “as we are” then He would not have sent His Only Begotten Son to die for our sins. If God loves us “as we are”, He’d leave us alone. We’d be finished. The Bible truth is that Jesus is the “propitiation”, that is the “atoning or God satisfying sacrifice” “for our sins”. Our sins are an affront to God. Our sins separate us from God. Sin is when we willfully reject what God has said. The Prophet wrote:

Isaiah 59:2 … your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

God loves you, and reaches out to you. But He does not love you walking in sin. Sin is the opposite of Who God is. God is righteous, holy, and just. Does God love you? Yes, He reaches out to you. But those who will not repent, who will not turn to God through Christ, reject the love of God. The Bible says of them:

Ephesians 4:18 (ESV) They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

They harden their hearts against God. They reject His love. God cannot love you while you walk in darkness, for God cannot love sin. And we can not love God while in sin. Jesus said:

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. …

Does God love you? Yes! Does God love you as you ARE? If He did, the Cross would have been unnecessary.

The Love of God Cannot Be Divorced From Jesus

When preachers say “God loves you as you are”, they divorce the love of God from the reality of Who God is. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. The Christian is a person who has been changed by faith in Jesus. The Scripture says …

Colossians 1:19-23 (ESV) For in {Christ} all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through {Christ} to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of {CHRIST’S} cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by {Christ’s} death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Without Jesus we are enemies of God. The Christian is a person who is in Christ, by Christ, of Christ, and through Christ. God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to pay for our sins, to reconcile us to Him, to make God our Father. The Bible says:

1 Timothy 1:15 … Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners …

He came into this world to offer us the love of God. God could not love us “as we are” sinners, for God cannot love sin. But Jesus came into the world with one goal in mind – “to save sinners”. The Pharisees often accused Jesus of being a drunkard, or worse, because He spent so much time with sinners. Jesus told them:

Mark 2:17 … They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

God loves people, and wants to save people from the slavery of sin. Jesus Christ came to be the covering for our sin. He came to save us from sin, to draw us from being sons of Adam and make us into sons of God. The Gospel calls us to REPENT of being what we are and living where we are, and to SURRENDER our lives to Jesus. Our Lord Jesus preached:

Matthew 4:17 … Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 1:14-15 … Jesus came into Galilee, PREACHING THE GOSPEL of the Kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: REPENT YE, and BELIEVE the GOSPEL.

If God loved you “just the way you are”, He would not ask you to REPENT, to change your mind and thus change the trajectory of your life. God bids you broken to come to Christ. God bids you bring the pieces of your life to Him, and surrender to Him as Lord. The message of the Gospel is

Acts 3:19-20 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST, which before was preached unto you

When you REPENT, and come to Jesus with the broken pieces, He will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Does God love you? Yes. His love is to you through the person of Jesus Christ. There is no love of God if there is no Jesus. Again, the Scripture says:

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Does God love you? Yes, but His love is offered THROUGH Christ. If you reject Christ, you are NOT loved of God, for you have rejected God’s love. Some reject God’s love because they want to lives as if they are gods. They want to follow their own sin nature. They do not want Jesus, the Good Shepherd (John 10:10-11). They want to wander through life on their own, divorced from Jesus. Beloved, the love of God is bound to Jesus.

The Love Of God Cannot Be Divorced From
God’s Commandments

2 John 1:4-6 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.

Word Study: As the Apostle writes to the Church, he said “I rejoiced greatly”, chairō lian, which means “to be filled beyond measure with joy”. What gave him this great joy? That the Children of God were “walking in truth”. Not that they were walking in their truth, but that they were walking in God’s truth as revealed by His Word, the Holy Bible.

We are not to walk in sin.
We are not to walk in anger.
We are not to walk in rebellion.
We are not to walk pleasing ourselves.
We are to walk IN TRUTH, with God.

We are called of God to walk WITH GOD. As King David prepared to die, he called his son Solomon to his side to give him some final advise. King David knew the dangers of disobeying God’s Truth. The Bible says in:

1 Kings 15:5 … (NKJV) David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

David’s great sin was to lust after, and take another man’s wife. He felt that he could get away with this sin, since he was the King. Once he took Bathsheba to himself, rather than REPENT David plotted and succeeded in murdering an innocent and honorable man named Uriah. After doing so, God sent the Prophet Nathan to David to punish him. God took the life of Bathsheba’s first child. God told David,

2 Samuel 12:10 … the sword will never leave your household, because you have despised ME by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own … (my paraphrase)

When we walk apart from God’s truths, we walk apart from God. Though David repented, and was subsequently forgiven of his sins, the example he set caused Absalom his son to plot against his own father. Children learn from their parents! As David prepared to go and be with the Lord, he told Solomon:

1 Kings 2:2-3 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; 3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:

The way to blessing is to walk in God’s truth, to do that which God has said. David often prayed:

Psalm 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.

Word Study: The word translated “after” is the Greek kata, which means “according to the standards of, following after”. If a person says “I love God” or “I love Jesus”, then look at their lives, listen to their words. Are they following God’s commandments? Are they obeying what Jesus has said to do? This is not the first time John has said this. Earlier he wrote:

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.

If you love God, you keep His commandments. God’s commandments are not hard. They are easy, simple to understand. Jesus told us:

John 14:15-17 (my paraphrase) If you love Me, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. 16 And I will ask the Father to give you another Comforter, Who will abide with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it cannot see Him nor will it receive Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and SHALL BE IN YOU.

Union with God and salvation through Christ is tied to His LORDSHIP. Jesus is not received as just Savior, but Lord of your life.

When you give your life to Jesus, He sends the Holy Spirit to live within the framework of your life. You then learn to walk in the Spirit(Galatians 5:16). We are commanded, “If we LIVE IN THE SPIRIT (that is, we are born again of the Spirit), let us also WALK IN THE SPIRIT” (Galatians 5:25). The Christian walks with God. The Christian keeps Christ’s commandments. Love and obedience go hand in hand.

John 15:8-11 (NKJV) By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

We love God, and walk with Him. We love Jesus, and emulate Him. We cling close to Jesus, for the enemy is real.

We, Dear Believers, Are In A Spiritual Battle

2 John 1:7-8 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

There has been – from the Garden of Eden until now – a full scale wear going on for the soul of man. There are “many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”. Some say that Jesus is but a myth, that there never was a Jesus. These are “deceivers”, planos, “vagabonds, corrupters, tramps, imposters, those who lead into error”. The Bible warned us that:

1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing (planos) spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding (kōlyō) to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Where are the greatest lies and attacks coming today? There is an attack against Biblical marriage. The Greek kōlyō means “to hinder, stand against, keep from”. The devil blurred Biblical marriage. Now he is blurring human sexuality itself. The devil is also “commanding to abstain from meats”. There is a push from the same crowd to give up meat in favor of eating bugs. Time Magazine recently reported, “They’re Healthy. They’re Sustainable. So Why Don’t Humans Eat More Bugs?” The Independent reported, “Entomophagy: How giving up meat and eating bugs can help save the planet”. Forbes Magazine wrote, “Eat Bugs! It’s What’s For Dinner”. The Guardian notes, “If We Want To Save The Planet, The Future Of Food Is Insects”.

God gave us marriage so that we could “multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). We were not given sex just for pleasure, no more than we were given food just for pleasure. Sex and food have purposes. God gave us meat to eat when our Forefather Noah left the Ark:

Genesis 9:3-4 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Having destroyed marriage, and modified the family, the devil is doing what he can to toss away all that is normative and Biblical. We who are His Children must – in love – stand strong on His Word. The Apostle says something very pertinent to America here:

2 John 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Christians in America have had an unprecedented history of religious freedom because of the efforts of our forefathers. Had this nation been established as a MUSLIM stronghold, we would have about the same amount of freedom that you see in Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam. In those nations Christians are persecuted and killed.

If we as Christ’s Church do not wake up and start to stand up for Jesus, we can lose our nation, we can lose our freedoms.

We MUST “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, NIV). We MUST “Love one another, as Jesus has loved us” (John 13:34; 1 John 4:7, 12). We MUST “love our neighbor as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:39). If you are saved by faith in Christ, then you are called to obedient love. The Scripture says:

Galatians 5:13-15 (ESV) For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Closing: Why are so many people in America confused today? The Bible gives us a perfect illustration in the life of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel, and took the Prophet Daniel into captivity, along with his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden idol 90 feet tall, and commanded it be worshiped by all in the kingdom. The three Hebrew children Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship that idol, and as a result Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown alive into a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:21-23). The King expected them to die screaming but, as he looked, the astonished King said,

Daniel 3:25 … Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Nebuchadnezzar saw the power of God. Calling the Hebrew children from the flame, the King acknowledged that our God is powerful. But he did not repent. He continued in his arrogance, to live according to HIS truths, not according to God’s Word. Does God love you? Yes, but you MUST repent. So God speaks to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream. The King sees a giant Tree, filled with fruit. The tree is cut down, and its fruit scattered. God gave this dream to the King …

Daniel 4:17 … to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Nebuchadnezzar went to Daniel so that he could explain the dream to him. Daniel told the King the tree was symbolic of the King. God would cut down Nebuchadnezzar for 7 years. Daniel cautioned Nebuchadnezzar to REPENT (Daniel 4:27), and so avoid the promised punishment. Did Nebuchadnezzar repent? No. God gave Nebuchadnezzar a year to repent, but he refused to do so. So God took away his mind, and he became like a wild animal, grazing in the fields of Babylon for 7 years. When God took the punishment away the King repented, and said:

Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Why do we have this strange story of Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible? I believe it is a warning to the American Christian today. You can come to God through Christ, and find “life more abundantly” (John 10:10). Or you can reject God, and create your own idol to follow. The late Timothy Keller wrote:

“The human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”

The only thing that gives life is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are NOT saved, I beg you, give yourselves to Christ today. If you keep rejecting the True God of the Bible, that false god you are following will take over, and make you not a child of God, but an animal grazing and rutting. God loves you, and has proved that love by making the Lord Jesus Christ available to you. Will you not give yourself to Him this very day? May God the Holy Spirit lead you to do so. Amen and Amen!

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Is Jesus King Of Your Heart?

Posted on May 19, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-portrait-of-lion-247502/

Last week we saw Jesus take two small fish and 5 little biscuits, and feed above 5000 people. This was a critical point in Jesus’ ministry. He had told the Pharisees that:

John 5:46-47 … had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Moses – whom God moved by His Spirit to write the first five Books of the Bible (2 Peter 1:21) – wrote of Jesus, the Messiah. Before Moses died, that old Prophet told Israel:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken

Jesus was the prophesied Messiah, the Savior of the world. Consider the comparisons between Jesus and Moses:

– Moses came to lead Israel out of Egypt. Jesus would come to lead His people out of the world.
– Moses came to bring the law of God to Israel. Jesus would come to bring the Light of God to His people.
– Moses saved Israel from slavery to Egypt. Jesus saves His people from slavery to sin.

– Under Moses, God sent temporary manna from Heaven (bread) to Israel daily to feed them. For the Church Jesus IS God’s permanent Manna from Heaven. We feed on Him daily.
– Under Moses, Israel attempted to obey God’s Law in their own power. Under Jesus, we follow God’s commandments through His empowering and indwelling Spirit.
– Under Moses, God’s people followed God by pillars of fire or cloud. Under Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit guides us internally.

Following Jesus’ miracle feeding of the 5000, we read:

John 6:14-15 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Those 5000 men that saw Jesus turn two little fish and 5 little biscuits into a feast said that Jesus was indeed “that prophet that should come into the world”, the Prophet Who would succeed Moses. Israel had long waited for that Prophet. Some even thought that the Great Prophet Elijah would have been him. As a result, the Jews always set a place for Elijah at the annual Passover meal. When John the Baptist started baptizing people in the Jordan, the Pharisees sent a delegation to him to ask “are you THAT PROPHET that Moses spoke of?” (John 1:21, 25). John told them that he was NOT, but that he was the precursor to “that Prophet”. Jesus is “that Prophet” that Moses wrote of. Jesus Christ is the One and Only Messiah. So immediately, that crowd of 5000+ people decided “to make him a king”. And what did Jesus do?

He went up “into a mountain himself alone”.

We Love Taking Shortcuts,
But Shortcuts Are The Devil’s Tool

If Jesus walked this earth today, I believe that many of us would push for Him to be President, or King of the world. Who wouldn’t want Jesus as Leader? We’ve seen nothing but bad leadership in the world the past few years, and I think we are all hungry for a little common sense. I understand why these men and women wanted to make Jesus King. Israel was occupied by a Gentile Army, and under the Roman heel. The designated King of Israel was Herod, an Idumean, a descendant of Esau, not Jacob, and certainly not of the House of David. Herod was the wrong King, a Puppet King installed by Pilate and Caesar. So Israel desperately wanted better and more Semitic leadership. So they thought to shortcut the process. The cry went out.

“Let’s make Jesus King”

That’s a good idea – but it’s too soon. The devil loves shortcuts. WHY was Israel under Roman bondage? Because Israel had rejected God’s leadership … and this was not the first time they had done it. Throughout Israel’s history she would reject God as King over and over again, doing things that He specifically told them not to do. Why? Because Israel, like us all, was dead in trespasses and in sin.

Illustrate: We prove we are “dead in trespasses and sin” by the way we live our lives. When I was a little kid, we used to play “King of the Hill”. There was a steep hill near my home, and we would get together, and push and wrestle one another. The objective was to be “King of the Hill”, the only one on top of the mountain. Once we beat up and threw off everyone else, the game was won. Everyone wants to be King of the Hill. And as we grow up, nothing changes. Our hearts are bound to selfishness, to greed, to self centeredness. We proudly promote “Just Be You”, which is the height of anarchy. This is the Old Sin Nature in us. Israel did not need Jesus as Earthly King – they needed Jesus as Spiritual King. Both Israel and we today have the same need.

Israel needed to be saved, not from Rome nor any human conquerer, but from herself.
We all need to be saved from ourselves.

This is why Jesus came into the world. He came as a King, as the King of Kings, but He came to save us from our sins. The Angel told Joseph that the Baby Mary carried was special. The Angel said:

Matthew 1:21 {Mary} shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Jesus came to this earth to save us from ourselves. He did not come to this earth the first time to be an earthly Ruler. An earthly Ruler cannot fix what ails us. What ails us is SIN, our internal desire to ignore God and do what WE WANT TO DO. Even Jesus’ closest disciples thought that He came just to rule the world. They asked Jesus:

Mark 10:37 … Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory.

They saw Jesus as sitting on a Throne in Jerusalem, ruling the world. So they wanted to sit in that special place, to the right and left of their King. But Jesus told them:

Mark 10:38 … Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

Jesus came to drink the cup of God’s wrath for us (Jeremiah 25:15; Isaiah 51:17; Revelation 14:9-10). Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His crucifixion, would pray “My Father, if it be possible, let THIS CUP PASS FROM ME; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:29). Jesus came to be BAPTIZED WITH THE JUDGMENT of God, to save us from damnation.

1 Peter 3:18 (ESV) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Jesus did not come to overthrow Rome. If God wanted Rome overthrown, He would have done so without sending Jesus to do it. God destroyed numerous empires throughout the Old Testament. No, Jesus came to overthrow SIN and our desire to pursue it. Jesus came to overthrow our DISOBEDIENCE to God. He did not come to rule the world the first time He came. Had Jesus wanted to rule the world, He could have said “yes” to Satan’s shortcut when he offered it.

Matthew 4:9 {Satan said} … All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Jesus told Satan “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”. Sincere people wanted Jesus to take a shortcut, one that Satan had earlier proposed. Jesus wasn’t about to do it. He came to defeat sin. Billy Graham wrote:

“Large crowds greeted Him, waving palm branches and welcoming Him with shouts of acclamation. No doubt, many of them hoped He’d become their king and lead a revolt against the Romans, who had occupied their nation. … But Jesus deliberately refused. … Even on Palm Sunday He rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey instead of a majestic white horse, showing He had no intention of becoming an earthly king. His kingship was to be of a different order — as ruler of our lives. … Why did Jesus refuse to become a king? The reason is because He came into the world for an entirely different reason: to become the complete and final sacrifice for our sins. By His death and resurrection He opened heaven’s door for us — something He never could have done as an earthly monarch. Now He is a king of a different sort — the king of all creation. Have you opened your heart to Him, and is He the ruler of your life?”

Jesus Could Easily Have Become King

There is coming a day when Jesus will return, and be King of this earth. This is foretold in the Book of Revelation:

Revelation 17:14 These {unbelievers} shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 19:11-16 (ESV) Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

When Jesus comes to rule the world (and He will), it will not be because we elected Him, or because we led a revolution with Him at the helm. No, it will be because Jesus does not need our help to be King. He is King. He is King of His creation.

Right after leaving His disciples and refusing to be made earthly King, we read:

John 6:16-21 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

Jesus fed the 5000 at Bethsaida at the Sea of Galilee. After feeding them, the disciples took their fishing vessel and headed over the Sea of Galilee toward Capernaum. A great wind came up – not an uncommon occurrence on the Sea of Galilee – so they lowered their sails and rowed “about five and twenty or thirty furlongs” – around three to four miles. They are far from shore, and in the dark. What do they see? The Bible says,

Jesus walking on the sea, and
drawing nigh unto the ship

Why did Jesus do this? Was He just showing off? No, He’s showing His disciples a truth. No MAN is going to rule the world, nor make the nations behave. No MAN is going to rule a fallen and sinful Israel. The only way peace will ever come to our world will not be through some MAN, but through GOD. God must work a work in our hearts. God must move us from sinfulness, toward love as we were designed to love. Only God can do this.

Do you know Him? Who is King of your heart? Is it Jesus, or are you on the throne? The only way to peace and joy is to let Him Who walks on water govern your hearts. May God the Holy Spirit move you to His leadership this very day. Amen and Amen.

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Five Judges

Posted on May 16, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Robert Hrovat: https://www.pexels.com/photo/wooden-hut-against-mountains-in-snow-16653328/

As we studied last week, Jephthah was the son of a prostitute, and a man who would not be defeated. Jephthah, though thrown out of his home by jealous brothers, would follow faith in God and become a “mighty man of valor”. Jephthah would be approached by the elders of Gilead – the same ones who cast him out of his family home – and by faith become the eighth legitimate Judge of Israel.

Jephthah would lead the armies of Israel to fight against and defeat the Ammonites. Jephthah would allow faithlessness and doubt to cause him to approach God with a foolish vow. This is what unbelievers do with God. “God, if you’ll give me this, or do that, I’ll do this or that”.

God does not expect us to bargain with Him, but to walk with Him. We are to fear our God, not the world!

Jephthah promised to offer up a “burnt sacrifice” of the first thing that greeted him if God gave him success in defeating the Ammonites. God never responded to the vow – but Jephthah decided he would keep his word. When he returned from battle, his only daughter greeted him. Following a two month sabbatical Jephthah offered up his only daughter to God as a spiritual burnt offering. She died childless, and Jephthah would die, closing out his line. Such are the rewards of stepping outside of God’s will. The Bible says:

2 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV) {God’s} divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We do not need to bargain with God for blessings. We need to live our lives so as to give God the glory, and trust that He will defeat the enemy. Jephthah forgot to give God the glory for a moment – and lived to regret it.

From A Foolish Vow To An Arrogant People

Judges 12:1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.

Following his defeat of Ammon, the “men of Ephraim” gathered warriors together to threaten Jephthah. They felt that they had been left out of the battle on purpose, and their pride was hurt. Their focus was not on the glory of God, but on their own glory.

The men of Gilead were of the Tribe of Manasseh, and as I’ve mentioned before, Manasseh along with Ephraim comprised what was called “The House of Joseph”. Since Manasseh was the “little brother” and Ephraim the “big brother”, they felt that they deserved the lion’s share of the glory from the battle. This is NOT the first time Ephraim showed “out”. When Judge Gideon led God’s people in defeating the Midianites, following the battle Ephraim came to him:

Judges 8:1 (ESV) … the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused {Gideon} fiercely.

Had Gideon corrected Ephraim at this time, and told them that the glory belongs to God, not to us, then it’s possible that Ephraim would have straightened up. But instead, Gideon placated them, and humbled himself before them. He told them, “Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?”. Placating them when they “accused {Gideon} fiercely”, they went away feeling themselves justified and superior. Now they come to Jephthah even more arrogant. They tell Jephthah, “we will burn thine house upon thee with fire”. They threaten to wipe out Jephthah’s “house”, to make it like a burnt offering. Jephthah’s house is already destined to end – and Jephthah is a different sort of person that Gideon was. Jephthah tells them:

Judges 12:2-3 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?

When the Ammonites were at their greatest power and the Gileadites were being hurt, Jephthah called on Ephraim for help. However they refused to respond, being fearful of the Ammonites. Jephthah told them “when you wouldn’t help me and mine, we stood together and trusted God. We’ve won the battle through God. So who are YOU to complain?” This was not a politically correct response, but it was the truth. But once the battle was won, then Ephraim comes, demanding glory that should only belong to God.

God will not share His glory with another! God told us through the Prophet:

Isaiah 42:8, 11 (NASB) I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images … 11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I do this. How can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another …

God will be glorified by His people. God’s man King David decided – at Satan’s prompting – to “number Israel”. We read:

1 Chronicles 21:1-2 (NLV) Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the leaders of the people, “Go and number Israel from Beersheba to Dan. Then let me know how many people there are.”

David’s General Joab begged the King not to do this. He warned David that to do so would “bring guilt upon Israel” (vs 3). David ordered the census be taken anyway. The Bible tells us that:

1 Chronicles 21:7-8 (NLV) God was not pleased that Israel was numbered so He punished Israel. 8 David said to God, “I have sinned very much by doing this thing. But now I beg You, take away the sin of Your servant for I have done a very foolish thing.”

Though David repented, God killed 70,000 fighting men (vs 14) because of David’s foolishness. God will not give His glory away. David won because God caused David to win.

God’s man Moses lost his sister Miriam while Israel was at Kadesh. There was no water at Kadesh, so Israel “assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron” (Numbers 20:2). Moses went to God in prayer. We read:

Numbers 20:7-8 (ESV) … the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”

Moses stood in front of the Rock. Angry with Israel, Moses said:

Numbers 20:10-11 … “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly..

God told Moses, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (vs 12). God allowed water to come out of the rock. This is His Grace. But God told Moses that he had forfeited the Promised Land. Moses – after 40 long years – would not be able to enter God’s Promise. Why? Because he failed to glorify God.

Jephthah told the Ephraimites that they had their chance to fight, but did not do so. But Ephraim was not satisfied. They pushed for a fight. They slandered the men of Gilead.

Judges 12:4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.

Word Study: The men of Ephraim said that “Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim”. The word translated “fugitives” is the Hebrew pālîṭ (pronounced paw-leet’), which means “fugitives or escapees”. The people of Ephraim are saying that those of Gilead are not true Israelites because they left Ephraim to build homes in Gilead.

Pride Divides And Destroys

The men of Ephraim had a chance to step out and do battle with the rest of God’s people, but refused to do so. Yet when the work was over, rather than glorify God for the mighty victory, they complained. Pride enslaved Ephraim. The Bible says:

Proverbs 8:13 (ESV) The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 11:2 (ESV) When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:5, 18 (ESV) Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. … 18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

God hates pride, because pride caused Lucifer to become Satan. Pride caused Adam to leave Eden. Pride caused the first murder in human history, and will be the cause of the last. The Bible tells us:

James 4:6 … God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

1 Peter 5:5 … All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

and our Lord Jesus said,

Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Pride is a very insidious thing. God is “the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light. . . . To him be honor and might forever. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15–16).

Ephraim would not back down, so Jephthah takes the men of Gilead against a superior force. Guess what? Jephthah and his men won the day.

Judges 12:5-6 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

As the men of Ephraim began to be defeated, they started running and hiding. It is as the Bible says:

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

The Ephraimites tried to hide themselves from the men of Gilead and Jephthah. So the men of Gilead would ask them to say “Shibboleth”. This is the Hebrew šibōleṯ (pronounced shib-bole), a word that means “a flowing stream”. When the men of Ephraim wanted to pass over the Jordan at its crossing (the flowing stream) the men of Gilead would say, “you want to pass Shiboleth?” The people of Ephraim were unable to say “Shibboleth” because of their regional dialect. So they would say, “we want to pass Sibboleth, unable to pronounce the “sh” sound. The men of Gideon would then kill them as enemies. 42,000 men of Ephraim died that day because of their tongues and PRIDE.

God does not walk with nor bless prideful people. The Lord says:

Isaiah 57:15 … I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

God is HIGH and HOLY, but He walks with those who are HUMBLE and HONORING to Him. We should always remember to “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6).

Judges 12:7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Jephthah’s reign in Israel ended with his destruction of the arrogant men of Ephraim. He put down the insurrection, and Israel returned to peace. There is a lesson in this, one that the Enduring Word Commentary highlights:

“Today when someone talks about Jesus, you can listen to what they say and learn something about them. You can listen as they speak about the Bible, and you know something about them. It is also true that as much as our dialect gives us away, so does our everyday speech. Others should be able to tell that we are Christians by the way we talk.”

Three Minor Judges Follow Jephthah

Very little is said of the next three judges of Israel. The ninth Judge of Israel is Ibzan (Hebrew iḇṣān, meaning “father of coldness”):

Judges 12:8-10 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.

Ibzan was from the Tribe of Asher, and he did little of note, according to the Scripture. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters, which tells us that he must have been polygamous. Ibzan did what many of his (and our) day did – he blended with the culture that was around him. Ibzan lived, had many wives, many children, and died. His life did little to impact history, according to the Scripture. The Jewish Historian Josephus (Antiquities 5:7:13) notes,

“He did nothing in the seven years of his administration that was worth recording, or deserved a memorial.”

The tenth Judge of Israel is Elon (meaning “little ram”).

Judges 12:11-12 And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. 12 And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

Elon is from the Tribe of Zebulon, and we are told absolutely nothing about him but that he lived and died. Ibzan had 30 sons and daughters, and “took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons”. That is, Ibzan bound Israel with other kingdoms through marriage. But Elon did nothing at all, insofar as Scripture is concerned.

The eleventh Judge of Israel is Abdon, son of Hillel:

Judges 12:13-15 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years. 15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.

Abdon is called a “Pirathonite”. One of King David’s “mighty men of valor” Benaiah was from Pirathon (2 Samuel 23:30; 1 Chronicles 11:31; 27:14), though this in itself doesn’t make Abdon a “mighty man of valor”. Abdon had “forty sons and thirty nephews” who rode on 70 donkeys, a sign of a prosperous man. Further, his family rode on donkeys, not on horses. Perhaps this tells us that when Abdon ruled, there was peace and prosperity in the land. The Jewish Historian Josephus notes:

“[Abdon] is only recorded to have been happy in his children; for the public affairs were then so peaceable, and in such security, that neither did he perform any glorious action.”

The Bible tells us little about these last three Judges because they perhaps received the Grace of God in vain. These Judges were given the privilege of serving the Lord, a privilege they neither earned nor deserved. When God in Grace calls us to a life with Him, we are to serve Him to the best of our ability, glorifying His Name. We are to be like the Apostle Paul, who wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

We are not saved BY our works, but once saved, our faith is proved genuine BY our works. Called to serve the Lord, we are immortal while doing God’s will. Each Judge – from Jephthah (6 years), Ibzan (7 years), Elon (10 years), and Abdon (8 years) – served God a total of 31 years where there was relative peace in the land. As we come to chapter 13 we read:

Judges 13:1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

Israel went into “forty years” of Philistine enslavement. They received the Grace of God in vain. But from the broken, God will bring a miracle.

From The Broken, God Brings A Miracle:
Introducing The Nazarite Judge Samson

Judges 13:2-5 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Every tribe of Israel has had a Judge that God raised up from them, and we have seen 11 judges so far. But one tribe still needs to be represented – the Tribe of Dan. A man of the Tribe of Dan called Manoah (Hebrew mānôaḥ, meaning “to rest”) had a wife that was unable to have a child. The Bible tells us that “the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman”. Who is “the angel of the Lord”? The Angel of the Lord represents God, and sometimes is God. Some believe that, at times, the “Angel of the Lord” was an Old Testament Manifestation of Christ our Lord. In this chapter we see the “Angel of the Lord” is both representative of God, but also IS God:

Judges 13:19-22 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 21 But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

The Angel of the Lord – a direct Representation of God – tells Manoah’s wife that she will “conceive, and bear a son”. This son will be special. The Angel tells her that her diet is to be very careful. She is told “drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing”. Her child was going to be a Nazarite Priest from birth.

The word “Nazarite” comes from the term “to be separate or consecrated”. The laws governing Nazarite Priests are found in Numbers 6:1-21. Those who were Nazarite Priests could not cut their hair, drank no wine nor grape products, avoided contact with dead things, and could eat nothing considered “unclean” (Leviticus 11). In the Bible anyone could take a Nazarite vow.The Apostle Paul at one time was a Nazarite (Acts 18:18; 21:21-26)– but in the Bible there were but three men who were Nazarites from birth for life. These were:

John the Baptist (Luke 1:15)
The Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11)
Samson (Judges 13:4-5)

When the Angel of the Lord announces Samson’s birth to his mother, he tells her:

Judges 13:5 … the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines

Israel will be under the heel of the Philistines for 40 years – and Samson “shall begin to deliver Israel”. The Nazarite Prophet Samuel – also a Judge (1 Samuel 7:6) will finish defeating Philistia at Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7, 1084 BC). The Philistines will rise up again later in history, and King David will subjugate them in his reign (see 2 Samuel 5:17-25, 1004 BC). The Philistines would come back again and oppose Israel until the Babylonian Captivity removes both Philistines and Israel from the land (Isaiah 14:29-32; Jeremiah 47; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8).

Once Manoah’s wife hears from the Angel of the Lord, she runs to tell her husband:

Judges 13:6-7 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: 7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

We’ll return to this point next week as we explore the life of Samson. May God bless you all! Amen and Amen.

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The Elect Lady And Her Children

Posted on May 16, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bible-blur-christ-christianity-372326/

2 John 1:1-3 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; 2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. 3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Who Are The Elect Lady And Her Children?

Who is “The Elect Lady” John is addressing? Some suggest that it is a woman that the Apostle John knew. I don’t think so. The Holman Concise Bible Commentary (pg 652) notes

“[eklektos kyria] is more likely a reference to some local church over which the elder had authority”.

This makes sense from several viewpoints. First, the Bible refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ:

Ephesians 5:25-30 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Word Study: The Church is the “Elect Lady”. The word “Elect” is the Greek (eklektos), which means “Chosen”. Jesus chose the Church. Jesus method in transforming the world – in saving the world – is the Church, the Elect Lady. God does not directly save anyone, but moves through the means of His Church. Jesus said:

John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Jesus CHOSE His Church.
Jesus CALLS His Church.
Jesus LOVES His Church.
Jesus GAVE HIMSELF for His Church.

Word Study: The Church is Christ’s Elect Lady. The word “Church” itself is the Greek ekklēsia which means “those who are CALLED OUT”. The Church and it’s children – the believers that comprise it – are NOT to be like the world. We are CALLED OUT to follow the One Who chose us. We are CALLED OUT to be Jesus’ Church. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 … upon this Rock (the truth that Jesus is THE Christ, the Son of the Living God) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Word Study: The Church is the “Elect Lady”. As John writes to the Church, calling himself “The Elder”, the Greek presbyteros which means “a senior, one higher in rank, a superior teacher or a Rabbi”. What should the “Elders” do with God’s Church. The Apostle Paul told the Elders at Ephesus:

Acts 20:28-29 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

It is the calling of the Elder, the Pastor, to “feed the Church”. What do we “feed the Church”? Human opinion? No!

2 John 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth

The devil loves to attack the truth. The devil attacks the truth today, just as he did in John’s day, just as he has done from the beginning.

Jesus told those who rejected Him as Messiah,

John 8:42-45 … If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

The devil loves to attack the truth. He has attacked the truth from the beginning. The devil is attacking the truth in America today. The devil loves the philosophy called “Progressivisim”. The “Progressive” believes truth is fluid. They believe that each person can define truth their own way.

Love Dwells In The Truth

John is writing the “Elect Lady”, the Church. He is writing the Church as an Apostle, as a Pastor feeding the flock with the Word of God. He says of the Church that he “loves her IN THE TRUTH” (verse 1). It is not love to love someone apart from the truth. This is what is being pursued in America today. Everyone has “their own” truth. I have MY truth, you have YOUR truth. As long as YOUR truth does not hinder MY truth, then we get along.

What God has said in His Scripture is true. It is God Who defines good and evil, right and wrong. In the Garden of Eden Satan asked,

Genesis 3:1 (NIV) … “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Once Eve took the bait and began to question God, the devil did as he always does. He told an outright lie. He said:

Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV) … “You will not certainly die … 5 For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Illustrate: This is what the devil ALWAYS does. He did it years ago. He is doing it now. One of the cartoons my kids loved growing up was the “Transformers”. Recently the TV Show “Transformers: Earthspark” introduced a “non-binary character”, that is a person that identifies as neither male nor female, and demands to be addressed with the pronoun of “they/them”. The devil and the world is pushing this confusion to our children. It’s going to get worst, dear friends, as we move toward the end of days. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 14:33 … God is not a God of confusion but of peace

Where CONFUSION is, SATAN is. Where CONFUSION is, God’s Word is NOT. If we want to return to sanity and safety, we need to return to the Word of our Creator. The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

John tells the Church and her children to stand up for the truth. He says:

2 John 1:2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

The children of the Church – the Christians – are made the children of Christ’s Church by receiving the truth of God’s Word. When the Apostle spoke to the Church at Thessalonikki, he wrote:

1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 (ESV) For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

There are two ways you can receive the Bible. You can receive it as an ancient human book, a collection of writings from human authors that may be flawed like all human works. OR you can receive the Bible as the WORD OF GOD. You can “you accept it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers”. If you accept the Scripture as a debatable work, a human work, then it has no power. But if you RECEIVE IT as it is, then it changes you. When John speaks of TRUTH this way:

2 John 1:2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

He is speaking to people who RECEIVED God’s Word as God’s Word. What does God’s Word say? When our Lord Jesus came to this earth, the Bible says:

John 1:11-13 … {Jesus} He came unto His own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The TRUTH cannot work in you if you do not receive it, and you will not receive it if you believe it a fable.

When you RECEIVE God’s Word as God’s Word, then you RECEIVE Jesus as God’s Messiah, God the Savior. When you RECEIVE Jesus as He is, God the Holy Spirit comes to you. He is “The Spirit of Truth”. Jesus spoke of this Holy Spirit, saying:

John 14:17 (ESV) even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 15:26 (ESV) But when the {Comforter} comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 16:13 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

When you receive God’s Word as God’s Word, believing the Gospel, receiving the Scripture, God the Holy Spirit comes and dwells inside of you. He is the One who “DWELLETH IN US and SHALL BE WITH US FOREVER”. You ask me WHY I DO NOT FEAR DEATH. Because – dear Christian – if you are a Child of God, you are PART OF THE ELECT LADY. You have a DESTINY that is coming. As the Church is ELECT, YOU ARE ELECT. What does the Scripture say?

Romans 8:26-30 (ESV) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Because you received the Word of God as it is, the Word of God, and believed and continue to believe that Word, God the Holy Spirit – the TRUTH of God – indwells you. God the Holy Spirit will STAY with you. We know that “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. Why? Because we are of the Elect Lady. We are – dear Christians – “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”. We who are saved – a part of Christ’s Church – are not confused. We are children of God, children of Truth, children of the Light, living in the darkness of this fallen world.

What Are Your Pronouns? Who The Heck Are You?

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

I believe that humanism and progressivism is no more than confusion – and I think that any sane person would believe the same. The Bible tells us that we are all fallen creatures from our mother’s womb. We are broken from the hospital. We need another birth, for our first birth is flawed. The Bible tells us:

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:

We are all broken. We enter this life from a mother who – I pray – loved us, and bore us. But because of Adam’s sin, because of his failure in the Garden of Eden, we as the children of Adam are flawed. The Bible says “by one man’s offense death reigns”. Man is born into this world physically alive but spiritually dead. This is why our Lord Jesus told us:

John 3:5-7 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water {physical birth} and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. … 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘YOU must be born again.’”

When Jesus said “YOU must be born again”, that “YOU” is in the PLURAL. If Jesus were Southern, He would have said “Y’all MUST be BORN AGAIN”.

You must. You have to be. If you expect to be made whole, you cannot change your pronouns nor redefine yourself according to progressive confusion. What must you do? You MUST be born again. But this is nothing YOU can accomplish.

You must have GRACE. Again, John says to the Elect Lady:

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

GRACE is with you. GRACE is offered to you. God offers each and every person entrance into the Elect Lady. He offers each and every person salvation – not by works, but BY GRACE. What does the Scripture say?

Romans 5:15 … if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Adam brought brokenness into the world. You were born broken into this world. You cannot help that. But you can come to Jesus, Who alone can help it. He offers healing to all. Jesus offers completeness to all. Jesus offers GRACE to all. Jesus Christ shed His Blood on Calvary, so that GRACE can be offered to whosoever will. Salvation is by Grace alone, by faith alone.

Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

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

There can be no peace with yourself – or with God – unless you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do you know Him? Dear ones, the only way you can know Him is by receiving Him as He is. You are to REPENT of being your own god, of following your own path. How does Grace, Mercy, and Peace come? Once more:

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Who is your Lord? Is it YOU, or is it JESUS? What is your truth? Does it come from GOD, or from YOU? May God guide you into receiving Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. Amen and Amen!

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Come Join The Minority

Posted on May 8, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by nappy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-child-reading-holy-bible-935944/

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Back when I was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we used to write letters that we’d put in the mail. Texting has destroyed this, but yes, we’d absolutely do this. When I ended a letter, I’d end with my name and something affectionate, like “I love you”.

Many of the books we have in the New Testament are letters the Apostles wrote to the Church. As the Apostle Paul closed his letter to the Romans he sends greetings from others in ministry with him. Paul closes with “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” (Romans 16:24), and then adds a rather length “P.S.” that ends with “To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27). As Paul ends his first letter to Corinth he says, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (1 Corinthians 16:24). The letter to the Hebrews ends simply with “Grace be with you all. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:25). The Apostle Peter ends with “Grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18).

Notice how the Apostle John ends his letter to the Church. What thought did John want us to remember, a final point that is so very important? He writes:

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

What In The World Is An “Idol”?

If I speak of “Idols”, some of you will think of television shows like “American Idol”, where people show off their talents for the adulation of other people. Humans can be idols. In Biblical times,

An “idol” (the Greek eidōlon, pronounced i’-do-lon) is an image, a likeness, a thing, a person, or a concept that is put in the place of and replaces the genuine God of the Scripture.

Idolatry is when we reverse what God did in creation. The Bible tells us that in the beginning God “created mankind in His own image, male and female God created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).

In idolatry, we as humans create God
in our own image, after our own likeness.

Idolatry can be very visible, but it can also be very subtle. The ancient Egyptians worshiped many different idols (Osiris, Anubis, Sekhmet, Seth, etc.), and formed images that were honored as gods shaped like frogs, cats, dogs, and even lice. The ancient Romans worshiped many different gods and goddesses (Minerva, Jupiter, Bacchus, Venus, etc.). The ancient Greeks honored Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, Hades, and Apollo among others. Every society of every age from Adam till now has created and worshiped gods and goddesses in place of the God of the Bible. Idolatry begins in the heart when man considers himself wiser and more capable that God.

Homosexuality and Lesbianism is the unnatural consequence of idolatry.

The Apostle Paul is very clear on this when he writes:

Romans 1:22-24, 26-27 … Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. {this is idolatry} 24 THEREFORE God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves 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

Sexuality outside the scope of God’s creation is DISHONORABLE, not something to be PROUD of. When you reject the God of Scripture and create false gods, you unbind yourself from God’s design in creation. You become a law unto yourself, and following this pathway you move far away from God’s original intention in marriage.

Idolatry disposes of God, and creates a lesser more fallible god for the creature to heed.

The God of the Holy Scripture is “merciful, gracious, patient, and filled with goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6-7). God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). The God of the Bible can never lie nor can He abide the presence of liars (Revelation 22:15). The God of the Bible is merciful and forgiving, but He will never allow those who are unrepentant and guilty to go unpunished. The false gods – the idols – that men worship teach that all people go to Heaven. The One True God teaches that only those who have repented of sin and who have given their hearts to Jesus Christ have the hope of Heaven.

Idolatry is the king of sins.

– Idolatry caused Satan to fall from heaven. “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself LIKE THE MOST HIGH” (Isaiah 14:14).

– Idolatrous Satan – looking like a serpent, (the very first idolatrous image) (Revelation 20:2; 12:9) asked Adam, “Hath God really said?” Satan knows idolatry is contagious, and he invited Adam to join the delusion.

– The very first murder committed was because of idolatry. Cain demanded that God accept his inappropriate sacrifice (Genesis 4:7). When God would not do so, Cain murdered his brother Abel.

– When God called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, what did Israel and her High Priest do? They melted down earrings and created a golden calf to worship and lead them. Israel’s idolatry kept them from inheriting the Promised Land for 40 years, and plagued the succeeding generations of Israelites to this day.

– Why did Moses lose the Promised Land himself? He made himself an idol, and refused to glorify God. (Numbers 20:10)

Our Sunday School Lesson for today states (page 115, Bible Studies for Life, Spring 2023):

“We often equate idolatry with worshiping images made of wood or metal, but idolatry happens whenever we place anything ahead of God. We can even make good things idols…”

Idolatry Cannot Make Us Children Of God

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Let’s start with the words “Little children”. This is the Greek teknion, and is John’s favorite word in describing the believer. The word teknion is repeated in every single chapter of this Book except the first chapter(1 John 2:1,12,28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21). It is so very important that you understand,

BECOMING and BEING a Christian requires
you be like a LITTLE CHILD.

A little child doesn’t have to understand much. As a little child, I knew my father provided for my needs. As a little child, I also knew that I had better honor and obey my father – else I would be punished. I knew as a little child that I belonged to the custody of my parents. The lines were drawn. My parents set the tone – and I followed. Sadly with the rise of sexual sin and single parent households, many were not raised as I was, and so grow up too fast. That’s sad, because adults who behave like little children cause chaos in the society they are in.

To be saved does not require a seminary degree, nor does it require you understand the complexities of the God Who is. Jesus put it this way:

Mark 10:14-16 … {ESV} Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Luke 18:17 {ESV} Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

There will be people who will burn in hell for all eternity because they would not come to the embrace of Jesus and crawl into His lap like a little child. I am certain that Christopher Hitchins (April 13, 1949-December 15, 2011), the well educated Atheist who gained fame by bashing and mocking God, is now regretting his former life. Hitchens, like most idolaters, rejected the God of the Scripture for philosophies and “wokeness”. Jesus made it clear that there is no salvation available to those “too mature” to receive it.

The Gospel itself is exceedingly simple. The Scripture declares we are all fallen creatures because of Adam’s sin. Here many people fall away, for they make Adam to be an allegory, and Eden to be a myth. Yet the Scripture says, “by ONE MAN SIN ENTERED THE WORLD, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12). Since one man LITERALLY fell from God, ALL PEOPLE LITERALLY fell from God. Yet this is not the end of the Gospel.

God lowered Himself from Heaven to come to this earth so that He, in love, could “deliver us from the power of darkness, and attach us to His Kingdom” (Colossians 1:13). The message of Scripture is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that the God of the Bible – in love – reaches out to this world. Unless a person rejects all other saviors and all other gods he cannot receive forgiveness from the Biblical God. It is only through Jesus Christ that “we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). It is only by faith in Jesus Christ that a person can be saved from this present evil world, and guaranteed entrance into God’s Heavenly Kingdom in our next life. The Gospel is a message that is received as “a little child”. Once you receive the Gospel, the Scripture says:

Romans 8:15-17 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Galatians 4:4-6 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

If you have received Christ as a “little child”, then God sends His Spirit to you to adopt you as God’s Children. And as God’s Children, we humble ourselves and serve the Lord.

The way to ENTER Christ’s Kingdom is by the faith of a child. The way to ADVANCE in Christ’s Kingdom is by the faith of a child. Jesus called a child to His side & said:

Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In America today our idols are not carved out of stone or wood, but our idols are formed in our hearts. Adrian Rogers once said:

“If you are saved you will have a desire to be holy, a hunger for the Word (the Bible), the inner witness of the Spirit, and a desire to share Jesus. These are the birthmarks of the believer.”

We who are His are to guard ourselves from idolatry, for idolatry robs God of what is rightfully His. It robs God of our hearts. This is why the Apostle of Love, John, closed his letter with this signature.

Idolatry Will Rob Us Of Our Heritage

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Word Study: The next word we need to look at is the word “keep”, which is the Greek phylassō, which means “to guard against, set a watch {over your soul}, to watch lest violence come, to be a body guard to preserve the life of”. The word itself sounds like FOO – LASSO – to throw a LASSO around something valuable. People today are fond of saying,

“Follow your heart”

This is some of the stupidest advise I have ever heard. The Bible says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”. The world follows its heart – this is the way of the lost. The heart detached from God is, according to Jesus, the source of “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). Following your heart can get you in a world of mess!

Illustrate: A little boy came to his mother with a cherished family heirloom – a vase – stuck on his hand. This vase was several hundred years old, and was worth several thousand dollars. The mother had planned on one day selling that vase to send her only son to college. The child – like children will do – put his hand in the vase, and now his little hand was stuck. Mother soaped his arm, and gently tugged, rotated, and pulled on the vase, but nothing seemed to work. The child started crying and finally, with nothing else she could do, the mother wrapped his arm in a towel and carefully broke the vase, freeing her son’s arm. That was when she noticed that her son’s little hand was clenched. Counting to ten she looked at her little boy and said, “Son, was your hand balled up into a fist the whole time I was trying to get you loose?” The child looked at her with his little tear stained face and said, “Yes mamma, it was.” Controlling her temper she asked her son, “Son, why didn’t you straighten out your hand? If you had just unclasped your hand I could have gotten you free from this vase without breaking it!” The child, opening his hand, said, “But mamma, if I had opened my hand I would have lost my penny”. A penny was what the child traded for his future education.

Idolatry robs us of the blessings that God wants to give us. I was talking with a dear friend the other day who told me, “You know, you are in the minority with what you believe”. I suppose I am in the minority. But the Bible tells us:

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

The Way of God has always been a minority. Yet Christians who compromises with the darkness will find themselves in just as bad a place as the lost world. Jesus told us that we would be in the minority. Jesus Himself was and is the minority. Jesus warned:

Matthew 7:13-14 {ESV} Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The world follows the WIDE GATE to DESTRUCTION. This is where the majority goes. The Bible says “there is a way that seem right to a person, but its end is the way of DEATH” (Proverbs 16:25). Let me ask you:

– Was it a MAJORITY that fought Goliath, or a MINORITY? The MAJORITY hid from Goliath for 40 days while he mocked God, but DAVID ALONE who stood up and said “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26).

– Was it a MAJORITY who refused to pray to the Medo-Persian King Darius for even one day, or a MINORITY? The MAJORITY worshiped a human king for 30 days, whereas DANIEL ALONE openly prayed to God – and was cast into the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16-24). No harm came to Daniel or the lions, by the way.

– Was it a MAJORITY who refused to bow down and worship the golden idol that the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar, or a MINORITY? Though all the kingdom bowed to this statue, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ALONE said “O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18). Though cast in a fiery furnace, Jesus kept even the smell of smoke from attaching to their clothing.

– When Gideon went forth to fight the Midianites, did he take a MAJORITY with him or a MINORITY? Though 32,000 warriors initially came to fight, God released all but 300 men (Judges 7:7). It was with the MINORITY that God defeated the Midianites.

When the MINORITY is standing with God, the MINORITY becomes the MAJORITY. This is proven over and over in the Scripture.

The foundation of our salvation can be traced back to a childless man named Abraham. God came to Abraham, and promised him that – IF HE WOULD LEAVE THE MAJORITY and follow God, then God would give him a child. Furthermore, God promised Abraham:

Genesis 12:3 {ESV} in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed

Abraham followed God. When Abraham was 100 years old he became a father for the first time. When his son Isaac was around 13 years old God came to him and said:

Genesis 22:2 … Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Why did God do this? The MAJORITY of people would have refused God outright. “God, you want me to kill my ONLY son? No way!”. The MAJORITY would walk away from this. But Abraham knew something from being with God. He knew that God loved him, and Abraham loved God.

Abraham could have made an idol of Isaac,
cherishing his son above God.

But he didn’t. Abraham took his son to Mount Moriah, and planned on sacrificing that child that he so loved to God. How could he do this? Because Abraham knew God promised to bless the whole world through Isaac – and God is no liar. Abraham knew that God could resurrect Isaac (Hebrews 11:17-19). So he trusted God. He treasured God above all else. Abraham became a MINORITY, and was blessed because of it. You know the rest of the story. God provided a sacrifice to replace Isaac, and Abraham was richly blessed. You, too, will be richly blessed if you follow God and God alone. The Christian is commanded of God to:

Romans 12:1-2…. 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.

Did you get that? “be not conformed to this world”. Don’t be part of the MAJORITY. Be part of the MINORITY.

Idolatry Hurts More Than Just You

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

So many people today buy into the lie that if “You do you” then it’s okay, because “it only effects YOU”. That’s not true. We are to keep ourselves from idolatry because what happens to you effects others around you. When God sent Israel into Canaan, it was with standing orders to destroy the rotted and idolatrous nations that were there, and replace them with righteousness and God’s rule of law. What did Israel do? Israel blended with the lost MAJORITY:

Psalm 106:35-38 {Israel was} mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. {36} And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. {37} Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, {38} And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

We see the same thing happening in America today. God calls His people to stand in the truth of the Scripture. The great Pastor C.H. Spurgeon rightly said,

“Make no idol of your child, or your wife, or your husband; for by putting them in Christ’s place, you really provoke Him to take them from you. Love them as much as you please; I would that some loved their children, their husbands, or their wives more than they do; but always love them in such a fashion that Christ shall have the first place in your hearts.”

Illustrate: Jesus must have first place in your lives. In our bulletin today a so called “preacher” decides that he will explain away what Jesus said to the rich young ruler who wanted eternal life. Jesus told him:

Mark 10:21-22 {ESV} … sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Jesus will be first in your life (Luke 14:26-27). I end with these words from John Piper: “Saving faith receives Christ as a treasure, but not as second to lands, oxen, or spouses. He is valued above them. Or he is rejected. Embracing him as one among many useful treasures is worse than useless. It is worse because it gives the impression that he is willing to be used. He is not. He will be received as our supreme treasure, or not at all.” Amen.

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Judge Jephthah

Posted on May 8, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-a-gavel-6077422/

Jephthah was the eighth legitimate judge of Israel. Whereas Gideon was a frightened man hiding near a grape press when God called him, Jephthah was a “mighty man of valor” who overcame great obstacles in his life.

Jephthah Did Not Let Abuse Define His Life

Judges 11:1-2 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

The name “Jephthah” (Hebrew yip̄tāḥ, pronounced yif-tawkh’) means “he opens”. He is called “Jephthah the Gileadite” because his daddy was Gilead, a branch of the Tribe of Manasseh. The two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh together formed the HOUSE of Joseph (of the coat of many colors, the young man sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers). Joseph would grow up – despite all the adversity in his family – to be second hand to the King of Egypt, and the savior of Israel.

Jephthah, just like Joseph, was hated of his brothers. Joseph’s brothers hated him because “Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was very old” (Genesis 37:3-35). This set up jealousy and envy, which caused his brothers to abuse him. Jephthah was hated because he “was the son of an harlot”. Whether this was a Temple Prostitute (many false religions employed prostitutes to worship their gods) or a street prostitute, we do not know. But since Jephthah was the child of a prostitute, his half brothers “thrust out Jephthah”. They threw him out of the family at a young age in violation of God’s Law. God told His people:

Leviticus 19:33-34 if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

After Joseph was blessed of God so that he could save Israel from destruction, in time Joseph died and Egypt began to treat the Jews as strangers and slaves. God told His people to remember that He Himself saved them out of slavery. As Israel was given undeserved Grace, Israel was to give Grace to the strangers among them.

The sons of Gilead – of the Tribe of Manasseh, of the House of Joseph – benefited directly from God’s Grace. They should have extended Grace to their half brother, for he had no control over his birth!

Word Study: The Bible says that “God executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19). Jephthah’s half brothers thrust him out (Hebrew gāraš, to drive away or forcibly expel). They took him by the seat of his britches and tossed him out in the street like garbage. We can learn quite a bit from how Jephthah handles this abuse.

When treated badly by others, we can choose to:

GIVE up, GRIEVE or GRUMBLE about our treatment, or we can, LOOK up, and LET God LIFT us up.

Judges 11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

“Jephthah fled” from his brothers and went 15 miles east-northeast of Ramoth-Gilead, just outside the eastern boundary of Israel. In this desolate area Jephthah learned to fight the enemy. Rather than give up and grumble, or plot vengeance on his half brothers, Jephthah used the situation to grow. This is why we are told in verse 1 that Jephthah is a “mighty man of valor”. The angel of God called Gideon a “mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12) when God called him from the winepress to the battle field. Jephthah became a “mighty man of valor” while in exile. Jephthah trusted the Lord. The Bible says “the LORD sent Jephthah to deliver Israel out of the hand of her enemies” (1 Samuel 12:11). God uses trials to draw us to Him, to strengthen our faith, and to make us usable for His glory. In 1 Peter 1:6-7 the Apostle said:

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In “The Nature and Purpose of Trials” Grace Theological Seminary notes:

“Like gold, our faith is tested by fire; literal fire tests gold and other precious metals, and metaphorical fire (trials, persecutions, sufferings, griefs, etc.) tests our faith: Psalm 66:10 “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.” Proverbs 17:3 “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.” James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

We see in James 1:2-4, suffering promotes endurance and perfection of character, and the apostle Paul also reiterates this in Romans 5:3-4 where we see that we are to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Word Study: Jephthah runs from the brutality of his brothers, but only about 15 miles. He settles in “the land of TOB” (Hebrew ṭôḇ, pronounced tobe), which means “the land of GOOD”. Though he has been chased away from his family and his rightful heritage, it was for his good. While in “the land of GOOD” we are told that:

Judges 11:3 … there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

The false judge Abimelech, we are told, “hired vain (rêq, empty) and light (pāḥaz, reckless, wanton) persons, which followed him” (Judges 9:4). Abimelech sought out worthless “yes” men, then hired them to follow him about. The situation is different with Jephthah. Jephthah was considered rêq or useless, empty, and without worth by his hate filled brothers. So Jephthah went to “Good” to live – and there learned to fight. As he looked to God for blessing, God taught Jephthah … and others who were considered rêq or useless, empty, and without worth GATHERED to Jephthah. Adam Clark in his commentary notes, “The word {translated vain} may, however, mean in this place poor persons, without property, and

without employment”. These were broken and discounted people who gathered with Jephthah. Adrian Rogers wrote:

“People throw broken things away, but God rarely uses anything until He first breaks it. David said in the Psalms: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). Some of us are not being used by God because we’ve never been broken. If God breaks you and you become broken bread and poured out wine, He will use you. God took a little boy’s lunch and broke it and fed the multitudes. Mary took an alabaster box of ointment and broke it and lavished her love upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Jeremiah said: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3). You’ll never have the crop you ought to until you put the plow in, until the old clods are broken. Even the Lord Jesus Christ took the bread at the last supper and said: “This is My body which is broken for you.”

Trusting and following God, in time the tables turn. We read:

Judges 11:4-6 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.

The Ammonites were descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot, when Lot had an incestuous relationship with his youngest daughter (Genesis 19:38). God told Moses that the land of the Ammonites was not to be taken, though God often used the Ammonites to punish His wayward people. When the Ammonites attacked Israel, the “elders of Gilead” – among whom were step brothers of Jephthah – came and asked Jephthah to lead them into battle. Jephthah replies:

Judges 11:7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?

The “elders of Gilead”, the half tribe of Manasseh of the House of Joseph came to Jephthah with hat in hand – and Jephthah challenges them! He could have taken vengeance on them, and refused to come to their aid. The Scripture tells us:

Romans 12:19-21 (ESV) Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

There is a temptation to give back as good as you got, but this is of the flesh, not of the Lord. Jephthah followed the same path that his forefather Joseph did. When Joseph’s brothers discovered that he was second only to the King of Egypt, the Bible says:

Genesis 50:18-21 (ESV) His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph took the long view, believing that God allowed his suffering for an ultimate good. Jephthah could easily have killed the delegation of elders who came to him – or could have ignored them and stayed where he was. Instead, Jephthah forgave.

But Jephthah was not a stupid man. Not only was he a “mighty man of valor”, but he was a diplomat and a tactician. We read:

Judges 11:8-10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head? 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.

Jephthah had been tossed out of his home before as a “worthless son of a whore”. He wanted assurance that – if he led them into battle and helped them avert this crisis – that when the crisis was passed he would remain as their judge. The Lord Jesus told us:

Romans 12:18 (ESV) If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

We should practice restraint. We should give others the benefit of the doubt. But no where does God tell us to be a door mat or a punching bag. We should not let others defile us, nor should we “cast our pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). Jephthah was not going to be abused again. If they wanted his expertise during the crisis, they would have to agree to keep him as judge afterward. The elders of Gilead vowed, “The LORD (Yᵊhōvâ) be witness between us”, invoking the most holy name of God. With this, Jephthah made his vow and took his oath of office:

Judges 11:11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.

“Mizpeh” or Mizpah is the same place where Jacob and his uncle Laban set up a memorial unto God, and made a covenant with one another. At that memorial Laban called it “Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.” Mizpeh was a place that was supposedly watched by God. So as Jephthah took his oath of office at Mizpeh, he “uttered all his words before the Lord”. God was his Witness.

Jephthah Is A Skilled Diplomat

Judges 11:12-13 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? 13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.

“And Jephthah sent messengers”. Unlike the judges up to this point, Jephthah does not start out by drawing the sword and attacking the enemy. Instead, Jephthah starts with diplomacy. Again, the Scripture says “follow peace with all” (Hebrews 12:14) and “if it be possible on your part, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Our initial response to an attack should not be all out war, but diplomacy. Jephthah’s demeanor shows that he is both skilled, as well as a humble leader. Jephthah used three arguments against war. The King of the Ammonites said that the reason he wanted to fight was that “Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt”. Jephthah replied:

Judges 11:14-23 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon: 15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: 16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; 17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. 20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. 23 So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

Jephthah explained that Israel did not take the land from the Ammonites, but from the Amorites who inhabited that country. The Amorites had previously conquered the Ammonites and took the land from them.

Judges 11:24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

The god of the Ammonites Chemosh allowed the Amorites to take their land. When Israel took the same land from the Amorites (not the Ammonites), then it was because Jehovah decreed it.

Judges 11:25-26 And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, 26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?

Jehovah allowed Israel to hold that land as their own for THREE HUNDRED YEARS without dispute from the Ammonites. Jephthah told the King of Ammon, that if it were really their land, why had Israel held it for so long and without dispute? When Israel came into the land, God decreed that Israel not attack the Ammonites, the Moabites (both of whom were kin to one another through Lot), nor the Edomites (the children of Esau. See Deuteronomy 2:5, 9, 19). Israel was obedient, and did not attack those nations, nor try to get their lands. Jephthah then suggested that either …

– The Ammonites did not try to get the land back for 300 years because they knew it belonged to the Amorites, which lost it to Israel, or

– The God of Israel Jehovah was much greater in power than the false god of Chemosh, which is why Israel now has the land.

Judges 11:27-29 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. 28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.

Jephthah has done all that he can to avert war. He now tells the King of Ammon that if he pursues war, then it is on HIS head, not on Jephthah. Having followed the Lord’s leading, the “Spirit of the Lord” came over Jephthah. With this, Jephthah begins to lead his armies toward the children of Ammon. The Bible tells us:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The Holy Spirit has given Jephthah courage. He travels through Gilead, through the tribal territories of Gad and Manasseh, and calls soldiers to follow him. Gathering the armies of Israel Jephthah moves toward Ammon. But then he makes a terrible mistake.

Jephthah Makes A Foolish And Unnecessary
Vow Unto God

Judges 11:30-31 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

God did not ask Jephthah to make a vow. The Spirit had already moved on him, and led him in building an army to destroy the enemy. But Jephthah allowed doubt to creep in, so he made a bargain with God. “Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord”. He promised that, if the battle went well, and Israel won, then when Jephthah returned from battle “whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me” would belong to God, and would be offered as a burnt offering. What was in Jephthah’s mind when he did this? In her book Texts of Terror (page 97) Phyllis Trible notes:

“The making of the vow is an act of unfaithfulness. Jephthah desires to bind God rather than embrace the gift of the Spirit. What comes to him freely, he seeks to earn and manipulate. The meaning of his words is doubt, not faith; it is control, not courage. To such a vow the Deity makes no reply.”

Jephthah was probably thinking of an animal when he made the vow, but the foolishness of the vow is that he cannot control what or who will greet him on his return. With this vow in place, Jephthah leads his troops to battle. We read:

Judges 11:32-33 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

The Lord blessed Jephthah in battle, destroying around 20 cities of Ammon. The Ammonites were utterly destroyed!

Judges 11:34-40 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. 36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. 37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

When Jephthah came home, the “whatsoever” that greeted him was his daughter. As she was his only child, Jephthah had dedicated her to the Lord. She would never be able to bear children, nor to carry on her family line. Some commentaries suggested that Jephthah offered up his daughter as a burnt offering, but the Bible doesn’t say this. God specifically forbade human sacrifice! “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:21). “ Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31). God did not want nor expect Jephthah to offer his daughter up as a sacrifice. But she was dedicated to God, to His service – and was unable to marry (Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22). This would cause the line of Jephthah to cease. Yet the Book of Hebrews lists Jephthah as a hero of our faith:

Hebrews 11:32 … Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets

The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary notes:

“The father fulfilled his vow upon her, and she knew no man; i.e., he fulfilled the vow through the fact that she knew no man, but dedicated her life to the Lord, as a spiritual burnt-offering, in a lifelong chastity. It was this willingness of the daughter to sacrifice herself which the daughters of Israel went every year to celebrate-namely, upon the mountains whither her friends had gone with her to lament her virginity, and which they commemorated there four days in the year.”

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From Death To Life

Posted on May 4, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-and-gold-gavel-on-brown-wooden-table-6077189/

John 5:19-24 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. {20} For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. {21} For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. {22} For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: {23} That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. {24} Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

I have heard atheists make the remark that they cannot believe in something they cannot see. This is a foolish statement. Most people have never actually see the atom, but we know it exists. We have not seen gravity, but I for one am thankful it exists. You do not actually see the wind, nor can you see the air provide lift for an aircraft because of the laws of aerodynamics. We have never seen living dinosaurs though we know they existed, and have trusted paleontologists to tell us what they were like. I can go on and on. Though we have not seen God, and have not seen Heaven nor Hell, we believe in these things. Why? Because of Creation. The world around us is clearly not an accident, but something with architecture and design. This is why the Bible says:

Romans 1:19-20 (ESV) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Creation itself proves the existence of a Creator. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 19:1 (ESV) The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

There is clear evidence of God in the stars, the planets, the grass, the trees. The idea that something like our creation could just “happen” is ridiculous, and the thought itself a sign of mental illness.

But there is another reason we have faith in God. We believe because of the Scripture. We believe because of Jesus. The Bible tells us that

Colossians 2:9 (CSB) For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ ..

Colossians 1:9 For it pleased the Father that in {Christ} should all fullness {of God} dwell;

Jesus said of Himself, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14:10), and “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). He also said “I and My Father are One” (John 10:30). Jesus prayed for the Church in John 17:21, “That {the Church} may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” The Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself”. And in John 1:18 (ESV), “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”. Jesus Christ is the Manifest Member of the Godhead.

Jesus is not a lesser god than God the Father and God the Spirit. Jesus Christ is God’s Son, co-eternal and co-equal to both Father and Spirit.

Jesus Is The Sent Member Of The Trinity:
Modalism Does Not Compute!

The Bible teaches that there is only One God, but this One God is in Three Distinct and Separate Persons. Within the Godhead there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to procure for us the Plan of Salvation. The Son came to this earth, incarnated through the power of the Holy Spirit, and partnered with both Father and Spirit. We see the Trinity clearly represented at the baptism of Christ:

Mark 1:9-11 (ESV) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:21-22 (ESV) Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”

The Oneness Pentecostal teach that there is no Trinity, but that there is only Jesus Who presents Himself in three “modes” or characters: Father, Son, and Spirit. However you can clearly see while God the Son is being baptized, God the Holy Spirit descends to Jesus to rest on Him, while God the Father

commends Jesus to the multitudes. Modalism cannot stand up to the plain reading of the text. Jesus – God the Son – is being baptized. Then God the Father speaks from Heaven, declaring Jesus to be His Only Begotten Son. Finally God the Holy Spirit descends onto Jesus.

These three are One. They are equal in substance and in power as well as purpose. This is the Godhead.

Though the Trinity is not named in the Old Testament, we can see evidence of the Trinity at the Creation of humanity. We read:

Genesis 1:25-27 KJV And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. {26} And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. {27} So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

You don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to see that God (singular) said, let us (plural) make man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness (singular) shows that there is a plurality of Person in the Godhead. To Whom was God speaking to if He was not speaking within the Godhead? To the Angels? The Angels have no creative power. In fact, our Lord Jesus said:

Mark 12:25 (ESV) {in the resurrection} … they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

The Angels do not procreate, so they certainly don’t create. Yet God said, “Let US”. In order for there to be an us or an our in the Godhead, there must be at least two Persons else the statement makes no sense at all. Though not called “The Trinity”, the concept of the Trinity of God is introduced in the Book of Creation without any explanation. But Beloved, God is like that. If we could explain God, God would be like us.

As humans, we have an inbuilt PRIDE and ARROGANCE that makes us seek for POWER. This is at the heart of the LGBTQ2S+ movement. This is at the heart of the Transgender movement. This is at the heart of the Klu Klux Klan and the Black Lives Matter movements. We want to be the BOSS. As that old song (the group “Tears For Fears”) said years ago,

Everybody wants to rule the world
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

That is a malady of humanity – but it’s not true of God. Nor is it normal. It is abnormal to have everyone in charge of a group when all are equal in power. That’s what we believe. We want to be the boss. We want to rule. This is no more than the manifestation of the Old Sin Nature of Adam. Adam was given rulership of the world by God, but commanded to not eat of one thing. But Adam decided what God gave him was not enough – he wanted the forbidden, too.

But not God.

Though Equal To Father and Spirit,
Jesus’ Ministry Submits To The Father

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them”. What caused Jesus to speak and teach here? He has healed a crippled man at Bethesda, and told him to “rise, take up your bed, and walk”. The Pharisees want to kill Jesus for telling the man to “take up your bed”. But taking up the bed is necessary to salvation. Submission to Christ is necessary – not optional – to salvation. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:24 … If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

This what Jesus told the man at Bethesda. “Deny yourself”. Quit trying to do it your way. Quit trying to follow the crowd. Rise! “Reach up to Me”, said Jesus. “Take up your Cross – your Bed”. Whereas it carried YOU, now YOU carry IT. And “Follow Me” – walk with Jesus. Do not stay bound to bed or burden. Follow Him Who loves you and commands you.

The Pharisees are upset with Jesus because He told the man to carry his bed on the Sabbath. They claim that Jesus is a law breaker.

Jesus says, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do”. Jesus can only do what God can do. Why? Because God is bound to righteousness. God cannot sin, nor can He tempt to sin. We are told in Scripture:

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

It is not in God’s nature to tempt to sin. Jesus Christ is God among us, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus can only do what He sees the Father do. The Father heals on the Sabbath, else the hospitals would all shut down. While Jesus was on this earth He willingly lowered Himself so that He could fulfill the Plan of God for our salvation. Jesus told His disciples:

John 14:28 (ESV) You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Jesus submitted Himself so that we could be saved. But is Jesus a lesser god, lesser in quality or quantity to God the Father? No! For just before this statement our Lord told the Apostle Philip:

John 14:9-11 (ESV) “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Jesus Christ came as the Father’s Representative from Heaven for us. You see, the Godhead TOGETHER made a decision from eternity past to save mankind. Within the Godhead the Son of God agreed to come to earth, to take on humanity, and to die for our sins. There is no dominance within the Godhead, no bucking for power, no “Me Ahead of You” mentality such as is common in our world today. There is a unity in the Godhead. Unity of Power. Unity of Plan. Unity of Purpose. The Son agreed to come and walk among us, then to die for us. Everything that Jesus did, He did in perfect agreement with the Father. Praise God for this!

John 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

God the Father is Creator. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

God the Holy Spirit is Creator: Job 33:4 (ESV) The SPIRIT OF GOD has made me, and the BREATH of the Almighty gives me life.

But JESUS is Creator God also! The Scripture declares of Jesus:

John 1:3 (ESV) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV) {Jesus} is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

If Jesus were mere mortal man, then the Pharisees might have reason to attack Him as blasphemer. But Jesus is more than mortal man. He is IMMORTAL GOD in Human perfection.

John 5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.

It is God the Father Who resurrects the dead (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 8:11), for God is the Source of life. But now Jesus tells us that “the Son quickeneth whom He will”. God the Father is the Source of life, and can give life – but so can God the Son. But here’s something very interesting:

John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son

The Pharisees are sitting here, judging Jesus and this not uncrippled man for carrying a bed on the Sabbath. But Jesus tells the Pharisees that it is them that are mistaken. God gave them no license to judge. But the Father has “committed all judgment unto the Son”. Why?

Because Jesus is the “Lamb Of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Because Jesus is willingly “laying down His life for His Sheep” (John 10:15, 17-18). The Father sent the Son, but it is the Son Who is making the payment, Who is suffering the cost. We are told in:

John 5:26-27 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Because Jesus took upon Himself humanity – becoming the Son of Man, the Messiah, Jesus has the only authority to execute Judgment. In the Book of Revelation we read of a Great White Throne:

Revelation 20:11-12 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

The works of the lost will be placed before the Judgment Seat. Who is this Judge Who sits at the Great White Throne, such a terrifying place that “From his presence earth and sky fled away”? It is not Buddha, nor Confucius. It is not Gandhi, nor the Dalai Lama. It is not Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, nor is it Charles Taze Russell the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It will not be Mary Baker Eddy the founder of the Christian Scientists, nor will it be L. Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology. It will not be the Pope, nor some decked out Cardinal or “Father” of Catholicism. It will not be the Apostle Peter holding the key of Heaven. Nor will it be Billy Graham, or Joel Osteen, nor even that nobody called David Buffaloe (thank God).

The One sitting on the Throne of God is Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus Christ.

Why is this? Jesus said:

John 5:23 That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.

Jesus Christ is the Manifest Member of the Godhead. Jesus Christ is the ONLY MEANS by which a person can be saved. The Scripture says:

1 Timothy 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; (4) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (6) Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

God will save whosoever will. God wants all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But the truth is “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.

What a horrible thing it will be for many, who leave this life, and stand before Jesus. How horrible if He says,

“I NEVER KNEW YOU – DEPART FROM ME, YOU WORKER OF INIQUITY INTO EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS.”

The Pharisees knew the Law of God, and added to the Law with their human traditions. Yet they would not know Jesus. They rejected Jesus outright because they thought themselves worthy to stand before God based on their own works. Jesus told them:

John 5:44-47 How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? (45) Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. (46) For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. (47) But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

The Pharisees were busy congratulating one another for being so holy. Yet the One and Only Person Who could save them, they had no time for Him. Jesus told them that Moses himself spoke of the coming Messiah. As Moses prepared to die he told Israel:

Acts 3:22-23 … A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. (23) And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

To reject Christ as Savior is a damning prospect! Oh Beloved, do not be like the Pharisee. Hear the Word of Christ.

If I Rise Up To Jesus, Take Up My Bed, My Cross, And Follow Him, I Will Follow Him Into Glory!

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

Salvation comes when we HEAR JESUS’ WORD, and BELIEVE ON THE GOD WHO SENT HIM. Those of you who have done this HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. It is not something you are moving toward, but something you have right now. Under the Old Covenant God asked Israel:

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, and then answered that question when He said: but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

What does God expect of the Christian? Nothing less. We are told walk with Jesus. You are to “fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul”. You are not to do this to BE saved, but are to do this BECAUSE you are saved. You belong to Christian, if you are a Christian.

Follow Him. Honor Jesus with your life. For YOUR sake. Amen and Amen!

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The Thief Comes …

Posted on May 1, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Marlon Alves: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-people-art-dark-16521710/

When we left Judges chapter 9 we saw the false judge Abimelech (the concubine son of Gideon or Jerubbaal) ruled (not judged, but ruled) over Israel for three years. God allowed Abimelech to slaughter all but one of the other sons of Gideon (Jotham) to set up his kingdom. After three years, everything fell apart. The men of Shechem who conspired with Abimelech to do evil were utterly destroyed, and Abimelech himself died when a woman dropped a millstone on his head (Judges 9:53; 2 Samuel 11:21). This reminded me of what Jesus said:

Mark 9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

Something interesting happens between chapters 9 and 10. The general pattern of the Book of Judges that we have seen so far is…

Israel rebels against God
God disciplines Israel with an unbelieving nation
Israel repents
God raises up a Judge to restore Israel

Failure To Repent And Pursuit Of Sin
Brings Hardening Of The Conscience

This pattern is disrupted in chapter 10. As we enter this chapter 10, we see two judges in the first FIVE verses of chapter 10:

Judges 10:1-2 And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

This is already different. Up to this point only Shamgar was so little spoken of (Judges 3:31) – and Shamgar is shown to have killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad (a pointy stick). Every judge that God raised up, the Lord did so when Israel repented of their sin.

Judges 2:16 … “the Lord raised UP Judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them”

What is missing with the next two judges – Tola and Jair – is that Israel never repents.
Israel is suffering hardness of the heart.

The Bible repeatedly warns us of the dangers of sin. The Bible tells us that …

1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.God is always faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9). He will forgive. The problem with sin is that – every time we sin – we scar our souls. The Bible calls this a “seared conscience” (1 Timothy 4:2). The conscience of a person can become desensitized to sin, and to the call and reality of God. Israel did not repent after Abimelech, yet God in His Grace allowed Tola to become a partial judge of Israel. The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary notes:

“Tola arose after Abimelech’s death to deliver Israel, and judged Israel twenty-three years until his death, though certainly not all the Israelites of the twelve tribes, but only the northern and possibly also the eastern tribes, to the exclusion of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, as these southern tribes neither took part in Gideon’s war of freedom nor stood under Abimelech’s rule.”

Tola’s reign was provisional, and did not effect all of Israel, only part of the nation. Tola was from the Tribe of Issachar (see Genesis 46:13; Numbers 26:23). We do not know much about Tola, other than his name means “scarlet worm” (tola’ath). The crimson or scarlet worm (scientific name: coccus ilicis or kermes ilicis) was used in Biblical times when the red dye the worm excretes is extracted, and used to stain the High Priest’s robe and the covering of the tabernacle. The Crimson Worm is seen in Psalms 22:6 as a Prophecy of the first coming of Jesus Christ. Like the Crimson Worm, Jesus was crushed to dye our robes crimson and white before God. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us(Romans 5:8). Though Israel did not repent, God sent a Savior for His people. Because they were so hardened by sin, God could do little for them. So this judge did little – but it was not his fault. Under Tola, Israel had peace “twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir”. Normally after the death of a judge, we would see Israel returning to sin. But we do not see this because Israel never left sin. For 23 years they lived in their sins apart from God.

How horrible when we drift from God! Jesus said:

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

I have heard various preachers talk about the “thief” as Satan. I don’t think Satan is the thief. Satan steals nothing without our permission. The “THIEF” Jesus spoke of and personalized is unconquered SIN.

Tola is symbolic of the undeserved Grace of God. Tola lived in and died in Shamir, which means “a thornbush”. Jesus came to this sinful world – lived and died here – to save us from our sins.

Because Israel would not repent, only portions of Israel were saved. Because Israel loved her sin more than her Savior, confusion abounded. I believe this is the state of America today. God in Grace is offering this nation salvation, but we love our sin and have hardened our hearts. We need to turn to our Tola, our Jesus in repentance.

The Hardened Hearts Of Israel Lead To Jair,
The Compromising Judge

Judges 10:3-5 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. 4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

The name “Jair” (yā’îr) means “He Enlightens”. Jair was the “Progressive Judge”. Again we don’t see much mentioned about him, but we know “he had thirty sons”. Jair or “He Who Enlightens” was probably polygamous, a man who had many wives. He compromised with the fallen world around him. God tells His people:

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 … And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

God’s people are to live for God, not for themselves. Jair succumbed to the spirit of his age, the characteristic sexual sinfulness of his people. We also read that “he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts”. The words “ass colts” is the Hebrew ʿayir, which means “a male donkey”. At this time in history the average Israelite had no horses or donkeys. The Keil and Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary notes that “Only the wealthy and prominent in Israel rode on donkeys at that time”. Jair and his family were very wealthy. They literally owned cities. We are told:

they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair

Their cities were called “Havothjair”, literally “cities of enlightenment”. The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“We see, in this brief record of Jair’s life, continuing tendencies in Israel toward the lifestyle of the surrounding pagan nations, and away from fidelity to Yahweh and His Law. “In Jair’s story I can see three things: (1) prosperity without purpose; (2) affluence without influence; (3) prestige without power” (J. Vernon McGee).”

Neither Tola nor Jair corrected any of the problems that Israel was having. Only one Judge can fix the human heart, and this Judge is God. God blessed Israel for a total of 45 years while He waited on His people to genuinely repent. What did Jair’s leadership do for Israel?

Judges 10:6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him.

Israel entered into a seven-fold apostasy. They served seven types of false gods and goddesses.

Why did Israel turn from the Living God to serve these false gods? Because of compromise. The compromise of faith is a very subtle thing. If the devil cannot keep you from Jesus, he will do what he can to blend your faith in Jesus with the world. I’ve seen young people wearing t-shirts that say:

Jesus is Dope, and
God is Dope

“Dope” is an illicit, habit forming or narcotic drug. The young people say that the slang “Dope” means “cool, awesome, or great”. So they are saying “Jesus is great”. But “Dope” is not great. “Dope” destroys lives. “Dope” addicts and drags downward. Opium addicts were first called “Dopes” because they ingested the syrupy drug. Race horses that are “doped” win or lose races based on the type of drug given them. When you call someone a “Dope”, it means they are “foolish or stupid”. Jesus is NOT Dope. Jesus is Lord. God is NOT Dope. God is the King of Kings. God is our Creator, and calls us to salvation so that He might be our Father.

When the faith of God is blended with the world, what comes out is not Christianity but some evil counterfeit.

God tells us to make a choice. We can follow Him, or follow the world. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

God was not please with Israel’s sevenfold apostasy. We read:

Judges 10:7-9 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and {God} sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.

“anger of the Lord was hot”. The word translated “hot” is the Hebrew chârâh, which means “to flame up, to be incensed, to be kindled”. Israel threw seven logs on the fire of God’s glory – and God consumed them! We are told that “{God} sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon”. That phrase “{God} sold them” emphasizes to us that – if God has saved you, God owns you. Let me say that again:

If God Has SAVED You, God OWNS You,
And You’d Better Follow Him!

The Scripture declares:

Psalm 24:1–2 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

The Bible tells us “in GOD’S HAND IS THE SOUL OF EVERY LIVING THING, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10). It tells us that “our BODIES are the TEMPLE OF GOD’S SPIRIT Who is in us … and WE DO NOT BELONG TO OURSELVES” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The wonder author C.S. Lewis wrote:

“Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God.”

Because Israel rejected God, God “sold them” (for they belong to Him) into the hands of the Ammonites and the Philistines. This is what has happened in America today. The devil has taught us to “you do you”, and so God has stepped back and allowed us to be “sold” into misery and foolishness. We as a nation are like Israel was – we are “sore distressed”, that is “greatly distressed and suffering”.

Judges 10:10-13 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. 11 And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

After the 7th Judge (Jair) Israel entered 7 forms of apostasy against God. As they are suffering under Philistia and Ammon they cry out to God for relief. But here’s the thing. God sees our hearts. Israel has not genuinely repented of their sin, but are asking God to take away the suffering. In all the other instances when Israel repented, God was not angry with them … but now He is. They are playing God like He’s a patsy – a Divine Patsy – and He is not pleased. We can see Israel’s false confession and repentance in what they say:

Judges 10:10 We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.

Israel confessed that they “served the Baals” (see verse 6. BAALIM is the plural of Baal). They served MORE than the BAALIM. They served ASHTEROTH, as well as the gods of Syria (Astarte or Athtart) the gods of Sidon (Melquat), the gods of Moab (Chemosh and Milcom), the gods of the sons of Ammon (Molech), the gods of the Philistines (Dagon the fish god). Israel confessed ONE god, but were following seven abominations.

God delivered Israel out of the hands of the seven nations that created these false gods – and Israel was worshiping them and would not repent!

This is why God told Israel “ye have forsaken Me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.” They were not serving just Baalim – and they had not repented. God will not forgive an excuse nor a lie. God told His people:

Judges 10:14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

God allowed Israel to experience the sickness of their sin. He told them, “go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen over Me – call on them to save you”. The Enduring Word Commentary notes:

“One technique used to help people stop smoking is to put them in a small, unventilated room and make them smoke for hours on end, until they can hardly bear it. It makes them sick of smoking and makes them truly want to stop. In the same way, sometimes God will allow the natural consequences of our sin to crash upon us in concentrated form, so we can become sick of our sin.”

God did not hate Israel, no more than a moral parent who punishes their child hates the child. God hated punishing Israel, but knew that failure to punish would cause them to follow ever darker paths. Israel suffered under the hands of the Ammonites and Philistines until they sincerely repented.

Judges 10:15-16 And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

What does genuine repentance look like? First, there is confession of sin. Israel said, “We have sinned”. The Bible says:

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

The word “confess” is a Greek compound metanoeo, which means “to say the same thing about”. When we come to God and say, “Yes Lord, what I did WAS A SIN”, then God is free to forgive us our sin. Israel did not qualify their remark, nor did they maker an excuse. They just said, “Lord, We’ve SINNED”.

Secondly, Israel submitted to the goodness of God. They said, “do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee”. Lord, I deserve a whipping. I’ll take whatever punishment You want me to have. I just want to be back in fellowship with You! The Bible promises:

Isaiah 55:6-7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Repentance is to stop walking YOUR way, and walking WITH God in HIS way. Ty Gooch, the Senior Pastor of Fellowship Life Bible Church (Greater Chicago) notes:

“Christians who have genuinely repented seek to live in the light (1 John 1:5–7) and to avoid ungodliness because repentance requires not only forsaking sin but also putting on Christ (Romans 13:14). It demands that we turn away from debauchery and turning toward God by putting on Christ (Colossians 3:1–17). Practically, putting on Christ involves serving the Lord and others, and studying God’s Word. Putting in Christ means increasing fellowship, singing, praying, and setting our mind on the things above—primarily through fellowship in our local church. This process will take time, and we’ll continue to make missteps. But when God brings someone to repentance, the fruit will be evident over time (Luke 6:43–45).”

When Israel falsely repented God said “I will deliver you no more” (Judges 10:13). But once Israel “put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord”, what did God do? The Bible says:

Judges 10:16 his soul was grieved for
the misery of Israel

The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary notes:

“Jehovah could no longer look down upon the misery of Israel; He was obliged to help. The change in the purpose of God does not imply any changeableness in the divine nature; it simply concerns the attitude of God towards His people, or the manifestation of the divine love to man. In order to bend the sinner at all, the love of God must withdraw its helping hand and make men feel the consequences of their sin and rebelliousness, that they may forsake their evil ways and turn to the Lord their God. When this end has been attained, the same divine love manifests itself as pitying and helping grace. Punishments and benefits flow from the love of God, and have for their object the happiness and well-being of men.”

Israel turned away from the thief of their sin nature, and put away their false gods to serve the Living God. The love of God will NEVER bless sin – EVER. What He has said is evil, will always be evil. What God has declared is GOOD will always be GOOD. You cannot blend evil into Christianity and still call it Christianity. What does the Scripture say?

1 John 1:7 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.

God did not save us so we can walk with the thief of sin. He saved us from our sins so that we can walk in the Light with Him, both now and forever more. As Israel has repented and begun to serve God, they come together to do battle with the Ammonites.

Judges 10:17-18 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. 18 And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

Upon their repentance (Then) God acted, and “gathered together”. The Enduring Word Commentary notes:

“God’s pattern for doing great works among His people is to raise up a man. He could do the work all by Himself; He could send angels to do the work for Him; He could use a leaderless mob or a committee. Yet God’s normal means of operating is to raise up a man, and through that man to do a great work. God uses leaders.”

God will raise up a judge called Jephthah to deliver Israel from their enemies. We’ll study him next week. May God bless you all as you grow in Him. Amen and Amen.

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