The Importance Of Keeping The Word

Posted on August 14, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Karen Laårk Boshoff: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-hand-with-fingers-crossed-9911969/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to James 5:12.

I was watching a video from Prager University the other day called “The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions”. The phrase is often attributed to a French Christian named Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). Dennis Prager noted that in the 20th Century about 100 million people were murdered by despotic regimes. Most of those murdered were Communist countries, regimes supported by “nice people” who had or believed they had good intentions. It was American and British citizens who, with good intentions, delivered to the Soviet Mass Murderer Joseph Stalin the secrets to making an atom bomb. Many of the teachers who bring up topics robbing young children of their sexual innocence are motivated by good intentions. Those who vote for politicians who want to defund the police – a sure way of increasing murder, rape, and other crimes in our country – have good intentions. Those who seek to criminalize hate speech have good intentions, though what they seek is a serious threat to our First Amendment rights.

Prager went on to say that the only way we can have a better world is by seeking wisdom. Knowledge without wisdom is useless. You can learn knowledge in a laboratory – but WISDOM COMES FROM GOD. James has told us this four times. In

James 1:5 we read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (ESV).

Wisdom is the proper application of what God has said is wise. King Solomon, a man who got wisdom from God, said “wisdom is BETTER THAN JEWELS, and ALL THAT YOU MAY DESIRE CANNOT COMPARE with {wisdom}. ‘I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion’” (ESV). You can find knowledge without wisdom, but the Bible calls you a fool. But if you find knowledge THROUGH WISDOM, through God and His Word, then you are wise. James told us in chapter three:

James 3:13-18 (ESV) Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

To quote Dennis Prager,

“Wisdom is asking WHAT DOES GOOD,
not WHAT IS WELL INTENTIONED”.

Wisdom comes from the “Word of Christ” (Colossians 3:16). It is a gift of God (Ephesians 1:17). “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).

Wisdom Is Found Only By Clinging To The Word Of God

James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

I found little that made any sense to me in the commentaries on this verse. One commentary suggested that “swear” meant to “say a dirty word, to curse”. The Greek ὀμνύω omnýō, {pronounced om-noo’-o} is never (that I could find) used in the sense of “making a curse or foul word”. The word occurs 27 times in 21 verses in the Greek New Testament. The word is several times used of God Himself, for instance,

Luke 1:73 The oath that {God} swore {omnýō} to our father Abraham.

Hebrews 3:11 {God said} I swore {omnýō} in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear {omnýō} by no greater, He swore {omnýō} by Himself

There is a word that refers to using foul language, and it is the word ἀναθεματίζω anathematizō. When Peter denied knowing Jesus just prior to our Lord’s crucifixion, the Bible says:

Mark 14:71 But {Peter} began to CURSE {ἀναθεματίζω anathematizō} AND to SWEAR {omnýō}, saying, I know not this Man of whom you speak.

James is not talking about cursing or using foul language. He is talking about taking an oath. If you read the text carefully you can see this in the context:

James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath …

Now what is James talking about? When I was saved in the Church of God of Prophecy I was told that “You are never to “swear” anything in court – but you can “affirm” it”. So when I raised my right hand to bind myself to the United States Air Force the oath I took was:

“I [state your full name], Do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

{So help me God (optional)}.”

So I “affirmed” my oath. Is this what James was telling us to do? No! You need to understand the background of this text to understand the text. There is nothing wrong with swearing (see Acts 2:30; Hebrews 6:13-18). In fact, the Law of God says:

Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

When our Lord Jesus stood before the High Priest in judgment, the Priest said to Jesus: “I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”. Jesus replied, “You have said it yourself” (NASB). It is not wrong to swear in God’s name. However,

The Jews (in particular the Pharisees) had a practice of making oaths and then breaking them.

Jesus addressed this in His Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV) Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

The Pharisee would swear “by heaven” or “by the earth” or “by Jerusalem”, or even “by your head”. Then when they defaulted on what they said they were going to do, they would say, “Well, this doesn’t count, because I didn’t swear by the NAME OF GOD”.

This is like saying, “My promise don’t count because
I had my fingers crossed”.

Beloved, to say you will do something, then not do it, IS TO LIE. This is something that only the devil should do. When religious people twist the Word of God, or default on their own words, they are imitating Satan. Jesus chastised the Pharisees:

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil is the father of lying. It was the devil who – in the guise of a serpent (Genesis 3:4; Revelation 12:9; 20:2) told Eve when tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit:

Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV) … “You will not surely die {if you eat this fruit}. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

God told Adam that “the day you eat of it, you will SURELY DIE”. The devil said, “You will NOT SURELY DIE”. God is a liar. What God told you is untruthful – or at least, what you heard is untruthful. The devil twists the truth, and denies the Word of God.

The devil has been doing this from the beginning of human history. He does it today. This is why James uses this phrase:

James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

ABOVE ALL THINGS keep your word. Don’t do as the Pharisees did, who made oaths with intentional loopholes. The Christian is commanded of God to be:

Ephesians 4:15 … speaking the truth in love ..

The Apostle Peter uses the same phrase “above all things” in:

1 Peter 4:8 … above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

We as believers are top speak the truth in love. Our words are to be truthful and honest. If we say something, it should reflect the truth, and be upheld by the Scripture. We are to cling to God’s Word, remembering that Jesus prayed for His Church, saying:

John 17:14-17 (ESV) I have given them Your Word {Father}, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 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.

God’s Word – this Bible – is TRUTH. It is WRITTEN TRUTH. It is Wisdom from above. We are to cling to this Word, and trust this Word. We are not to REDEFINE TRUTH, which is what the world has done. Those things which the Bible forbids – lying, adultery, sexual immorality, perversity – the world has redefined as “protecting your boundaries, making love, finding a soul mate, falling in love”. The world says that this is the way to go. The Bible, however, warns us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The Scripture tells us that:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV) … do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

It is certain that the flagrant sinner will not get into God’s Kingdom and, by extension, nor into God’s Heaven. Yet the person who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing can be washed, can be cleansed of sin, and can be given an “adopted state” with God our Father. Those who twist God’s Word or maul the truth are destined – not to go to Heaven – but to find themselves in that other place we call “the second death”. The Scripture says:

Revelation 21:7-8 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Liars and those who do not speak the truth in love will find themselves in the “lake which burneth with fire and brimstone”, a place of eternal separation and torment. Our tongues are to speak the truth with love if our hearts belong to Jesus.

God Always Keeps His Word. Aren’t You Glad?

James 5:13-15 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

James now asks is three questions and gives us answers that make absolutely no sense if God does not keep His Word.

Word Study: The first question is “Is any among you afflicted?”. The word rendered “afflicted” is the Greek κακοπαθέω kakopathéō, {pronounced kak-op-ath-eh’-o} which means “to undergo hardship”. The soldier who faithfully serves his nation often finds himself in hard places. The Apostle Paul told Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:3 … endure hardness {kakopathéō}, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ

We are in a war with the darkness, with the forces of Satan. Jesus said, “If the world hate you, know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). The Apostle wrote, “Marvel not, my brothers and sisters, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). The darkness will always hate the light. Listen Beloved,

If you speak the BIBLICAL truth in love, the world will hate you. Satan does not despise the compromiser – but he does despise the faithful warrior of Christ.

You will be afflicted {kakopathéō}. If you are – and you will be – then “let him pray”. God is faithful. His Word is faithful. If God’s Word is not faithful, then why pray? But He is faithful, and has promised “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). God is near. “You are near, O LORD” (Psalm 119:150-151). If God was not reliable, then why pray? But God is reliable. He is true to His Word. “Though a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, it will not come near you” (Psalm 91:7). Why is that? Because “if I make the Most High my dwelling place, my Refuge, then NO HARM will befall me; no disaster will come near my home” (Psalm 91:9-10).

The second question is,

James 5:13 Is any merry? let him sing psalms

What if you are on a mountaintop? Remember that God is near. We as humans often compartmentalize God. God is like the Faithful Butler Who, when we sense we need Him, we cry out, He appears in our life, fixes what’s wrong, then like a genie in a bottle goes home until we call Him again. This is a foolish and unbiblical concept of God. The Bible says, dear Christian,

1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV) … you were BOUGHT WITH A PRICE (see also 1 Corinthians 7:23)

God “purchased you with His own Blood” (Acts 20:28). God the Son became a curse for you, that you not be cursed (Galatians 3:13). You were redeemed from damnation and from the darkness of this present world (1 Peter 1:18-19).

We who are Christian belong to God ALL THE TIME. We are in His Presence NOT just in the valley, but also on the mountaintop.

If God is there, we should sing praises to Him while on the mountaintop, and pray to Him, calling on His name whether in the valley or not. When we are told “let him sing psalms” I see also in this the word “Psalms”. James was telling the ancient Jew – as well as us today – to turn to the Hebrew Hymnbook. In this wonderful Book – in the center of our Bibles – we see how those in affliction and on the mountaintop magnified God. I have often “prayed the Psalms”, letting the words of the Psalmist run through my eyes, into my spirit, and out of my mouth. That is such a blessing!

The third question asked and answered is:

James 5:14 … Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church

Who are “the elders”? These are mature believers who teach the Word of God and model Christ to the other believers. The Chief Apostle wrote:

1 Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

The “elders” are those who both cherish and study the Word of God. If you are not reading and applying the Word of God in your life, you will NEVER become an “elder”. The Bible says in:

Hebrews 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The “Elders” are those believers who are “skillful in the Word of Righteousness”. They walk with God daily, and have built up a Biblical worldview that dominates their lives. When the suffering Christian “calls for the elders of the Church”, these believers both heed and do what God has commanded. These two or three obey the Scripture:

James 5:14-15 let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Why do we “anoint … with oil in the name of the Lord”? Because the oil symbolizes both love as well as God the Holy Spirit. When David was anointed King of Israel by Samuel the Bible says “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David” (1 Sam 16:13). Jesus was “anointed with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:38; Isaiah 61:1). As Christians, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27). The oil has no medicinal property, but is symbolic, but something we as believers do because God said to do it. It is a slippery slope when we begin to ignore portions of God’s Word because we do not understand it. As believers we are called to share our brokenness with our fellow believers. We are told:

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

God Only Hears The Prayers Of The Righteous
(Unless You Are Seeking Salvation)

God loves and cares for all. But to those who are bound in chains of sin, who refuse to repent and cast themselves on the mercy of Jesus, God will not hear these people. Hear the Scripture:

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

You find this throughout the Scripture. For instance, Psalm 34:16 states “the face of the LORD is against them that do evil”. And in Psalm 138:6 we read, “Though the LORD be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly; BUT the PROUD HE KNOWS afar off”. Jesus Christ came to save whosoever will. Jesus came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). He told the self righteous Pharisees:

Matthew 9:13 … I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (also Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32).

Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary to make payment for and to cover our sins. But to be saved, we must repent and turn to Him. WE MUST REPENT! To repent is to turn away from sin, and to turn to Jesus and Jesus alone. To repent is to cease following the darkness, and to run to the Master for healing. The Apostle said:

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Our “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). It is God’s desire that as many as will come to Christ be saved. God will sometimes bring affliction on a nation to draw it into repentance. Here James gives us the illustration of Elijah:

James 5:17-18 {Elijah} was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Elijah was a person with his faults and problems, just like we have. Yet Elijah clung to the Word of God. God used Elijah to bring Israel and her corrupt King Ahab to his knees. Because Elijah trusted and called on God, the Lord used him to bring a large section of Israel back into a right relationship with Him. Something also noteworthy is – though there was a drought in the land, God insured that Elijah had plenty to eat and drink throughout it. God will take care of you!

Let us finish our text:

James 5:19-20 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

We are, as believers, NEVER to justify sin. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). “He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death”. When someone walks in opposition to the will and Word of God, they are courting death – not to mention a “multitude of sins”. Love demands that we as believers cling to God’s Word, and share faith in Christ as the only solution for sin. May we as God’s Church stay true to His Word. In God’s name, and for His glory we pray. Amen and Amen!

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Resist The Devil, Draw Near To God

Posted on August 13, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by ISKCON TV Dhaka: https://www.pexels.com/photo/temple-worship-traditional-items-evening-aarti-arti-rituals-gods-god-pooja-india-prayer-instrument-kartik-bell-thali-table-durga-kalash-havan-red-family-food-festival-set-12738174/

Turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 6.

We’ve been studying how God used Nehemiah – the Cup Bearer (or Butler) to the Persian King Artaxerxes – to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Some of you may have wondered why such a subject would be interesting or applicable to us. If so, you haven’t been paying attention to the news.

Our Federal Government has ignored the waves of illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States. The Government seems unwilling to either finish building the wall on our southern border, or even to enforce policing of the breach with Immigration Control Enforcement Officers. Texas Governor Greg Abbott got tired of 4000 migrants crossing his border every day, straining his infrastructure. So Governor Abbott began to send bus loads of immigrants to Washington D.C. When the Mayor of New York City Eric Adams slammed Texas for sending illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., Governor Abbot started sending bus loads of illegal immigrants to New York City.

I’m kind of amused, but also saddened. I’m saddened that conditions in Mexico are so pathetic that it’s citizens are flooding into the United States. But I’m also saddened that our hypocritical politicians, all of whom live in gated communities protected by walls and armed guards, refuse to secure our borders.

Walls are important. The Great Wall of China was built over centuries by China’s Emperors in order to protect their people from attacking hoards. The Berlin Wall (which fell on November 9, 1989) was built by Communism to force it’s citizens to stay in East Berlin. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. is a wall that commemorates some 58,000 Americans who were killed or missing in action during the Vietnam War.

Nehemiah is working on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. The wall was destroyed by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar over 70 years before, and many of the Israelis were exiled to Babylon. Why did this occur? Because God’s people got away from following God, and began to follow their own gods. As they drifted away from God, God warned them that punishment and trials was coming. Yet Israel refused to listen to the Prophets, the Preachers that God sent to warn and encourage them to repent. So Jerusalem and it’s walls was breached. When God allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to lead in rebuilding the wall, numerous enemies rose up against the work. We saw in each chapter:

Nehemiah 1:10 ‒ Sanballat and Tobiah
Nehemiah 2:19 ‒ Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem
Nehemiah 4:1,3 ‒ Sanballat and Tobiah
Nehemiah 4:7 ‒ Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites

In Chapter Five these enemies disappeared for a while, because internal problems with the builders caused a work stoppage. Nehemiah negotiated a peace and a restoration within the work force, and so the work continued. Dear friend, Satan is persistent. He will use every force and trick he can to cause the work of God’s Kingdom to stall. So it’s no surprise that we see the enemy return.

Nehemiah 6:1-2 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) 2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

Satan’s First Ploy: Let’s TALK Instead Of DOING

Nehemiah and his work crews have rebuilt the walls, which is an amazing feat. The walls are about 2.4966 miles long, circling the city. They are 39.37 feet tall, and an average of 8.2 feet thick. There are 34 watchtowers and 8 gates – though the doors are not yet on the gate hinges. What is amazing is that

The Book of Nehemiah has no miracles recorded in it at all. The miracle in this Book is that God’s people worked TOGETHER to glorify the Lord, and TOGETHER did an amazing work.

When Sanballat the Governor of Samaria (the Capital of Northern Israel) heard of this feat, he mobilized. Jerusalem is just days from regaining its walls. Jerusalem is the Capital City of Southern Israel. If the Capital is restored, it won’t be long before Judah is restored. Sanballat doesn’t want this, neither does his lieutenant Tobiah. Another enemy, Geshem the Arabian, Geshem was the King of Kedar, a province of Northwest Arabia, and a very powerful politician in the Persian Empire.

They cannot get Nehemiah to stop the building project, so they go to another tactic. They begin to distract rather than outright attack. If the devil’s attacks will not stop the growth of God’s Kingdom, he will use distraction. I have seen so many distractions as a pastor thrown at our Church.

A baby giggles or cries.
An ambulance or fire truck passes the Church.
A wasp or bee enters the room.
Speakers crackle or buzz annoyingly.
At 73 degrees everyone some are freezing.
At 74 degrees others are burning up.

The devil loves creating distractions. His distractions often look perfectly innocent on the surface. Sanballat and his crew suggest to Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 6:2 Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono…

Let’s just get together and talk! This sounds innocent. But if Nehemiah goes to the “plain of Ono”, he will have to go 27 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Had Nehemiah accepted this invitation, he would have been gone from Jerusalem about 2 days. Nehemiah would have also exposed himself to being kidnapped. The “plain of Ono” is kind of a “no man’s land” between Judah and Samaria. But Nehemiah said:

Nehemiah 6:2 But they thought to do me mischief.

Word Study: The word translated “mischief” is the Hebrewרַע raʻ, {pronounced rah}, which means “bad, evil, to bring misery or calamity, to be malignant”. British Evangelist Alan Redpath said:

“Whether you be a pastor or a teacher or evangelist or Sunday school leader, or whatever your position may be in Christian leadership, let me say that there will always be those who are friendly to your face, but plan your downfall behind your back. Beware of the fawning, flattering Christian who is always fluttering around you, and who behind your back will be the first to rejoice when you go down.”

Nehemiah was a praying man. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership notes:

“Nehemiah did not end his prayers after receiving his vision for the restored future of Jerusalem. Rather, he continued to ask God for guidance and help throughout the journey. Nehemiah received his power through God, the Source of all power and might. The entire restructuring of Jerusalem was enveloped in the power of prayer, as evidenced in how often prayers are lifted up within the relatively short book of Nehemiah. How many prayers are mentioned? Twelve”.

Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. God speaks to His people. We are constantly, as His Children, on God’s mind. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 139:17-18 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

God never leaves the side of His Children. He is the Only Parent Who can make such a claim. Thus Nehemiah relied on God throughout every phase of the work he was doing. The Scripture says:

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV) … For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Christians today have a problem with discernment because they do not pursue a relationship with God. We too often place much emphasis on human leaders, and little on the Greatest Leader Ever, the Lord our God. If you never (or rarely) pray, if you never (or rarely) meditate on God’s Word, then you will never grow as you should in Christ. The writer of Hebrews wrote to such Carnal Christians,

Hebrews 5:11-14 (ESV) About {Jesus} we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Faith is a spiritual muscle that only grows when we feed it the Word of God, and exercise it by speaking to God and doing as He says. If you will not DO the Word, you will not be BLESSED in life.
(Matthew 7:26-27)

How did Nehemiah respond to these fake invitations?

Nehemiah 6:3-4 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? 4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.

Nehemiah refused to go himself, though he “sent messengers unto them”. His message was simple. He said, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”. Sanballat and Satan did not stop here, though. Nehemiah said “they sent unto me four times after this sort”. I finds that interesting, that they would send for Nehemiah four times. In the Scripture, four is the number of resting in God. David the Shepherd carried five smooth stones onto the battlefield to fight Goliath. After using only one, four stones rested in his pouch. When you know you are doing God’s Work, don’t look back, don’t look left or right. Jesus said:

Luke 9:62 … No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

God has said,

Deuteronomy 33:12 (ESV) The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

Nehemiah was focused on pleasing God. He kept on working. But Beloved, Satan is not so easily discouraged.

Satan’s Second Ploy Is To Slander And Spread False Rumors

Nehemiah 6:5-7 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; 6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. 7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

Illustrate: Back in the days when we had to “lick” postage stamps, the Post Office decided to put a prominent politician’s picture on a stamp. Sadly, few people bought that stamp, so it was discontinued. The Postal Service polled people to find out why no one wanted that stamp. The consensus was summed up by one old man. He simply said,

“If I bought those stamps, I wouldn’t know which side to spit on!”

Of course, I don’t apply this to my brother Jerry. He’s a good Christian, and we need more genuine Christian politicians. Stamps have changed over the years. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that letters sent through the mail are generally sealed, not open. And yet we read:

Nehemiah 6:5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand…

This letter was sent OPEN because Sanballat wanted the public to know the contents. Sanballat is trying to start a false rumor. The rumor is:

Nehemiah 6:6 It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words

Notice how the slander is worded. “It is reported among the heathen”. It is common knowledge among all the nations around you what you and the Jews are doing. When the devil wants to start a lie, he says “But EVERYBODY’S doing it”, or “EVERYBODY knows”. To strengthen the lie, he says “and Gashmu saith it”. Who is “Gashmu”. This is the Arabic or Familiar form of the name Geshem (called “the Arabian”). What Sanballat is saying is, “Everyone knows what you are doing. My good buddy Gashmu (Geshem), the King of East Arabia, has told me all about it”. Sending this as an open letter was intended to frighten Nehemiah and the workers. If the King of Persia, Artaxerxes hears this, he might send a military force to destroy Nehemiah and his workers.

Nehemiah, you’d better DO something!

This is how the devil operates. If he can get us to STOP relying on God, and START defending ourselves, it won’t be long before the Kingdom work is stalled forever.

To make this worse, Sanballat says that Nehemiah is secretly plotting to “be their king”. To insure this happens, Sanballat claims that Nehemiah “hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah” (vs 7). Nehemiah, won’t you come together and talk with us so we can help you avert a disaster … Artaxerxes surely knows!

Beloved, when Satan slanders you (and he will if you follow Jesus), ask yourself, “Is it true?” If it isn’t true, rather than run about like a chicken with your head cut off, do as Nehemiah did. We read:

Nehemiah 6:8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

Nehemiah didn’t stop what he was doing to entertain his enemies. Once more he SENT messengers. He told them, in effect, “What you’re saying is a made up lie. It’s slander. You invented it out of your own evil hearts”. The Bible tells us that God despises those who slander others. The Bible says:

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

The Enduring Word Commentary notes:

“Nehemiah did not mount an elaborate defense, trying to prove Sanballat wrong point by point. He wasn’t going to waste his time. You don’t satisfy men like Sanballat with facts, explanations, and evidence. You satisfy them by giving in to their demands, and Nehemiah refused to do this.”

Illustrate: I’m reminded of an “Andy Griffith Show” where Barney was running for Sheriff against Andy. Barney got upset with Andy, and hired a man with a truck and a loud speaker to go through Mayberry shouting, “Vote for Barney. Barney Fife for Sheriff”. At the Town Hall meeting where Andy and Barney got up to debate one another, Barney took the stand he held up a briefcase and said, “Ladies and gentlemen… I have here documented 76 cases of malfeasance in the sheriff’s office”. When Andy got to the speaker’s stand, he was shocked. He said … “seventy six cases of malfeasance?” Andy didn’t defend himself. He admitted that people were parking in the wrong places, and jaywalking, and that he had no emergency equipment to speak of. He admitted that he didn’t wear a gun. But Andy said, “I’ve been a Sheriff here for a long time. You’re either satisfied with me, or you’re … you’re not. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow”. When Andy sat down, Barney stood up, and said, “I was satisfied with Mr. Taylor’s answers. And, well, I’m voting for Andy”.

Illustrate: The worst thing you can do when slandered for doing God’s work is to run about trying to make your enemies happy. President Abraham Lincoln was once asked, “Aren’t you going to answer all these allegations concerning the war effort?” Lincoln replied, “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

After telling Sanballat and his enemies that they were making up lies, Nehemiah did the best thing every Christian can do when slandered:

Nehemiah 6:9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Nehemiah admitted his fear, and the fear of his fellow workers. But he prayed to God, saying “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands”. When you are slandered, cast it upon the Lord – and get back to work. You can’t

Satan’s Third Ploy Is Outright Intimidation

Nehemiah 6:10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

Now Satan turns to using religion to destroy the work of God. Satan’s favorite weapon is religion. When our Lord Jesus walked this earth, His greatest opponents were not atheists, nor drunkards, nor adulterers, nor even Gentile rulers. Pilate tried to free Jesus. No, Jesus’ greatest enemies were the self righteous religious crowd, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. Jesus’ greatest enemies were Jews who should have rejoiced in His appearing. But this is what Satan does. He loves to use false faith and vain religion.

Shemaiah is well known by Nehemiah, as Nehemiah relates his lineage. Shemaiah tells Nehemiah that God gave him a prophecy (you’ll see this shortly) that Nehemiah was going to be assassinated. Shemaiah implies that God told him to tell Nehemiah to hide in the Temple. Now there’s no way you can hide in the Temple … unless you go into the area where only the priests are allowed. When God had the Temple built, He had them make “Courts” or meeting places for the Gentiles, the women, the men, and the priests. If Nehemiah hid in the first three courts, he could have easily been found. But if he went into the Court of the Priests (where the altar was) he could have hidden. But Nehemiah wasn’t fooled! He knew from God’s Word that the Court of the Priests was reserved unto the priests. In

2 Chronicles 26, King Uzziah – who was not a priest – went into the temple, and God instantly struck him with leprosy.

When God gave a rule, He expected it to be obeyed – or else! Shemaiah is like many in the mainstream churches who endorse homosexuality, transgenderism, and non-biblical marriage. The Mosaic Law declared that only God’s anointed Priests could enter the holy and the most holy places in the Temple (see Numbers 1:51; 3:10; 18:7). Had Nehemiah somehow broken one of God’s Laws he could have sought refuge at the brazen altar in the Temple courtyard (see Exodus 21:13-14; 1 Kings. 1:50-53). But Nehemiah knew two things. First, he had not violated God’s Law. Second, Nehemiah knew that God had not suspended the rules that He gave Israel. In fact, the reason Israel is in bondage NOW is because they skirted and disobeyed the rules that God clearly laid out for them. Nehemiah replies:

Nehemiah 6:11-12 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. 12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

When Nehemiah decided to do the right thing, and once more resist Satan, it was revealed to him that this false prophet was hired by Tobiah and Sanballat. Nehemiah said,

Nehemiah 6:13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

The Bible says,

James 4:7 (ESV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Nehemiah kept himself close to God by prayer. He was familiar with the Word of God. By being singularly focused on glorifying God and keeping to his mission, Nehemiah foiled the enemy at every turn. Nehemiah prays:

Nehemiah 6:14 My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

Once the wall was completed (in 52 days – see verse 15) Nehemiah uncovered an internal conspiracy with the nobles of Judah. They secretly plotted with Tobiah to overthrow Nehemiah. But as the scripture says,

Numbers 32:23 (ESV) … be sure your sin will find you out.

Once the wall was complete, it totally demoralized Nehemiah’s enemies (both open and secret), while magnifying the Kingdom of God. Nehemiah was able to brave ridicule, threats, discouragement, internal conspiracies, trickery and rumor mongering by prayer, perseverance, and prioritizing God’s glory. May we all be as faithful to our Lord. May God the Holy Spirit encourage you by this, His Word, to help rebuild the wall of righteousness in our nation. For Christ’s glory, may others yet be won to Jesus. Amen and amen.

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What Do I Do Until The Lord Comes?

Posted on August 8, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
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Please turn with me in your Bibles to James Chapter 5. James is an imminently practical Book. This Book points out how the saved are to live out their faiths while in this world. We start tonight with:

James 5:7-8 Be patient {makrothyméō} therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient {makrothyméō}; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Be Patient In Trials. Work Faithfully Looking Toward The Lord.

Word Study: When the Scripture repeats something twice in a short space, it is introducing a new section to study. Here we see “Be patient” emphasized in just a few verses. This is the Greek μακροθυμέω makrothyméō, {pronounced mak-roth-oo-meh’-o}, which is a compound word comprised of μακρός (to be very long) and θυμός (in the Spirit). Together the word means “to be very long in the Spirit {and not lose heart}”. The word is used TWICE in verse 7, ONCE in verse 8, and ONCE in verse 10:

James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience {makrothyméō}.

The Bible is not talking about human patience, which often wears thin. This type of patience is one aspect of the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. We read:

Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience {makrothyméō}, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

It is easy to become impatient in our faith, to sometimes say “I’ve got to DO something”, and then to mess everything up. This is the nature of humanity. We want things right away, quickly, now. We fill ourselves up with ourselves, then wonder why we fail. Beloved, we are to minimize self, and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that empowers. It is the Spirit that gives us holy patience.

When God called Abraham (then called Abram) to follow Him at age 75, God promised to give Abraham and Sarah a child of their own, and through that child to bless the entire world (Genesis 12:1-3).

In order for Abram (high father) to become Abraham (father of many), he would have to learn to minimize his self and let God fill him with the Holy Spirit.

Abraham had to follow God patiently for twenty-five years until he received that son. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). God will always keep His Word, BUT only when it is best for us. And Beloved, God does not ask us our opinion on the matter. He keeps His own Counsel. The wisest King Who ever lived was Solomon. Solomon said of God’s agenda on this earth:

Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) 17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Solomon said, “I tried to understand the work of God – but I couldn’t understand it”. This is so very true. So often we see those we consider “good” die young, while the wicked seem to prosper. Pastor Mark Talbot wrote:

“In this fallen world, righteousness is not always rewarded, and wickedness doesn’t always receive the punishment it deserves: {“There is a vanity that takes place on the earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous” (Ecclesiastes 8:14; 7:15)”

There are so many days that I look at our world and cry out to God, “Lord, why won’t You come now?” Those who are saved all feel this same anguish. The Apostle ended the Scripture Canon with:

Revelation 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

We desire that Jesus come right now! And yet, this is not what is best. There are souls who need to meet Jesus. There is Kingdom Work that we – as His children – must do. And yet, we, with the Apostle, cry out:

1 Corinthians 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Word Study: The word “Anathema” means “to be cursed or devoted to evil”. The word “Maranatha” means “Come quickly Lord!”. I have never known a Christian who loved Jesus that did not desire He come right now. On the very day that Jesus ascended into Heaven, promising to return, just before His ascent the disciples asked Him:

Acts 1:6 …. Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

They were asking when Jesus was going to establish His Millennial Reign on this earth. Our Lord replied:

Acts 1:7-8 … It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Only God knows when Jesus is returning. Only God understands when the best time is for evil to be eradicated, and for Christ to sit His Throne in Jerusalem. Jesus told His Disciples, in essence, “Don’t trouble yourselves over this. Know I am returning … but work for God’s Kingdom in the Spirit until I return”. We should follow the pattern that King David portrayed as he waited to be crowned. David, while yet a shepherd, was called into the presence of the Prophet Samuel. After God rejected all of Jesse’s sons as King of Israel, Jesse said:

1 Samuel 16:11 (NIV) “There is still the youngest …. but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

David comes in from the field, and the Lord said:

“Rise and anoint him; he is the one”

Did David ascend the throne? No. David could not ascend to the throne until he learned to wait on God. David had to learn to be filled with the Spirit, and not himself.

David faithfully served the present King Saul, though Saul often tried to kill him. When Saul died, Israel went through a terrible civil war for around seven years. The Bible says that “David inquired of the Lord” (2 Samuel 2:1), and followed whatever direction God the Holy Spirit sent him. For the second time we read:

2 Samuel 2:4 the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

But there’s a problem. Though Saul is dead, he had a son called Ish-bosheth (which means, “Man of Shame”). The House of Judah followed David, but the rest of Israel followed Ish-bosheth. Two of the leaders in Ish-bosheth’s army – Rechab and Baanah his brother – decided to assassinate their King. They came into his home at night and, while he was in bed, killed him, and cut off his head. Carrying it to David, they said:

2 Samuel 4:8 (ESV) “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.”

David would have none of it. He had both men executed, saying:

2 Samuel 4:11 (ESV) “{you} wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?”

David was willing to wait on the Lord. God had promised he would be king – but David would not circumvent the Will of God by forcing the fulfillment of God’s Word. This is what God would have us to do.

James 5:8 Be ye also patient {makrothyméō}; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

The “Be ye also” reminds us to look to the fathers of our faith, to the Prophets and holy people who went before.

Moses parted the Red Sea, then allowed emotion to take hold of his faith, and so he lost the Promised Land.

Joshua remained vigilant in following the Lord, and the Lord used him to conquer that same Promised Land.

Daniel kept his eyes on Jesus, though surrounded by lions.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked through fire with Jesus.

Jeremiah kept preaching, though none would listen.

Noah preached salvation, though only his family was saved.

John the Baptist loved God so much that he lost his head.

Let us fill our lives with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Let us not get impatient. Let us take hold of our hearts, our feelings. We are not to “follow your heart”, for our hearts are often foolish. Instead we are to follow our God, and the example our forefathers (and mothers) gave to us. We are to look to His Word, and trust in Him. While we wait on the Lord, we may question and ask our Father why. But we are also to be faithful in following Him. The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 90:13-17 (ESV) Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

As Poet William Cowper (1731-1800) wrote:

“God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm”.

While Working For God, Remember You Are NOT

We read,

James 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

A Church is a collection of broken people, all saved by Grace, all seeking to honor and serve the Lord. We are to work together, understanding that those around us – ourselves included – are apt to make mistakes and errors in judgment. We are told to “Grudge not”, that is,

Don’t Take Mistakes – Yours or Others – Personally!

Neal Foard, a YouTube motivational speaker I love to listen to, told a story where he chose to do the wrong thing and lived to regret it. I’m not going to tell the whole story, but Neal said that his mistake haunted him for years. Several years after the incident he came across the young man he mistreated, and confessed his error, seeking forgiveness. The man never held a grudge against Neal, but told him simply:

“Forget the mistake. Learn the lesson.”

I love that! We are all broken. We are therefore to approach errors in life as learning opportunities. When you forgive what someone erroneously did to you whether they ask you to or not, you are being like Jesus. And the more like Jesus you are, they less like YOU you are. And that’s a good thing!

Jesus warned us that – if we would not forgive trespasses – then God will not forgive OUR trespasses. He warned …

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV) For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We are not called of God to judge others. We are not the boss of others. God is. We share scripture, and judge our own spiritual walks. If you make the Pharisee mistake of going around judging others, all you will end up doing is shortchanging yourself. The Scripture says “if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). The problem with judging others is that it often blinds us to our own problems. Jesus put it this way:

Matthew 7:3-5 (CSB) Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

We are to examine our own lives very carefully first – then the lives of others. When we read “behold, the judge standeth before the door”, I am reminded of something very similar that God told Cain before he killed his brother Abel. God told Cain to repent, and do the right thing. God told Cain:

Genesis 4:6-7 (CSB) … “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent? 7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain did not repent, but allowed sinfulness and a judgmental attitude rule him until he killed his brother Abel. Let’s not go down the same horrid path!

Be Patient In Prayer And Worship.
Look To God And Your Fellow Believers.

James 5:10-11 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

When we go through suffering (and in this life we will suffer), we are to be “long Spirited”, following the examples of those Saints who went before us. Here the Bible speaks of the oldest Scriptures in the Bible, the Book of Job. Though Job suffered terribly, losing his entire family (minus a shrewish wife who made him miserable), Job trusted in the Lord. The Bible says:

Job 1:20-22 Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job had a loving and a fearful relationship with God His Savior. Job knew the difference between “Giving up and Letting go”. Under the greatest of suffering the Bible says that Job:

Job 1:20 Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped

Job humbled himself before God. He “fell down upon the ground, and worshiped”. Job knew Who his Master was. Job “worshiped” not himself, but the Lord. Job worshiped and honored God. Elijah prayed:

James 5:17-18 {Elijah} was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

We know very little about one of the greatest Prophets who ever lived, a man known simply as Elijah the Tishbite. The King over Israel at that time was a wicked man named Ahab the son of Omri. Ahab turned away from the God of Israel, and marrying a priestess of Baal called Jezebel, “went and served Baal, and worshiped him.” The Bible says:

1 King 16:33 … Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

It was in the midst of this terrible wickedness that God raises up Elijah. We live in a wicked day in America. Though Roe vs Wade has been overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States {sending the matter of abortion back to the states, which is where it should have been in the first place}, evil has become entrenched in our national consciousness. A recent article in Breakpoint called “What Abortion Built” notes that:

“Legalized abortion normalized promiscuity, promoted fatherlessness, and secured a view of children so bereft of humanity that we won’t even call them children anymore. … In her book Rethinking Sex, Washington Post columnist Christine Emba wrote …

“As contraception has become more mainstream and the risks of sex more diffuse… saying no can feel like less of an option for women: after all, what’s your excuse?” In other words, once abortion was legally on the table, it gave us leave to deconstruct sex to nothing more than a play for individual pleasure. That fundamental lie changed our worldview and thus our behavior.”

Elijah lived in a horribly wicked world, and so do we. This world has always been horribly wicked. Yet God can use Elijah, just as He can use us, to change this world. Elijah stood up against the “popular” opinion, and, following God’s direction, prayed a drought on a wicked king and his kingdom. God answered Elijah’s prayers. Now, was Elijah some type of “Super Believer”? No. We are told that “{Elijah} was a man subject to like passions as we are”. Elijah was as broken as we are broken. But Elijah relied on Almighty God, and called on Him to bring drought into the land. My commentary states:

“God used Elijah to accomplish His own will and agenda. Elijah was His instrument. Prayer does not move a reluctant God, but channels His will and purposes through His children.”

As God used Elijah to effect a change in that nation, God can use us who are His children to effect a change. Let us be the LIGHT that God wants us to be. Let us SHINE for Jesus until He calls us home. Make a decision each morning that you will make a difference by filling yourselves with the Holy Spirit, for the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen and Amen!

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What Is The G.O.A.L. Of Our Faith?

Posted on August 7, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
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Please turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 4 verse 17. As you are turning there, I want to start with this question: “What Is The G.O.A.L. Of Our Faith”? As Christians our faith is often described as a “race”. We are to “Run, that you might obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). We are commanded “run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2). If we are to run, what is the GOAL we are striving toward?

To Even ENTER The Race, You Must Have AGospel Salvation

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

The Christian is called “to do good”. At the beginning of every day we are to pray, “Father, let me do good so as to please you and honor Jesus today”. At the end of every day we are to look back over the day, and ask ourselves “What good did I do to honor my Lord today?”

I’m not talking about “Social Justice” – though this is the “in thing” today. I’m talking about “doing good” so as to honor the One Who saved you. We are not to just mark time and march in place, but we are to advance the Gospel Kingdom in any way we can. The Bible commands us to:

Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, for the days are evil

You – dear Christian – were given life to bring light into this dark world (see Colossians 4:5). If you are SAVED, you are SAVED by Grace – but with a purpose. We are told in Ephesians 2:8-9:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by Grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast.

We are here to celebrate our SALVATION. As you have been told many times, SALVATION “is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast”. You can neither earn nor deserve SALVATION.

SALVATION is what Jesus Christ purchased for you on Calvary.

A person is saved by “repenting”, turning away from being their own god and turning to the True God found only in Christ. The Scripture declares:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is … long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God wants to save whosoever will. Our favorite and most loved Scripture – John 3:16 – states that “God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should NOT PERISH, but have EVERLASTING LIFE”. Jesus Christ died for all. We cannot earn nor deserve His salvation. But when we bring our broken lives to Him, Jesus saves us. This is Ephesians 2:8-9. However, in the very next verse we are told:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED that we should walk in them.

Word Study: Those SAVED are SANCTIFIED. Those SAVED are SPIRIT INDWELT. God lives in you, and has given you His Word and, through that Word, His Will. What does it mean to be “sanctified”? This is the Greek ἁγιασμός hagiasmós, {pronounced hag-ee-as-mos’}, which means

“the process of cleansing, purifying, consecrating a saved person
to make them more like Jesus”.

SANCTIFICATION follows SALVATION. You cannot have one without the other. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 2:10-11 (ESV) … it was fitting that {God}, for Whom and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Source. That is why {Jesus} is not ashamed to call them brothers …

Once SAVED, God adopts you into the family of God and begins to make you more like Jesus, the Son of God. The Son of God died and rose again to make MORE SONS AND DAUGHTERS of God. Sanctification is a process that God will not stop until you reach your ultimate destination.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 … this is the will of God, even your sanctification …

1 Thessalonians 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel {your body} in sanctification and honor;

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Sanctification is a daily process where God the Holy Spirit takes the willing candidate and, through application of the Scripture and doing of the truth, makes that person more and more like Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved and NOT sanctified.

The Book of James is focused on SANCTIFICATION, on how God makes you more like Jesus.

Only God And His Scripture Sanctifies The Saved

The Christian is in a race to do good, and God is the judge. Naturally we read:

James 4:11-12 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

The Christian is called to run his or her race – looking unto Jesus. Always looking unto Jesus, because only Jesus is the Judge.

Illustrate: A lot of you love to sit at home and watch football, baseball, or basketball, or maybe NASCAR on the television. When watching these sports we often yell at the television, calling the referee “blind and stupid”, or adding our two cents worth. My wife and I often watch cooking competitions in a show called “Chopped”, and I’ll often mock contestants for using too little or too much of the basket ingregients. Have you ever noticed when you watch these shows that there’s a phone number at the bottom of the screen where you can call in and register YOUR opinion with the judges? No? You’ve never seen that? Guess what, you never will.

No one cares about your opinion. The judge is the judge.

So it is with the Christian. When God called you to salvation through His Gospel, you became His “workmanship”, created to “do good works”. God began to work on your life. How does God do this? He does it through the Word of God, the Scripture. Jesus prayed for His Church in

John 17:17 Sanctify them (the Church) in the truth; Your Word (O God) is truth.

The Word of God, the Scripture we read every week is the standard of truth. It is absolutely certain that keeping the Law cannot save a person.

The LAW sets the standard by which the Judge works.

The Law does not save, but it does set the standard. God said in …

Romans 3:19-20 (ESV) Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Law CANNOT save, but it does set a standard. For instance:

Only God has the right to determine what is right and wrong, good and evil. And God has given us very clear direction insofar as to what is sin – even in the New Testament. For instance,

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

These things that are forbidden are NOT a part of our race. Further, we read:

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV) … the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The Law cannot save – but it can teach us that we need to be saved (Galatians 3:24-26). But once we are saved, we live in accordance with God’s Law. We do not – as people saved under the New Covenant – have to sacrifice animals nor keep the special feasts that God gave to Israel. We are still to be doers of the Law. Though the Law could not save me, once I was saved I am to be obedient to my God, to my Jesus.

The “Royal Law” of the Family of God is that
we as Christians LOVE.

Matthew 22:37-40 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Those who are sons and daughters of God are to love God supremely, to love God with our ALL. But we are also called to “love my neighbor AS I love myself”. In fact, Jesus took this even farther by saying:

John 13:34 (ESV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Word Study: We are to love our fellow Christians with the same sacrificial love that our Lord Jesus showed us. We are to (as James 4:11 says) “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law”. Every Christian is a work in progress. I am not to “Speak evil” to my fellow Christian. The phrase “Speak evil” is the Greek καταλαλέω katalaléō, {pronounced kat-al-al-eh’-o}, which actually means to speak in opposition to, to slander, to speak against”.

If a brother or sister violates the “rule” of the Kingdom as set forth in the Scripture, we should tell them about it. But our OPINION is not warranted nor needed – God is the sole Judge.

James 4:12 There is one Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

All Truths Come From The Written Word Of God

James just told us not to judge. And yet, just a few verses away, we see these harsh words:

James 5:1-6 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

James is speaking very harshly to the rich. Why? Because the ones he is addressing have hired laborers and yet not paid them, holding back a fair wage. They have enjoyed the very best life that God in Grace has allowed them, have earned billions of dollars in their lifetimes, but have never used what they have to love others. On the contrary, they robbed their own workers, and built their riches on the tombs of the laborer. James tells these unloving people:

James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you

The rich people that James is indicting has violated the three Laws that the Christian lives by. The rich are not loving God with ALL their heart, mind, soul, and strength. These rich people are in love with their riches, not their God. Further, they are not treating their workers the way that they themselves would like to be treated. And as for following Jesus’ command to “love one another, as I have loved you” – it is absolutely non-existent!

James tells these people that they will “weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you”. What does this mean? Jesus often spoke of those who refused to love their neighbor being …

Matthew 8:12 … thrown into outer darkness. In that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Hell is where those with misplaced love go. If YOU are the center of your universe, and YOU live your life just to please YOU, our Lord Jesus has a place already set for you in eternity. It is NOT a mansion (John 14:2), nor a pleasure palace. Jesus described it as:

Matthew 13:50 … the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). Those who go to that place called HELL shall see a certain rich man there “crying out for a drop of water, saying ‘for I am in anguish in this flame’ (Luke 16:34)”. There is a hell, and this is where the selfish go. The abusers, the racists, the hateful, the greedy, those who would make their riches on the bones of their neighbor – they shall be in that place.

But not so the Christian. The Christian is saved by the Blood of Christ to be like Christ. Our destination is Heaven. Our calling is to bring the Light of God to this present darkness.

We who are saved are to …

1 John 1:7 (ESV) … walk in the light, as {God} is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

We are not to be JUDGES (for we are unworthy to judge), but as lovers of God to be DOERS of the Law of God.

Saved People Are To Live So As To Glorify God

James 4:13-16 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: [14] Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. [15] For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. [16] But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

There is nothing wrong with making plans for your life. The Bible tells us to:

Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

Jesus recognized that planning ahead is a good thing. Jesus tied planning ahead to salvation in:

Luke 14:28-33 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

It is not a bad thing to plan. BUT it is a bad thing
to plan WITHOUT THE LORD.

Those that James is speaking of say “To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain”. Notice what’s missing. IT IS THE LORD. God is no where in their plans for the future. The Bible is very clear that:

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV) Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Your SALVATION is a gift from God, and YOU now belong to the Lord. You are “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). If you are a Christian, you are God’s Workmanship. You are God’s Property. You are God’s Son or Daughter. God is with you. God the Holy Spirit INDWELLS you. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV) Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Ezekiel 36:27 (ESV) I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules..

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

If the Scripture is true – and it is – then every Christian should make their plans with God in mind. We are not to live our lives like the rich farmer who never thought of God. You remember him? Jesus said:

Luke 12:16-21 The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: [17] And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? [18] And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. [19] And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. [20] But God said unto him, THOU FOOL, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? [21] So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

How foolish it is for anyone to live without the Presence of God in their lives. In this parable, God called the man “THOU FOOL”. The word “FOOL” is a word reserved in the Bible for those who live their lives without God. The Scripture says:

Psalms 14:1 The FOOL hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

What does God say about our present lives?

James 4:14 … For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away

Our lives are like “a vapor”. We do not know when the Lord will call us home. Every day we live is a gift from God. We should honor God in our lives – honor Him by striving to be more like Jesus. We should remember the words of Scripture:

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do ALL to the glory of God.

Let us, as God’s children, magnify the life of Christ in our lives. The Scripture says:

Colossians 3:1-4 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. [2] SET YOUR AFFECTION ON THINGS ABOVE, not on things on the earth. [3] For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Let us therefore (Romans 13:12) “.. cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light”.

Let us therefore (Romans 14:19) “… follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”

Let us therefore (Hebrews 4:16) “… come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Love demands that we do good, reflecting the light of Christ from our lives into the world we serve. Let us live for Jesus daily, knowing that at any time I can be carried out of this life and into glory. We who belong to Jesus are to do good. We are to plan our lives with the glory of God in mind. We are to live each day knowing that tomorrow on this earth is not promised. We will ONE DAY stand before Jesus. Let’s stand with Jesus NOW.

May God use this message to grow His Church, and glorify His Kingdom. Amen and Amen!

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Keeping The Water Out Of The Boat

Posted on August 5, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by David Dibert: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-sinking-watercraft-in-the-sea-8017037/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 5. There is trouble in the camp, and Nehemiah must deal with it. Troubles will come to us all. Jesus said:

… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world … (John 16:33, NIV)

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. … (John 15:18)

The Kingdom of God is to be God’s “lighthouse”. “You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). The darkness has no use for the light. It had no use for Jesus, and has no use for us.

It is not water outside the ship that sinks the “Good Old Gospel Ship”. It is water IN the ship – trouble from within – that can destroy God’s earthly Kingdom. The problem that is most destructive to God’s People is when trouble comes – not from the outside – but from the inside.

Let’s take a look at how Nehemiah and the people dealt with this problem so they could get back to the business of rebuilding the wall.

Nehemiah 5:1-6 And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. 3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. 6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

The Water In The Boat Is When We Make Ourselves The Mission

Our mission as God’s Kingdom – people redeemed by the Lord Jesus – is to glorify God and advance the Gospel throughout our society. We are to be light in the midst of this current darkness. When we put ourselves first, and God’s mission second, there is a breach in the wall. How do we fix the breach? Nehemiah shows us how.

Among those who volunteered to help rebuild the wall, there were a number of poor and middle class people. But there were also nobles, people who had money and had food in plenty. We saw these “nobles” back in chapter 3:

Nehemiah 3:5 (ESV) … the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

These nobles felt that they were too good to “stoop to serve their Lord”. This was not their greatest sin.

The nobles were doing something even worst. The bulk of the people who voluntarily worked with Nehemiah were lower to lower middle class. They had large families to care for. “We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live” (verse 2). Parents who love their children will feed their children. Some people had access to small plots of land where they raised corn and other crop for their sustenance. But what of those who had no land, or who were poor farmers? They went to the nobles – those who had much – and borrowed money from them.

Nehemiah 5:3 … We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.

Word Study: The word translated “dearth” is the Hebrew רָעָב râʻâb, {pronounced raw-awb’}, which means “a famine”. This word was used in Genesis 41:27 when God gave the Pharaoh a vision that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of râʻâb. When King Solomon dedicated the now destroyed Temple to God, at that dedication ceremony he prayed:

1 Kings 8:23, 37-40 LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: … 37 If there be in the land famine {râʻâb}, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: {the Temple} 39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) 40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

As Solomon prayed over the newly built Temple, he knew that there are times when God allows famine {{râʻâb}} and suffering to come upon His people. Solomon prayed and asked God that – when God’s people were in trouble – if they UNITED prayed facing the Temple in honor of God – that God would bless them. It is Solomon’s prayer that causes many Orthodox Jews to pray – even today – facing Jerusalem, where the Temple used to be.

Trials are sent by God to His Kingdom People to grow them, and to teach them to have faith in God’s Resources, not in their own resources. Trials are sent to God’s Kingdom People to learn how to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ {which is love – my paraphrase}” (Galatians 6:2).

God Allows Suffering To Grow Us.
We Are HIS Workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

Suffering is an opportunity to try out and exercise your faith in God. Faith is so very important to the Christian walk. “Without faith it is impossible to please {God}. Faith is to come to God believing that He IS, that is, He exists. Faith is to come to God believing that the God Who exists is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6, my paraphrase). The Bible says:

1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein {suffering} ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Those who are helping Nehemiah rebuild the wall are fully committed to the work. They have “mortgaged {their} lands, vineyards, and houses”. Not only this, they

Nehemiah 5:4 … borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

Word Study: The word rendered “tribute” is the Hebrew מִדָּה middâh, {pronounced mid-daw’}, which means “a measure, a portion”. This is a reference to their taxes. Though King Artaxerxes had allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem with supplies to rebuild the walls, the King did NOT rescind the taxes that the residents of that land had to pay. Israel was a conquered nation, and had to pay tax to Artaxerxes. The famine had made it hard to raise enough food for their people, much less to pay taxes. Guess what? Artaxerxes didn’t care. They would pay their taxes, or suffer the consequences. So the people had to “borrow money” to both pay their taxes as well as feed their families.

Nehemiah 5:5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

Who was “bringing Jews into bondage”? Other Jews. Who was taking advantage of God’s people? God’s Kingdom people!

This was not something the conquerors were doing, but the rich Jews who remained in the land. It was not Biblically wrong for Jews to lend money to Jews. It was, however, wrong to lend money so as to MAKE MONEY off of the suffering of your fellow Jew. The Lord said:

Exodus 22:25 (ESV) If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

Leviticus 25:35-36 (ESV) If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.

The rich Jews – the Nobles – were not only NOT working, but they were taking advantage of their suffering Jewish neighbors.

Since the poor Jews had only lands and children to call their own, the rich Nobles were requiring that they give them their children and their lands as “surety” – what we today call “collateral” on the loans. We read:

Nehemiah 5:5 … we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already

Their children were “brought into bondage”, that is, were made slaves to the nobles. The Law of God allowed a person to sell themselves as servants (Bondservants, see Exodus 21:2-6), but NOT AS A SLAVE. A servant was to be treated with respect, and was only required to stay in servitude for a fixed period of SIX YEARS. God told Israel:

Leviticus 25:39-43 (ESV) If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.

Every person saved and brought into the Family of God belongs to God. No person can therefore belong to another person within the Kingdom of God. At most, a person can “rent” themselves out as a servant for a set period of time. But once that time was over, that person was given a choice. They could remain as a servant indefinitely, or they could be returned to their lands.

The nobles were not only enslaving Israelis, but were taking their homeland so they could not repay – a clear violation of God’s Law!

Deuteronomy 15:12-15 (ESV) If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

Israel was saved from slavery by the love and mercy of Almighty God. The Church Age Christian is saved by the love and mercy of Almighty God. Thus God’s people – saved by grace – are not in any way to enslave or bind their fellow believer. The Jews knew this, but were taking advantage of the situation to line their pockets. This offended God, and infuriated Nehemiah!

Nehemiah 5:6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

Unity against the enemy is so important for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said:

Matthew 18:20 (HCSB) For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”

God the Son does not come to indwell our services unless we are in harmony with one another and with God. God’s people are to be together in His Name. What does this mean? It means that we unite under the authority of God, following His agenda, His Word, and His direction.

Illustrate: The number “3” is a very important number in the Bible. One online source notes:

“Many numbers in the Hebrew language tend to have a deeper meaning. Three, shelosh [f.], sheloshah [m.] means harmony, new life, and completeness. The number three appears in the Bible 467 times, fewer than the number seven, but more than most of the other symbolically important numbers. Sometimes three is used as an emphatic Semitic triplet to describe the intensity of something. It’s not just holy. It’s holy, holy, holy.”

Before Jesus went to the Cross of Calvary, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. THREE times Jesus prayed “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39). Our Lord Jesus rose from the grave on the THIRD day (1 Corinthians 15:4). There are THREE Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 22:32). Also very important, our God is TRIUNE or THREE PERSONS.

If you hold three fingers HEAVENWARD for the number THREE, you will see that it forms the letter “W”, which is the beginning of WE. Where WE are in one accord with God and one another, God is with us. If you hold three fingers EARTHWARD for the number THREE, you will see that it forms the letter “M” for “Me”.

God will not bless selfishness nor self centeredness. The Kingdom of God is the KINGDOM of GOD. It does not belong to me or you. His Kingdom exists to glorify God, and to spread His influence throughout the earth. Because the nobles are disobeying the Scripture and putting themselves first, the work of rebuilding the walls – which had been going wonderfully – has come to a halt.

Nehemiah Gave Us A Pattern For Dealing With Problems

Nehemiah 5:6-7 I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words 7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.

Dr. Warren Wiersbe notes that …

“Nehemiah was not a politician who asked, ‘What is popular?’ or a diplomat who asked, ‘What is safe?’ but a true leader who asked, ‘What is right?”

Though Nehemiah was “very angry” when he first heard of what the nobles were doing, he was not controlled by his anger.

Before Nehemiah spoke out, he “consulted with himself”. The worst thing a leader can do is to speak hastily. The Bible says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Nehemiah can add to the problem, or cause the problem to de-escalate. Solomon rightly said, “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble”. (Proverbs 21:23). Here’s a few more texts I’ll give you at no extra charge:

Proverbs 12:18 (ESV) There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Psalm 34:13 (ESV) Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

1 Peter 3:10 (ESV) For Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

Nehemiah carefully and prayerfully considered what he should do, based upon what he knew of God’s Scripture. Once he gleaned God’s direction, Nehemiah “spoke the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Challenging the nobles, Nehemiah “set a great assembly against them”. He brought God’s Kingdom together on one place to judge if what the nobles was doing was right or wrong.

Nehemiah 5:8-10 I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. 9 Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? 10 I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

Nehemiah reminded the nobles that it was the Grace of God that redeemed Israel from bondage to unbelievers. Now the nobles are doing the same thing that Babylon and Medo-Persia did: they are enslaving their brothers in the Lord. Nehemiah reminded them that they needed to stand TOGETHER against the enemy:

Nehemiah 5:9 ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?

Every person was needed, no matter who they were, to stand with Israel and resist the devil. Nehemiah charged the nobles, saying:

Nehemiah 5:11 Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.

Word Study: The “hundredth part of the money” was an interest rate that would amount to around 12% annually. Nehemiah demanded that the nobles not only return their “vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses”, but also the interest that they had been charging their brethren. Verse 11 starts with the word “Restore”, the Hebrew שׁוּב shûwb, {pronounced shoob}, meaning “put things right”. As believers together in the Kingdom of God we are in the restoration business. We are not to be “making merchandise” of our brethren. In the New Testament our Lord Jesus chased the moneychangers and sellers out of the Temple, telling them:

John 2:16 Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

The Apostle Peter spoke of …

2 Peter 2:1, 3 … false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. … {who} 3 through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

God’s people are to be about Kingdom Business, winning souls, and glorifying the Lord Who saved us.

After Repentance And Restoration
The Wall Repair Continues

Nehemiah 5:12-13 Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. 13 Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.

To those who are outside the Kingdom of God because of faithlessness, we are to treat them as we would be treated (Matthew 22:37-40). But to those inside the Kingdom, Children of God by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26), we are called to love them as Jesus loves us:

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. {35} By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The nobles were to forgive the debt that the poorer people incurred, whereas the poorer people were to forgive the indignity that the nobles placed on them. The power of God’s Kingdom is in the presence of God – and God will only be present when we are in one accord. Jesus told us:

Matthew 18:15-20 (ESV) If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Oh that God’s Kingdom would grow! Lord, I pray, use us for Your glory. Use us to spread Christ’s Gospel and to build Your Kingdom. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen and Amen!

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God Gives Greater Grace

Posted on July 31, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/side-view-photo-of-praying-man-7468222/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter four. Our text for today is:

James 4:6-7 But He {God} giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

A Texas oil tycoon had one of his most prolific oil wells on fire – and every minute it burned he lost thousands of dollars in black gold. The tycoon called every fire department in that area, begging them to come and put out that fire. They came, and tried to get to the fire – but the blaze was just too hot! All they could do was contain the blaze from a distance. About 15 minutes after all the other fire departments responded, the Volunteer Fire Department came chugging along. The Fire Chief was driving Ol’ Betsy, a 1926 American LaFrance vintage fire engine. Wheezing and puffing, Ol’ Betsy took the crew past the other engines, and stopped well within blistering range of the inferno. The men jumped off, quickly set the hoses, and within minutes put out the fire. Everyone cheered! The firemen – heroes all – started stowing their gear, their protective clothing still smoldering. The Oil Baron was ecstatic. Finding the Chief, he promised to donate a million dollars to the Fire Department. After all was settled down, the local newspaper interviewed the Chief. The first question asked was, “Chief, that was fantastic! We’ve never seen such bravery! What do you plan on doing with the million dollars you’ve been promised?” The Chief smiled, and sighed. “I think the first thing we’ve going to do is get the brakes fixed on Ol’ Betsy!”

When young people learn to drive, the most important thing they must learn is how to brake the vehicle. I believe that knowing when to “put the brakes on” is important, not just for fire engines and cars, but for life. Our country is in a run away condition today because people have turned away from God. As the famous Dr Phil (Phillip McGraw) often asks on his show, “How’s that working for you?” I don’t think it’s working well for any of us. The Bible says that:

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace …

When you watch television or read the news, do you see “peace” in our America, or anarchy, hatred, division, and war? God wants us to have “peace”. Not just peace with Him (though this is important), but peace with others, and with yourself. Jesus said:

John 16:33 … in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Jesus is the Healer. Jesus is the means to Grace with God. When the blind came to Jesus, He healed them. When the crippled came to Jesus, they left walking. When the leper came to Jesus, He took away their disease. When we come to Jesus – receiving Him as He is – God is free to not only forgive our sins, but also to free us from our sins. The Bible says:

Romans 6:16-18 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? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Coming to Jesus in faith will change your heart, and this in turn will change your life.

The Beginning Of The Blessed Life Is
Submission To God

James 4:6 But {God} giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

God is the Source of Grace, and God will give “more grace”. What is this thing we call “grace”? Dr. Charles Stanley in his pamphlet What Is Grace writes:

“I remember a person once saying, “He did not like the word Grace; he thought the word Love meant the same and was much better.” This is a mistake, grace goes a great deal further than love. Man loves that which in some ways he thinks worthy of love, and he thinks God is the same as himself, and therefore he says, “I must turn to God some day and try to be worthy of His love; and then He will love me.” Now the grace of God is the very opposite of this human thought. I do not know anything like it in the whole world. “What is grace?” said I, the other day. “Mercy,” was the reply. Well, it is true the love of God and the mercy of God are both very, very wonderful. “God who is rich in MERCY, for His great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins”; and both the mercy and love of God are thus in grace; that is in pure unmerited favor. Yet this grace of God goes further, yea, far beyond the reach of all human thought.”

Grace is when God does not give us what we deserve. God does this every day. God has done this from the beginning of humanity. When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 (CEB) … Eat your fill from all of the garden’s trees; 17 but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it, you will die!”

God – Who is God – established a right and a wrong. He told Adam what was right, and clearly outlined what was wrong, and what the consequence of that wrong would be. What did Adam do? He did that which was WRONG, disobeying God. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Adam disobeyed God. He did not submit, but arrogantly chose to do what HE wanted to do. The Scripture says:

Romans 5:12 (ESV) … sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

When Adam sinned, he did not go to God for Grace. Instead, Adam sought to do “penance”. The Bible says that he took fig leaves and, sewing them together, made a covering for his and Eve’s sin. When God called Adam out of hiding, Adam stood defiantly in front of God and blamed Eve for what happened. He would not submit himself to God. God as Judge could have killed Adam had He wished. The wages of sin is death. Adam had been warned. But instead, God allowed Adam and Eve to live. Not only this, He took away the “Fig Leaf Designer” clothing that they were wearing, and killed an animal. Taking the pelt of the animal (Genesis 3:21) “the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them”. This is Grace. Adam and Eve deserved death, but God, in His abundant love, gave them life.

God blesses the prideful with life, but no one can have a life with God apart from His Grace. When we humble ourselves before Him and call upon His Name, He gives us Grace and Greater Grace. God taught Adam and Eve that:

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Sins against God are only covered by the shedding of blood, by death. Adam and Eve did not die in the Garden that day because God killed an animal in their place and, taking it’s pelt, covered their sin. Yet this was only a temporary covering, for God could not allow them to stay in Paradise. A greater covering for sin had yet to come.

That greater covering is found only in Jesus Christ. The Scripture says:

Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV) For in (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through (Jesus) to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

From the time of Adam’s fall until Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary, mankind covered sin by the sacrifice of animals that were considered “without spot or blemish”. But these animal sacrifices were only temporary, given by the Grace of God until Jesus came. When Jesus Christ came – God the Son becoming the son of Man – He came as God’s only covering for sin. Because He died on Calvary for you and me, our sins can be covered when we give our lives to Him. The Scripture says:

Romans 3:23-27 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a {satisfactory payment} by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

It is only through the Blood that sin is covered – only through the Blood of Christ. Yet so many people are like Adam. We take fig leaves, and try to cover our sins. It is insufficient. The Blood must be shed! The Blood must be claimed.

Adam and Eve had two children named Abel and Cain. The Bible tells us that Abel offered a sacrifice to God, a creature without spot or blemish, but Cain’s offering was without Blood. God received and honored Abel’s offering, but the Scripture says:

Genesis 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

When God told Cain to make the offering right, to bring an offering of Blood to Him, Cain stewed rather than submitted. God told Cain:

Genesis 4:7 (ESV) If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

Had Cain brought an offering of Blood as Abel did, then God would have given him Grace. But Cain wanted to do it his way. He refused, and eventually shed the Blood of his own brother Abel. Abel’s blood could not make payment for sin – for only Jesus can do this. The animal sacrifices were “types” or Old Testament shadows of what Jesus would do on Calvary. The Bible says:

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel shed the Blood of the creature – an Old Testament shadow of Jesus’ Cross – and through this sacrifice was received of God. The Bible says:

Hebrews 12:24 Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

When Abel’s blood was shed by Cain, his blood cried out to God from the ground it soaked into. What Abel’s blood cried out for was JUSTICE. But when Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary, His Blood spoke to God, not for JUSTICE, but for MERCY. Cain let sin master him … but God still gave him a measure of mercy by marking him, but not by killing him as he so richly deserved. But Jesus’ Blood, shed for the believer, cries out to God MERCY, MERCY, MERCY!

When you come to Jesus by faith, the Blood of the Savior is applied to your life. Jesus said:

John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: {28} And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. {29} My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. {30} I and my Father are one.

It is for Jesus’ SHEEP that He died. A sheep submits.

James 4:6-7 … God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God …

There can be no eternal life without submitting to Jesus and to God. While you are stiff necked and unbending, screaming and crying:

It’s MY body!
It’s MY life!
It’s MY choice!

There is no salvation for the prideful, nor any blessing from God for the arrogant. There is only “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth”. Jesus declared that in the judgment day:

Matthew 13:41-43 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

We See Greater Grace In The Life of Abraham

A Christian family was on vacation in another state and decided to visit a Church on Sunday. Before the Pastor started his sermon, he had everyone get up and shake hands with those around them. Thinking this was a great idea, when that family returned home they told their Pastor about their experience – and he loved the idea! That Sunday the Pastor got up before the congregation and said, “Next Sunday we’re going to start standing up and shaking hands with those around us before I begin to preach!” One man in the audience leaned over and, whispering to the woman in front of him, said “I think that’s a great idea. What do you think?” The woman replied, “Hey, we’re not starting that friendly stuff till next week!”

When you become a sheep of Christ, submitting your life to God the Holy Spirit, you realize that Grace is not just a one time thing that happens at the point of salvation. Grace is a daily thing that we as the children of the Kingdom rely on. God gives GREATER Grace.

The Bible always defines itself. When it speaks of GRACE, it gives us a perfect illustration of what GRACE is supposed to be. We see this illustration in the life of Abraham …

Romans 4:3 Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness …

“Abraham BELIEVED God”. What does this mean? How did Abraham BELIEVE God? God told Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-2 … Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: {2} And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Abraham HEARD the promise of God.
God said “Get up, move, and I will bless”.
Abraham then ACTED on what he HEARD.
Abraham MOVED.

So many people today say “I believe God”, but they at no point in their lives obey God. What did Jesus say? “My Sheep HEAR My voice, and FOLLOW Me, AND BASED ON THIS I GIVE THEM ETERNAL LIFE”. If Abraham had not followed God to the Promised Land, Abraham would have died “Abram” and would have never had any children. But Abraham HEARD and OBEYED. He submitted.

Vs 6 God resisteth the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We are to SUBMIT to God, but RESIST the Devil. Faith is a process, not a point in time. You will always lose the Promised Land, the Promised Child, or the Promised Peace if you do not follow the God Who made the Promise!

God came to Abraham one day and said, “Abraham!” He told Abraham “You remember that child Isaac I gave to you? I want you to do something for Me.

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

“Abraham, that child you waited for 25 years to have – the one I promised when you were 75 years old – your ONLY son – I want you to sacrifice him to Me. Abraham, do you believe in Me?”

I’m sure when Abraham first heard this, his heart skipped a beat! Yet Abraham did not argue with God. Believing in God, he got up early the next morning, took his son and two helpers, and headed out to sacrifice Isaac. When Abraham and Isaac started up that mountain, Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering”? Abraham merely replied,

My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

On that mountaintop Abraham laid Isaac on an altar. Tying him down, and arranging the wood around him, Abraham prepared to cut his own son’s throat. As he prepared to use the knife, God stopped him, saying:

Genesis 22:12 (ESV) … “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Abraham submitted to God. He looked, and saw a ram caught in the thicket, and offered up that ram instead of his son. What did God tell Abraham following the sacrifice? He said:

Genesis 22:16-18 (ESV) …. “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[a] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Dear Christian, you cannot be blessed unless you submit to God. A Christian is saved by faith in Christ and blessed by submission to God. When the trials of life overwhelm you, do not submit to worry or fear – submit to God. When tempted of the devil do not heed his hissing voice – submit to God. Submit to God in the valleys, and submit to God on the mountaintops. God giveth greater grace. Seek Him, seek His face, do His will, read His Word, and submit. May God touch your hearts with His Word.

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The Nature Of Saving Faith

Posted on July 31, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Екатерина Салимова: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-orange-treasure-flowers-in-bloom-7832256/

Turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 2.

Someone asked the question,

“Why is Church Attendance – Gathering with other Christians – important? Is it important?”

If you view Christian salvation as just being saved from hell and receiving the promise of Heaven – if that’s all “being saved” is – then Church attendance is NOT important. After all, once you purchase and receive a ticket from a travel agent, you don’t need to go back to the travel agent. You’ve got what you came for. So if salvation is like getting a ticket to Heaven from Jesus, Incorporated – and if the Church is where you purchase that ticket – then there’s no need to go back to Church. Your ticket’s been paid for. Transaction complete. You don’t need to even look at this Bible anymore. After all, it’s just a brochure about a place you’ve reserved to be. Right?

That’s how many people look at Christianity. You’ve bought a ticket on the “Good Old Gospel Ship”:

I’m a gonna take a trip,
In that good old Gospel Ship,
I’m a going far beyond the sky.
I’m gonna shout and sing,
Till all of Heaven rings,
When I bid this old world goodbye.

Since the Gospel is only about going to Heaven, let’s close up shop and get to the fried chicken! That’s how many believe. Yet this is a false gospel. The Apostle Paul severely condemned those who perverted the Gospel of Christ. He said:

Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV) even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Those are very strong words. So what was the Gospel that Paul preached? In that same chapter I just quoted the Apostle said:

Galatians 1:3-5 (ESV) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus came not just to get us into Heaven, but to “deliver us from the present evil age”. The Christian is a person who has been:

Colossians 1:13-14 (NASB1995) … rescued … from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of {God’s} beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We are members of Christ’s Kingdom. We who are saved by the Grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:8) no longer belong to this world. We are a Kingdom People – and Jesus is our King. The day you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10) you were called out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:8 (ESV) for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

James was martyred for his faith and for preaching Jesus. James was not only the stepbrother of Jesus, but he was the first Pastor of the Church in Jerusalem. The reason we come together as Christians is so we can mature as Christians, and walk in a way that is pleasing to our God. We learn from the Book, just as the early Church did. The early Church

Acts 2:42 (ESV) … devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It is God the Father’s intent that every child of God by faith in Christ be like Jesus. We are challenged to:

Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV) … be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

James focuses on the output of the Christian life. If you are a Christian, you should in some way look like Christ. Your behavior should be increasingly Christ honoring. Are you at James chapter 2? We read:

James 2:17-20 … Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Saving Faith effects the TREE of your life

A genuine saving faith will always produce the fruit of righteousness, not of darkness. Our Lord Jesus said:

Luke 6:43-45 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Those who are saved by the Grace of God are “good trees”. The saved want to produce good fruit, fruit honoring to God. The saved want to follow Jesus. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Those who are saved, are saved out of darkness and evil. Those who are saved, are saved to both follow and be like the Lord. Jesus told the religious Pharisees:

Matthew 12:33-37 (ESV) “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Pharisees were religious, but unsaved, for they rejected Jesus Christ. They followed the portions of the Law of God that suited them, but ignored the whole of the Law. Why? Because their hearts were corrupt. They were in the darkness of sin, bound to it, enslaved to it. How do you “make the tree good and its fruit good”? We cannot do it in our own strength.

We must come to Christ, broken as we are, and give our lives to Him. When we give our lives to Him, He gives His life to us. God comes to indwell us. God’s Word becomes our textbook, and we students of Christ.

James 2:17 … Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Genuine saving faith will always effect the output of the life. What does saving faith do?

Saving faith effects the TONGUE in your head

James 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

James says that if we are genuinely believers, then our tongue will be “bridled”. We have all made remarks that we wish we could take back. The difference between a Christian and a lost person is that the Christian will feel discomfort and guilt and the conviction of God the Holy Spirit when we misspeak. The Psalmist prayed:

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

This actually happens when you are saved. When a person receives Christ as Lord and Savior, Jesus sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, into our lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Titus 3:5; 2 Peter 1:4). The Spirit encourages us to …

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Word Study: If a person has a tongue that is perpetually uncontrolled, then “this man’s religion is VAIN”. That word translated “VAIN” is the Greek μάταιος mátaios, (pronounced mat’-ah-yos), which means “useless, of no purpose or good”.

Your tongue was given you so that you can TASTE good food, and TALK good and truthful words.

Our standard is to be “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Your words have the power to build up or destroy. Use your words in a way that honors Jesus Christ our Lord. In Chapter 3 James says:

James 3:3-8 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

When James says, “the tongue can no man tame”, he is talking of the tongue of the unsaved person. The lost use their tongues and lips to speak darkness. But the saved are to speak the Word of God and the Light of God. A lost person is rarely concerned about their tongue and its output. The saved are. James says:

James 3:10-12 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

If you are saved by Grace, born again of the Spirit, you are called to be “wells of living water”. Remember what Jesus said?

John 7:38-39 (ESV) Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

An unconverted mouth is a sure sign of a useless faith.

Saving faith effects your TREATMENT of others

James tell us:

James 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

What is “respect of persons”? It is when we treat one person because of their

Color
Nationality
Fame or Popularity
Financial Status
Position in the Community

better than we treat another. James gives us an illustration:

James 2:2-4 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

James starts with “if there come unto your assembly”. When believers are gathered together in συναγωγή synagōgē or synagogue, and a stranger comes in, we are not to value that person higher because they dress better, or have a better economic status. Every life is valuable to God. We are not to devalue a person who is well off, but we are not to devalue another person who is not well off. To see someone shabbily dressed – perhaps a homeless person – and to tell them “Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool” is an affront to God. Jesus Christ died for the whole world. Jesus gave His life so that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Every life is valuable. Every life is precious. James quotes the Royal Law we as Christians are under:

James 2:8-9 If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

The Christian is very much under the Law of Love. Jesus told us that the Great Commandment is:

Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV) 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.

These are the twin pillars of the Christian faith. Love God with your all. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Treat people as valuable, for they are valuable. After all, Jesus died for all:

2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (ESV) For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Every life has value. To put someone down under your footstool because they are poor is the action of a lost person. When our Lord Jesus taught on the Doctrine of Hell, what image did He give us?:

Luke 16:19-23 (ESV) There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.[f] The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Did the rich man go to hell because he was rich? Absolutely not. He went to hell for devaluing Lazarus, a human being created by God, a human being for whom Jesus died. Every life is precious, for every person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Jesus often emphasized this by using Samaritans in His parables, for the Jews hated the Samaritans. My Beloved,

Romans 2:11 there is no respect of persons with God.

When God caused Peter to go to the Gentile Centurion named Cornelius, that Apostle said:

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

There is no room for racism and hatred in the Christian faith. We are saved so we can share the Gospel with every person, regardless as to their person.

We have seen that:

Saving Faith effects the TREE of your life.
Saving faith effects the TONGUE in your head.
Saving faith effects your TREATMENT of others.

Now we see that

Saving Faith Effects That Which You TREASURE

James 2:20-24 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

In order to explain what saving faith is, James goes to an illustration that will be understood by everyone. He speaks of “Abraham our father”. The Prophet Abraham is known and studied by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Though each of these faiths see Abraham differently, he is nonetheless revered by all three.

Why is Abraham important in the study of saving faith. Abraham was childless, married to a woman incapable of giving him a child. Though Abraham was well to do, Abraham’s greatest desire was to have a child. God came to Abraham one day and promised him:

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

This childless man was promised that – if he followed God – then God would “make of you a great nation”. That means that Abraham would have to have at least ONE CHILD to call his own. So Abraham began to follow God. He focused his heart on following God. God was not incidental to Abraham’s life.

James 2:23 … Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

As Jesus said to us all, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Abraham loved God. He followed God, though often, as an imperfect person, he made errors and sinned. Yet he followed God. And though Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5). Abraham treasured Isaac his son. After all, he had waited most of his life for that child. Then one day God came to Abraham and told him:

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

Abraham is given a choice. Abraham, Who do you love more? Is Isaac your treasure, or is God your Treasure? Abraham didn’t question God. The next morning he woke up early, “saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac” (Genesis 22:3). Abraham didn’t ask God any questions. He took his son to a mountain where God led him, and laid his son down to sacrifice on the altar.

Needless to say, God stopped Abraham before he killed Isaac on that altar. Why did God do this? To show us all that our greatest Treasure – if we are saved by faith in Christ – should be our God. When God settled Israel in the Promised Land, all of the tribes of Israel were given a portion of land. All the tribes, that is, except for Levi. God said of Levi:

Deuteronomy 10:9 (ESV) … Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance

The Psalmist said,

Psalm 73:26 (ESV) My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Abraham’s “portion”, his greatest Treasure, was the relationship he had with God by faith. When God told Abraham to offer up Isaac, Abraham remembered the promise that God made,

Hebrews 11:18 (ESV) Through Isaac shall your offspring be named

Abraham believed that – even if he killed Isaac as God asked, that God would be able to raise Isaac from the grave (Hebrews 11:19). Abraham trusted God. Abraham treasured God. God was where his greatest Treasure was.

What do YOU treasure? Are the things of this life your treasures? Jesus said:

Matthew 6:20-21 (ESV) … 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.

If your Treasure is God, if you are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, then you will live your lives to please Him. Are you saved? If you are, you are members of His KINGdom. My prayer is that each of you insure through God’s Word that God is your portion, and you are His. May God the Holy Spirit drive this Word deeply into your hearts. For the glory of God. Amen and Amen!

Posted in General, James, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Our God Will Fight For Us

Posted on July 29, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Patricia McCarty: https://www.pexels.com/photo/jesus-saves-neon-signage-1769691/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 4.

The Bible tells us that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). As a nation, we came through two years of COVID – and are still being plagued by COVID. I suspect that COVID is something that will be with us forever, much like Influenza. How can this be “good”? But COVID was, indeed, good. COVID exposed a great deal of evil that was going on in our country, evil we were unaware of. Our children were being taught something called “Critical Race Theory”, which postulates that all who are “white” are evil, whereas people of color are inherently “good”. The group “Moms For America” in an article entitled Critical Race Theory Teaches Our Children To Hate Their Country, Neighbors, and Themselves notes:

“A national organization named “Black Lives Matter at School” (BLMS) is infiltrating our children’s schools with a “new uprising for racial justice” which includes teaching globalism, transgender and queer affirming agendas as well as promoting racism and sexism. The program has already been endorsed by the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the United States.

Our schools have become a very dangerous place for our children. It has been reduced to a propaganda breeding ground where our children are taught they are either oppressed or the oppressors. The left says, if you’re Black you’re told you’ll never succeed because White people won’t let you; If you’re a girl you’re told you’ll never succeed because men will always hold you down; If you’re a boy you’re a future rapist and if you’re a White man you’re a racist rapist.

Is it any wonder our kids are depressed and suicide is on the rise—especially among teenage boys?”

If COVID and the mandatory closure of schools had not occurred, most parents would have remained unaware of CRT and what their children were being taught. COVID brought a number of things to light, not just CRT. COVID brought into the light how wide spread sexual perversity has grown in America, and has exposed both “Cancel Culture” as well as “Identity Politics”. The government is not helping matters, but is in fact promoting evil.

How can we fix this nation? We cannot, but Jesus can. Jesus is the Messiah, the King of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God MUST come if America is to right itself.

Nehemiah is a good study for all Christians now. Only united, in love with God and with one another, can we build the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus said in Luke 17:21, “The Kingdom of God is within you”. As God’s people work together for the glory of God (and not the placating of man) the Kingdom of God grows, much as leaven or yeast works within bread dough (Matthew 13:33). When God rules in the hearts of His people, and His people live for Him no matter where they are, there is nothing the devil or this world can do to stop us. Where King Jesus rules, the world cannot overcome. Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).

When God’s Work Goes Forward,
Expect The Enemy To Grow And Attack

Nehemiah 4:1-3 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Nehemiah has – through the Grace of God – been allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around the capital city. Because God has blessed the work, King Artaxerxes has financed the rebuilding of the wall. This is amazing because Artaxerxes was one of the reasons the wall had been torn down for some 7 decades! God is in it, and so it will go forward.

But darkness will always oppose the Light of God. We read in verse 1:

Nehemiah 4:1 … when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews

“Sanballat” is the governor of Samaria, the capital city of Northern Israel. During the reign of King Rehoboam (the son of King Solomon) Israel divided into the Northern (10 tribes) and Southern Kingdoms (Judah & Benjamin). Jerusalem is the Capital City of Southern Israel, and Samaria the Capital City of Northern Israel. Sanballat is against the repair of the walls of Jerusalem. It is not to his advantage to have Southern Israel regather as a nation.

Sanballat and Tobiah the Ammonite (see Nehemiah 2:10) were “grieved that Nehemiah came to seek the welfare of the children of (Southern) Israel. As Nehemiah encourages the people to build, the forces of evil grow. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian (Nehemiah 2:19) not only mocked the rebuilding of the wall before it was started, but also bore false witness, claiming that the rebuilders were actually rebelling against Artaxerxes. When the darkness attacks Pastor Gregory Brown in his article “Recognizing The Tactics Of The Enemy” notes:

“How do we prepare for the attacks, and how do we defeat these attacks? Yes, we must put on the armor of God, which is primarily a righteous life. But along with that, we must be aware of the enemy’s tactics. Satan wants to immobilize us and keep us from progressing in our spiritual lives, and therefore, he will come with many different attacks. {Satan} wants to keep us from building and completing the work that God has called us to.”

How did the darkness attack Nehemiah? We read “Sanballat … was wroth”. The word “wroth” is the Hebrew חָרָה chârâh, {pronounced khaw-raw’}, which means “to BURN WITH ANGER, to BE KINDLED”. He approached Nehemiah in a white hot rage. He was hopping mad, and showed it in his voice and body language. How many times have we seen the enemy have a “melt down” over something they do not like. Last Sunday we studied in James where we are told:

James 1:20 … the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

The Way of Christ and the Kingdom of God do not operate on “meltdowns”. Our work is to bring in the Kingdom of God on this earth.

Sanballat – whether he knows it or not – wants to STOP the KINGDOM OF GOD from coming on the earth. He is not speaking in private to Nehemiah, but in the presence of many. He is like the young woman I saw the other day on Social Media having a “meltdown” over something that bothered her. The Psalmist (37:8) said, “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil”.

What else did Sanballat do to thwart the Kingdom? We read:

Nehemiah 4:1 {He} .. took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

Sanballat made fun of and mocked the Kingdom of God and it’s workers. We read:

Nehemiah 4:2 And {Sanballat} spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Sanballat mocks the rebuilding while inciting the “army of Samaria”. This army was standing nearby – close enough to hear – while Sanballat ridiculed the builders. The Bible says that Satan is the accuser of the Child of God (Revelation 12:10). The Bible says,

Romans 8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies …

Satan Does Not Want God’s Kingdom To Come

Satan uses people to discourage the work of God. He uses Sanballat to try and stop the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Notice the five question that Sanballat asks. These five questions have a dual purpose: they encourage the darkness, while discouraging the light.

  1. What do these feeble Jews? This question addresses the strength of the workers. These workers are “feeble” (ămēlāl, pronounced am-ay-lawl’), pitifully weak. These people do not have the strength necessary to rebuild a wall of any value. At the most, it will be but a facade. It is true that the workers are weak. Yet God tells us that “My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Bible tells us that “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ Who strengthens me”. If God is in the work with us, it will be done. The power is of the Lord!
  2. Will they fortify themselves? This is actually a subtle threat. If the work continues on, Sanballat is hinting that he will mobilize his army, and wipe out the workers.
  3. Will they sacrifice? The work before them is impossible. Will the workers sacrifice to God, and convince God Himself to rebuild the wall? It’s impossible, so they might as well give up. Beloved, Jesus said:

    Luke 1:37 (ESV) For NOTHING will be impossible WITH GOD

    When Igor Sikorsky, the inventor of the first helicopter, was a child his parents told him that human flight was impossible. When he built his first helicopter plant in America he had a sign put up for the workers to see. It read, “According to recognized aerotechnical tests, the bumblebee cannot fly because of the shape and weight of his body in relation to the total wing area. The bumblebee doesn’t know this, so he goes ahead and flies anyway”. Our God is the God of the impossible!
  4. Will they make an end in a day? Here Sanballat points out that the job is no simple one, that it will take a loooong time to finish, and the people will run out of energy. The Enduring Word Commentary notes:

    “Discouragement is such a powerful weapon because it is somewhat the opposite of faith. Where faith believes God and His love and promises, discouragement looks for and believes the worst – and tends to pretty much forget about who God is and what He has promised to do.”
  5. Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Here Sanballat talks about their lack of materials. The original wall of Jerusalem was built of “white limestone. When this material is burned it loses its strength and hardness and turns to powder”.

The workers have no hope. As Sanballat finishes his diatribe, Tobiah pipes up:

Nehemiah 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Even if you build up a wall, it won’t stand up to the slightest pressure. A fox will be able to jump up on it (it won’t be that high), and when he does, it will fall down (it won’t be that strong). But Tobiah refers to the wall as “their stone wall”. This isn’t “their stone wall”, it’s GOD’S stone wall. How does Nehemiah respond to Sanballat and Tobiah? We read:

Nehemiah 4:4-5 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

Nehemiah doesn’t even address his critics. He goes directly to God in prayer. Pastor Steven J. Cole writes:

“When the enemy opposes us as he surely will, we should respond with prayer, work, vigilance, and focus on the Lord”.

Nehemiah uses prayer as a weapon against fear. “Hear, O our God” begins his prayer. The word “Hear” literally means “to hear so as to do”. Nehemiah is calling on God to mobilize, and to defeat the enemy. The Bible tells us that we are not to take vengeance on the enemy, but to “give place to wrath”.

Romans 12:19 … for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord ..

We are called to serve our God, to glorify Him with our lives. Nehemiah has done his part. He went to King Artaxerxes. He made the long trip to Jerusalem. He shared and organized the rebuilding project with the refugees. Now Nehemiah asks God to do to the enemy what the enemy wanted to do to them. Nehemiah asks that they be defeated. He also said,

they have provoked thee to anger before the builders

Nothing angers God like those who will stand against His Kingdom and His Son. When you are doing the work God called you to do, and someone speaks against it, they are not speaking against YOU but against GOD. God told the Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 8:7):

“it is not you they have rejected, but they
have rejected Me as their king”

Nehemiah and the workers are doing what God called them to do. To attack them is to attack God. So Nehemiah prayed, recognized that the work they were doing was God’s work … then they all went back to work.

I love that. Nehemiah prayed, then went back to work. He did his part, and left God to do His part. We are not called to do God’s part. It is foolish to try. Only God can changed the heart of the wicked. Only God can protect us from the wicked. So Nehemiah and the workers went back to rebuilding the wall.

Keep Your Minds On Kingdom Work,
Not On Worldly Distractions

Nehemiah 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

Verse 6 covers a undistinguished length of time. Sanballat and his men left the area, and the work continued unabated. We read “the people had a mind to work”. The people with Nehemiah were not discouraged, but their minds were united in wanting to serve the Lord in this project. This should be the Spirit in every Christian’s heart. The Holy Spirit is given to us to teach us the things of God. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). United in their mindset, the workers passed the halfway mark of repairing the wall. Yet evil is persistent. The wall is only half as high as it should be.

Nehemiah 4:7-8 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, 8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

Sanballat first attacked the Kingdom of God, then Tobiah, then came along Geshem the Arabian. NOW WE SEE FIVE GROUPS have gathered together, and are conspiring to destroy Jerusalem and its workers. Though these five groups are all distinctive and different, that which unites them is that they HATE THE LIGHT OF GOD. They want to “fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it”. The word translated “hinder” is the Hebrew words ʿāśâ tôʿâ, {pronounced aw-saw’ to-aw’}, which means “to manufacture error or confusion”. Satan loves to bring confusion into the Kingdom of God. God is not the Author of Confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), but of peace. What did Nehemiah and the workers do?

Nehemiah 4:9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

Nehemiah and the people prayed, and “set a watch against them day and night”. They asked God to do His part, and they did their part. By praying and doing, the people signaled that they were committed to following the Lord. The people also sent a message to the enemy. “We are not afraid of you, and will keep working no matter how much you threaten. The people also showed God their faith was in Him, not in themselves.

Nehemiah 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.

At the halfway mark there was so much debris on the ground that it was getting impossible for the workers to build. The work went smoothly until the debris piled up. Now it is critical that this rubbish be taken away. It is “Judah”, the Ruling Tribe of Israel, who suggests that the work cease because of the rubble on the ground. The enemy knows about this buildup of rubbish, and says:

Nehemiah 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

To the workers, the rubbish on the ground was a tripping hazard, something that could stop the work. To the enemy, the rubbish on the ground is an opportunity to “cause the work to cease”. Not only this, but people from outside of the workers and Sanballat’s forces come into the city to discourage Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 4:12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.

What did Nehemiah do in response to this further discouragement?

Nehemiah 4:13-14 Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

Nehemiah arranged the workers so that those working on the lower parts of the wall were guarded by “swords and spears and bows”. Nehemiah asked to keep looking unto God, and keep on looking out for one another. Together Israel will win, or together Israel will die. The workers were to keep their focus on the God Who loved them so. “Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren”. Love God, love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Nehemiah tells them:

Be not ye afraid of them, For
Our God Shall Fight For Us

Do not let fear drive you. Let faith drive you. Our God is “great and terrible”. He is far more powerful than any force that can be allayed against us. They are to be ready to “fight for your brethren”. The twin commandments of God’s Kingdom is:

Matthew 22:37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Matthew 22:39 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Now Nehemiah gets everyone working together. We read:

Nehemiah 4:16-18 And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons {širyôn, breastplates, armor}; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. 18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

Nehemiah divided the workforce into DEFENSIVE and OFFENSIVE. The DEFENSIVE worked on the wall, while the OFFENSIVE watched over the builders and prepared to fight the enemy. As the wall building progressed, the workers got spread out far enough apart to where the work crews could be attacked. Nehemiah kept the person who “sounded the trumpet” near himself. Nehemiah told the people:

Nehemiah 4:19-20 The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. 20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

God promises to fight for His people, for those in covenant with Him. Nehemiah reminded the people that our God is a Covenant Keeping God. God tells us:

Deuteronomy 3:22 (ESV) You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.

Deuteronomy 20:4 (ESV) the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.

We may wield the weapon, but God controls the outcome. He looks after those who trust in Him. In Luke chapter 22, our Lord Jesus prepares to go to the Cross to die for our sins. Jesus tells His disciples:

Luke 22:36-38 (ESV) … But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” 38 And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

Jesus must go to the Cross and be “numbered with the transgressors”, that is, die between two thieves. So Jesus told His disciples to make sure they had a sword so they could thwart the enemy from killing Him before His time. There was an interesting article in the Journal of Biblical Literature 137, no. 2 (2018) {the article “Double Edged: The Meaning of the Two Swords in Luke 22:35-38}.

“… nothing must deter God’s salvific plan. In Luke 22:38, taking up the sword ensures Jesus’ safe transit to the Mount of Olives in prayerful preparation for His ensuing arrest; in Luke 22:51, putting away the sword ensures the arrest will proceed.”

Why must the wall be built around Jerusalem? Why must swords and spears be used, if necessary, to ensure that the wall is built? Because God’s grand plan to save this world requires that Jesus Christ be born of a virgin into this world through the nation Israel. If the wall of Jerusalem is not built, the Capital City will never be rebuilt. If the Capital City is never rebuilt, the Temple will never be built. If the Temple is not built, Israel will cease to be, and all prophecy related to the coming of Christ will be overturned.

But the wall must be built. Christ must come. Jesus must die on Calvary, and rise again. If He does not, the Kingdom of God will never come. And this, God will cause to come. “our God shall fight for us”.

The Kingdom of God MUST come. It must come to America, or our nation will fall. It must come through Christ’s people. Nehemiah and the workers understood that God’s Kingdom must come, and God’s will must be done. We end with these words:

Nehemiah 4:21-23 So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labor on the day. 23 So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

May we so labor faithfully for our God. Let us bring in His Kingdom, and labor for the Master. For the preservation of America, and the salvation of our world. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen and Amen.

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Saved, You Will Be Sanctified

Posted on July 26, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by nappy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-child-reading-holy-bible-935944/

Whereas the Apostle Paul was used by God to talk about salvation, James is used of God to talk about sanctification. What are the differences between the two?

Salvation Is What Jesus Does FOR Us
Sanctification Is What God The Holy Spirit Does TO Us

We are saved by faith in Christ. Receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit into our lives. The Holy Spirit causes us to be “born again” as new creatures in Christ. The Holy Spirit causes us to be adopted into the Family of God. The Holy Spirit stays with us, guiding us into daily being more like Jesus.

The saved by faith are always sanctified by works

James focuses on the process of Sanctification, a real part of a genuine Christian’s walk with God. When we studied the first twelve verses of James chapter 1, we saw how God uses trials (the KJV renders it as “temptations”) are used of God to make us like Jesus. James makes the point that genuine faith “endures temptation” or trials.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

The Greek Noun πειρασμός peirasmós, {pronounced pi-ras-mos’} refers to “a trial or difficulty that proves the genuineness of saving faith”. Those who will not endure the tests of life will not get the crown of life!

As water tests whether a creature is aquatic or a land animal, the trials that God allows us to go through prove our salvation. Trials can be initiated by God, or allowed by God, always with the intent of SANCTIFYING us. The truly saved “endure TRIALS”. A hurt child runs to its parent. A suffering believer runs to Jesus, calling on the Father. Those under the Sanctification of the Holy Spirit cannot fall away. The Scripture says:

1 John 3:8-10 (ESV) Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

The saved are changed by God the Holy Spirit, and the Law of Christ is written in their hearts by the action of Sanctification (2 Corinthians 3:3). Christians are called “Saints”, which literally means “Sanctified Ones”. This is what God prophesied in the Old Testament, saying

Jeremiah 31:33 I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

TRIALS Grow The Believer, And Are From God.
TEMPTATIONS Are NOT From God.

James 1:13-18 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Word Study: Here James is not using the noun peirasmos, but has switched to the verb peirazo. Though this verb can be used in a good sense, in most uses in the New Testament it is something that only the evil do. For instance, before Jesus began His earthly ministry, Matthew tells us:

Matthew 4:1, 3 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted {peirazo} of the devil. … And when the tempter {peirazo} came to {Jesus}, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Though God the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness, it is Satan who peirazo, tempted Jesus to do evil. Later on in His ministry we see the Pharisees and Sadducees trying to destroy Jesus’ ministry:

Matthew 16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting {peirazo} desired Him {Jesus} that He would show them a sign from Heaven.

As these religious unbelievers continued to attack Jesus, our Lord called them out:

Matthew 22:18 … Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt {peirazo} ye me, ye hypocrites?

When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Church, the Apostle said:

Acts 5:9 … How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt {peirazo} the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Trials may come on believers, initiated by either the world or by God, to grow the believer. Such trials are governed in duration and dimension by God our Father. But temptations to sin do not come from God, but solely from Satan, the world, or our flesh. God may allow Satan to tempt you to sin, but God has nothing to do with the temptation.

James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Temptation to sin – peirazo – never comes from God. In fact, part of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray focused on asking God to lead us away from temptation:

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“No good earthly father would deliberately seduce his child into sin by trying to make him or her sin. However, every good father will deliberately allow his child to enter situations in life in which the child must make moral choices. We realize that sending a child to school or into the community, at the proper age, is good for a child because it matures him or her. Likewise God grows us up spiritually by allowing certain experiences, including temptations, to assail us—though He Himself only gives good gifts to His children …”

The devil and this fallen world often sends enticement to do evil. As humans, we can be enticed to evil by our own darkened sin nature. Every person in this room – saved or unsaved – has an “old sin nature”. Every person “is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”.

God is never the Author of sin

People today try to make out that God is sin’s Author. They say, “God made me thus, so how can God judge me?”. God did not make us “thus”. We were born in sin, children of Adam. Each one of us was born with a propensity toward one sin or another sin. Sin draws us away from God. “Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). Sin itself comes short of the glory of God.

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

Sin is darkness, not light. Sin is death, not life.
Sin never brings glory to God, so God will never entice to sin.
Death and darkness do not exist in God.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

If what you perceive as a trial draws you to a place of lust, it draws you away from God. This is not God’s will for our lives. God wants us to walk WITH Him, not apart from Him. God will not put something in our paths that will draw us into sin. If it entices to sin, it is of Satan, not of God. James says:

James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Word Study: “DO NOT ERR” is the Greek πλανάω μή planaō mē, which means “do not wander away from God, do not be seduced, do not go astray”. The same phrase is used in:

1 Corinthians 6:9 (ESV) … do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived {planaō mē} …

1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV) Do not be deceived {planaō mē}: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

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

1 John 3:7 (ESV) Little children, let no one deceive you {planaō mē}. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

There is no sin nor darkness in God. God is Light. The first command that God gave in the Bible was “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” If it is evil, if it is sinful, if it dark, it is not of God, but of Satan and the fallen world.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

If it is evil or dark, it comes from Satan or fallen humanity. If it is “good” and “perfect”, it is from God our Creator and Father. The word translated “perfect” is the Greek τέλειος téleios, {pronounced tel’-i-os}, which means “complete, finished, lacking nothing necessary to completeness, of full age or mature”. God does not do things by halves.

God always does everything for His own glory
and for our growth in Christ.

God is forever unchanging. He cannot do evil, nor be tempted to do evil. Everything that God brings into our lives is for His glory and for our growth. God is called “the Father of lights”, that is, He is the Creator of not just the Sun, the Moon, and the stars, but also of light. Most people do not realize that – in the Creation account – God created light, and named the light “Day, and the darkness He called Night” (Genesis 1:5). This occurred on the first day of creation. But God did not create the Sun, the Moon, nor the stars until the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19). Light’s Source is NOT the Sun, the Moon nor the stars. The Source of Light is God Himself. He made Light itself, in all its forms, apart from the lights we see in our solar system. Darkness does not come from God – only Light.

In the True God our Bible speaks of there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning”. Too many people assume that a “mean God” wrote the Old Testament, but over time God became more mellow and wrote the New Testament. One commentary notes:

“God gave you every single good thing in your life. He is the source of all the good you have and all the good you crave. Who God is does not change when our circumstances change. He doesn’t go from being a good God to a bad God when our trials began. He is still the source of all the good in our lives; He never changes.”

As a Church we often say, “God is good – all the time. All the time – God is good”. God gives nothing that is not good. God leads us no where where it is not for our good. If we are led to a bad place, a place where sin has us in its grip, this is not where God led us, but where evil trapped us and we sinfully walked. In God there is no “shadow of turning”. With ordinary light – like the light that comes from our sun – the earth turns or rotates so that we move into darkness a few hours every day. Normal light casts shadows. But God’s light is shadowless. Though Israel often wandered away from God, and often broke His covenant, God’s promises stood true. God told Israel:

Malachi 3:6 (ESV) … I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

We change daily – but God never changes. The promises He makes to us are promises He is bound to keep. God does not wander from the path of light – nor will He lead us to wander away from light. I read this and loved it:

“If there is darkness in your life, it’s not because God, the Father of Lights is turning; it’s because you are turning. He is the Father of Lights and in Him there is no shadow. There is no darkness in Him.”

The Apostle said:

1 John 1:5-7 (ESV) This is the message we have heard from {God} and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

God’s purpose in our lives is that we walk with Him in the light. God will never lead His child into darkness, into sin, into the ways of evil. When King Solomon wandered away from God, our Beloved Heavenly Father punished him. God punishes His children whom He loves. Solomon wrote in

Lamentations 3:1-6 (ESV) I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of {God’s} wrath; 2 He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 3 surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; He has broken my bones; 5 He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.

The chapter continues in this vein, as Solomon complains about the pain and the suffering he has undergone because he turned from God. But then, in the middle of the text, Solomon writes:

Lamentations 3:21-26 (ESV) … But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

If “The Lord is your portion”, if you are His child by faith in Christ, then He will never abandon your cause. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning”. God never forgets the child that He purchased with the Blood of His dear Son. God watches over us morning and evening. God only allows things to come our way that are for our ultimate good. God made us to be with Him – in companionship with Him – not just in Heaven, but every day we walk on this earth.

James 1:18 (ESV) Of His own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

“Of His own will” God caused us to be born again when we responded to the Gospel in the affirmative. God was not forced to give us new birth. We did not coerce God when we believed on Jesus, receiving Him as our Lord and Savior. God freely and of His own will made the promise of the Gospel:

Romans 10:13 ..everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

When we broken creatures were convicted of our brokenness, and heard the wooing of the Holy Spirit, when we cried out to Jesus to heal us, God was not coerced. He wants us. He loves us. He bids us come to Him and receive life. He wants us to walk with Him daily, moment by moment. We are not called to a Sunday go to meeting religion, nor a religion of empty rituals. We are called to walk with God in the light, not to remain in the darkness of sin. The Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 4:6 (ESV) For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God did not save us to sin, but to serve Him in the light, to walk with Him through this present life.

Since God Is Sanctifying Us,
How Should We Then Live?

James 1:19-20 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

There is an old saying among students of Scripture, which is “When you see a WHEREFORE, ask yourself “What is it THEREFORE”? If we are saved by faith in Christ, and sanctified daily by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God, then we are to work with God. We are to intentionally walk with God. What does an intentional walk with God look like? James gives us three directives:

be SWIFT to HEAR
be SLOW to SPEAK
be SLOW to WRATH

We are called of God to imitate Jesus in controlling our tongues and our emotions. As Americans, we have a First Amendment right that gives us freedom of speech. But as Christians of the Kingdom of God, we are to glorify God our Savior in all that we say and do. Thus we are to be SWIFT to HEAR. Open our ears, listen to others completely. If you exercise your tongue too soon, you may, by that tongue, drive away a potential lost soul. You may also hurt the sanctification process in a fellow brother or sister in Christ. LISTEN to others, then carefully consider your words. Be SLOW to SPEAK. Our mouths are always getting us into trouble. King Solomon said:

Proverbs 17:27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 10:19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Just because you have the freedom to say it, doesn’t mean that you should say it. Restrain your words. Also, restrain your temper. We are to be SLOW TO WRATH. Again, Solomon said:

Proverbs 14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Proverbs 16:32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

As God’s Children we are commanded to:

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

Trust that God will look after you. He will. God is faithful. He will never leave us, nor forsake us. If offended, let God deal with it. Follow the method that Christ gave us in Matthew 18:15-17. I pray you’ll read that text, and do as God says do. And Beloved, if your walk in life is not that of a child of God, then dear one, you probably still need to be saved. Do not assume you are going to Heaven because you performed some ritual that the local Church endorsed. Those who go to Heaven are the same ones who walk with God on this present earth. As Christians we are not perfect – but God is our portion.

Is He yours? May God the Holy Spirit draw you close to Christ this very day. Amen and Amen.

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Repent, Receive, And Do

Posted on July 26, 2022 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Ian Turnell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/assorted-fruits-stall-709567/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to James Chapter One. This morning we talked about the difference between Salvation and Sanctification. Salvation is a place we enter when we repent and turn to Jesus, believing Him to be our Lord and Savior. Giving our broken lives to Him, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit of God to us to begin a lifetime work in our lives.

We repent of being our own god, and turn to God the Son, Jesus Christ.
We receive the Scripture as God’s Word – especially what Jesus decreed.
We reflect in our lives the life of Christ, for we are God’s children.

The “religion” that gets a person into God’s Heaven cannot be divorced from the way of Christ. Jesus taught us the twin pillars of our faith is to love God supremely, and to love others the way that Jesus has loved us (Matthew 22:36-40; John 13:34).

Opening: On July 11, 1656, two Quaker Missionaries Ann Austin and Mary Fisher arrived in Boston Harbor, New England. A Christian denomination called the Puritans ruled Massachusetts, much like the Pharisees ruled Israel in Jesus’ day. The Puritans believed the Quakers to be a cult. Deputy Governor Richard Bellingham boarded the ladies ship, ordered the women to stay on board, and confiscated 100 books the ladies brought with them. The books were burned, the women imprisoned without counsel or the ability to speak to anyone, and were stripped naked. The window of their cell was boarded up, and they were allowed no candle for light. No arrangement was made by the government to feed them. Bostonians were warned that any attempt to speak to these ladies would be heavily fined. A Christian innkeeper named Nicholas Upsall bribed the jailer five shillings a week to take food and water to the prisoners. Another ship owner, William Chicester, after 5 weeks agreed to take the women to Barbados. When they left, the jailer kept their Bible and bedding as his payment for “watching over” them. Nicholas Upsall was banished from Massachusetts for protesting the treatment of these Quakers – though Nicholas was a blameless Puritan and a faithful churchgoer.

This is not the way of Christ!

By the Grace of God we who are Christian are changed from children of Adam to “becoming” Children of God.

Preach! As Children of God, we do not walk in darkness, but in the light of Christ. We walk in love (Romans 14:15; Ephesians 5:2), realizing that we have no worthiness, but we are saved by Grace. We not cherish sin, nor do we hate people that are around us. We “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), always tempering our actions by a constant knowledge that we are all fallen short of the glory of God. We resist sin, knowing it caused the death of our Master on Calvary’s Tree.

The Christian Will Put Away All Of What “We Think”, And Put On All Of What God Has Said!

James 1:21-25 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. [22] But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. [23] For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: [24] For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. [25] But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

“Wherefore”. When you see a “Wherefore”, ask yourself “What is it THERE FOR?” The “Wherefore” brings a conclusion. IF everything James shared with us from verse 1 to verse 20 is true, THEN there is something that God commands us do.

The Lord expects those who are His to heed His Word and to turn from the distractions and pretty baubles of this world. We are born again not by our works, not by our rituals, but by faith in Jesus Christ. We put our total trust in the person of the Lord Jesus, and

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

Salvation is entirely an act of God. Just as Jesus healed the leper, the blind, the deaf, the cripple … He will change the life of those who believe on Him. The Scripture promises …

Romans 10:9-13 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. [10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. [11] For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [12] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. [13] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Adrian Rogers said, “Salvation is not a plan, but a Man”. We are saved by receiving what the Lord Jesus Christ – for God’s glory – did for us on that Cross of Calvary. But salvation, dear friend, goes beyond the tomb.

Jesus died for our sins, but rose again to live through us. The Christian is not saved to COAST into Heaven. The Christian is saved to be a CHILD of Heaven.

Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (John 15:10). We are called to follow Jesus. Jesus believed the Scripture. Jesus came to fulfill God’s Word. If we follow Jesus, we follow God’s Word.

  • For Jesus sake you are kings and priests before God.
  • For Jesus sake you are adopted children of God.
  • For Jesus sake your sins are forgiven.
  • For Jesus sake you are indwelt by the Spirit of the Living God.
  • For Jesus sake God has prepared for you a mansion
  • For Jesus sake you are made a part of the Body of Christ, the Church.
  • For Jesus sake you have stewardship of the Gospel of Christ.
  • For Jesus sake we live as lights in this present world.

God’s people and God’s Church has a mandate to LIVE for Jesus, to LABOR for Jesus, to LONG for Jesus,
and to LAST for Jesus.

James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness

Word Study: If you are a Child of God, you are to first of all – every day – to “lay apart” {ἀποτίθημι apotíthēmi, pronounced ap-ot-eeth’-ay-mee} that which does not honor Christ. The Christian is to honor Christ in all that we say and do. The word apotíthēmi is used for that which does not belong to us who believe and love Jesus. For instance,

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off {lay apart, apotíthēmi} the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

The “works of darkness” that we are to cast off is lovelessness and doing evil to others. We are told that “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:9-10). We cannot win the world for Christ by being hateful, but loving. We must love as Jesus loves. We are to

Ephesians 4:22-24That ye put off {lay apart, apotíthēmi} concerning the former {way of life} the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Before we came to Christ we followed our own path. Now in Christ we follow Jesus, doing that which the Bible says, loving others whether they love us or not. We are told in …

Colossians 3:8-10 But now ye also put off {lay apart, apotíthēmi} all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The old ways of the world are not what we imitate. We imitate God. We DO His Word, His Teachings. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside {lay apart, apotíthēmi} every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us..

Cast away every weight AND the sin that so easily trips you up. Put away anything that hinders your walk with God. Sometimes people come to me and ask me if this is a sin, or that is a sin. Dear friends, the Bible says that anything that stands between you and your Lord is to be cast off as filthy.

James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness

Word Study: James tells us to cast off “all filthiness”. This is the Greek υπαρία rhyparía, {pronounced hroo-par-ee’-ah}, and it refers to the things that, if you touch them, they will defile you. Under the Old Covenant there were certain times when people were forbidden to touch something:

  • Those with leprosy were not to be touched. Leviticus 13:46 “He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp” (ESV). Nor was a dead body to be touched. “Put out of the camp everyone … who is unclean through contact with the dead” (Numbers 5:2, ESV)

The reason God had Israel forbid the touch of the infected or dead was to limit exposure and infection among His people. Under the New Covenant we do not exile people for disease, sickness, or death. We are, however, to put away from us anything that might defile our walk with Christ. The words translated “superfluity of naughtiness” is Old English, and better translated today as “all that remains of wickedness”. The devil often entices us from the path of righteousness with touch.

Sin enters the mind through the senses – touch, taste, hearing, sight, smell. But TOUCH is the thing that most often draws us away from the light of God.

God tells us today as His children:

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

“touch not the unclean thing”.

  • Do not handle poison ivy if you don’t want to scratch.
  • Do not pick up the pornographic magazine.
  • Do not continue to watch sexual encounters on the television.
  • Do not type a reply to a sensual temptation on social media. “God for Christ’s sake has forgiven {us}” (Ephesians 4:32).

Put away that which God has said is filthy, lest you become defiled by it. I heard an old Pastor say one time,

“If you play in the toilet, you’ll catch something!”

Preach! What do we often see? There are professing Christians running around with the Ku Klux Klan and Black Lives Matter. This does not honor Christ! There are professing Christians out drinking and partying with the lost. This is not what Christ came for. There are professing Christians who vote without regard to what the Scripture says. Does your candidate support what Christ supported? If not, REPENT. There are professing Christians suing other professing Christians in court, totally in violation of Christ’s decree. My Beloved, these things must not be!

Bind yourselves to the Lord Who loves you, and gave Himself for you. The Apostle said:

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. [17] And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Lay aside the things that are worldly and unendorsed by the Scripture. The world may normalize it, but we must not abide it in our lives. When sin is in the believer’s life, this sin grieves the Spirit of God and quenches the Spirit of God.

Ephesians 4:30 (ESV) do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.…

1 Thessalonians 5:19 (ESV) Do not quench the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to do the work of Christ, to live in the Kingdom of God. Do not alienate the Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit”, not in the flesh (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16). Lay aside the sin that is in your life, for it blocks your ability to hear the Word of God. Examine yourselves. If you have sins that need to be cast off, cast them off. God cannot grow you to the next level of discipleship until you put away that residual sin in your lives! If you have things that are not necessarily sin, but these things are impeding your service for God, put these things away also. If it blocks the hearing of God’s Word it should not be in the believer’s life.

Putting Away Sin, We Open The Word Of God In
Partnership With The Spirit Of God

James 1:21 … and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls …

Word Study: The word translated “meekness“ is the Greek PRAUTES (prauthj pronounced prah-oo’-tace), which means “an attitude or disposition to humility, a receptive spirit”. Not only does sin in your life keep you from receiving God’s instruction, but a hard hearted or “I already know that” arrogance of spirit also binds you from the Word of God. In this text the Scripture is called the “engrafted Word“. The Greek for “engrafted” is EMPHUTOS (emfutoj pronounced em’-foo-tos), which is a gardening term meaning to “place a graft“. The Bible tells us that the Church is God’s farm or field. The Apostle wrote:

1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV) … you are God’s FIELD, God’s building.

When we submit to God’s Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to plant that Word in our lives, then God can cause our field to bloom. God gave us the Holy Spirit “to guide us into all truth” (John 16:13-14).

The Word of God, the Scripture, doesn’t just save our souls from hell. But the Scripture received can save our souls from a hell on this earth!

When The Scripture Is Received, It Brings Forth Fruit
Unto God From The Field Of Our Lives

James 1:22 But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

The person who will not DO what God has said is dangerously deceiving themselves. Though works of righteousness do not SAVE a person, once a person is saved they will DO works of righteousness. This is consistently taught in both Old and New Covenants. God said to Israel:

Exodus 20:5-6 (ESV) You shall not bow down to {false gods} or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

To those who serve the false gods of this world, God allows their iniquity to – karma-like – come back to them. But to those who love the Lord and “keep {God’s} commandments”, to those the Lord shows “STEADFAST LOVE”. Now I’m sure some will say, “But this is the Old Covenant. We are not under the Old Covenant! I don’t have to obey God if I am saved by Grace – I am not under the Law!” No, dear friend, you are utterly confused. For under the New Covenant we read the words of Jesus:

John 14:15-17 (ESV) … If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 AND I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth

The Holy Spirit only comes to those who keep Jesus’ commandments. To make sure we understood this, Jesus repeated Himself shortly after this, saying:

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.

The Son of God is to keep God’s Commandments. This is true whether under the Old Covenant or under the New Covenant. Christ must not be just received as your “Savior”, but Christ must also be received as your “Lord”. We who are saved are citizens of the Kingdom of God. The citizen of the Kingdom of God on this earth will one day be transferred to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God in Heaven.

Jesus is Lord! God is Lord!

Illustrate: Let me tell you a story. In a certain Kingdom, the King decreed a series of laws that He expected all of His subjects to adhere to. The penalty for rejecting the King’s Law was to be cast into a dungeon, a place of darkness and separation and suffering. Then one day the King offered to adopt as many as would come to Him into His Family. Some heard the offer of adoption, but decided they did not want to be that close to the King. But others heard this message, and came to the King’s Throne. Kneeling before Him, they pledged their lives to His Family, and the King received them as His own sons and daughters. The King’s Children are not LESS responsible for following the King’s Law, but are MORE responsible – because they love the King. They are not worthy to be the King’s Children, but by His magnificent Grace they are. And their hearts overflow with joy in following their King.

Christian, our identity is not in ourselves, but in the Kingdom of God. James emphasizes this.

James 1:23-25 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The “believer” who is a HEARER but not a DOER is like a lost person. They look in the mirror, and then try and decided what manner of “person” they are to be. This is the world we live in today. People look in the mirror at themselves divorced of God and His Rule, and say “I feel that I identify as …”. One magazine I read noted:

“There are many different gender identities, including male, female, transgender, gender neutral, non-binary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, two-spirit, third gender, and all, none or a combination of these.”

Other worldly sources say that there are three genders, or seven main genders, or fifty two genders, or 72 genders. Why all the confusion? It is because people are looking in the mirror at themselves, and are listening to other lost people tell them how to be found. A lost person looking in the mirror at their lostness, and listening to a lost world, will be confused and lost. But a Child of God does not look in the mirror, but at the “perfect law of liberty”, the Law of the Family of God. My identity is tied to my Heavenly Father, to the Lord Jesus Who saved me, and to the Holy Spirit Who indwells me. James emphasizes:

John 1:25 … whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed

I serve a Risen Savior. You do, too, if you are saved.

I thought I’d end with a poem written by Jonathan Blake Carmac called Victa (conquered):

Out of the night that covers me
Into resplendent light that makes whole,
I thank my God in Jesus Christ
For conquering my wretched soul.

In the hands of Almighty God,
I have oft winced and cried aloud.
Yet due the bludgeonings of God,
Christ’s head is bloodied, mine is bowed.

Within this place of wrath and tears
A Father whose strength is a shade,
And so the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me unfraid.

Hard the way and narrow the gate,
Yet payed the charges on my scroll.
Christ is the Master of my fate:
Christ is the Captain of my soul.

May God the Holy Spirit use His Word to reach other for Christ’s Kingdom. Amen and Amen!

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