Will You Go Or Will You Stay?

Posted on June 9, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by MART PRODUCTION: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-statue-of-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus-7219506/

John 6:66-71 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

God Save Us From “Consumer Christians”

The crowd grew in Capernaum, flooding the synagogue there, as people flocked to see Jesus. They wanted to be fed without working, to be healed without condition, to be saved without condition. They wanted what Jesus had and what Jesus offered, but did not want a life WITH Jesus. They wanted what many

“Christians” in America today want
a “Consumer Christianity”!

Jesus doe not offer a “Consumer Christianity” where we are to be pleased regardless as to the glory of God. Jesus demanded something else. He wanted people to believe in Him for life just as they believed in FOOD for life. He wanted people to bind to Him, to hear Him, to live by His Words, to follow His commandments. Jesus said:

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

When Jesus made it clear that faith in Him meant walking with Him and feeding on Him, the Bible says:

John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Word Study: The word “disciples” is the Greek μαθητής mathētḗs, {pronounced math-ay-tes’}, which means “learner, pupils”. Jesus had a large following as long as He was giving them things, meeting their tewmporal needs. But when Jesus began to demand allegiance and loyalty, they decided they would rather be somewhere else. Jesus demanded that His disciples follow Him for HIS sake. Jesus called to people – and calls today “Come, follow Me”. There is no Christian unless there is a following of Christ. When Jesus called Matthew the Tax Collector to follow Him, the Bible says:

Matthew 9:9 Jesus … saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

Matthew was sitting collecting taxes from the people – a table filled with money in front of him. When Jesus called Matthew saying “Follow me”, Matthew immediately left that table and followed Jesus. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus. The Bible tells us that another time a fellow told Jesus:

Matthew 8:21 … Lord, {allow} me first to go and bury my father.

The man’s father was NOT DEAD YET (according to the commentaries I read), but was elderly and near the end of life. This man had a legitimate reason, he thought, to put off serving Christ. Yet this is not what Christ calls us to. Jesus told this man:

Matthew 8:22 … Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Those Who Are Spiritually Alive Follow Jesus

Those who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior are spiritually dead, just as we all are from the time we leave the womb and are physically born into this life (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:1-3). Those without Christ have the wrath of God hanging over them:

John 3:36 (NASB 95) He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

1 John 5:12 (NASB 95) He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

The lost who do not know Christ are but temporary disciples. They come to Jesus for THINGS and STUFF that pass away, but care nothing of friendship with God or fellowship with the Spirit. As these false disciples leave, Jesus asks:

John 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

As Jesus speaks to the twelve original disciples – those who first followed Him – He asks “Will ye also go away?”. My Commentary notes:

“As John phrases our Lord’s question in Greek, he implies that it was not asked in a mood of despair; the use of the Greek negative me in a question indicates that the answer ‘No’ is expected. ‘You don’t want to go away too, do you?’” (F. F. Bruce)

Jesus knows the hearts of the twelve that are following Him – even Judas Iscariot. Jesus knows that eleven of His disciples – soon to be Apostles – had given their hearts and their allegiance to Him. So as Jesus asked “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”, He expected a sincere “no” answer from eleven men. Peter spoke up:

John 6:68 … Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Saving Faith Is A Know So Faith

In these few words Peter makes a wonderful statement of true faith:

  • Saving Faith recognizes Jesus as LORD. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh, taking the most Holy Name of God to Himself. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58). Jesus declared Himself the very Son of God. The Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18). It is one thing to SAY you believe, but another thing to BELIEVE. When Jesus said the hard things, the false disciples walked away, never walking with Jesus again. But those who truly believed in Christ unto salvation stayed with Him. J. V. Fesko notes in his essay The Doctrine of Saving Faith:

“I can go to the airport and recognize the fact that there is an airplane in front of me. I can acknowledge the fact that the airplane and its pilot can hurtle down the runway and leap into the air for sustained flight. I can study the principles of aeronautics and comprehend that when air rushes over a curved surface it creates lift, which thus enables the airplane to fly. But I must trust the airplane and its pilot, board the aircraft, take my seat, and ride the airplane in order to demonstrate my faith in it. A bare knowledge of Christ and his claims is insufficient for salvation. We must trust that he is the only way to be saved from our sin and the only one who can give eternal life.”

Will you go away with the crowd, or stay with Jesus? If Jesus is Lord then you will follow Him whether you understand all things or not. “This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29). God the Father sent Jesus to lead His people from Hell and Hellish behavior to Heaven and Heavenly behavior. God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus is Lord, as God the Father is Lord.

Receiving Jesus is not just saying a “sinner’s prayer”, but it is a repentance, turning from being lord of your life to giving yourself to Christ’s Lordship.

The Scripture says in Romans 10:9 (ESV), “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” When Peter preached his first sermon, he preached:

Acts 2:36 (NET) Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.

Jesus is BOTH LORD and CHRIST. He is LORD of His people, and “saves His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). But Jesus is also CHRIST, the Messiah come to save us from our sins.

  • Peter not only recognized Jesus as LORD, but recognized Jesus is the PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE. “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” Only Jesus has the words of eternal life, the words that will last and lead to eternity. Peter next makes an assumption that is not true:

John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Peter speaking for the group notes that they together believe that Jesus alone is the Christ, the Messiah sent of God, the Son of God. What Peter is saying is a revelation that can only come from God. In another place Jesus asks His disciples,

Matthew 16:15 … whom say ye that I am?

Peter replies, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus tells Peter,

Matthew 16:17 … Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

The knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God can only come through the Father. God must reveal this truth to us all. Peter said:

we believe and are sure
that thou art that Christ

Word Study: Saving faith has these two elements. “we believe” is the Greek pisteuō, which means “to put our trust in, to commit our lives to, to believe or rest in”. Then Peter continues with, “and are sure”. This is the Greek ginōskō, which means “to come to know, to have a certain and intimate knowledge of”. There is no such thing as a “hope so” salvation. The Christian has been convinced that Christ is the only reasonable alternative to what the world and Satan offers. But Peter goes a little too far when he says, “and WE are SURE”. And Jesus corrects him:

John 6:70-71 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

Lessons Learned From Judas Iscariot

Jesus CHOSE and CALLED OUT these original twelve men to follow Him. Yet one of these men was specifically chosen because his faith was misplaced and false. This man was “Judas Iscariot the son of Simon”. Jesus did not accidentally choose Judas. We were told:

John 6:64 … Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

Jesus chose Judas Iscariot, knowing that he would betray Him to the Cross. Why?

1 Scripture is truth, and cannot be broken. It was prophesied in

Psalm 41:9 (ESV) … My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me.

The Messiah would be betrayed to death – used of Satan to crush Him – by a close friend. Judas Iscariot was chosen by Jesus on purpose. Jesus said in:

John 13:17-19 (ESV) If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

One of the chief proofs that Jesus is the Messiah promised from the Old Testament prophecies is that he was betrayed of Judas. When Peter would later recount Judas’ fall from grace, he would say …

Acts 1:16 (ESV) Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

As Jesus headed toward the Cross, every prophecy of the coming Messiah had to be fulfilled in Jesus’ life. One Commentary notes that:

“Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry.”

2 God uses broken and sinful people to accomplish His glorious purposes on the earth. Every account and action in the Bible shows us a point of view from God or from man. Looking at it from a human standpoint, Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus with a kiss is despicable, the act of a coward and a thug and a thief. The fact that Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver is horrible. An innocent man died on the Cross because of Judas and the religious Pharisees who encouraged him. But looking at this from God’s viewpoint, what happened was controlled and contributed to by God. Jesus said

John 10:17-18 (ESV) For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

Though Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, he could not have done as he did had not the Lord allowed it and decreed it. When Peter and John were threatened with harm if they continued to preach Christ, they prayed:

Acts 4:27-28 (ESV) … for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

It is the will of God that took control of the situation. What “Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel” did – which was to crucify an innocent Man – was an action that God decreed and God ordained. God is over all!

3 In Judas Iscariot we see that there are different types of faith. Spiritual giftedness is no evidence of saving faith. The Bible tells us in:

Matthew 10:1-4 (ESV) {Jesus} called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Every one of the original twelve – which includes Judas Iscariot – were given equal power of God to cast out demons, to heal diseases and afflictions.

Just being a great preacher or a miracle worker does not mean that you are saved. Salvation is based on being known of Christ. Jesus said:

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

As a pastor I meet other pastors, both ex-pastors as well as in service pastors. Several years ago I met a pastor who had previously shepherded a Church that I was now in. The man bragged to me how he got into a fist fight – on Church grounds – with another deacon over some trivial matter. This scripture came to my mind while he was speaking. There are many who PROFESS Christ, even in pulpits, but do not POSSESS a relationship with Him by faith. He must be BOTH your LORD and SAVIOR, or you are DAMNED.

4 Though God uses the broken and sinful to accomplish His will, God is not to blame for YOUR sin. When Judas watched Christ being crucified, he came back to the Pharisees and Priests and tried to give the 30 pieces of silver back. He said:

Matthew 27:4 (ESV) … “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”

5 And finally, in Judas we see that putting your love into temporal things can bring about eternal damnation. Each disciple that followed Jesus had a responsibility to both Jesus as well as to the group. Judas’ responsibility was to look after the purse or the treasury of the twelve. When Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, the Bible says:

John 12:4-6 (ESV) … Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Judas Iscariot began to put the things of the world above the things of God. What about YOU? Have YOU put your earthly job, your earthly paycheck above your service to Jesus? Have YOU settled your heart on the temporal rather than the eternal? Pastor John Piper writes:

“Judas loved money more than he loved Jesus. That’s horrific, unbelievable, unspeakably evil. It should make every one of us tremble at the thought of the power that money has in our lives to blind us to what is true and beautiful and precious. So, when Judas got his chance, thirty pieces of silver is all it took to sell the very Son of God.”

Jesus warned us against the mindset of Judas Iscariot. Jesus said:

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

Judas’ heart was in money, in that which is temporary, fleeting. In time, Judas followed his heart to a horrible death. Oh that God would lead each of my readers to Christ, to His blessed embrace. May His Holy Spirit open your eyes to Christ, and lead you, like Peter and the other ten, to cling to Him no matter what. Amen and Amen.

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

Sin Blinds, Binds, and Grinds

Posted on June 6, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Chait Goli: https://www.pexels.com/photo/colosseum-italy-1797161/

Judges 16:18-21 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he {Did not know} that the Lord was departed from him. 21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Sin Can Cause A Believer To Be Castaway

People today think that what God says is “sin” is nothing at all. In fact, some demand the right to sin. We have become so enamored of sexual sin in America that the month of June is “Pride Month”. The first “Pride March” was held on June 28, 1970 in New York City. We have decided to be “Proud” of what God has said is against nature (Romans 1:18-27), a natural result of unrestrained idolatry.

Samson was the twelveth Judge of Israel mentioned in the Book of Judges. Two other Judges, Eli and Samuel, are discussed in 1 Samuel. The Judges were to save Israel from their enemies and to lead them toward obedience to God. As Judges go, Samson was the strongest – but he was probably one of the most disobedient to God. Though a Nazarite from birth (Judges 13:5) from Danite parents, Samson toyed with sexual sin and disobedience. Though Samson is held up as a man of faith in the New Testament:

Hebrews 11:32 (ESV) And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—

Samson took his faith in God for granted. He did not stay true to his Nazarite vows. Christians are to stay true to their vows before God. The day you were saved, you were “set apart” to serve God, not yourself. The Apostle Paul warns the Church:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

I wonder is Paul was thinking of Judas Iscariot or Samson when he wrote these words? Samson did not take his Nazarite vows seriously. One of the requirements of the Nazarite was:

Numbers 6:6 (ESV) All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.

And yet Samson ate honey out of a lion’s carcass (Judges 14:8-9), and killed 1000 Philistines with the freshly killed jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15). He was supposed to avoid dead bodies! Yet Samson toyed with his vows.

In Gaza, a Philistine stronghold Samson hired a prostitute (Judges 16:1). It was not long after this that Samson went from an unnamed prostitute to a betraying Delilah.

Samson told Delilah – after some time – that the secret to his strength was his long hair. One of the key provisions of the Nazarite was that “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long” (Numbers 6:5). When Samson told Delilah that part of his vow to God was that his hair not be cut, he fell asleep on her lap. It is possible that Delilah drugged Samson, for the Scripture tells us that Delilah MADE SAMSON SLEEP. He was in such a deep sleep that Delilah was able to call a barber …

Judges 16:19 she called for a man, and she caused him
to shave off the seven locks of his head

Delilah had a barber shave Samson’s head – she didn’t do it herself. Perhaps she felt less guilty doing it this way, or perhaps she was just cold blooded. When his head was bare, Delilah cried out “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson”. As Samson woke up, he didn’t panic. The Bible says that

Judges 16:20 {Samson} {Did not know} that the Lord was departed from him

These are some of the saddest words in the Bible. Samson thought that he could play with sin, wake up, and shake it off like he did so many times before. But the devil crept up on him. You may get away with sin for a time, dear soul, but it will eventually catch up to you.

Illustrate: I heard about two boys who loved to eat duck, but were too poor to own a gun. These boys tried swimming up to the ducks in the local pond to try and catch them, but try as they might the ducks would see them coming and take off. One day they thought … let’s get some pumpkins and toss them into the pond. They did this, and the floating pumpkins bobbed in the water for several days until the ducks got used to them. Then the boys hollowed out two pumpkins, put eye holes in them, and eased themselves into the water. In a short time the boys had caught all the ducks they could possibly eat!

Sin is just like this. Satan is just like this. He sneaks up on us, and bobs around like a floating pumpkin. Then one day … LOOK OUT! Samson thought he would do as before, but this time the Philistines were ready – for God was no longer with Samson!

Sin BLINDS, Sin BINDS, and Sin BLINDS

Judges 16:21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

This verse is a natural three part sermon! Look what sin did with Samson.

Sin BLINDED Samson.
Sin BINDED Samson.
Sin GRINDED Samson.

The Bible says in Numbers 32:23, “be sure YOUR SIN will find you out”. Samson played with sin for 20 years, for he judged Israel for 20 years before the Philistines got him. Many of you think that God will be mocked. There was a time when you were faithful to God, but then you drifted, skipping the fellowship of the Saints, making up lies to justify why you no longer worship the Lord with others. And just like Samson every day you wake up, feeling safe in the arms of Delilah, thinking everything will always be fine.

Sin BLINDS you!

You think you are Heaven bound, but you have none of the characteristics of the Child of God. The Child of God has two royal laws that MUST be followed:

Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV) {Jesus} said … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

The first commandment is that you are to love God with your ALL. If Samson had loved God with his ALL, he would not have laid in the arms of Delilah. The second commandment is that you are to LOVE OTHERS the way that YOU WANT TO BE LOVED. It is NOT to be selfish, nor to be a liar. The Nazarite vow was to NOT CUT YOUR HAIR, but to dedicate yourself to God. The Christian vow is to dedicate yourself unto God. What does the Scripture say?

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Sin BINDS you!

Judges 16:21 {the Philistines} brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass

Samson liked beautiful, bejeweled women. It is poetic that he was bound with shiny “fetters of brass”, like jeweled bracelets!

When Samson was blinded, he was also bound and brought right back where he first started chasing prostitutes. It was in Gaza that he met a prostitute, and it was from Gaza that Samson went onward (or downward) to find Delilah and the devil. Our Lord Jesus told us:

John 8:34 (ESV) … Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

There are no exceptions.

The alcoholic became an alcoholic by taking the first drink.
The sexual sinner became bound to their lusts the first time
they experimented with the flesh.
The drug addict took a “sample”, that led to the horrors of addiction.
The murderer shed first blood, and would not repent.

EVERYONE who “practices sin is a slave to sin”. The Apostle said:

Romans 6:16 (ESV) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

When you abandon your Church and ignore God, you become a servant of sin. There are many antichrists in this world that have no function other than to entice you to evil. Peter warned the Church to be careful of these false prophets, saying …

2 Peter 2:14-19 (ESV) They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

Sin would make sport of Samson, just as sin makes sport of you now. There will come a day when – unexpectedly – the Philistine of death will bind you. Will God be with you – or will you meet death without the Lord?

Sin GRINDS you!

Judges 16:21 … and he did grind in the prison house.

Word Study: People think that sin is fun, but it is not fun. It GRINDS, then it KILLS. The word translated “grind” here is the Hebrew ṭāḥan, which means “to crush, to subjugate, to chew up, to make into a concubine”. Samson spent his days when he should have been glorifying God chasing after prostitutes and Philistine women. Now he has become a statistic in human trafficking. He is the devil’s whore. “Do not be deceived – God is not mocked: whatsoever you SOW, you shall also REAP” (Galatians 6:7-8). Samson has become a plaything of the enemy.

But Thank God Our Lord Is Gracious!

Judges 16:22-25 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

I have heard professing Christians say, “What does it matter – who am I hurting but myself?” You are hurting the cause of Christ when you let yourself chase sin and sloth. The Philistines had a party with Samson. After abusing Samson in the prison, grinding his body and soul down daily, they had a national celebration saying “Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand”.

In America We Have A “Pride” Month. The Philistines Had A “Samson” Month. How Did That Turn Out?

Dagon was the true God, and Jehovah but a hoax! Samson was grinding wheat in the prison, wheat that fed the bellies of the unbeliever. Now they brought Samson out so they could celebrate their great victory!

Judges 16:26-27 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

As Samson was led out and chained to the pillars of the Coliseum – a place where the Philistines could mock and celebrate – he asked a young boy to put his hands upon the columns. He claimed that he was too weak to stand, so they lengthened the chains so he could grasp what held him. The Bible tells us that:

Judges 16:28-31 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

Samson never repented of his infidelity to God, but he prayed that God would allow him to punish the Philistines for taking his eyes. Samson was willing to die as long as the enemy died with him – he was like a modern day suicide bomber, or a Japanese Kamikaze pilot from World War II. My commentary notes:

“Samson was a hero, even mentioned among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 (Hebrews 11:32). Yet there is no glorification of Samson and his end … Instead, Samson was a tragic hero, whose life should have ended much differently.”

We can learn one thing from Samson – suicide is a sin, for it is self murder. Yet it is obviously NOT an unforgivable sin, as it was God the Holy Spirit Who gave Samson power to topple the beams of the coliseum. Jesus warned us as His sheep to avoid Satan, for Satan is a thief …

John 10:10 (ESV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus came that we might live out our lives in Him and in power. But sadly, many who profess Christ wander away from Him. They lose their power, their blessing, and sometimes their lives. When Jesus shared with us the Parable of the Vine, He warned us:

John 15:6 (ESV) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

This was the life of Samson. The twelveth Judge, he did not abide in Christ, but chased sexual sin. In the end he was thrown away like a dead branch, gathered and thrown into the fire. His end could have been so much more!

A Time Of No Judges, No Kings, And Hired Preachers

As we come to the last 5 chapters of Judges (Judges 17-21), we do not see Judges being raised up by God but the utter corruption of the people when all godly leadership is removed. Israel began to blend their faith with the false gods of the people around them. Chapter 17 starts with a man who stole from his godless mother, a man named Micah:

Judges 17:1-3 And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. 3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

As we come to chapter 17 we are introduced to a man named “Micah”, the Hebrew “Mîykâhûw” which means “Who is like God”. Yet this man is NOT like God. He has stolen 1100 shekels of silver from his own widowed mother. When she found the 1100 shekels were gone (this is equivalent to what each of the five Lords of the Philistines paid Delilah to betray Samson) she “cursed the thief” not knowing it was her son that did the stealing. Micah on hearing this gave the money back to his mother. My commentary notes:

“Nearly all of the Ten Commandments are broken in Jud 17:1—21:25 (Epilogues I and II): other gods and idols are worshiped (17:3-5); Yahweh’s name is taken in vain (17:13); parents are dishonored (17:1-2); innocent victims are slain (18:27; 19:26-29; 21:10); adultery and rape are committed (19:22-25); others’ property is stolen (17:2; 18:21-27); false witness is borne (20:1-7); and what belongs to a neighbor is coveted (18:27-31; 21:8-24).”[Kuruvilla, p. 250. See also Olson, 2:864-65.] Whereas Judges chapters 3—16 record Israel’s struggles with her external enemies, chapters 17—21 document the internal conditions of the nation that made her so weak. In chapters 17—18 we see Israel abandoning God, and in chapters 19—21 we see her destroying herself.

When Micah returns the money to his mother, she reveals that the purpose of the silver was to make a graven image to worship. This may have been an image of a false god (like Baal or Ashtoreth), or it could have been an image that represented the God of the Scripture. The mother said “I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord”, whereas the word “Lord” is the Hebrew Yᵊhōvâ or Jehovah. It sounds as if she was making an image to represent the God of Scripture. Yet the Lord told us in the first of the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:4-5 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God …

When Aaron made Israel a golden calf to worship at Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:4-5), it was his sincere desire to represent the God of the Scripture. But the God of the Bible demands that we worship not an image or an idol, but as Jesus said:

John 4:23 … the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God demands that we follow Him through His Word, by what He has said for us to do. When we begin to worship images, it will not be long before we depart from God entirely. When Micah took the 1100 shekels of silver back from his mother, notice what he did:

Judges 17:4-5 Yet {Micah} restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

ALL of the money was dedicated to God, according to his mother. But when it came time to make the idol, the mother only took “two hundred shekels of silver” to make the idol. Once Micah had an idol to worship, he made more gods to follow. We read “Micah had an house of gods”. Having many gods to worship, Micah needed a priest. So Micah made some priestly clothing. He made an “ephod”, a ceremonial breastplate worn by priests as they led people in worship. The “teraphim” are tiny hand held gods or objects used in worshiping the gods. In Genesis 31 Rachel steals the teraphim belonging to her father Laban when her husband Jacob escapes. Teraphim were about the size of G.I. Joe or Barbie dolls, and were small enough to put in the pocket.

Micah creates idols to worship. He then creates the uniform and accessories of the priest. Finally, Micah creates a priest by making one of his own children to be a priest. This is absolutely in violation of God’s ordinance. The priests of Israel were to come from Aaron and his progeny:

Numbers 3:10 and you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.

Anyone not of the House of Levi was forbidden to be a priest. But Micah – a man from the Tribe of Ephraim (one of Joseph’s progeny) – made his son a priest. But Micah did not care. Why? We end with this:

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

There was “no king in Israel”. Every person determined right and wrong based on what they thought – not based on God’s Word. Sadly, this is the direction America is rapidly going. May God get hold of His people before we run off the cliff as a nation. Next week we’ll return to this study. Amen and Amen.

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

He That Doeth Good Is Of God

Posted on June 6, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Tobias Bjørkli: https://www.pexels.com/photo/rock-formation-2335126/

What Is Truth?

Please turn with me in your Bibles to 3 John. We’ve been studying through the Books of John the last few weeks, and one of the main themes is “What is the TRUTH”? In our world today, people teach that truth is FLUID. You have YOUR truth, and I have MY truth. As long as YOUR and MY truth do not conflict, we can just be happy in OUR OWN TRUTH.

When Pilate ordered an innocent Jesus crucified, he justified his actions with the words “What is truth?”

But is truth FLUID? The world would have you believe this. A quick search on Google finds this:

“Our body always knows first what our truth is… trust it. And, when you don’t trust it, acknowledge that too. Because it will reinforce to the Universe that you are listening to you, your higher-self, your intuition, source [whatever name resonates with you]. Remember, you have to know a truth from within not be told the truth. Get out of your head and feel into your body for what resonates now, not what should or could, but what does.”

So basically TRUTH is what you FEEL is true. This is what the world teaches today. Recently an obese man who identifies as a woman went into a YMCA (which stands for Young Men’s Christian Association – so it used to be Christian), into a female restroom, and was arrested for three counts of indecent exposure. The new report states:

“A judge ruled that a transgender woman {Darren Glines}could not have indecently exposed her penis in a YMCA female changing room after agreeing with her claim that she’s too fat for it to be visible. … Judge David McNamee said that there was ‘little dispute as to the facts of the case’ as Glines was authorized by the Executive Director of the YMC to use the women’s locker room. … Jacqueline Brockman said that Glines was allowed to use the facilities at all of the Greater Dayton area YMCA locations. {Lawyers representing Glines stated} ‘It’s unfortunate not only for her, but for the entire community, that the filing of these charges ever occurred. ‘We are grateful that the rule of law and the truth prevailed so that… Glines and the community can move on in peace.’”

You may be tired of hearing about stuff like this, but it’s going to get worst if we do not stand up for what is truth. Truth is not fluid, not based on feelings. As John writes in today’s text:

3 John 1-4 The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. {2} Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. {3} For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. {4} I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Christians Should Have No Problem
Understanding What TRUTH Is

John’s third letter starts being addressed to “the well beloved Gaius”. Who is “Gaius”? First of all, the name itself is a Gentile Name. When God sent His Son into the world to save the world, the Bible tells us that the Gospel came to ALL PEOPLE. This poor, deluded man who thinks he is a woman – Jesus gave His life for him, too.

What is so sad is that – in our world today – we are PROUD of the things we should be ashamed of, but ASHAMED of the things we should be proud of.

The Apostles said,

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

The Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation” to those who receive it. This man and others deluded by sexual sin and “feelings” need Jesus. They need the Word of God. Truth is NOT fluid, but is FIXED by God. GAIUS is a GENTILE, a man who was very Roman, very NOT JEWISH, but a man who knew Jesus. We know this because he is called “the well beloved Gaius”. This is ONE OF SEVEN DESIGNATIONS GIVEN TO THE CHRISTIAN in this small book.

1. Christians are BELOVED:

BELOVED Gaius (verse 1)
BELOVED (verses 5 & 11)

2. Christians are BRETHREN:

(Verses 3, 5, &10)

3. Christians are CHILDREN of God:

My CHILDREN walk in truth (verse 4)

4. Christians are STRANGERS to this world:

and to STRANGERS (verse 5)

5. Christians are together the CHURCH:

(verses 6, 9&10)

6. Christians are FELLOW WORKERS to the truth:

(verse 8)

7. Christians are FRIENDS to one another:

(verse 14)

All of these designations are shared by Christians because of what Jesus Christ did for us IN TRUTH. Gaius is a Gentile, and was a very common name among the Romans. But as the Gospel went out in the early days of the Church, we see GAIUS and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, suffered alongside of the Apostle Paul in sharing the Gospel (Acts 19:29). As Paul was persecuted, Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus – all Gentiles (Acts 20:4) stood next to the Jewish Paul and preached the truth found in Christ. Paul commended “GAIUS MINE HOST” (Romans 16:23), and when he addressed the Church at Corinth stated:

1 Corinthians 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius …

When Christ was first presented to Rome, the Emperor decreed it a heresy, and Christians to be enemies of the state. So the early Church was persecuted, not only by the Jewish Pharisees who hated Christ, but by the Romans as well. The Romans, like Americans today, were immersed in sexual sin, both homosexual and heterosexual, as well as bestial and pedophilia. Yet as the Gospel went out it changed where it touched. We read again:

3 John 1 The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

John loved Gaius IN THE TRUTH. Not in HIS TRUTH, nor in ROME’S TRUTH, but in THE TRUTH. What is THE TRUTH? THE TRUTH is established by Jesus. Jesus said:

John 14:6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Truth is NOT RELATIVE, NOR is truth FLUID.
Truth is FIXED to God the Son.

Jesus said that He is THE WAY, the Greek ho hodos, the highway you walk on, the journey you take. There are many different pathways that people take, but if you want to go where TRUTH is, you must follow CHRIST. It is not optional to follow Christ. He is THE WAY to truth, THE WAY to God. The Bible says:

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Those who believe truth is fluid FEEL that their way is right. But their way leads to DEATH. 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.

Jesus is the NARROW GATE that leads to life. He is the Highway to peace with God, and joy everlasting. The WIDE GATE is the way of the world, the MULTIPLE FLUID TRUTHS that Satan pronounces and false prophets decree. There is no joy in that. Jesus is the WAY.

John 14:6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is not only THE WAY, but He is THE TRUTH. You will not find TRUTH apart from Christ. As John spoke to Gaius, he said:

2 John 1 … Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

There is no true love involved if you are loving someone IN A LIE. If a person comes to God apart from Christ the LEAST of their concerns is their sexual arrogance. Apart from Jesus, your life has NO TRUTH, or WARPED TRUTH. Apart from Jesus, the sinner will descend into the GREATEST of sins. Apart from Jesus, the religious will be consumed of evil. It is Jesus Who is the WAY unto God, but He is also the TRUTH, the FIXED TRUTH we walk in. And finally,

John 14:6 … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is “the life” of God. Jesus said told the Pharisees who had the Law:

John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

You cannot have LIFE apart from Jesus. The devil and the world comes to a person and offers them a type of life, a false sort of life. But this false life from Satan is just his bid to rob you of God’s best. 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.

If you are in Christ, walking by His Word and living by His side, you will have a blessed life. Why?

Those who are in Christ are bound together BY ONE SPIRIT:

1 Corinthians 12:13 … whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

You have been MADE TO DRINK INTO ONE SPIRIT. Those who are saved, are Holy Spirit indwelt. Those who are saved are …

Galatians 3:26-28 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. {27} For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. {28} There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus

Because you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are …

Romans 8:17 … heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Once Gaius gave his life to Jesus, he began to walk with Jesus, and try to be like Jesus. But Gaius also POSITIONALLY BECAME a Child of God because of Jesus. We who are saved are “joint-heirs with Christ”. We are to inherit HEAVEN one day, but PERSECUTION today. Whereas we were strangers and foreigners to God (Ephesians 2:19), we who are saved are bow “fellowcitizens with the Saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

Because we follow Jesus, in this world we are STRANGERS and PILGRIMS. We do not give in to sexual sin or “Pride Month”, but as Children of God stand with Jesus in the truth.

1 Peter 2:11-12 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your {Way of Life} honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

As Children of God we are to stand with Christ, and to share the Gospel in love to all. But we are to not give in to the lies of Satan. We are to walk in the truth.

There Is No PHYSICAL Prosperity If There
Is No SPIRITUAL Prosperity

3 John 2-4 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. {3} For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. {4} I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

If the SOUL is misaligned, the BODY will be misaligned. If the SOUL prospers, the BODY will prosper. The TRUTH is something not just alleged, but something you live by. C.H. Spurgeon wrote in his devotional Morning and Evening:

The truth was in Gaius, and Gaius walked in the truth. If the first had not been the case, the second could never have occurred; and if the second could not be said of him the first would have been a mere pretense. Truth must enter into the soul, penetrate and saturate it, or else it is of no value. Doctrines held as a matter of creed are like bread in the hand, which ministers no nourishment to the frame; but doctrine accepted by the heart, is as food digested, which, by assimilation, sustains and builds up the body. In us truth must be a living force, an active energy, an indwelling reality, a part of the woof and warp of our being. If it be in us, we cannot henceforth part with it. A man may lose his garments or his limbs, but his inward parts are vital, and cannot be torn away without absolute loss of life. A Christian can die, but he cannot deny the truth. Now it is a rule of nature that the inward affects the outward, as light shines from the center of the lantern through the glass: when, therefore, the truth is kindled within, its brightness soon beams forth in the outward life and conversation. It is said that the food of certain worms colors the cocoons of silk which they spin: and just so the nutriment upon which a man’s inward nature lives gives a tinge to every word and deed proceeding from him. To walk in the truth, imports a life of integrity, holiness, faithfulness, and simplicity—the natural product of those principles of truth which the gospel teaches, and which the Spirit of God enables us to receive. We may judge of the secrets of the soul by their manifestation in the man’s conversation. Be it ours to-day, O gracious Spirit, to be ruled and governed by thy divine authority, so that nothing false or sinful may reign in our hearts, lest it extend its malignant influence to our daily walk among men.

If you are walking in the truth with Christ, then you can rest assured that where ever you are you are in the right place. When Daniel was commanded not to pray, and clearly heard the command of the King, what did he do?

Daniel 6:10 (NIV) Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Daniel was not mounting a BOYCOTT nor a PUBLICITY STUNT, nor even trying to INCITE A RIOT. Daniel matter of factually heard what the King decreed, that God would not be prayed to, then did “just as he had done before”. If a man walks into this Church and tells me “call me a woman”, I refuse to do so. Not because I’m trying to hurt his feelings. But because WHAT HE SAYS IS UNTRUE. If a person comes up to me and says, “call me THEY”, I refuse to do so. Why? Because what this person thinks is factually untrue. What can I expect? What did Daniel expect?

Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den. And Daniel went to sleep on a bunch of hungry lions, because as Daniel said:

Daniel 6:22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

We are called of God as Christians to stand in the truth of Christ. The world will not like this. Rome didn’t like it when Gaius gave his life to Jesus, and America won’t like it when you refuse to follow the foolish lies of Satan. And yet, dear ones,

this is what we must do.

God wants His Children to “walk in truth”. Not as the world defines truth, but as Jesus defines truth. What did Jesus pray for His Church?

John 17:15-17 (ESV) I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

This Bible is truth. What God has left us in this Holy Text is Truth. We are to cling to it, no matter what. Let us close with this:

3 John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

If you do evil as God defines evil, you HAVE NOT SEEN GOD. You are not saved. If you are not walking in Christ’s truth, you are not a child of God. One of the greatest Evangelists is Billy Graham. When Billy was 16 years old, Evangelist Mordecai Ham was preaching a revival meeting in Charlotte North Carolina. Mordecai started his sermon with “There’s a great sinner in this place tonight”. The Holy Spirit took that arrow, and drove it into Billy’s heart. Here are some of the words Mordecai said:

“There are a lot of Christians who are halfway fellows. They stand in the door, holding on to the Church with one hand while they play with the toys of the world with the other. They are in the doorway and we can’t bring sinners in. And, until we get some of God’s people right, we cannot hope to get sinners regenerated. Now they always accuse me of carrying around a sledge hammer with which to pound the church members. Yes sir, I do pound them, every time I come down, I knock one of the halfway fellows out of the doorway, and every time I knock one out I get a sinner in”.

That’s another way of saying what John said. “He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God”. Where is your life oriented? Are you following Jesus, or are you following the world and Satan? What is TRUTH to you? What are you doing about it? If you are saved, your life is changed. You are no longer enslaved to sin, but are bound to the Savior (Romans 6:14-18).

May God the Holy Spirit draw each and every one to Christ today. Amen and Amen!

Posted in 3 John, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are You A USER, Or Is Christ Your TREASURE?

Posted on June 2, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Jose Aragones: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-tomb-2179666/

Last week we started studying Jesus’ discourse in Capernaum. Most people consider the Sermon on the Mount one of the greatest sermons Jesus ever preached – and it was. On the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explained the policies of God’s Kingdom. But here in Capernaum, Jesus is defining how we should regard Himself. The people that followed Jesus to wanted to be fed fish and bread again, just as they had been fed in Bethsaida. Jesus wanted to explain to them – and to us – that He did not come just to fill our bellies. Jesus came to sustain our souls.

John 6:40-42 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeS the Son, and believeS on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

Saving Faith Must See Jesus As He Is

Word Study: Jesus declared that the WAY to “everlasting life” is to “see” (Greek theōreō) the Son. This word means to “perceive with the eyes”, to see Jesus as He actually is. You cannot believe on Jesus unless you first know Who He is. We are creatures that must see and perceive to believe. When Satan tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, he called on her to believe him above God. The Bible says that

Genesis 3:6 … the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes …

Before she ever plucked the fruit, she carefully examined it with her eyes. Because is looked good, Eve put her faith in Satan – and Adam followed suit. Adam WATCHED his wife carefully, and then based on what he saw he himself put his faith in the devil. And thus the fall of humanity came about.

Illustrate: The devil knows that the source of faith comes from the eyes, then the heart. If it looks good, we will often give in to Satan’s temptation, and touch the forbidden. There are some beautiful animals that live in Central and South America called poison arrow frogs or poison dart frogs. They are beautifully colored, greens and blues and tri-colored on a black skin. The golden colored frog is the most toxic, which secretes the alkaloid poison batrachotoxin. The American Museum of Natural History notes that

“The golden poison frog (Phyllobates terribilis), contains enough poison to kill 20,000 mice or 10 people. It is probably the most poisonous animal on Earth …”

To be saved, you must LOOK (theōreō) on Jesus, and perceive Him as Who He is. Then perceiving Him correctly, you embrace Him, believing on Him.

It is only Jesus Who is the Giver of “EVERLASTING LIFE”. Jesus said that – if you believe on Him – “I will raise him up at the last day”. Jesus makes this statement three times in this chapter. Here, and in …

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

There will come a day when you will die. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 9:27 …. it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Everyone will have a “LAST DAY” on this earth. Yet your soul is eternal. King Solomon wrote of our “LAST DAY” and said:

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (Berean Standard) before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

You are made in the image of God, and your soul cannot be destroyed. It will return to the God Who made it. We are made in His image (Genesis 1:27). So our bodies will cease and return to dust. But our souls will go to God. If we have received Jesus Christ as He really is – believing on Him as Messiah and Lord – then “He will RAISE US UP on the LAST DAY”. Jesus is “the bread which came down from heaven”.

Word Study: Yet the Galileans do not “see” (Greek theōreō) Jesus as God’s Bread from Heaven. They “MURMUR” (Vs 41) (Greek gongyzō), to “mutter or grumble beneath the breath”. Their reason for grumbling is found in their words: “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know”. They knew Jesus of Nazareth. Some perhaps grew up with Him. They thought that His Father was Joseph the Blacksmith, and Mary Joseph’s wife. As Jesus grew up in Nazareth He did no miracles as a child, and did not begin to function as the Messiah until He came of age and was baptized by John the Baptist. These people had not perceived or “seen” (Greek theōreō) Jesus as He truly is. There are many in this world that reject Christ, because they assume Him just another founder of another world religion. But Jesus is much more than this.

Jesus is God the Son sent of the Father to this earth to save His people from their sins.

John 6:43-44 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

These people are “grumbling and finding fault” because they are unable to see Jesus as He is. Six times in our context Jesus said that “I came DOWN FROM HEAVEN” (verses 33, 38, 41, 50, 51, 58). The Jews believed that when the Messiah came, He would come in the clouds and rescue Israel. But Jesus quietly grew up in Nazareth. So they did not receive Jesus as the True Messiah, but as a Healer perhaps. They were blind to Who Jesus really is.

Word Study: Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. The word “draw” is the Greek helkuo, which means “to take by the hand and pull near or out”. The same word is used in:

John 21:6 (ESV) … they cast {the net}, and now they were not able to HAUL (helkuo) it in, because of the quantity of fish.

John 18:10 (ESV) … Simon Peter, having a sword, DREW (helkuo) it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. …

Acts 16:19 (ESV) … they seized Paul and Silas and dragged (helkuo) them into the marketplace before the rulers.

No one can come to God unless He open our eyes to Jesus. God must helkuo, draw us to His side, and we must choose to receive Him as He is. The natural man – that is, those in the flesh – cannot understand the Messiah. The Apostle wrote:

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

The “NATURAL MAN” or “SOULISH PERSON” (Greek psychikos) cannot receive the “things of the Spirit of God”. The lost cannot grasp the need for salvation through Christ, nor the reality that He is the One and Only Messiah. We are all born into this life cherishing our flesh, while hating the things of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says the lost are the ENEMIES of God (Romans 5:10). It is God Who must “ENLIGHTEN THE EYES OF THE HEART” (Ephesians 1:18) so that Jesus may be seen as He is.

God opens the eyes, but does not force that Christ be received. To receive Jesus as He is is a choice that YOU must make!

Alford’s Greek Testament notes:

“That this ‘drawing’ is not irresistible grace, is confessed even by Augustine himself, the great upholder of the doctrines of grace. ‘If a man is drawn, says an objector, he comes against his will. (We answer) if he comes unwillingly, he does not believe: if he does not believe, he does not come. For we do not run to Christ on our feet, but by faith; not with the movement of the body, but with the free will of the heart…Think not that thou are drawn against thy will; the mind can be drawn by love.’”

Just as Jesus gave sight to the blind, God opens the eyes of the lost so they might perceive Christ as Lord and Savior. Then that person must come to Him believing what they have perceived. The Christian is a person who treasures Jesus. The lost person uses Jesus. They come in, get what they can from Him, then wander off to live their lives like the other lost. The Christian, however, TREASURES Jesus. Pastor John Piper artfully puts it this way:

“Saving faith has in it the affectional dimension of treasuring Christ. Where Christ is not received as treasure, he is being used. This is not saving faith. It is tragic that many think it is. Saving faith always views Christ as having supreme value. That is how he is received. To embrace Christ as a second- or third-tier treasure is not saving faith. It is an affront.”

“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.”

Users of Christ are Losers of Christ. He will not be used, but He will be treasured. People know that there is a God Who created all things (see Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20), and people are therefore without excuse. But the seeking heart must be drawn by the Father, convicted of sin by the Spirit (John 16:8).

John 6:45-48 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48 I am that bread of life.

Jesus quotes from Isaiah 54:13, “All your children [shall be] taught by the LORD, And great [shall be] their peace”. God must CALL a person to Christ. God must ENABLE a person to receive Christ. But God does no COERCE a person to salvation. The saved must say, “Yes, Lord”. Jesus goes further by saying:

Not that any man hath seen the Father,
save he which is of God

No one can see the Son unless the Father DRAWS them. But it is equally true that NO ONE HAS SEEN THE FATHER unless He IS OF GOD. Jesus “IS OF GOD”. His parents were not Mary and Joseph, but Mary and the Holy Spirit of God. The Angel of God told Joseph:

Matthew 1:20 … Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus Christ is Eternal God become perfect and sinless Man. Jesus Christ “IS OF GOD”. In His deity He has always existed with both Father and Spirit. In His humanity He was made to be spiritually consumed by those whom God will save. Jesus calls Himself “THE bread of life”. When Jesus fed the 5000+ in Bethsaida, He fed them all. At the end of the meal there were twelve baskets of bread fragments left over. God was showing Israel that Jesus was all they needed. Israel wanted to use God for PHYSICAL blessing, but Jesus came to give SPIRITUAL blessing.

John 6:49-51 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The reason that God fed Israel manna in the wilderness was to prepare them for the coming of Christ. Though Israel ate the mysterious “manna” (the word means “what is it?”), the people still died in due season. Why? Because there is no way to eternal life outside of believing faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, “the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”.

Jesus Christ gave us His flesh to eat through the Cross of Calvary. We eat of Christ when we see Him dying for our sins, and receive Him as our Risen Sin Substitute.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe wrote:

““When God gave the manna, He gave only a gift; but when Jesus came, He gave Himself. There was no cost to God in sending the manna each day, but He gave His Son at great cost. The Jews had to eat the manna every day, but the sinner who trusts Christ once is given eternal life. … It is not difficult to see in the manna a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. The manna was a mysterious thing to the Jews; in fact, the word manna means ‘What is it?’ (see Ex. 16:15). Jesus was a mystery to those who saw Him. The manna came at night from heaven, and Jesus came to this earth when sinners were in moral and spiritual darkness. The manna was small (His humility), round (His eternality), and white (His purity). It was sweet to the taste (Ps. 34:8) and it met the needs of the people adequately.”

John 6:52-56 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Though Jesus was not speaking literally, He was using eating to describe the true nature of saving faith. Saving faith is like eating. When you eat something, that food becomes a part of who you are. If you stop eating, your body will consume itself in order to find sustenance. Thus you must eat daily, and must continue to eat to live. In Saving Faith, you spiritually consume Christ. You drink Him in. You consume Him spiritually, and He becomes a very real part of your life. There are some who believe they can come to Jesus only sporadically and incidentally and be a child of God. This is not true. Do today as many do with their faith: eat one meal today, then skip a month of eating before you have another morsel. How will you fare? Not well. You will lose weight, and probably lose your life. If you HAVE TO HAVE Jesus, then it is true that “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him”.

John 6:57-59 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

Pastor C.H. Spurgeon noted:

“In eating and drinking, a man is not a producer, but a consumer; he is not a doer or a giver forth; he simply takes in. If a queen should eat, if an empress should eat, she would become as completely a receiver as the pauper in the workhouse. Eating is an act of reception in every case. So it is with faith: you have not to do, to be, or to feel, but only to receive.”

In any meal, there is the raw food then the One Who produced it, cooking it to make it edible. The Father sent the Son. The Son willingly came. The Holy Spirit created the Body of Christ. The Sinner crucified the Savior.

In every aspect of salvation, the glory belongs to God, not to us. Salvation is offered freely.

I saw the following illustration:

SEEING a loaf of bread will not fill your belly.
KNOWING THE INGREDIENTS of that bread will not bless.
TAKING PICTURES of the bread does not satisfy your hunger.
TELL OTHERS about the bread will not bring peace.
SELLING the bread will not profit your life.

There is only one thing that will bless. You must personally use the bread as it is to be used. You must EAT that bread, and let it become a part of your life. Nothing else will bless you.

John 6:60-65 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

As Jesus spoke, He emphasized that His Words came from the Holy Spirit, not from human viewpoint or His earthly opinion. The Scripture tells us that “Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him”. Yet Jesus did not back down from the truths He spoke in order to satisfy itching ears. When they murmured Jesus asked, “Doth this offend you?”. Yet He did not temper what He said. Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill said:

“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”

Neither Jesus nor the Apostles wasted much time trying to be people pleasers. They preached the harsh Biblical truth, regardless as to what others thought. Galatians 1:10 notes “If I were still trying to please men I could not be Christ’s servant.” (TLB). And 1 Thessalonians 2:4 says “we speak as messengers from God, trusted by him to tell the truth; we change his message not one bit to suit the taste of those who hear it; for we serve God alone, who examines our hearts’ deepest thoughts” (TLB). The salvation of the soul is so important that we dare not twist the Words of God to please others (2 Timothy 2:15; Colossians 3:23; Ephesians 6:7).

Word Study: When the people at the Synagogue of Capernaum heard Jesus teach, they said “This is an hard saying”. They did not mean it was HARD to understand, but that it was HARD (the Greek skleros) to hear and accept. People despise the truths taught in the Bible. If they could have Heaven, and at the same time the freedom of their unrepentant sin, then they would love it. But this is not Scripture. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 1:30 (ESV) … because of {God} you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption

When you are saved by faith in Christ because of God’s drawing, you gain “righteousness” and “sanctification” and “redemption”. You belong to God, and now you walk with God. Yes, you have Heaven. But you are changed to walk in a right relationship with God. The Bible says:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake {God} made {Jesus} to be sin who knew no sin, so that in {Jesus} we might become the righteousness of God.

A salvation that does not bring about a changed life is no salvation at all. God does not tell us that the saved can do as they please. God tells us that the saved do as GOD PLEASES.

John 6:66-69 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

If you are saved, you will walk with Jesus. Period. You will treasure Him. You will want to know more of Him. If God to you is just a thing to be used, like your I-Phone, your Social Media, a fork or a spoon, a car or a truck … then you are not saved. The saved treasure Jesus. May God the Holy Spirit ensure you each have a KNOW SO salvation this very day. Amen and Amen!

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

The Strange Case Of Samson, Part 2

Posted on May 28, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Dominika Roseclay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-tank-top-and-brown-shorts-climbing-rock-1094794/

Last week we saw Samson – a Nazarite from his mother’s womb (Judges 13:5) – infuriated because he lost a bet with a number of Philistines. His Philistine wife was threatened with being burned with fire (Judges 14:15) if she did not betray Samson’s trust and get the answer to the riddle he had given them. Samson’s wife wept before Samson and declared “you don’t love me” until he told her the answer to the riddle. Once she heard it, she told the Philistines – causing Samson to go home to his father (Judges 14:19).

Anything Without God Leads To Misery

Though Samson was supposed to be a Nazarite, dedicated to the service of God, he was a very poor Nazarite at best. Samson was absolutely NOT a good example of how a husband should treat his wife. Our Lord Jesus said of marriage:

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

Jesus was quoting from Genesis 2:24, and I am certain that Samson had seen that portion of Scripture. Yet he, in anger, left his wife. His first error in judgment was marrying outside of the faith. The Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV) Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (ESV) You shall not intermarry with {the unbeliever}, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 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 …

Samson failed God in the very simplest and most basic of things, following his heart rather than his head. The abandoned his wife, leaving her with his best man (Judges 14:20), and goes away. Samson lives his faith before God pitifully, incompletely, unscripturally – and yet God uses him to accomplish divine purpose.

Judges 15:1-3 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. 2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. 3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

Samson returns to his wife “in the time of wheat harvest”, which would be in May or June. As bees make their honey from July to mid September, and it was a betrayed riddle about honey in a lion carcass that caused Samson to leave his wife in Timnath, it is possible that he has been gone for about a year. It is obvious that Samson has a bad temper, and a long cooling off period. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

And Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:29, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly”. Samson seemingly abandoned his wife, holding a grudge for far too long. But cooling off, he comes back to her “with a kid” (Hebrew gᵊḏî pronounced ghed-ee’), with a young male goat. Young goat was considered a delicacy among the Israelites. When Rebekah prepared Isaac a meal, it was of two young male goats (Genesis 27:9-10). When the Angel of the Lord announced Samson’s upcoming birth, Manoah offered a young male goat to God as a burnt offering (Judges 13:15, 19). Samson had cooled down – finally – and brought a meal fit for a queen to her.

His father-in-law met him at the door. His wife was given to a Philistine, the best man that Samson left her with. The father-in-law offered Samson a younger sister in his wife’s place, but Samson wasn’t having it. Samson did as most people do when they are offended. He retaliated, though he did not believe his retaliation was as great an offense as what they did to him. Samson said,

“Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure”

Proverbs 4:23 tells us “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV). Samson followed his heart, but he didn’t guard his heart. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:39 … resist not evil: (do not repay evil with evil) but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Evil cannot be destroyed with darkness, no more than darkness can be destroyed with darkness. Only light kills darkness!

Judges 15:4-5 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

Word Study: Samson uses what he can find to punish the Philistines for what he felt was a betrayal by his father-in-law. Samson went out and caught 300 “foxes” (Hebrew šûʿāl pronounced shoo-awl’), which can mean – depending upon the context – fox or jackal. In this context the word is probably better rendered “jackal”. Foxes are solitary and elusive, whereas jackals run in packs, and Samson caught 300 of them. As this is a time of harvest, Samson decides to strike at the heart of Philistia, be destroying their crops. Samson took “firebrands” (lapîḏ, torches), and put the torch “in the midst between two tails”, that is, tied to two jackals tails. This shows not only the power and speed of Samson, but also his cunning.

Samson dispersed 150 pairs of jackals with a torch between each pair, sending them through the fields of the Philistines.

Illustrate: It is like what happened with my little dog Bella. She pulled her leash out of my hand, and as the retractable leash hit the ground, she took off running! The sound behind her kept her running till she got home. These jackals started running from the torch behind them, and ran through the fields of the Philistines. They burned up the shocks of corn, the standing grain, the vineyards, and the olive groves.

The text does not tell us if Samson did this in just one day, or over several days. But when he was done, 150 fiery missiles ran through the Philistine fields, devastating that nation.

Judges 15:6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

Samson’s wife betrayed her husband because the Philistines threatened to burn her and her father’s home with fire. She did not escape her fate. When we give in to evil – even a little bit – evil is never satisfied, but grows and brings with it death.

The Wages Of Sin Is Always DEATH

When the Philistines burned Samson’s wife, he immediately attacks again. Samson’s concern is not the glory of God, but vengeance! Yet God is using him as an avenger. God is ultimately in control – and even the devil must bow to the will of God.

Judges 15:7-8 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

Word Study: Samson obviously loved his Timnite wife, so he avenged her by ruthlessly slaughtering every Philistine he came upon. The phrase “hip and thigh” means to strike so as to relentlessly kill. After killing an unknown number of Philistines, Samson “dwelt in the top (Hebrew sᵊʿîp̄, pronounced saw-eef’, the cleft) of the rock Etam”. This “cleft of the rock” is south of Bethlehem on the main road, close to the foothills of Judah. This is a well protected cleft that was on a well known rock. Samson was not hiding from the Philistines, but wanted them to know where he was. They could not sneak up on him.

Judges 15:9-13 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

God’s Judah Should Have Been Leading Israel,
But Has Compromised With The Philistines

The Philistines went to the Rock Etam in Judah’s territory. They knew where Samson was – everyone knew where Samson was – but they did not want to risk battling him. He had already killed a number of Philistines. So the Philistines come to Judah. Though Judah is supposed to be leading the nation, my commentary notes:

“The men of Judah did not respond to Samson as the judge whom God had raised up to deliver them from the Philistines. Instead of supporting him, they meekly bowed before their oppressors, and took the Philistines’ side against Samson (v. 11-13). Instead of affirming that Yahweh ruled over them, they acknowledged that the Philistines ruled over them (v. 11). “The Israelites are now no different from the peoples surrounding them: Canaanization is complete! And Judah, once the leader of the nation in 1:1-2, has now degenerated into being a lackey of the enemy.”

The men of Judah rebuked Samson for jeopardizing the peace of the land, and sent 3000 men to bind Samson. Though Samson’s faith was often somewhat worldly,

Samson never had an army, nor anyone to support him outside of God the Holy Spirit throughout his entire ministry.

Samson willingly allowed the Israelites to bind him, as long as they promised not to kill him. Samson knew that his ministry was to defeat Philistia, not Israel. When those who came to bind him promised not to kill him, Samson meekly allowed them to “bind him with two new cords”. He was then delivered to the Philistine army. Yet God was in this as well. Delivered to the Philistines bound hand and foot, they dropped their guard. Like the mythical Trojan Horse of Troy they received Samson …

and the Child of the SUN burned their house down!

Judges 15:14-17 And when he came unto Lehi, (names means “Jawbone”) the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. 15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. 16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. 17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

When the Philistines saw Samson bound, they shouted with glee. Here was the enemy who burnt their crops and killed their people. They were going to take their revenge. But as they shouted, “the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him”. When the Holy Spirit filled him, Samson became powerful, and broke the new rope as if it were dental floss. We are told that Samson found “a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith”. Skeletal parts of animals were often used to make farm equipment, like plows. Samson found a newly killed donkey, and with its jawbone killed 1000 trained warriors. After killing these warriors, Samson called the name of this place of victory “Ramathlehi”, or “Jawbone Hill”. One preacher came up with a five point sermon on the jawbone Samson used, saying:

It was a NOVEL weapon,
It was a CONVENIENT weapon,
It was a SIMPLE weapon,
It was a RIDICULOUS weapon, and
It was a SUCCESSFUL weapon.

God can take the strange or odd, and use it to create fantastic things. Samson uses this one jawbone to kill 1000 Philistines in full armor. Then and only then do we see Samson pray.

Judges 15:18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

Samson’s prayer is much like Samson’s life. His prayer does not glorify God, though he does recognize that God gave him the victory. Samson calls himself the “servant” of God, though he speaks to God as if God were HIS Servant. Samson does not ask God for water, but demands it, and nearly accuses God in the demanding.

Judges 15:19-20 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water there out; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

God made water come out of the Rock, much like He did for Moses and Israel (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11). In the New Testament we are told that the Rock that Israel saw was symbolic of our Lord Jesus:

1 Corinthians 10:4 (NIV) and {Israel} drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that accompanied them, and that Rock was Christ ..

Our “God is the ROCK, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful GOD Who does no wrong, upright and just is He (Deuteronomy 32:4). Because Israel “abandoned the God Who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior” (Deuteronomy 32:15), they are under the Philistine heel. As Israel has drifted farther and farther left of God, the Lord has given them a carnal savior. Samson is that carnal savior. Commentator Matthew Poole notes that Samson’s great thirst was “partly sent by God, that by the experience of his own impotency he might be forced to ascribe victory to God only, and not to himself”.

Samson Allowed Sexual Sin To Conquer Him

When God saves us, He saves us FROM our sins. When Jesus came, it was prophesied “He will save His people FROM their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus did not come to make us comfortable in our sins, but to conform us to God’s will. “He appeared to TAKE AWAY SINS” (1 John 3:5), “to PURIFY for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).

Samson was a sexual addict, who chased after the wrong women, and never learned from his mistakes. A person can be saved, and allow sin to drift back into their lives. If they do so, they will suffer the consequence of sin. The wages of sin is always death, even for the believer. The Bible warns us that:

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV) Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

All sins that you commit hurt others, and damage your soul. But sexual immorality (called “fornication” in the King James) specifically damages the body. You not only gather sexually transmitted diseases that attack your flesh, but sexual sins lead to bodily degradation. Sexual sins are the cause of the madness that we see in America today, where people declare there are many, many genders, and where perversity and confusion reign.

Samson is no exception. Sexual immorality will destroy the strongest person.

Judges 16:1-3 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

Samson goes to “GAZA”, one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, about 36 miles from his hometown. The Philistines knew who Samson was by now as he had judged Israel for 20 years. Samson would have been on Philistia’s “Most Wanted” list, so when Samson went in to fornicate with the Philistine harlot at Gaza, the Philistines gathered. They formed a large force outside the city gate. In ancient times cities were walled and gated, so that when night fell the gates could be closed, and the inhabitants be protected from roving hoards of bandits. Samson went into the harlot (whore) until midnight. When the enemy slept, he went to the locked gate, and “took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders”, carrying them some 36 miles to Hebron. Why did Samson do this? Again, it had to do with his pride, his ego. He could have broken the gate down and just left, but he wanted to taunt the Philistines.

For Superman, Kryptonite is his downfall. For Samson, Philistine women and his pride is his Kryptonite!

Judges 16:4-5 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Twice Samson has sexually sinned with Philistine women, and twice he has evaded capture. But as they say, “The third time is the charm”. Samson fall for a woman named “Delilah”. Her name, the Hebrew dᵊlîlâ (pronounced del-ee-law’) means “delicate, devotee”. The name is a Hebrew name. Delilah was a Philistine convert, and very possibly a “temple prostitute”. The “the lords of the Philistines”, the governor of the five major Philistine cities, approached Delilah with a proposal. If Delilah would find out the source of Samson’s power, they would each give her “eleven hundred pieces of silver”. A person could live on just ten shekels of silver annually (Judges 17:10), so these men were offering Delilah a fortune. The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“… taking $25 thousand as the average annual wage, the governors’ total offer to Delilah would approach $15 million. This lets us see how valuable the capture of public enemy number one was for the Philistine governors and what an incentive Delilah had to betray her lover.”

Judges 16:6-9 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

The “seven green withs that were never dried” were seven pieces of catgut – often used for bowstrings or strings in tennis rackets. Samson allowed Delilah to bind him, and he easily broke the restraints.

Judges 16:10-12 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. 11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

Again, Samson allows Delilah to bind him with new ropes – but he easily tears them apart. So Delilah demands again that Samson tell her what the secret of his strength is.

Judges 16:13-15 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

This time Samson tells Delilah to loom the seven locks of his very long hair , to weave it together like a web. Delilah looms his hair, weaving it like dreadlocks … but this does nothing with his strength. Two things are true: Delilah is persistent, and Samson is persistently arrogant and foolish! He continues in his sexual sin.

Judges 16:16-19 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

Samson is trapped. He played with fire, would not repent, and now he is defeated. We’ll return next week and finish this story, as our time runs short. But one thing you should take away from this lesson today:

Galatians 6:7-9 (NASB) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

May God bless you as you follow Him, and not your heart. For Christ’s glory we pray. Amen and Amen.

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

The Doctrine Of Christ

Posted on May 28, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by D0N MIL04K: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photography-of-bible-895449/

2 John 1:9-11 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Christians Are To Walk Christ’s Pathway

John’s first words are “Whosoever transgresseth”. If he stopped here we’d all be in trouble.

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.

John is referring to a lifestyle characterized by guiltless sinning, and denial of who Christ is.

John warned us in an earlier scripture:

1 John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

Word Study: You DENY the Son when you live a life unworthy of the Gospel, unworthy of Jesus. Those saved by Christ are to walk in this world as salt (Matthew 5:13) and lights in the world (Matthew 5:14). We who are saved are to “walk worthy of the vocation we are called to” (Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10). We are to stay on God’s Path, in step with Christ. The word “transgresseth” is the Greek parabainō, which means “to step off the path, to overstep, to abandon the right path, to go by the side of”. This word is only used four times in the Greek New Testament. The Pharisees asked Jesus,

Matthew 15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress (parabainō) the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

The Elders or the Rabbis had established certain traditions as pathways of truth that the Pharisees thought Jesus and His disciples were violating. They were “leaving the right path” for their own way, or so the Pharisees thought. But Jesus replied:

Matthew 15:3 … Why do ye also transgress (parabainō) the commandment of God by your tradition?

Jesus countered them by saying “God has a pathway of truth that you are to be walking on … but you have stepped off that path in favor of a man made path”. Though they thought themselves religious, they were not walking on God’s path.

You are not “religious” if you are not in a daily “relationship” with Christ.

John tells us that if you step off God’s path (parabainō), that is if you are a transgressor or one who does not walk with God, then you DO NOT HAVE GOD. You cannot make sin your practice, and Christ your hobby. Jesus said:

Matthew 4:19 … Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 8:22 … Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Matthew 16:24 … Deny yourself, take up your Cross, and Follow Me
Matthew 19:21 … Come and Follow Me …
John 10:27 … My sheep … Follow Me
John 12:26 … If any one serve Me, let them Follow Me …

Christ does not follow us, but leads us. We are to be “God’s Children WALKING IN TRUTH” (verse 4). We as believers “WALK AFTER HIS COMMANDMENTS” (verse 6). If the Devil cannot keep you from being saved, he will do what he can to get you distracted and away from God’s side.

vs 9a Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.

Those Who Have God ABIDE In
The Doctrine Of Christ

vs 9b He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Word Study: What is the “doctrine of Christ”, and what does it mean to “abide” in this Doctrine? The word translated “abide” is the Greek menō, which means “to remain or dwell in, to continue with, to make yourself at home in”. Jesus uses this word in a wonderful parable of the Vine. He said to His disciples (that’s you, if you’re saved):

John 15:4-7, 9-11 ABIDE (menō) in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it ABIDE (menō) in the vine; no more can ye, except ye ABIDE (menō) in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that ABIDE (menō) in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man ABIDE (menō) not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye ABIDE (menō) in me, and my words ABIDE (menō) in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. … 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: ABIDE (menō) in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall ABIDE (menō) in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and ABIDE (menō) in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might ABIDE (menō) in you, and that your joy might be full.

In this parable, Jesus shows Himself as the Vine rooted and grounded in the glorious Kingdom of God. Jesus is the Vine by which the believer is supplied LIFE and BLESSING. We are to ABIDE (menō), that is, make ourselves at home in Christ. If we ABIDE (menō) in Christ, we ABIDE (menō) in the love of God, and the JOY of God ABIDES (menō) in us. Those who are saved are ATTACHED to Jesus for all eternity. Not just temporarily, but eternally. This same ABIDE (menō) is used in our focal text:

vs 9b He that abideth (menō) in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Salvation is a binding to Jesus. Those who are saved affirm the “doctrine of Christ”. Now, what is the “doctrine of Christ”. This phrase is found in only one other place in the Greek New Testament, in the Book of Hebrews. Turn with me to:

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

The Writer of Hebrews is describing the Doctrine of Christ to the first century Jew. Since Hebrews 6:1 says “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ”, we know that up to this point – in the first 5 chapters of Hebrews – we are being taught the Doctrine of Christ. So,

What is the “Doctrine Of Christ?”

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son …

For many years God spoke to humanity through the Prophets, telling us what He expected of us. But now God speaks to us “by his Son” Jesus Christ. Jesus was foretold by the prophetic writings. Micah 5:2 foretold that the Messiah, the Christ would come from Bethlehem Ephratah, and that this Ruler would exist before the days of eternity. Jesus is no mere man, no mortal as we are. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of the Christ, saying:

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus Christ is our Wonderful Counselor. He is Mighty God, Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus declared, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me” (John 14:10). We only have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

John 10:9 (ESV) I am the Door. If anyone enters BY ME HE WILL BE SAVED …

There is no salvation, no word of God outside of Jesus Christ. The Scripture declares:

1 John 5:11-12 (ESV) … God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

If you believe that there are multiple paths to God, then you are off the path, walking without God!

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

The Doctrine of Christ teaches that Jesus is the only Way to God. This Doctrine also teaches that Jesus is the Inheritor of ALL THINGS, for it was THROUGH HIM God made the worlds. The Apostle writes:

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

Jesus Christ is God’s Son, Creator God Who became part of His creation. He lowered Himself into humanity. Why? Why would God become Man?

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

God became man so that “He Himself could purge our sins”. The word translated “purged” is the Greek katharismos, which means “to cleanse or wash off, to expiate, to purify from”. Whereas in the Old Testament Israel sacrificed animals to ceremonially purge their sins, Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary to actually and realistically purge our sins. Once Jesus rose from the Grave, He “sat down on the right hand” of God because His work of redemption and payment of our sins was finished.

What is fantastic to me is that people today believe that they can “make themselves right with God” by doing “penance”. Jesus BY HIMSELF purges our sins.

The saved person is “purged of all sins”. Jesus did not save us IN our sins, but FROM our sins (2 Peter 1:9). The Doctrine of Christ teaches that

Revelation 1:5 {Jesus} loved us, and washed us FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD.

That which saves THE LOST is the Blood of Jesus Christ.
That which gives us access to God the Father is the Blood of Jesus
(Hebrews 10:19)
That which cleanses us DAILY from sin is the sprinkling of the Blood
(1 Peter 1:2)
That which cleanses us from ALL SIN is the Blood of Jesus Christ
(1 John 1:7)

What can wash away MY sin?
(working really hard and penance …. NOT!)
Nothing but the BLOOD of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
(satisfy a priest and count prayer beads … NOT!)
Nothing but the BLOOD of Jesus!
Oh, Precious is the Flow,
That makes me white as snow.
(admission to a church I know … NOT!)
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the BLOOD of Jesus!

Jesus Christ, Eternal God in the flesh, is told of the Father:

Hebrews 1:8 … Thy Throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom.

Jesus is not one god among many, but is God the Son, co-equal and co-eternal with both God the Father and God the Spirit. He Who created all things, paid for the sins of all creatures. To those who come to Jesus by faith, they enter His Kingdom, a Righteous Kingdom, a Kingdom that hates iniquity. Jesus does not wink at sin, whether sexual sin of various types, or sins non-sexual in nature. Jesus came to purge sin, and build a righteous kingdom with a redeemed and loving people.

To whom is salvation available? To all who believe on Him. The Doctrine of Christ says:

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

No one is “elected” to hell.
Jesus tasted death for EVERY MAN.

God the Son became the Son of Man so that “he by the grace of God should taste death for every man”. Why did Jesus “taste death”. He did so because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The Scripture declares that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Sin brings with it the penalty of death, that is, temporal and eternal separation from God. We all deserve damnation. But Jesus Christ “TASTED DEATH” for us.

How do we know that Jesus is the Christ? “Jesus took upon Himself the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:16). His lineage can be traced all the way back to the promise God made in Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) and God made to King David (2 Samuel 7:13). Jesus Christ was born according to prophecy, according to promise, and His lineage through both King David and Abraham (see Matthew 1:1). Jesus “TASTED DEATH FOR EVERY MAN” so that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE” (John 3:16).

Jesus Christ Is The High Priest Of A Nation Of Priests

The Doctrine of Christ teaches that Jesus not only died for our sins so we could have access to the Father, but it also teaches that every believer has Him as our High Priest. Jesus continually represents us to the Father. We read:

Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

As Jesus is our High Priest, He is High Priest of the House of Christ. We who are saved are of His House.

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

We who are saved walk with Jesus daily. He is our High Priest, and we are His Priests serving under Him. We are partners with Jesus, commissioned to share the Gospel of salvation with a lost and dying world. We are called to encourage one another to stay on the path of truth with Jesus. The Doctrine of Christ says to stay close to Jesus, warning:

Hebrews 3:12-14 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end …

There are better days coming, dear Christian. Let us cling to Him Who saved us, and loves us so. The Father has made Christ to be the High Priest (Hebrews 5:5-8) of the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is …

Hebrews 5:9 … the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;

Those who are saved are called to walk on the pathway of truth with Jesus. Those who are saved are called to “obey Him”. Salvation always brings about a change in the person.

Before Jesus, you are enslaved to sin & darkness.
After Jesus, you are freed to walk in the light.
Before Jesus, you were a Son of Adam.
After Jesus, you are a Son of God by faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26).
Before Jesus, you follow the spirit of this world (Ephesians 2:1).
After Jesus, you walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7).
You walk in the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25).

The Church Is Warned About Compromising
The Doctrine Of Christ

2 John 1:10-11 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

In the early Church, believers did not meet in buildings like we do today. Early believers met to worship Jesus house to house. Meetings were smaller and more intimate. This was a good thing, because the Roman Empire as well as the Pharisees began to persecute and kill Christians.

The Bible tells us that “if ANYONE comes and DOES NOT bring the Doctrine of Christ”, then “receive him not into your house”. Do not welcome that person, nor add that person as a member. If you allow this person access then you are a “partaker of his evil deeds”. You are helping the evil one spread lies, and will be judged for it. It is the Doctrine of Christ that makes Christians. It is the Doctrine of Christ that constitutes Churches. Apart from the Doctrine of Christ, we are no more than a self help society or a humanistic club.

We are called to Jesus! If you compromise the Biblical principles in order to please the world, then you are part and parcel of the problem. We are told that those who do so are “partaker(s) of his evil deeds”. God will not bless the life that is lived apart from Christ. Draw near to Jesus today. Only He can bring you peace with God. Amen and Amen.

Posted in 2 John, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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!

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

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!

Posted in 2 John | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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.

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