Have You The Right Faith?

Posted on October 4, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash

John 4:43-45 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.

The Witness Of The Saved

Last week we spoke of Jesus going through Samaria, and meeting the woman at the well. This woman fell in love with Jesus, and put her faith in Him as Messiah. She went into Sychar, leaving her water pot at Jacob’s well, and began to witness for Jesus.

What does it mean to “witness” for Jesus? It is to tell others what Jesus did for you – how He impacted YOUR life. The devil is only defeated by:

Revelation 12:11 … by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of {your} testimony …

I love to watch scary movies, and often yell at the screen when the characters of the drama fall victim to the vampires, the werewolves. The characters always get messed up when they go – by themselves – into a dark and spooky place! Then when they are attacked, they try to fend off the evil with some token, like “holy water”, a “cross”, a “silver bullet”, or “garlic”. These are fantasies. The way you ward off evil – truly ward it off – is by trusting in Jesus, and living by faith in Him. This is what defeats evil. The world needs the witness of the genuine believer in Christ. The world is desperate for Jesus! Once this woman witnessed about Jesus, the Samaritans asked Jesus to stay with them.

Jesus stayed two days with the Samaritans. Having done His work there for the Father, Jesus heads toward Galilee. Galilee is about 18 ½ miles north of Nazareth. John writes:

John 4:44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.

Why does it say Jesus “testified”? That is a very interesting word, the Greek μαρτυρέω martyréō, {pronounced mar-too-reh’-o}, from which we get our word “martyr”. The word means “to give a witness”, but it has a sacrificial quality to it. It is to give a witness that costs something.

Our Lord Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Only Begotten of God. Our Lord Jesus is the Godhead revealed, the Lamb of God, the Incarnate Son of God.

Our Lord Jesus turned water into wine at Cana.

Our Lord Jesus moved a Samaritan woman, that caused a revival in Sychar.

Jesus – this miraculous and wonderful Savior and Lord – heads toward His hometown of Nazareth. Though not born in Nazareth, He was raised in Nazareth. Though John does not give us the details on Jesus’ failed mission to Nazareth, Mark does. Mark tells us:

Mark 6:2-6 And when the sabbath day was come, {Jesus} began to teach in the synagogue {at Nazareth}: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

The Faith Of Nazareth Sees Only The Man In Christ

The people of Nazareth grew up with Jesus and remembered Him as the Carpenter’s Son. Though Jesus did miracles in Nazareth – not many, but some – they believed Him more a man than they believed Him Messiah. They said “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter?” The Bible says:

John 1:12-13 But as many as received {Jesus}, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Preach! Emphasize! To “believe on His name” is to receive and acknowledge Jesus as He is. Jesus Christ is Perfect Man, but He is no mere mortal. He is no mere human teacher. It is a weak and faltering faith that makes Christ out to be as common as you or I. Jesus is distinctly different from every human who has ever been.

As Adam in his creation was perfect before his choice to fall, Jesus is perfect, unique. He is like us in that He tired, He hurt, He ached, He hungered, He thirsted. He suffered all the failings this human body has. But Jesus Christ was and is without sin. He is God in human flesh!

Jesus is without sin- whereas we are sinners. When the Bible speaks of us humans, it says:

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

“all have sinned”. Little babies, fresh from birth, are sinners. Toddlers are sinners. Every person who has ever been born human is a sinner – all but One. This One is Jesus. The Bible says:

Hebrews 4:15 … {Jesus} was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He {God the Father} hath made him {God the Son}to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Jesus is not a sinner as we are. He is without sin, a unique human/ divine Person. The faith of Nazareth sees Jesus as no more than a mortal man. Jesus is, to them, just a great teacher or a wonderful preacher. If your idea of Jesus is as Nazareth, then your faith is not sufficient to bring about the miraculous. To say that Christ is merely a great moral teacher is to make Him to be what He is not. Jesus Christ is eternal God, incarnate as a perfect man, among us. From the time of the fall of Adam unto Jesus, there had never been a perfect man. There was Enoch, who walked with God till he was not, but Enoch was not perfect. Just as all fallen creatures do, we must rely on the Grace of God. Throughout Scripture, the Bible tells us:

The JUST shall live by faith.

To be “Just”, or “Justified”, righteous in the eyes of God, we ourselves cannot produce this. We must live by faith in God’s provision. All humans are fallen. Eliphaz told Job,

“What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?” (Job 15:14 – ESV)

Noah, the Old Testament savior of humanity, was himself imperfect. God used Noah, because:

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus is perfect Man. When God wanted to draw man closer to Himself, He gave us the Law to lead us to Christ. John 1:17 tells us,

“The Law was given by Moses, but GRACE and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ”

Throughout the Scripture, when anyone found Grace in the eyes of God, they found it through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the very Source of the Grace of God. You cannot find grace in a Walmart, nor a Target, nor a Walgreens, nor in a farmer’s market. You cannot find grace in a local Church, or a denomination. You cannot find grace in a preacher like myself. Grace and truth are found ONLY in Jesus Christ. Jesus is perfect Man, and perfect God.

Years ago as a young Christian I was introduced to the works of C.S. Lewis. Lewis was a very deep thinker, a theologian of the first order. In his book Mere Christianity (which I highly recommend), Lewis said:

“… people often say about Him [Jesus Christ]: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic … or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse …. You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.”

The Prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus some 700 years before His incarnation as perfect Man. Though Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be “a light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 49:6), the Prophet also said that the Messiah would be …

Isaiah 53:3 … is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Though Nazareth – and the rest of the lost world – sees Jesus as just another man, the Bible declares He is more than mortal. He is perfect Man and Infinite God. As believers in Christ, we are daily:

Titus 2:13 … looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ …

Nazareth faith hinders the power of Christ to do good.

Mark 6:5-6 {Jesus} could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

Jesus “could there do no mighty work”. Though Jesus kept trying to reach out, and though He tried to bring healing and truth, His ministry was greatly hindered by the unbelief of the inhabitants of Nazareth. The Bible said that Jesus “marveled because of their unbelief”. Of all the things we do, only unbelief in the face of the kindness and grace of God marvels our Lord. The faith of Nazareth sees only the MAN in Jesus. In contrast,

The Faith Of The Galilean Sees
Only The Miracle In Jesus

John 4:45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.

This verse refers back to

John 2:23-25 … Now when {Jesus} was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Jesus did a number of miracles at the beginning of His earthly ministry, right after chasing the money changers out of the Temple (John 2:14-16). We do not know what these miracles were, but whatever they were, they were given because Jesus loves people. Jesus loves to alleviate suffering. One word that highlights the life of Jesus is COMPASSION. We see it used frequently:

Matthew 14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick .

Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them , because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Matthew 15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples [unto him], and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

Matthew 20:34 So Jesus had compassion [on them], and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.

Unless hindered by unbelief, Jesus – because of His compassion – always reached out to heal the broken.

God loves to heal the broken. The Galileans had been at the Feast of the Passover, and saw Jesus’ miraculous healings. The Gospels shout the words “Jesus had compassion!” Our Lord was compassionate, He loved people, He empathized with people, He identified with people. Because of this great love He healed people, He miraculously fed people, He caused the blind to see, and even raised people from the dead several times. God has compassion, Jesus has compassion, and this is the reason that the people in Cana of Galilee had such good wine on a certain wedding day.

Jesus loves to heal our hurts and our pain, but He wants all of our lives. Some people want Jesus for what temporary blessing He will give. If Jesus would turn water into wine, then go away until I need Him again, that would be just fine. But that is not why Jesus came. God created this world, then put humanity in this world, so that we would learn to walk with Him. God loves us. The Galileans were looking at what temporal things Jesus did, and received Him for these things.

But Jesus is so much more. The Galilean faith focuses on the loaves of bread and the little fish multiplied, but misses the greater truth that God is not just our Provider and Healer, but God is our Companion and Lord. This life is filled with trials and tribulations. Jesus healed many who were blind, leprous, had an issue of blood, or even – who like Lazarus – died …. Every one of these people still died. Their mortal lives in time ended, and they stood before Jesus Christ to be judged. Those who knew Him as Savior and Lord left this life and moved into eternity, adopted of God, blessed forever.

The Faith Of The Nobleman Sees The Lord In Jesus

John 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

Someone once asked me why God allowed suffering in creation. The short answer is, so that we will be drawn closer to Him. The Bible tells us that God often allows pain and suffering in our lives to draw us into a relationship with Him. We read:

Romans 5:3-6 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope: (5) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (6) For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

It is in our brokenness that we find our completion in Christ. No one loves suffering, but what makes it worst is to believe the suffering is without purpose, just painful. But this is not true.

When we suffer, Jesus is there to heal us.
When we are empty, Jesus is there to fill us.
When we are discouraged and depressed,
Jesus is there to lift us up and restore our souls.

The suffering that brings you to Christ is not a curse. Suffering, if it chains you to Christ, is a wonderful thing! God allows pain and suffering in the life of the unbeliever to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is what happened in the life of the certain nobleman. We don’t really know who this man was. We just know that that his son was sick at Capernaum – a place not far from where Jesus was – and this man had heard about Jesus and the wine of the wedding feast. This son was very sick, we read he was at the point of death. If you, as a parent, have ever lost a child, you know this man’s heart. If you don’t, you can only imagine! I can see what this man was going through. He went to Jesus and asked Him to heal that child.

John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto {Jesus}, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.

The “nobleman”, literally a “royal official” (Gr. Basilikos), was probably a man who served Herod Antipas, the puppet governor of Israel. The official’s son lay in Capernaum, about 13 miles from Cana. Warren Wiersbe notes:

“The nobleman believed that Jesus could heal his son, but he made two mistakes in his thinking: that Jesus had to go to Capernaum to save the lad, and that if the boy died meanwhile, it was too late.”

Jesus told the official:

John 4:48 Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

The Jews were reluctant to believe in Jesus. The Bible says in …

John 12:37 Though {Jesus} had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him…

The Soniclight commentary notes,

“ Jesus’ mention of “signs” (Gr. semeia) pointed to the significance of His miracles. This is the only place in John’s Gospel where “wonders” occurs. This word (Gr. terata) stresses the wonder or awe that these miracles produced in those who witnessed them. Jesus’ use of the word suggests that the people wanted to see miracles just so they could marvel at them.

Jesus implied that the man did “not believe” in Him. He did, of course, believe that Jesus could heal His son, but he had not yet come to believe that He could heal from a distance. Jesus viewed that second level of belief as the significant one. The official may well have thought: “What do You mean I do not believe on You?” The man probably felt rebuked by Jesus’ comment, but Jesus’ aim was to bring him to deeper faith in Himself.”

Our Lord Jesus is not just a faith healer, not just a man. Jesus Christ is God. He need not be touching the boy to heal him. He can heal from a distance, if He so desires.

The rich man grows in faith – and believes in Jesus as He is. He says:

John 4:49 … The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

The word “Sir” is the Greek κύριος kýrios, {pronounced koo’-ree-os}, which is translated as “Lord” in most places in the New Testament. For instance,

Matthew 1:20 “the angel of the Lord (kýrios) appeared unto {Joseph} in a dream”

Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord (kýrios)Lord (kýrios)”

Matthew 8:25 “Lord (kýrios) save us: we perish.”

Philippians 2:11 “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (kýrios), to the glory of God the Father.”

The nobleman acknowledges Jesus as Lord. Not “Sir”, but “Lord”! When Doubting Thomas saw the resurrected Savior, he shouted out:

John 20:28 My Lord (kýrios) and my God.

When Peter, following the resurrection, heard the Master’s last teaching, he told Jesus …

John 21:17 … Lord (kýrios), Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

And as Stephen, one of the first martyrs of the Church was being stoned to death, he cried out to Jesus:

Acts 7:59 … Lord (kýrios) Jesus, receive my spirit.

An understanding as to what has happened in the nobleman’s heart hangs on your understanding this Greek word Lord (kýrios). This is the heart of salvation. You may call on Jesus Christ as Savior only, and not be saved. Salvation is based on repentance, and repentance is based on your reception of Jesus as LORD. The Apostle said:

Romans 10:9-11 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord (kýrios) 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.

Many come to Jesus today as healer, helper, friend, confidant. But is He your Lord (kýrios)? When you receive Jesus as Lord (kýrios), you are translated into His Kingdom (Colossians 1:13). When you all on the name of the Lord (kýrios) (Romans 10:13; Acts 22:16) you will be saved. This nobleman saw Jesus as He is.

He is Lord, Hallelujah,
He is Lord, Amen.
He is Lord, Holy, Holy,
And He’s coming back again.
He is Lord, glory glory,
He is Lord over all the seed of man.
He is Lord, great and mighty,
He is Lord, the great I AM.

Jesus tells the official:

John 4:50-51 … Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. (51) And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told [him], saying, Thy son liveth.

Genuine faith moves when God says move.

Had the official heard Jesus, and yet not headed home, he would not be showing faith. Faith moves. Faith goes. This nobleman seized the promise of Christ, and headed home alone. It wasn’t long before his servants met him, and told him “thy son liveth”.

John 4:52-54 Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee.

What type of faith have you in Jesus? Do you have the faith of Nazareth, that Jesus is but a good man and a human leader of a religion? Do you have the faith of Galilee, believing Jesus can do miracles – but is not your Lord? Or do you have the nobleman’s faith? I pray that each and every one of you have the nobleman’s faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus is able. He is able to save. He is able to secure. He is able to bless. He is both Lord and Savior to His people. May God bring you to this knowledge through His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen!

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A Picture Of Grace

Posted on October 4, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash

We live in a troubled world, a world that needs Jesus!

Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 5:

John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

After this. Our text starts with these two words, “After this” (Greek meta tauta, “Following these events”). Following

  • the conversion of the Samaritan woman at the well,
  • the Samaritan’s witness in Sychar caused a revival of faith in Jesus.
  • the weak faith of Nazareth, which only saw Jesus as a good man
  • the misguided faith of Galilee, which only saw Jesus as a spare tire
  • the sound faith of the Nobleman, who believed Jesus as Lord and Savior – and the conversion of his whole house!

Chapter 4 is a study of faith.

Chapter 5 is a picture of Grace.
Everyone has faith – misplaced faith is no good.
Properly placed faith looks to Jesus.
To only Jesus! For in Jesus is Grace.
“We beheld [Jesus’] glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, FULL OF GRACE and Truth.”

God Offers Grace To the Broken

Grace is in Jesus. The gracious Jesus comes up to Jerusalem in order to celebrate a “feast”. The feasts were opportunities for the people of God to get together and celebrate the Grace of God. Leviticus 23 outlines the requirements for the Jewish weekly Sabbath, and the Feast Days.

The seven Feast Days were times when the Israelis rested and remembered the Grace that God had poured out. In America we commemorate with memorials & statues. Israel commemorated God with “feasts”.

Without going into detail, one of the “High Sabbaths” was Passover, where Israel celebrated God liberating the nation from Egyptian slavery. God did that through Grace. God did not choose Israel, to bring Messiah through them because they were GREAT as a people. No, God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 (ESV) The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

Israel was the least of all the nations. Israel was riddled with sinful traits and drives. God came to Israel because Israel needed God.

Israel in suffering cried out to God, and He redeemed them. The Feasts remind Israel – and us – that God, our God, is gracious and kind to the least and lesser. Praise His holy Name! The Feasts told of the Grace of God, and reminded Israel that the Messiah would one day come. A Feast is a time when family sits down to share food and love with one another. God told Israel that these were:

“Feasts of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:2)
And God said “These are MY Feasts”

In the Feasts, God invited His people to the Divine Table to rejoice in God’s Grace and Goodness.

The More You Are Broken, The More
You Need The Grace Of Jesus

John 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

There is “a pool”. This is a pool of bubbling water that people have placed their faith in. Sheep are involved in most of the feasts. Animals without spot or blemish were sacrificed. The sacrifice is a picture and a promise of the Coming Messiah, the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Sheep must be watered before they are sacrificed, so what better place to put the “sheep market”. The pool itself is named “Bethesda”, which means “The House of Kindness”. Around “Bethesda” are “five porches”, five flat areas where people can rest. This is again interesting, because

Five Is The Number of GRACE In The Scripture.

The Apostle John wrote five books focused on the Grace of God (Gospel of John, 1, 2, & 3 John, and Revelation). Jesus multiplied five loaves of barley to feed over 5000 people (Matthew 14:17). To these five porches sick people came, seeking healing. They needed a touch from God. The Bible says:

John 5:3 In these {porches} lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

Word Study: Jesus comes into Jerusalem, and enters Jerusalem by “the House of Kindness”. On this special Feast Day there were a number of people who were not celebrating. The Bible says these are “impotent folk”, the Greek ἀσθενέω asthenéō, {pronounced as-then-eh’-o}. These people were weak, feeble, diseased, sick.

When you are broken, you are in the
best place for God to reach you.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 {God} said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

The Apostle is teaching us a lesson we all need to understand. When we are strong enough, self sufficient enough, then we do not need Jesus. Oh, we always need Jesus. Yes, we do. But when we are strong enough to do it our way, it is in our human nature to do it our way and ignore the Lord.

When we have strength to worry, why call on Jesus?
When we have strength to be depressed, why call for God?
When we can get in the water ourselves, we save the Lord the effort.
When I can say with William Ernest Henley,
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”,
Why would I need the Lord?
Why would I need His Grace?

The people on these five porches are typical of so many today. Suffering, they come to the House of Kindness. But they are not praying. They are not calling out to God in Christ. What are they doing? They are watching the water. Their faith is in the water, not in God.

Are you watching bubbling water – or looking for Jesus?
Only Jesus can fix broken you.

John 5:3b-4 … waiting for the moving of the water. {4} For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

Now, I’m not blaming these people. So many times in my life I’ve wandered out to one of the porches of the House of Kindness. I’ve laid there, not looking for Jesus, but watching for the bubbling of the water. “If I can just get to the water, I’ll be all right!” We have all done this.

The bubbling waters of this world are often our substitutes for the Living Waters that Christ gives.

This next part is particularly interesting to me. There are 5 porches, filled with people. Yet Jesus goes not to them all, but to the worst one afflicted. The more you are broken, the more God wants to heal you.

John 5:5-6 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

God healed people in a variety of ways in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant. The Gentile General Naaman was healed of leprosy when he washed in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10-14). For 38 years this man has watched the water bubble during the Feast Days.

As the man watches for bubbles in the water, Jesus comes to him, and only him.

Jesus asks, “Wilt thou be made whole?”. The man is crestfallen, probably filled with despair. He tells the Lord – probably with tears in his eyes:

John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

This man doesn’t need help to get into the waters. He needs the Grace of God in Christ. He needs to put his faith in Him Who brings living waters, not in the bubbling waters and the kindness of strangers.

Word Study: The man addresses Jesus as “Sir”, the Greek κύριος kyrios or literally “Lord”.

The bubbling water and the focus of this man is a picture of God’s Law. The water (the Law) cannot save.

Moses was not saved by the Law, but by Grace. Though “the Law came by Moses” (John 1:17), God did not save Moses by Law. The Bible says:

Exodus 33:12 {God said} I know thee {Moses} by name, and thou hast ALSO FOUND GRACE in My sight ..

Moses relied on the continuous Grace of God (Exodus 33:13, 33:17). God only gave the Law to Israel because Israel would not love the Lord, nor heed His direction. Israel was always trying to figure out a way to do it themselves. They demanded a human king over God their King. So God gave them the Law. The Law was not intended to save. Even under the Old Covenant, the Bible says:

Habakkuk 2:4 … the just shall live by his faith.

Those who are right with God, trust in God for salvation, for direction, for love, for life. “The righteousness of God {is} revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” In Galatians Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul, a “Pharisee of the Pharisees” (Acts 23:6), explains how the Law does not save, but leads to Christ. Paul said:

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

The Law for this impotent man was “get into the water while it bubbles”. Year after year he watched for the water to bubble. When it did, he struggled toward it – but always came up short. The Law is a curse. It makes Pharisees more self righteous, and non-Pharisees more disregarded. This poor man is watching for bubbling waters, and always coming up short.

We All Need Jesus, Not The Law

Then Jesus comes. Jesus always comes when we are at our most helpless, at our weakest.

Galatians 3:13-14 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:18). The animal sacrifices of the Law are no more. We no longer have to drag our limp and useless souls to the bubbling waters. Jesus Christ comes to those who look upward, seeking God. Jesus Christ, the “Living Water”, spoke to Israel (the impotent man) in the Old Testament:

Jeremiah 2:13 … My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jesus Christ is the transcendent “Living Water”. If you ask Him, “He will give you living water” (John 4:10). Those who believe on Jesus, Who hear His Word, shall be made new. “Out of the believer’s belly shall flow rivers of living water (the Holy Spirit of God)” (John 7:37-39). But listen, Beloved … YOU MUST LISTEN TO JESUS.

John 5:8-9 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

So many people believe that Jesus just saves us so we can go to Heaven, one day, by and by. Jesus saves us so we can walk in His power NOW, and walk with God both NOW and into eternity. Billy Graham said,

“You can’t change your past, but you can determine your destiny by deciding for Christ. And when you do that, Christ changes your past. He wipes out all the sins of the past. … Choose you this day Whom you’re going to serve. Many of you are going to have to decide tonight what is the number one priority in your life. All the way through the Bible, choices, choices, choices.”

The impotent man was made whole as Jesus commanded it. Jesus told the man, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk”. The man rose, took up his bed, and walked. The Bible says, “on the same day was the sabbath”. This was a special Sabbath, a time to rest and worship the Lord our God. This was, I dare say, the happiest day of this man’s life. For thirty eight years he had been miserable. Now he is strong enough to walk – to pick up that ragged bed (like a sleeping bag) that held him for so long – and to carry what once carried him. This should be a time of celebration, a time of joy. God Himself showed up on that porch of the House of Kindness. God gave Grace to this once helpless and hopeless man.

Then the keepers of the Law, the Pharisees, show themselves.

John 5:10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

Jesus told this man to “carry thy bed” as a testimony to the Grace of God. The man had laid in a bed for 38 years.

For those 38 years, the Law – the Priests and Pharisees – walked around this man, ignored this man, never sought to help this man.

The Law exists to point to sin. It is a unit of measurement, a mirror, but not a fix. The man answers the Law:

John 5:11-13 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.

The Christian faith is not a lawless faith. Once saved, the Christian follows “the Law of Christ”. The “Law of Christ” is to love others the way that Jesus loved you. The Apostle wrote:

Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Jesus healed this man, though this man never actually thanked Jesus for his healing. Jesus healed this man, even though the man did not knows Jesus’ name. Jesus relieved this man from a lifetime of misery – and then “conveyed himself away”. This is the Greek ἐκνεύω ekneúō, {pronounced ek-nyoo’-o} which means “to slip away secretly, to quietly withdraw, to slip off”. Jesus – though God in human flesh – was not puffed up with pride. Love lifts up others, and does not need a ticker tape parade or adulation.

The Law of Christ – the Royal Law tells us to do good to others, to lift them up. James said:

James 2:8 … the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself …

So we are not lawless. We follow Christ. Jesus comes to this same man later, and …

John 5:14 … Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee

Love does not justify sin, but points out that sin is a terrible thing. Sin brings disease, discomfort, and death. The warning that Jesus gives this man shows us that God often uses sickness to get our attention. Listen Beloved,

When sickness brings us to the House of Kindness, and the House of Kindness brings us to Jesus, this is a great blessing from God. Jesus doesn’t help us into the bubbling waters to heal us. Jesus comes to us, and brings with Him Living Waters. Jesus said:

John 4:14 (ESV) … whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

God will not bring the sinner to the bubbling waters. He will bring the waters to the sinner. He will place the power of God’s Spirit into those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who are Christ’s are creatures with the potential to bring Living Water to all around us. Those who are Christ’s take the message of Jesus to a lost and dying world, a thirsting world, a parched world. We carry the hope of Eternal Life by faith in Christ in us, with us, and are supposed to be stirred not by the Law nor by an angel but by Grace and love and service to the King.

John 5:15-16 … The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. {16} And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

The life grounded in the Law, if it has not Christ, will be brutal, hateful, judgmental, self righteous.

The Pharisees and Priests hated Jesus “because he had done these things on the sabbath day”. What did Jesus do on the Sabbath day? He alleviated suffering. He ministered to the needy. He lifted up the downtrodden. How would Jesus answer these self righteous men? Jesus said:

John 5:17-18 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus Christ is God. He is God in the flesh. He is God loving, reaching. He is the God Who loves you. Will you not give yourselves to Him this very day? Oh, what a blessing you will find, when you find Jesus. Give your lives to Jesus, and prove your salvation by following Him in love. God, the Giver of the Law, called Jesus to work on the sabbath. Not to till the fields, nor to fish, nor to in any way earn money through the sweat of His brow. No Beloved, this was not the work that Jesus did on the sabbath. The work He did is the work He does even today. Jesus told His disciples:

John 6:27-29 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. {28} Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? {29} Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Here is THE work of God – that you believe on and worship Jesus, serving not the Law but Him. All who believe on Him shall never be ashamed. All who believe on Him shall be saved, both now and into eternity. May God bless the preaching of this Word, and cause you to make a commitment to Jesus Christ this very day! For Christ’s glory, may the Spirit and the Word of God impact your hearts! Amen and Amen!

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The Mind Of Christ – A Wednesday Devotional

Posted on October 4, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Júnior Ferreira on Unsplash

Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

It is the devil’s job to tempt us, to frustrate us, to drive us away from our Shepherd Jesus. He does very well at his job. The darkness of the world pulls at us. Pastor Bill Winston (Living Word Christian Center) made a statement that I really liked. He said to the Christian:

“You are not from this world … you were born from above. Act like you are from home. Talk like God (not like the world). The whole earth is waiting for you to manifest. The enemy’s job is to keep us in a place where we won’t grow up.”

We live in bad days, but they are no worse than that which the first century Church went through. In fact, they are better. Though the Church is frequently infiltrated with godless “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, this has always been the case. Of the first twelve Apostles, one, Judas Iscariot, though chose by Jesus “was a devil” (John 6:70). Though Judas walked with Jesus, his mind was always on money, on the things of this world. The Apostle said:

John 12:6 {Judas Iscariot} was a thief, and had the bag {the disciple’s treasury}, and bare what was put therein.

The Church at Corinth was infiltrated by worldly, ungodly people. The Church was divided, sectarian, fighting among themselves. The Church was tolerating incest and grievous sexual sins among it’s members. The Church members were suing one another in court. Lovelessness abounded in Corinth. The Apostle addressed the Church, saying:

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy {Spirit} teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

Which Spirit Is In You?

The Apostle gives an indicator as to how the Church can know which of it’s members are of God, and which are not. Those who belong to the world are called “natural man”. This is the Greek psychikos anthrōpos, the “sensual person”, the person who approaches the world around them based on feelings and self satisfaction. The animal is sensualistic. Animals will mate within their own family to satisfy their sensual urges. The psychikos anthrōpos approaches life with “Just do you” and “defy logic – be yourself” attitudes. The natural or sensual person seeks immediate gratification, and cares nothing for others unless helping others helps themselves.

What is the difference between the “natural man” and the “supernatural man”? It is whether the Holy Spirit of God is in that person or not. The Apostle quotes a text:

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

The phrase “as it is written” tells us that the Apostle is quoting scripture – which for Paul, would be the Old Testament. He is quoting:

Isaiah 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 and Isaiah 64:4, when the Bible says “men have not heard nor seen”, it is referring to the lost world, those who are without the Holy Spirit.

The unspiritual or “natural” person cannot picture the glories of what God has prepared for His children. But the spiritual or Spirit Filled Christian can begin to grasp the glories that await us because of Christ Jesus. The Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 2:10 But God hath revealed THEM {the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, mention in vs 9} unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

The Spirit of God knows the mind of God, because the Spirit of God is Himself God. The Holy Spirit is not an “it”, but a Person, a Divine Person. It is the Holy Spirit Who moved the Prophets and Apostles to write Scripture:

2 Peter 1:21 … holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy {Spirit}.

It is the Holy Spirit that causes a believer in Christ to be “born again”. Jesus said:

John 3:5-7 … Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

As Jesus Himself was incarnate through the virgin Mary because of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 1:35) – a wondrous miracle – the Christian is made a son of God by the operation of the Spirit. The Spirit is NOT just a power – He is a PERSON. In Acts chapter 5 Ananias and Sapphira tried to deceive God. The Apostle Peter said:

Acts 5:3-4 Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy {Spirit}, … why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

You cannot “lie” to a power, but only to a Person. Ananias and Sapphira lied to God the Holy Spirit. There are other Scriptures that speak to the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle wrote:

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

The word “grieve” is the Greek lypéō, which means “to cause sadness, to offend, to make uneasy and sorrowful”. Like any Person, the Holy Spirit can be emotionally offended or hurt. The Apostle wrote in:

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

We have “fellowship” or a rapport with the Holy Spirit. As we read the Word of God, and come together as believers, the Holy Spirit guides us into being more like Christ. The Apostle said “we have the mind of Christ”. What does this mean? Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came, that the function of the Spirit would be to tell us more about Jesus.

John 14:26 (ESV) … the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

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

John 16:7-15 … Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The function of God the Holy Spirit is to make us more like Jesus in our walk. The Holy Spirit has the mind of God, and He leads us toward that mind. Christians,

We Have The Mind of Christ

The saved person “has the mind of Christ”, that is, the Holy Spirit indwelling us, and the Holy Word of God available to us. When we read His Word, God the Holy Spirit reveals the deeper things of God. We HAVE the mind of Christ. What does the Spirit want of us? He wants us to be more like Jesus.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians 4:17-20

Ephesians 4:17-20 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

The world walks (lives it’s life) according to the spirit of this age, the spirit of anti-Christ. It chases after self and selfishness, greed and uncleanliness. The Apostle says, “ye have not so learned Christ”. We do not belong to this world. We belong to Jesus. The Apostle said:

Ephesians 4:22-24 … put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 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.

We “put on the new man”. We follow the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit of God. Finally, turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians 2.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We have the mind of Christ, the Holy Spirit in us. “LET this mind be in you”. The word “LET” emphasizes a choice. You who are saved are Holy Spirit indwelt, but you must choose to follow His leading. “LET”. We are to be like Jesus. How was Jesus like?

Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus is “in the form of God”, morphḗ, “by nature or apparently God”. The Strong’s New Testament Commentary notes:

“{Jesus} bore the form (in which he appeared to the inhabitants of heaven) of God … yet did not think that this equality with God was to be eagerly clung to or retained … but emptied himself of it … so as to assume the form of a servant, in that he became like unto men”

Jesus willingly left the glories of Heaven, and lowered Himself to be part of His own creation. He did this so that He could save humanity, by offering Himself on the cruel Cross of Calvary. Jesus “humbled himself” for the betterment of others. He sacrificed Himself. Jesus did not sacrifice Himself in order to enable sin, but did so that we could be freed from sin. The Apostle said:

Philippians 2:2-4 Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Jesus considered His life less and us better, that we might be saved. As Jesus willingly sacrificed His rights for our righteousness, so is our love to be. When there are battles in the Church, it always comes about because because members are elevating themselves above other members. The Apostle said:

Philippians 2:14-16 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life…

As Jesus was and is, we are to be. We are sons of God, made so by the Spirit of God and by the sacrifice of the Son of God. We do not live as the world lives, but live as God says. We are Kingdom people.

“We have the mind of Christ”. The mind of Christ is not like the world.

This is the standard we must lean toward, to love others as we have been loved. We are to be lights of Christ in this present evil world, shining to the glory of Christ. May Jesus help us do so, through His Spirit and His Word. Amen and Amen!

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Stand In The Gap

Posted on September 26, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Connor Misset on Unsplash

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

It is so easy to follow the crowd. The crowd always takes the easy way. The crowd is so tolerant of anything God is intolerant of. The crowd loves that which God forbids, and cheers on that which God despises. Our Lord Jesus, loving and kind, came to this world to save sinners. Yet all that He met was opposition. Jesus said of this world:

Matthew 11:16-19 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

What does it matter? you might ask. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8). Let’s all just dance and sing with the crowd: (The following is adapted from Greg Morse’s article, Following Christ In An Unappeasable World)

Boys can be girls, and girls can be boys;
WE are our Maker – our bodies, our toys.

It’s not a baby – don’t feel any shame,
It hasn’t a voice or a smile or a name.

It’s brave to be different; it’s okay to be you,
Boy and boy, girl and girl – it’s called marriage, too.

God is love. But God is also HOLY, righteous, and just. God is the Maker of all things, and the Determiner of right and wrong. The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23:

The wages of sin is death ..

Sin is against nature, against light, against life. If sin goes unchecked, society collapses. In the middle of our town is a terrible section called “West 7th Street”. In addition to tearing up the center of town, our leadership pathetically has decided to allow the roads there to be not just torn up, but unlined. The lines on the road are checks and balances telling us where it’s safe to drive. I have seen several near accidents on that stretch of road, because people drive any way they want to – there is no demarcation! Can you imagine driving on an interstate without lines, or through a major city without any traffic control whatsoever. It would be dangerous, chaotic.

Six hundred years before Christ became incarnate, Judea had erased the lines from the highways of life. When the lines are erased, it is not long before God must act. When God sent a worldwide flood, destroying all but 8 people, it was not on a whim. The Bible says:

Genesis 6:5-7 … And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the Lord said, I will destroy…

And yet, God did not destroy the earth by flood immediately. God is holy, but God is love. God found Noah, a man willing to “stand in the gap”. God gave humanity ample time to repent, to return to His design (for God said in Genesis 6:3 “his days shall be an hundred and twenty years”). Though God eventually – and believe reluctantly – destroyed all life but what was on the Ark,

His love looked for a Noah, but
His holiness brought a flood.

God Is Looking For A Person To Stand For Judea

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Word Study: God “sought”. This is the Hebrew בָּקַשׁbâqash, {pronounced baw-kash’}, which is in the Piel Imperfect. The Piel Imperfect tells us that God is intensively and continually looking for the gap filler.God’s search for just one was ongoing, and might I say desperate.

God sought for a person – any person – who would “stand in the gap before me for the land”. God was not looking for that person to stand alone. God was looking for a person who would “stand … before Me”, someone who would say, “Lord, I believe Your Word. Lord, I will stand with you and FOR THE LAND because I love you”. God looked all throughout Judea. The Bible says:

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. …

Everywhere God looked, He found none.

The POLITICIANS would not stand in the gap

Ezekiel 22:6-7 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. 7 In thee have they set light by father and mother:

The foundation of good civilization is based on how that civilization regards “father and mother”. The fifth of the ten commandments is (Exodus 20:12) “Honor thy father and thy mother”. This is the ONLY commandment that gives a reason for obeying it. God said, “that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you”. God did not tell the children to LOVE their parents, but to HONOR them. The citizens of a country are taught civility and order when they are taught as children to obey the authority of the parent. When children are taught that parents are not important – that you can have an abortion or be issued ‘the pill’ without parental approval, you move toward a totalitarian society. Dennis Prager notes:

“One of the first things totalitarian movements seek to do is to break the child-parent bond. The child’s allegiance is shifted from parents to the state. Even in democratic societies the larger the state becomes, the more it usurps the parental role.”

Ezekiel 22:7 … in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

The leaders of the country should care about how the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow are treated. The weakest of society should be cared for, not used as pawns for their ability to vote.

Ezekiel 22:8-9 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

The leadership of the nation should have respect for God our Creator – yet they did not. The leadership of the nation rules that nation at the will of God. Just as Saul lost his position as King for disobeying God, the Lord will overthrow those who put their hands on the Bible, taking an oath with a “so help me God”, but then fail to stand in the gap.

Ezekiel 22:10-11 In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. 11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

The leaders of the nation should treat human sexuality the same way God treats it. When the leaders of the nation endorse sexual immorality, it damages the soul of the nation.

Ezekiel 22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

The politicians of Judea were motivated not by justice, but bribery and collusion. The nation was falling apart because the leadership was not honoring the ways of God. There was no one to stand in the gap!

The PROPHETS or PREACHERS
would not stand in the gap

Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

The Prophets (Preachers) of Judea ceased communing with what God said, but instead made a “conspiracy”. This is the Hebrew קֶשֶׁר qesher, {pronounced keh’-sher}, which means “to join together in order to commit treason, to make an unlawful alliance”. The Preachers stopped saying “thus saith the Lord” and instead began to appease the people. This is nothing new. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Law, the people rebelled against God and demanded Aaron make them a god. The Bible tells us:

Exodus 32:4 … {Aaron} made it a molten calf; and they {the people} said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

When God saw what Aaron did, He told Moses:

Exodus 32:10 (ESV) … let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you”.

Praise God, though, that Moses stood in the gap before the Lord. He sought the heart of God, saying:

Exodus 32:11-14 (ESV) “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord relented…

Oh, praise God there was a Moses to stand in the gap. But there is none in Israel as God speaks through Ezekiel. The Prophets, the Preachers commit treason against God, and band together. God said:

Ezekiel 22:28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.

Word Study: God uses an interesting term here for what the false preachers are doing. They are building walls with “untempered mortar”. The word “mortar” was supplied by the King James translators, as it is not in the original text. The word is simply תָּפֵל tâphêl, {pronounced taw-fale}, which means “untempered, foolish, that which is subject to failure”. The preachers were not staying with God’s Word, but were building the House of Israel with that which is fallible, easy to destroy. The Psalmist famously said:

Psalm 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

The Word of God is tried and true. It is from our Maker, and it is for our best. When the Preachers conspired together to commit treason against God, they were also committing treason against Judea. God’s preachers are to:

Ephesians 4:15 be speaking the truth in love …

This alone is what will bless the nation, the state, the community, and the family. But it was not just the Prophets/ Preachers that were off base, but,

The PRIESTS would not stand in the gap

Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

The PROPHETS were to speak the Word of God, and the PRIESTS were to serve the Lord. It was God’s initial intent that ALL of Israel be priests. Yet after Israel’s failing at Mount Sinai, God made the children of Levi or the Levites to be priests. The priests ignored the commands of God. God the Son said:

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

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

What God has said is right, is right even if all the world disagree. Yet the priests of God backed away from the truths that God established. God said, “put no difference between the holy and profane”. God’s people – saved by faith in Christ – are to honor what God honors, and dishonor what God dishonors. The priests “hid their eyes from my sabbaths”. God established the Sabbath for mankind, for a time to remember the goodness of God, a time to praise His name. The Bible says of the believer in Christ:

Revelation 1:5-6 {Jesus Christ} that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 And hath made us kings AND PRIESTS unto God and His Father …

Every believer is a priest before God, with Jesus Christ as our High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14; 5:6). The priests must say the same thing that God says. If God declares it unclean, we are to declare it unclean. But God said there were no priests who would stand with Him in the gap. The forces of darkness cannot be defeated if priests and prophets do not work together.

In Exodus 17 the children of Israel went to battle with the Amalekites at Rephidim. The Prophet Moses was told of God to “stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand” (Exodus 17:9). As Moses held up the staff, Israel prevailed. But when Moses dropped his hand, the Amalekites prevailed. The Bible says:

Exodus 17:12-13 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Just as Aaron the priest {along with Hur) held up the Prophet Moses’ hands, the priests must stand in the gap, lifting up the arms of the prophets. But the priests would not stand in the gap, and judgment was coming.

The PEOPLE would not stand in the gap with God

When the politicians, the preachers and the priests refused to stand, lawlessness spread throughout the land. We have seen this in our own country as mobs took over city blocks, and destroyed public property like statues and monuments. Lawlessness and darkness always abounds in the absence of light.

Ezekiel 22:30 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

As God looked over Judea, all He saw was lovelessness and hatred throughout the land. The people “used oppression, and exercised robbery”, stealing from one another. When God is ignored, or in last place, the people pursue a “me above all others” mentality. The nation suffers from this. The “poor and needy” are not cared for, and the “stranger” is oppressed.

God said, I believe with sadness:

Ezekiel 22:30-31 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.

God looked and looked for but ONE person to stand in the gap for the nation, but said “I found none”. Had God found but ONE, the indignation of God would have been held from Judea.

God Is Looking For The One To Spare The Nation

Much of what we read in our text today could be applied to present day America. I believe that America – because of extreme political views on both sides – is not far from a horrible collapse. But God will not allow our nation to collapse IF He can find the ONE. Read again God’s Words:

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for A MAN among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Word Study: God does not seek for a large number. God seeks “A MAN”. This is the Hebrewאִישׁ ʼîysh, {pronounced eesh}. This is the word Adam used when he first saw Eve:

Genesis 2:23 Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman {אִשָּׁה ʼishshâh, [pronounced ish-shaw’]}, because she was taken out of Man {ʼîysh}.

God is looking for ONE who will stand in fellowship with Him. ONE is a very important word in the Scripture – perhaps the most important word there is. Consider:

Romans 10:13 (ESV) … everyONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Revelation 3:20 (ESV) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyONE hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus told the young man who wanted eternal life, in Mark 10:21 “ONE thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor … and come, take up the Cross, and follow Me”.

Jesus told Martha, when she complained that Mary was sitting at His feet (Luke 10:42), “ONE thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her”.

The Apostle Paul said, (Philippians 3:13) “this ONE thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

ONE man, by disobedience, brought sin and destruction into the world. ONE Jesus went to the Cross for the sins of the whole world to right Adam’s failure. God will save a nation, if but ONE will stand in the gap in fellowship with Him. Be the ONE whom God uses. Do not be like the crowd. Do not be driven by social media, by Hollyweird, by the fallen crowd. Choose to be the ONE in fellowship with Christ.

Lamentations 3:21-24 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Stand with God. Stand with Jesus. Stand in His Word, and in His power. If you are the ONE, you may stand alone. Jesus stood alone on Calvary, but changed the world. Dr J. Mike Minnix wrote in his sermon, Standing in the Gap:

“One” man named Abraham began a nation by obeying God and became the father of faith. “One man named Joseph saved the nation by turning from temptation. “One” teenager named David fought for the nation when he faced Goliath. “One” woman named Esther rescued the nation by risking her life.

It is so easy to throw up your hands, and go with the crowd. But Beloved, just as God punished Judea, I believe God will punish America if some ONE doesn’t stand. I commit my life that I will be the ONE. Will you join me? I am reminded of the little boy who had a horse for sale. A prospective buyer asked him, “Son, can that horse run fast?” The boy replied, “No sir, he can’t run fast, but he can sure stand fast”. Let us all commit to be the one, to

STAND FAST in the faith (1 Corinthians 16:13)
STAND FAST in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free (Galatians 5:1)
STAND FAST in one spirit, with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27)
STAND FAST in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 3:8)

May God the Holy Spirit and His precious Word move us all to so commit. The life of our nation depends on our response. Amen and Amen.

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Jesus’ Meat

Posted on September 19, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Paul Hermann on Unsplash

John 4:30-34 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

The Heart Of God Is To Save

If you were with me this morning, we talked about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. While Jesus entered Samaria, His disciples “went into the city to buy meat” (see verse 8). As Jesus talked to the unnamed woman at the well, He revealed to her that He is the Messiah. The woman, convicted that Jesus is the Messiah, goes to her home in Sychar (see verse 5). Her message to the men of Sychar is:

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

Word Study “Meat”: While this woman is gone telling others about Jesus, His disciples return with what the King James calls simple “meat”. This is the Greek βρῶσις brōsis, {pronounced bro’-sis}, which the King James translates as “rust”, as in ..

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and RUST {brōsis} doth corrupt …

or as “meat” – like in our present text. The word is translated “eating” in 1 Corinthians 8:4, and “food” in texts like 2 Corinthians 9:10. I believe the best translation of the word is “food”. The disciples didn’t just go and get “meat” for Jesus and themselves to eat, but “food”, which could be anything you eat.

The distance between Judea and Sychar (a city of Samaria) is 24.85 miles. As Jesus was walking, the journey would have taken around 22 hours. Jesus has satisfied His thirst at the well, but should be famished!

Word Study “Prayed”: His disciples returned with food, and “prayed” {ἐρωτάω erōtáō, [pronounced er-o-tah’-o]}, literally BEGGED Jesus to eat. This is not the first time Jesus has been very hungry. In Matthew 4, our Lord was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit of God (Matthew 4:1) to be tempted by the devil. Jesus had been without food for 40 days and night, and Satan tempted Him to use His power to feed Himself. Jesus refused, saying:

Matthew 4:4 … Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This is how Jesus lived His life while on this earth. He was not driven by appetite, lust, or any sin whatsoever. Jesus – the Creator of all that we see-

Colossians 1:16 (ESV) For by {Jesus} all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords “had no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-20; Luke 9:57-58). Jesus had no cup to drink from when He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink from Jacob’s Well. Jesus had nothing, but one driving force in His life. Jesus told His disciples:

John 4:32 I have meat {brōsis, FOOD}
to eat that ye know not of

This puzzled the disciples. Did someone bring Jesus something to eat while He rested at the well? As the disciples talked among themselves, Jesus told them:

John 4:34 … My {brōsis FOOD} is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

God made and is in charge of all things. The only thing God wants is to save the lost. Period!

God The Son Was “Sent”

John 4:34 … My {brōsis FOOD} is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.

Preach STRONG: Jesus was not sent by rabbis. He was not sent by the Sanhedrin, the ruling elders of Israel. Jesus was not sent by Himself. There was no inner hunger or need for power that sent Him. Jesus – Himself God – is sent by God for the most important mission ever devised. He was sent by God to save the lost.

God is a “Him”. God, though three in Person, is One in desire. Part of the”Him” that sent Jesus is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus emphasized the sending and empowerment of the Spirit in one of the first recorded sermons He ever preached. It was in His hometown Nazareth that Jesus, at the Synagogue (Jewish Church) shared His mission as Messiah.

Luke 4:16-19 (ESV) … where {Jesus} had been brought up. And as was his custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The textual scroll Jesus read was Isaiah 61:1-2a. This text is significant, for it prophesies of the coming Messiah.

Jesus does not read the last part of Isaiah 61:2, which speaks of “the day of vengeance of our God”. Abruptly stopping in the middle of verse 2, Jesus rolled up the scroll, and returned it to the attendant of the Synagogue. Jesus turns, looks at the crowd there, and says:

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus applied this Messianic Prophecy to His own self. He as much said, “I am the Messiah Israel has long waited for”. In that Messianic Prophesy, the Messiah said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”

God the Holy Spirit sent and empowered Jesus “to proclaim good news to the poor … to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”. God the Holy Spirit is very involved in the salvation of human souls. It is the Spirit of God that empowered Jesus to …

Matthew 12:28 … I cast out devils by the SPIRIT OF GOD…

The Holy Spirit is not a Power,
but a Co-Equal Person of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit “led Jesus into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). Just as Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit, the Christian – a son of God – is to be led by the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). This same Holy Spirit that sent Jesus and worked through Jesus is the same Holy Spirit Who revealed Bible truths to the Apostles and Prophets (Ephesians 3:5). The Holy Spirit sent – and walked with – our Lord Jesus.

God the Son was also sent to save us by God the Father. Jesus said:

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus followed the direction of God the Father. He told us:

John 14:9 … he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father …

Some 30 times in the Gospel of John alone
Jesus speaks of being sent by God.

God the Father sent Jesus. God the Holy Spirit sent Jesus, and walked with Him as He ministered. John the Baptist taught that Jesus is the Great Intercessor between God and man. John said:

John 3:34-36 … For {Jesus} whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The Lord Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t make Jesus lesser or a little ‘g’ god and the Father and Spirit. Jesus Christ – born into this life of the virgin called Mary – is Himself Eternal God the Son. God says in:

Hebrews 1:6, 8 (ESV) When {God} brings {Jesus} the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all God’s angels worship Him”. … 8 ..of the Son {God} says, “Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.

God the Father and God the Spirit sent God the Son into the world to save it, if we would but believe in Him. Our Jesus is called by the Prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 9:6 … wonderful Counselor, mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace ..

Jesus Christ is the Word of Whom John writes, saying …

John 1:1 … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …

Over and over again, our Lord Jesus in Scripture “made Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Jesus said:

John 14:10-11 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

The Apostle summarizes this wonderful Lord we serve by saying:

Colossians 2:9 For in Him {in Jesus} dwelleth ALL THE FULLNESS of the GODHEAD bodily …

Our Lord Jesus was sent by both Father and Spirit to be our Messiah. Jesus Himself, co-equal with both Father and Spirit, was sent by His own desire to see souls saved. Oh, how God loves you and I!

Jesus Christ represents the fullness of the Triune God. Though Jesus was 20 plus hours without food, that which satisfied His soul was not physical food, but to do the will of the Godhead.

It Is The Love Of God and The Holiness of God
That Compels Him To Reach Out To The Lost World

Once more we read the words of our Lord:

John 4:34, “My {food} is to do the will of Him {the Godhead} that sent Me, and to finish His work”.

What is the will of the Godhead? Holiness & Love. God made promises that will be kept
because of Holiness & Love

It is to fulfill what God said to Satan in the Garden of Eden. When Adam ate that which was forbidden, he lost access to the Garden of Eden. But God told the serpent (which was Satan – see Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2):

Genesis 3:15 … I will put enmity {make you enemies with} between thee {Satan} and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel

Biologically, no woman has a “seed”. The woman carries the egg, the man the seed. But God promised that He would destroy the works of Satan through “the SEED of the woman”. God created a “seed of the woman” by the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Christ would become incarnate – human – through Mary. The Messiah – eternal God in the Heavens – would take upon Himself humanity, and pay the penalty for our sins.

God began the work of redemption in the Garden, and made a promise of Satan’s eventual fall. God in His holiness cannot look the other way insofar as sin is concerned. God told Adam,

“ in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:17 (ESV)

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

Adam’s sin effected more than just himself – it effected all his progeny. Why didn’t God just wipe out creation and start afresh? Sin was brought into creation by man’s hand, and man was guilty of disobeying God. Before man could ever get back to a place where he could be at peace with God there had to be a payment. But Who could pay? Sin had to be paid for – but it also had to be resolved once and for all. God cannot look the other way on sin.

Our God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity … (Habakkuk 1:13). God despises what He calls “evil”. The Psalmist said, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; You hate all evil doers” (Psalm 5:4-5).

God is compelled by His holiness to punish sin. But God is compelled by His goodness & love to offer redemption towhosoever will in mankind.

We see God’s holiness in that Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden for their sin. But we see God’s love, His goodness, in that He covers the naked couple with “coats of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This is the start of the story of redemption. An innocent creature died so that Adam and Eve could live.

Look at the story of redemption in the Scripture. Man sinned in the Garden, but was clothed, then expelled. But God did not abandon man. When the whole world but Noah abandoned God, God never abandoned Noah. When the flood receded, and Noah and his family – along with the animals – left the Ark, God was still with us.

Oh, how God is so good and kind and merciful!

When God led Israel from Egypt, He loved His people. God carried them through the wilderness, and fed them manna, and gave them meat to eat. At the base of Mount Sinai as Moses was receiving the Law, Israel and Aaron was making a golden calf to worship in place of God! And yet, God did not abandon His love. Though Israel broke God’s heart, and Moses broke the first tablets of the Law, God was patient and good. God told Moses

Exodus 34:1 … Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Oh, how good, and patient, and kind our God is! Moses, that grand old Saint, stood on the mountain top and heard God. The Bible says:

God Reveals His Holiness In His Law. God Reveals His Love In His Description Of Himself.

Exodus 34:5-7 (ESV) The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Our God is merciful and gracious. These are the first two words that He Himself uses to describe His character. God is merciful and gracious. God is slow to anger. Pastor Dane Ortlund notes in his book “Gentle and Lowly” (have you read it yet?):

“Slow to anger. The Hebrew phrase is literally “long of nostrils”. Picture an angry bull, pawing the ground, breathing loudly, nostrils flared. That would be, so to speak, “short nosed”. But the Lord is long nosed. He doesn’t have His finger on the trigger. It takes much accumulated provoking to draw out his ire. Unlike us, who are often emotional dams ready to break, God can put up with a lot. This is why the Old Testament speaks of God being “provoked to anger” by His people dozens of times (especially in Deuteronomy; 1-2 Kings, and Jeremiah). But not once are we told that God is “provoked to love” or “provoked to mercy”. His anger requires provocation; His mercy is pent up, ready to gush forth. We tend to think divine anger is pent up, spring loaded; divine mercy is slow to build. It’s just the opposite. Divine mercy is ready to burst forth at the slightest prick.” (page 148).

God is not like us. When something doesn’t work out for us, we trash it, throw it away. We boil over. We blow up. God is not that way. John Calvin said,

“There is nothing that troubles our consciences more than when we think that God is like ourselves”.

Though Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, God never finished working toward His loving plan of redemption. God never ceased working toward the day when the Messiah could come, and free us all from the deadly influence of sin.

The Conversion Of Samaria Was Thousands Of Years In The Loving Mind Of God

Jesus said,

John 4:35-38 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.

The Jews with Jesus saw Samaria as a problem area they had to pass through. What they saw as a problem area, a group of half bred people, Jesus saw as precious unto God. God had been working from the Garden of Eden until that very day, and works even now, to secure the salvation of whosoever will. The love of God in saving souls is immeasurable, timeless, never ending. This Samaritan woman was nothing to the disciples – but to Jesus she was part of the work of God that He wanted more than food. The Bible says:

Psalm 138:5-6 … great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the {proud} he knows from afar.

From Genesis till today “One soweth, and another reapeth ”. Every Prophet, every Preacher, every Teacher from Eden until now have sown into the plan of God. Jesus told His disciples:

John 4:35-36 … I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (36) And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

People need the Lord. We need to reap where God allows, and sow even when we see no evidence of harvest. We have a great blessing as the children of God to invite others into His kingdom. What is the will of God, the “food” that kept Jesus satisfied? It was the satisfaction of revealing Himself as Messiah, and seeing the Spirit of God move in the heart of the unnamed Samaritan woman.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

The work of God is to believe on Jesus. To share Jesus with others. To share the great love of God with this present world. What filled Jesus’ so that He was not hungry was doing the will of God. He said:

John 6:38-40 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Let’s finish our text. The Samaritan woman has been in Sychar, telling others about the Messiah. The Bible tells us:

John 4:39-42 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on {Jesus} for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

What a wonderful blessing it is to work in the fields of the Lord. Will you commit to work with me? Oh, that God would set our souls on fire, to share Christ and His love as we are given opportunity to do so. May God the Holy Spirit and this precious Scripture move on all our hearts. Amen and Amen.

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From River To Well To Holy Spirit

Posted on September 19, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash

John 4:1-4 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

Water Is So Very Important – Water Is Life

As we come to John chapter 4, the Bible focuses on WATER. Water is a very common thing, yet something we desperately need to live.

The average human is approximately 60% water.
Our brains and hearts are roughly 73% water,
and our lungs are around 83% water.
Water regulates our internal temperature,
and keeps blood flowing to our cells.

A typical human can go without food and live for 3-4 weeks, but if you have no water for 3-4 days you will die!

Water is life. I think this is why God uses water baptism as a profession of genuine faith in God.

When John the Baptist began to preach, he baptized believers in God in the Jordan River. Why were believer’s baptized? Their baptism was an outward testimony that they inwardly had repented, and were willing to follow Father God. When John baptized, he told the people:

Matthew 3:11-12 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Those baptized by John were professing their faith in the God of the Scripture. John told them that he himself was NOT the Messiah, but the Messiah was coming. When the Messiah came, He would not baptize with water (though He would require it), but would baptize with the Holy Spirit of God.

What is very interesting about water baptism is that Jesus came to John to be baptized in water – and Jesus is the sinless Messiah from God.

The day that Jesus came to John to be baptized the Bible says:

Matthew 3:14 {John initially refused to baptize Jesus, saying} … I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

Baptism Is A Fulfillment Of God’s Will

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus is holy, pure, without sin. Hebrews 4:15 tells us “{Jesus Christ} was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we are told “{Jesus} knew NO sin”. The Apostle said in 1 John 3:5 that “{Jesus Christ} was manifested to TAKE AWAY our sins; and in Him is NO sin”. The Apostle Peter preached in 1 Peter 2:22, “{Jesus} did NO sin”. John knew that the Messiah was, by nature, eternal God the Son in human body. His baptisms up to this moment were sinners who came to him repenting, committing by repentance to follow the will of God. But now Jesus comes to be baptized. “Oh, no, Lord! I should baptized by YOU, not YOU by me!”. But Jesus said:

Matthew 3:15 … “{Allow} it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”.

Water baptism is a “fulfillment of all righteousness”. It is an outward testimony that the One being baptized will follow the will of God. Though Jesus was indeed sinless, and had no need to repent, He was baptized as a public declaration that the entirety of His ministry would be to follow the will of the Godhead. When Jesus was baptized, the Bible says “He saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove, and lighting on Him: and lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, “This is my Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).

From that moment Jesus went out. Though we are told in John 3 that after Jesus spoke with Nicodemus,

John 3:22 … Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

Jesus initially baptized (see John 3:26) His first disciples, but after the first ones were baptized:

John 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

Jesus commanded His disciples be baptized, but He Himself stopped baptizing in water after the first were baptized. Why? He wanted His disciples to baptize. Baptism is a physical illustration of what our Lord Jesus spiritually does to a believer.

Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.

Jesus said in John 7:37-39 … If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit

When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God through Christ and for Christ sends the Holy Spirit to that believer. The Holy Spirit “baptizes” or washes that person spiritually. Before we met Christ, we walked in darkness, following the sins of the flesh as all the fallen do. We were unrighteous, sinning willfully and gleefully. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV) Or 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.

The Messiah sends the Holy Spirit to us, and the Holy Spirit does His miraculous work of changing our hearts. Just as God became incarnate through the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary (Luke 1:35), the Holy Spirit brings our dead hearts into union with God.

The Holy Spirit is a Person, not a force.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

I read an article the other day on the Christian Post entitled, “Most Adult US Christians Don’t Believe The Holy Spirit is Real: Study”. The article notes:

“Some 62% of self-identified born-again Christians contend that the Holy Spirit is not a real, living being but is merely a symbol of God’s power, presence or purity. Another 61% say that all religious faiths are of equal value, and 60% believe that if a person is good enough, or does enough good things, they can earn their way into Heaven.”

The Holy Spirit is a real Person, Who partnered with Jesus as He walked this earth incarnate. The Holy Spirit shows us God’s deep truths (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). The Holy Spirit has a mind of His own, and intercedes for us:

Romans 8:27 (ESV) … {the God} who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God the Holy Spirit makes the Christian. God the Holy Spirit also prays for the Christian. Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Finger of God” (Luke 11:20 compared with Matthew 12:28). When God gave the Law to Moses, it was “the Finger of God” that wrote that Law on the stone tablets (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10). Now God Himself, the Holy Spirit, writes the Law of God on the hearts of those who believe in Christ. God promised that with the coming of the Messiah,

Jeremiah 31:33 … I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The Christian is not a Christian because it is “written with ink” on some piece of paper. The Christian is a Christian because “God Himself put His laws on their hearts, and wrote them on their minds” (Hebrews 10:16; Hebrews 8:10). The Apostle said of the Church:

2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV) … you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A Christian is someone who realizes they are lost, and repents, turning to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A Christian receives Jesus as He is, and Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to wash us, to cause us to be born again, to indwell us, to intercede for us. The Bible says that the unbeliever is in the flesh – chasing the darkness of this world. But the believer in Christ is:

Romans 8:9 … 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.

Returning to our focal text for today, The Bible says:

John 4:3-4 {Jesus} left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. [4] And {Jesus} must needs go through Samaria.

Jesus Must Needs Go Through Samaria

Word Study: The words “must needs” is the Greek word δεῖ deî, {pronounced die}. I find that very interesting. The word deî means “it is necessary, right and proper. Jesus used the same word when He described His upcoming death:

Matthew 16:21 … Jesus {began} to shew unto his disciples, how that he must {deî} go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

It was “necessary, right and proper” that Jesus go THROUGH Samaria. Why? Was it because that was the only way to get to Galilee? Absolutely not. Galilee is several miles NORTH of Judea. Most Jews headed EAST along the path of the Jordan River to get to the Sea of Galilee, and hence Galilee. But it seems as if Jesus goes out of His way to go through Samaria. Why?

Because God is good. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God cannot help but be good, compassionate, loving. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 52:1 … the goodness of God endureth continually.

There is someone in Samaria that Jesus must meet. Samaria is a land polluted with idolatry. It has not always been that way. Jacob who would one day become Israel gave a parcel of land in Sychar to his beloved son Joseph. Samaria was initially a part of the Promised Land. It was the same place where Jacob met with his brother Esau. Jacob expected Esau to destroy him for taking Esau’s birthright, but God moved on Esau to leave his brother unharmed. Jacob purchased land (Genesis 33:18-20), built a well on it, and built an altar to God which he called:

Elelohe-Israel “To the Mighty God of Israel”

Samaria is no longer a blessed place. Because of human greed and betrayal, as well as rejection of God, Samaria became a place of idolatry. The Ten Northern Tribes of Israel refused to worship God in Jerusalem, but instead built another temple – an unauthorized temple – in Samaria. They drifted far away from God, much like America has today.

Jesus loved idolatrous Samaria, just as He loves idolatrous America. He MUST NEEDS go and share His love with the lost places.

But God loves us still. God is rich in His love for all. The Apostle said:

Romans 2:3-4 (ESV) Do you suppose, O man … that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Sadly, too many “presume on the riches of God’s kindness, and forbearance, and patience”. God loves us all so very much! God gives grace – daily grace – to all on this earth. “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all that He has made” (Psalm 145:9). “God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

But God goes beyond our physical needs. God strives to reach us in our sin, to save us if we will heed Him, to bring us into the family of God if we would but come to Jesus. Jesus must needs go THROUGH Samaria.

Our Lord Jesus came to this earth for sinners like you and I. He came to this earth for sinners different than you and I. The Bible tells us that Jesus comes to Jacob’s well, and,

John 4:6-7 … being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

The Samaritan woman is puzzled. She asks Jesus – clearly a Jew:

John 4:9 … How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Sadly, some of the most racist of people are “religious” people. This woman had seen the scorn of the Jews, supposedly God’s people, and had smarted under their remarks and glares. God never wants anyone to be racist. When Miriam mocked Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman called Zipporah, God caused Miriam to become leprous (Numbers 12:10). The Apostle preached in

Acts 17:26-27 {God} hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth … that they should seek the Lord

Our God does not divide humanity based upon color, but upon faith in Christ. God divides humanity as:

Wheat or Chaff
Righteous or Wicked
Son of God or Son of Adam
Sheep or Goats

You will never see a black or white division according to God in the Scripture. God loves all equally, and reaches out to all. The Samaritan woman is startled that Jesus would speak to her. But she is more startled by what Jesus now says:

John 4:10 … If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

It is Jesus Who gives “Living Water”. This “Living Water” is the Holy Spirit of God (John 7:38-39), The same Spirit that comes to every believer in Jesus. Peter preached:

Acts 2:38 … Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy {Spirit}.

The Christian’s thirst is quenched by the Living Water of God. We drink of God’s blessings each and every day. Because of His Spirit, we walk through this life in union with Jesus. We are never alone.

But you cannot receive salvation, nor the wonderful accompanying gift of the Holy Spirit, unless you REPENT. To REPENT is to realize you are a sinner, and to RELEASE those sins, while REACHING for Jesus!

The woman, on hearing of this “Living Water”, says:

John 4:15 … Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

But she must REPENT. Jesus tells her:

John 4:16-18 … Go, call thy husband, and come hither. [17] The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: [18] For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly…

You have to know you are broken, before you’ll ever try and get fixed. You have to know you are lost, before you will ever be found. Our God “delivers us from the power of darkness, and translates us into the Kingdom of His dear Son” (Colossians 1:12-14).

But only when you repent! Release you sin! Reach for Jesus!

The Samaritan woman now does as so many do. When confronted with their sinfulness, they want to argue with the Lord. She says:

John 4:20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus tells the woman:

John 4:21 Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

God Is Not A PLACE, But a PERSON

Worship – true worship of God – is not tied to a PLACE, but to a PERSON. If you believe that worship is tied to PLACE, then just as Jesus told the Samaritan woman, I tell you “Ye worship ye know not what”. Our Father Abraham worshiped God where ever he walked. Our Father Enoch walked with God – and was not (Genesis 5:24). Worship of God comes through one Person – Jesus Christ our Messiah – in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us:

John 4:23 … the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

We who are Christ’s worship the Father in Spirit – in the power of the Holy Spirit of God – and in truth. Jesus said that…

John 16:13 … when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Jesus said:

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.

The woman’s heart opens to Christ. She says:

John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

To which Jesus tells her, “I am but one of the Messiah’s, but one of the ways to God”. Is that what He says? NO! Absolutely not! Jesus declares:

John 4:26 I that speak unto thee am he.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY Messiah, the ONLY means by which a person may come to God and be saved. This woman gives every evidence of being saved. The Bible says:

John 4:29-30 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

“Is not THIS THE Christ?” There is no other. If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you must needs go through Samaria, and tell others of Him. All you need do is tell others what Jesus has done for you. The Bible says:

John 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.

That’s not a difficult testimony, is it? All you need do is tell what Jesus means to YOU. And if you are not in Christ, then I pray that God the Holy Spirit will move on your hearts through this His Word, and through His Spirit. Jesus loves you, and wants you to be a part of the family of God. Come today, without delay! Amen, and Amen!

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A Vision Of Hell

Posted on September 12, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Fires of Hell
Photo by Cullan Smith on Unsplash

John 3:17-21 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

I sat in a Veterinarian’s Office waiting on the doctor to treat my dog “Scooter”. Bored, I overheard a man talking with the doctor about the problems that he had with his goats. The Vet said something I found very interesting. She said:

“The main objective of any goat is to die. They eat any number of things, regardless as to whether or not it’s good for them”.

I thought that statement was very interesting. I remember an episode of the Andy Griffith Show when a farmer named Hutch brings his pet goat into Mayberry. Men are working on an underpass for the town, and the goat gets away from his owner and eats a case of dynamite. It’s a hilarious episode that ends when Andy leads the loaded goat out of town, as Barney serenades the goat with his harmonica.

The Main Objective Of Any Goat Is To Die.

Our Lord Jesus often talked of believers in Him being “sheep”, and unbelievers were depicted as “goats”. Our Lord said, “the Son of Man {that’s Jesus}shall set the SHEEP on His RIGHT hand, but the GOATS on the left” (Matthew 25:33). Jesus said that His Sheep would be welcomed into “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). The GOATS, however, are told:

Matthew 25:41 … Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels..

The SHEEP are those who receive the “Good Shepherd”, the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, these Sheep go into Heaven. They enter Heaven because the “good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). But to those who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior, Jesus tells these GOATS:

Matthew 25:41 … Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels..

Hell Is Real – And Necessary

Word Study: What is uniquely sad about this assignment to hell is that no human was ever meant to go to hell. Hell is a place “prepared for the devil and his angels”. The word “prepared” is the Greek ἑτοιμάζω hetoimázō, {pronounced het-oy-mad’-zo}, meaning “to make ready, to make the necessary preparations, to get everything ready”. Our Creator engineered hell as a place for demons, not for humans made in His image. Hell is a real place, but God doesn’t want anyone there. Someone wrote Billy Graham once and said,

“I can’t believe that a loving God would ever send anyone to hell when they die. Jesus is too loving to do that.”

Billy responded with, “It may surprise you to learn that no one in the Bible spoke more about the reality of hell than Jesus. He declared, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Those are sobering words, and we need to take them seriously. Hell is real, and not one word about it in the Bible would ever make you want to go there. Those who thoughtlessly say that they look forward to going there because all their friends will be there simply haven’t realized its horror. If there is no hell, then we live in an unjust world in which tyrants and abusers and other evildoers will never pay for their evil deeds. The Bible calls it a place of “outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30, KJV).

But it’s important to realize that Jesus spoke about hell’s reality not out of hate or anger, but out of love. Yes, hell is real, but God doesn’t want you to go there! This is why He provided a way for us to be with Him in heaven forever, by sending His Son into the world to die for our sins.”

Jesus wants everyone to be “SHEEP” and not “GOATS”. Anyone can change from “SHEEP” to “GOAT” by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus said:

John 3:17-18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on {Jesus} is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

I want to talk to you tonight about the subject of Hell. I am praying that God the Holy Spirit will give you a real VISION of Hell. Many today do not believe in Hell. Many who profess to be Christians do not believe in a Biblical Hell. Some believe that – if a person were assigned to Hell by Jesus – that this soul would be annihilated, wiped out by it’s flames.

That’s just not true.

Hell is a real place, a place every person should fear to go to.

Fifteen times in the Scripture Jesus mentions
that place called “Hell”

Our Lord Jesus preached in one of His first sermons:

Matthew 5:29-30 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Jesus also preached in one of His last earthly sermons:

Matthew 18:8-9 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

If Hell were just a place of annihilation, then why would Jesus emphasize it had EVERLASTING fire? If Hell is not a place of eternal and ongoing punishment, then why would Jesus tell you it is better to cut off a limb, or pluck out an eye, rather than go there?

Hell is an eternal place of punishment, a prison for souls that do not wish to honor God. Humans are all created in God’s Image (Genesis 1:27), and that part of our being – our human soul – is by nature eternal. Our bodies are temporal, but every soul is eternal – and belongs to God. God said through the Prophet Ezekiel, “Behold, all souls are mine – they belong to Me. The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son belongs to Me” (my paraphrase 18:4). Every soul is – because it is in God’s image – FOREVER. Every soul, upon the death of the body, leaves and enters HEAVEN (a.k.a. Eternal Life) or HELL (a.k.a. Hell).

Answering “I Don’t Believe A Loving God
Would Cast Anyone Into Hell”

This is a common statement I hear from people today. Many of the more liberal Christians love to quote “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God is, indeed, “love”. But God is not JUST “love”. The Bible says that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

In John’s writings, He mentions God as “LIGHT” before he ever mentions God is “LOVE”.

“Light” in the Bible is a reference to RIGHTEOUSNESS or a lack of sin. In

Proverbs 4:18 (ESV) But the path of the RIGHTEOUS is LIKE THE LIGHT OF DAWN, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

In Philippians 2:15 tells us that God wants us to be “children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”.

God is Light, and His Children are to reflect His Light to a dark and desperate world. Jesus tells the Christ follower to “let your LIGHT shine before others, that they may see your GOOD DEEDS” (Matthew 5:16). Our God is HOLY, and we who follow Him are to be HOLY. When John looked into Heaven, he saw four angels about the Throne of God crying out,

Revelation 4:8 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come …

Our God is Holy. The Creator Who made all things is LIGHT, without sin, without darkness. Our God is also eternal. The angels cried out that God, “was, and is, and is to come”. You can offend me, and in time I will forget all about it. Time washes away the memory of the offense. But to God, God is ETERNAL, without change. An offense against God is never forgotten. When Isaiah was allowed to look into Heaven, and to see God on His Throne, Isaiah cried out:

Isaiah 6:5 Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts …

Illustrate: Seeing God in his holiness, in His perfect righteousness, in His light, Isaiah was frightened, for compared to God he needed to be cleansed. How can a sinful man hope to stand in the Presence of this Perfect, Holy, Eternal Being we know as God? It is like looking into the Sun. You can do it a moment, but your eyes tear up, and will burn out of your head if you keep looking. Isaiah’s lips were unclean! So God sent an angel to Isaiah with a live coal from that altar of God. Touching that light – that burning coal – to Isaiah’s lips, his sin was covered. The angel said,

Isaiah 6:7 … Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Just as the angel purged Isaiah’s sin with the burning coal, Jesus purges our sin by applying the work of the Cross to our lives when we receive Him.

John 3:17 … God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him MIGHT be saved.

God wants all to be saved, to leave this life and enter eternal life (Heaven) as opposed to eternal death (hell). To be in a right place with the Eternal God Who made all, you must believe on Jesus.

John 3:18 He that believeth on {Jesus} is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

If you have believed on Jesus, the Biblical Jesus, then you are NOT in a state of condemnation. If you have believed on Jesus, you, made in the image of God, are now a Child of God. The “child of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26) is NOT condemned. But the unbeliever in Christ is “condemned already”. The word translated “condemned” is the Greek κρινω, krinom {pronounced kree’-no}, which means “judged in the past so that the judgment stands”. God came into this world, became flesh as Jesus Christ, specifically to save us all from eternal death. The unbeliever in Christ rejects Jesus as Lord and Savior because:

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The lost, the goats of this life, have chosen to reject Christ so they can continue in evil. When a person submits to Christ as Lord and Savior, they follow HIM, not the world. The lost follow the lost world. They will not come to Jesus because they prefer darkness, prefer sinning, prefer wallowing in the mire of this life.

John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Jesus says to the unbeliever,

Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus came for every person. But some refuse to come to Him. Jesus told the self righteous Pharisees:

John 5:24, 39-40 … He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. … 39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

How sad that is! The reason people go to hell is because they will not come to Jesus. People do not go to hell because of sin. People go to hell because they pursue sin rather than Christ. It is a terrible thing to go through this life without Jesus! I have seen cartoons where the character drawn would have a dark cloud over their head. In truth, those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have a dark cloud called CONDEMNATION hanging over their head. We are told:

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The “wrath of God abideth” on the unbeliever. It is now, and will continue while the unbeliever is in a state of unbelief. The Apostle said:

1 John 5:10-11 HCS … The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.) {11} And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

The sinner without Christ is given a day of life to receive Christ. It is the common Grace of God that allows the lost another day to live. But that person is already marked with condemnation, just as Cain was marked for killing his brother. If that person dies without Christ, the Bible says:

Revelation 14:10-11 … The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night…

Hell is not a place where you go to cease being. Hell is an eternal prison, a place of flames and smoke and torment and grief. It is a place where the wrath of God is poured out. Jesus said of the lost who rejected Him as Lord and Savior:

Mark 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched…

Repent While There Is Time, And Come
To The Light Of Christ

John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

This morning I spoke on the need for “Repentance”. To “Repent” is to stop following the gods of self and sin, and to turn and run into the open arms of Jesus. Jesus rejects no one. Jesus loves to save souls – thank God for that!

People think, “Well, I’m not ready to receive Jesus just yet. I want to sow my wild oats. I want to “have fun”, and live a little. I’ll receive Jesus LATER ON IN LIFE so that I won’t go to hell”. Dear one, this is a bad idea. The Bible says:

James 4:13-14 (ESV) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

The point of our focal text we read today is that the unbeliever is in a state of condemnation RIGHT NOW. We do not know when our last day on earth will be. We do not know when the grim reaper will come. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). It is foolish to assume that you always have tomorrow. As my mama used to say, “Tomorrow never comes”. In Luke chapter 16 our Lord Jesus told a story about two men, one rich and one a beggar. The rich man probably thought he would live forever, for he lived in the lap of luxury. Jesus preached:

Luke 16:22-24 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

The rich man – forever nameless because he refused to repent and hide under the name of Jesus – died and immediately was in hell. In hell, he was in “torment”. In hell, he was lonely. In hell, he was thirsty. Hell is hell. That rich man died unexpectedly, and “in hell he lifted up his eyes”. But there’s something else about this rich man you may not have noticed.

The lost rich man – this goat – refused to repent while on the earth, and refuses to repent even in hell. “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue”.

The longer a person goes without Christ, the more hardened that person becomes to the call of God. What a sad truth this is! Jesus Christ allowed Himself to die on Calvary, forsaken of God, so that we who are believers in Him will never be forsaken (Matthew 27:45-54). As Christ purchased our salvation with His Blood, He cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” How terrible that He would make such a payment, and people would yet reject Him.

Christ took your place on the Cross so that you could enter His place in Heaven. Yet if you will not come, if you will not repent, then you stand already marked for judgment. Your destination is set to a terrible place. Will you not come while there is time? If you do not know Him as Lord and Savior, call upon Jesus this very day, and He will save you. The Bible says:

Romans 9:33 … whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 10:11 … Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

If you have received Jesus Christ as Savior, tell others about Him. Hell is real. Hell is eternal. Hell is torment. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit and this Word of truth would give us all a vision of hell. Amen and amen!

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The Dog And The Sow

Posted on September 12, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Nicolas Castez on Unsplash

2 Peter 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

A True Proverb

This verse is unique in that it is the only place in the Bible that mentions a dog and a pig in the same verse. The Chief Apostle, Peter, tells us that he is quoting a “true proverb”. Peter is not quoting a Biblical proverb {for the closest verse proverb that comes to this text is in Proverbs 26:11, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly”}. Peter is quoting a proverb that was common among the people of that day. It was a proverb much like the often stated:

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

This is not from the Bible either, but probably was adapted from the English poet and writer Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote “Idle hands are the devil’s tools”. That’s a true proverb. When we’re not working for God, we’re working for the devil. When Adam & Eve stopped laboring in the Garden of Eden, it was then that Satan as a serpent presented himself. When King David stopped laboring for God his eyes wandered to Bathsheba – and no good came of that! The Bible says:

1 Peter 5:8 … your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

Those who are Satan’s tastiest morsels are the ones who refuse to come to the Lord, and rest in the Lord.

Jesus bids all to come to Him – to rest in Him – to serve Him. This is the way of peace and joy and contentment.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

To come to Jesus, to come to God and be blessed, you must REPENT. False prophets do not teach you this great truth. They teach you that God loves you, but expects nothing of you. This is not so. In 2 Peter chapter 2 the Apostle focuses on false prophets, false messages, and false salvation. You must REPENT to be saved!

False Prophets Never Speak Of Repentance

True Prophets are moved by God. In the previous chapter Peter wrote:

2 Peter 1:20-21 … knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Scripture of our Bible, that precious Book we revere, was written by “holy men of God {who} spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. The God inspired preacher will speak from God’s Book, and will be motivated by the Holy Spirit of God. The false prophets who abuse the Word of God are motivated by greed and lust for power. False prophets and false teachers are everywhere. The Apostle writes:

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

False prophets never speak of REPENTANCE. To REPENT {the Hebrew word נָחַםשׁוּב shûwb, pronounced shoob, the Greek word μετανοέω metanoeō} means to cease going in the direction you are going, and to willingly and willfully return to God as your LORD. To change your mind, and begin to follow Jesus. In the Old Testament God said:

Ezekiel 14:6 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

Ezekiel 18:30 Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

The first recorded sermon of our Lord Jesus Christ

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

The intent of the false prophet is to get you to following anything and anyone BUT the God of the Scripture.

Israel had false prophets (pseudoprophētēs). Under the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel there were …

1 Kings 18:19 … the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred

God raised up Elijah to stand against these false prophets on Mount Carmel, to bring Israel back to the Lord. The Prophet Jeremiah dealt with false prophets in both Samaria and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 23:13-16; 26-27). These false prophets always depart from the Word of God, the Bible:

Jeremiah 23:26-32 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams … he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. … they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

There were false prophets in the age of Israel, and there are false teachers (pseudodidaskalos) in the Church age. Peter said that they “privily {or secretly} shall bring in damnable heresies {false teachings}”. They mask what they teach a “true”, though it cannot be supported by God’s Word. This is key:

vvs 1 “even denying the Lord that BOUGHT them”

If you are saved, you are “BOUGHT” by Jesus. You belong to the One Who saved you.

The “LORD is MY SHEPHERD, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
“We are the sheep of HIS Pasture” (Psalm 100:3).
“O LORD, Thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and THOU our Potter” (Isaiah 64:8)

The believer in Christ is under Christ’s yoke. The believer belongs to God. As Americans, we like to be “Free Range Christians”, but there is no such thing Biblically. If you are saved, you belong to the One Who saved you. If you are redeemed, you have been purchased by God. God says to His people:

Isaiah 43:1 (ESV) … Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Our lives were saved by God so that we can live for God. We REPENTED and came to Jesus to be saved

Romans 14:7-9 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

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

The saved believer is only saved because they allowed themselves to be yoked to Jesus. We belong to God. We belong to God because He purchased our salvation with His very Blood.

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

God paid a high price for you, dear Christian. He became incarnate – very God of very God became Perfect Man. Perfect Man walked among us so that we could see the invisible God. The Scripture declares:

Galatians 4:3-5 … when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The false prophets never speak of repentance, and the fruit of the false prophet is a “Cultural Christ” as opposed to an “Actual Christian”.

2 Peter 2:2-3 And many shall follow their pernicious {ἀπώλεια apōleia, indecent} ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

The false converts who heed the false gospel of the false prophets will cause the “way of truth shall be evil spoken of”. These false prophets do not preach because they care for the souls of those they minister to. Nor do they care nor love God. These false prophets speak “with feigned words make merchandise of you”. They want your money, your “stuff”, but care little for your soul. To them, you are but “merchandise”.

False Prophets Want Your Worship And Your Stuff
God Wants Your Heart And Your Best

Twenty years ago yesterday on September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked our nation. The 110 story Word Trade Center was struck by two hijacked aircraft. I remember watching that on television. Some 25,000 people were injured in the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There were 2977 deaths – more than were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War 2. The nation was shocked. For a few weeks, Church attendance was up all across America. People asked, “Where is God in all this?” God was there. God is always there. People say,

How can a good and loving God have allowed the tragedy of 9-11? How can a good and loving God allow such evil things in the world?

People are asking the same questions today. How can God allow HIV? How can a good and loving God allow COVID-19?

Peter tells us that our Good and Loving God has not only ALLOWED, but ORCHESTRATED horrific events in the history of humanity. Our God judges sin. He watches over all that He has created, and judges when necessary – even harshly – in order to accomplish a greater good. Peter writes:

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell {ταρταρόω tartaroō, the pit}, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Though angels are in many ways superior in creation to humans, God assigned some to a place called Tartarus, a holding cell of darkness. These angels were cast into this horrible place for rebelling against God.

2 Peter 2:5 and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

It was a loving and merciful God Who brought about a worldwide flood, killing all who were not on the Ark of Noah. Why? Because God saw that mankind had gone into such deep evil that, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5)”.

2 Peter 2:6-7 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

Is God overly harsh for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah for sexual sin? No. He delivered the man who repented, and listened to His leadership, as well as his family. God delivered Noah and his family because Noah listened and did as God said.

I read an article the other day written by Joni Eareckson Tada that helps us understand this better. Over 50 years ago Joni had a swimming accident that fractured the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, causing her to become a quadriplegic. Coming home from the hospital she asked her friend Steve Estes – in essence – how a loving and kind God didn’t protect her from that accident that so changed her life. Steve told her:

God permits what he hates to accomplish what He loves.

God either allows, or causes, all things that happen. God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), and omnipresent (everywhere). “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). So whatever happens, it happens because a loving and good God, a God who knows best, has either allowed or decreed it.

When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph would later tell his brothers:

Genesis 50:20 … ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

When Peter was threatened not to preach the Gospel, he led a prayer meeting where he said:

Acts 4:26-28 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 for to do whatsoever Thy hand {O Lord} and Thy counsel determined before to be done.

The Chief Priests, the Pharisees, and Judas Iscariot did evil – but God used their evil to accomplish a greater thing, the salvation of our souls. God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves. God used Joni’s accident to give her a worldwide ministry by which the Gospel of Christ is preached.

God does not rejoice when He has to discipline, when He has to chastise, when He has to harm. God warned Israel to REPENT and return to Him. When Israel refused, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem in 587 BC. The Bible said of that event:

Lamentations 3:31-33 (ESV) For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though He cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

God “does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men”. God does not rejoice when He must bring the flood. God does not clap His hands with glee when Sodom and Gomorrah burn to the ground. God is not pleased with Himself when He sends snakes into the camp to afflict the sinner. God told us through the Prophet:

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

God bids we come to Him in repentance. That we turn from the evil, and run into His open arms. God said:

Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

It is God’s wish that we live joyous lives, serving Him in gladness and loving one another. God wants to “rejoice over them that do good” (Jeremiah 32:41). But God will discipline us – God will discipline America – if we do not repent. When Jesus walked the earth, He was asked about God’s Presence when disasters occurred. Jesus told them simply – just as He tells us –

Luke 13:3 … Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

To REPENT is not just to feel sorry or guilty that you were caught. It is to CHANGE YOUR MIND and YOUR DIRECTION. REPENTANCE is a Godly sorrow, whereas REMORSE is an earthly sorrow. The Bible says:

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Rely On The Lord, Not The False Prophets

The false prophets cannot bring you blessing from God. They are – as Peter so aptly puts it – wells without water.

2 Peter 2:17-19 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

You cannot gain any lasting blessing from God from a false prophet. You must repent if you would be saved. You must commit to following the Lord. The false prophets have nothing for you.

False prophets only make false converts. As Paul preached on Mars Hill:

Acts 17:30-31 the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained {Jesus Christ}; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

If you would be saved and blessed, you must REPENT. You must receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You must be willing to be bound to Him, to “take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him”. When you do so, you will become one of His Sheep, one of His Children, one of the Family of God.

If you have been saved, you are no longer a
spiritual dog or a pig. You are a child of God.

You are one of Christ’s sheep. You are the people of His pasture. You are the clay in His hand. But if you have never repented, and never turned to Christ for salvation, then you never changed internally. You may look like a genuine Christian, but you will, in time, return to the vomit or the mire, because that’s what you really are. To the question,

“What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

The answer of God’s Word is “Repent! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31; Acts 2:38). Those who are not saved will, like the dog, eventually return to it’s own vomit. Those who are only outwardly “Cultural Christians” will, like the pig, wallow in the mire in due time. You must repent! You must turn from the other gods and goddesses of this world, and turn to Jesus Christ in faith. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ’s side this very day. Amen and amen!

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Rejoice In The Yoke Of Jesus

Posted on September 6, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Paul Jai on Unsplash

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

This morning we studied this text in a sermon called “Rest In The Heart Of Jesus”. We focused on the words “for I am MEEK and LOWLY in heart”.Jesus is πρᾷος prâios, {pronounced prah’-os}, “gentle, mild as opposed to arrogant”. As God His heart dictated that He lower Himself for us, to walk with us. Jesus also described His heart as ταπεινός tapeinós, {pronounced tap-i-nos’}, “of low degree, base, not of high stature”. Though Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 17:14; 19:16), He lowered Himself to be accessible to the least and lesser of all. There are none so low, nor so vile, that Jesus will not save them if they whosoever will.

Tonight we will look at this text from the perspective of the yoke. Most people today – and certainly none of the Millennials – have no idea what a yoke is. Jesus said:

Matthew 11:29 … Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me

What is a “yoke”, Greek ζυγός zygós, {pronounced dzoo-gos’}? Smith’s Bible Dictionary tells us that “yoke” means:

A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically for subjection , e.g. (1 Kings 12:4, 9-11; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5) hence an “iron yoke” represents an unusually galling bondage. (Jeremiah 28:13)

A “yoke” is a curved piece of wood that was placed around an animal’s neck, so that you could bind the animal to a wagon or a plow. Without the yoke, it was impossible to plow a field or draw a wagon without hurting the creature. It is a harness that binds one or two creatures to one another, so they could work together to accomplish a common goal.

A “Yoke” When Applied To Humans Is Symbolic Of Submitting Yourself To Someone Or Something Else.

Everyone Is Yoked To Something

Jesus did not tell us, “Come to Me, and I will remove ALL YOKES from you so you can have rest”. Jesus said,

Matthew 11:28-29 … Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you

It is the devil’s lie that it is possible to live without a yoke. We all will be under some type of yoke.
That is the nature of life.

In America today it is a favorite saying of Satan, “Just You do You”. In my day we called this “Do Your Own Thing”. But the real truth is, whether you are animal or human, everyone and everything has a yoke.

  • For many young people, peer pressure and pride arethings you can yoke yourself to. Young people want to fit in with the group, not to be shunned, not to be considered lesser than the others. Popularity is sought on the social networks, whether it be Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, or something else. Peer pressure was in the crowd that cried out “Crucify Jesus, and release Barabbas” (Mark 15:1-5), though Jesus was clearly an innocent man. It was peer pressure that led Aaron to create a golden calf for Israel to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Law (Exodus 32:1-6). It was peer pressure that caused Daniel to be cast in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:1-16), and caused Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to be cast in a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:13-26). Peer pressure leads young people into premarital sex, drugs and alcohol, and dangerous behavior that may take their lives. Jesus said:

Luke 12:4-6 … Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

  • Relationships like marriage and business are things you can yoke yourself to. When you enter into a marriage, you yoke yourself to another human. You make a promise before God that you will care for this person. When you bind yourself to someone else in a business venture, you are yoking your future to this other person’s future. The Bible warns us to be careful about who we relationally yoke ourselves to. As a Pastor, I will not officiate wedding ceremonies between a believer and an unbeliever. To do so will be to eventually destroy two lives! The Bible says:

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.

  • You can yoke yourself to SIN. The Bible tells us that “the WAGES of SIN is DEATH” (Romans 6:23). Sin brings with it physical death as well as spiritual death. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, “the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7, ESV). Sin blinds us to righteousness, and separates us from God. Brian Hedges of Christianity.com notes:

As scary as infectious diseases are, there’s a more deadly virus that you and I already have – the sin virus. As the 16th Century Reformer John Calvin wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “all of us, who have descended from impure seed, are born infected with the contagion of sin.” The disease is hereditary, of course, passed down to us from our earthly father, Adam. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12, ESV). To put it simply, we aren’t sinners because we sin, we sin because we’re sinners – fallen from our created perfection in our earthly father, Adam.”

To yoke yourself to sin is to invite death. The stepbrother of Christ said:

James 1:14-15 (ESV) … each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

  • You can yoke yourself to the Law of God. The Pharisees did this in Jesus’ day, and Pharisees do it today. God did not give the Law to Israel when He saved Israel from Egypt. No, God gave the Law after Israel repeatedly refused to follow God by faith. Israel refused to yoke themselves to God, but yoked themselves to sin, to self, and to satanic idols. God was faithful with Israel. He led Israel through the Red Sea. The Bible says in Exodus 13:21 that “the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night (ESV)”. Israel was safe while yoked to God by faith. God gave Israel water out of the rock, bread from Heaven, meat from the skies around them, and caused their clothing and shoes to NOT wear out as they traveled. Yet Israel resisted faith in God.

So God gave Israel the Law. Israel promised to obey the Law of God, though they never did. The Law of God did not bring a release, but a harsh bondage on those who received it. The …

“Pharisees codified the Mosaic Law into some
365 prohibitions and 250 commandments,
and required those who followed them to
submit to the Pharisees’ interpretations”.
(Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, Design for Discipleship)

The intent of the Law of God was never to save anyone. The Apostle Paul said:

Romans 3:20 (ESV) 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 of God is a mirror that we hold up to our souls. In that mirror is reflected our sinfulness, our inability to reach the perfection necessary to be with God or to enter Heaven. The Apostle Peter called the Law:

Acts 15:10 … a yoke upon the neck … which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

The Pharisees taught that it was sinful do do any internal healing on the Sabbath day. If you broke your arm, you could put an external splint on it. But if you took any internal medicine, you were bearing a burden. If you had a toothache, you could take a sip of wine if you spit it out, then rinsed your mouth out. But if you swallowed the wine, you were taking internal medication, and were a Sabbath violator. Jesus said of those Pharisees:

Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

The Law of God – if followed with a sense of pride and self righteousness – does not make believers ion God, but children of hell. The Quest Study Bible notes:

“To be a child of hell is to be deserving of hell, that is, to be awfully wicked. In Matthew 23, Jesus explains that the Pharisees and Sadducees displayed their wickedness in many ways. They did not practice what they preached (verse 3). They burdened the people with religious rituals and ceremonies of their own invention and made no effort to help them to bear them (verse 4). All their religious rituals were done in a public manner in order to receive the praise and glory from others (verses 5–7).”

The Bible says in Galatians 3:24-28 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Calls Us To Yoke Ourselves To Himself

I have often heard it said, “You can be saved, and not be a disciple of Christ”. I do not believe this, and can prove this in our text of today. Jesus offers to save us – whosoever will:

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

But Jesus ties the salvation He gives to His Lordship of His people. He continues:

Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The Bible says that Jesus “shall SAVE HIS PEOPLE from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus said:

Matthew 11:27-28 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. {28} Come unto me .…

The Father has given “All things” – the Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, and the earth to Jesus. All things belong to the Son. You cannot enter God’s family apart from faith in the Son. You cannot enter God’s Heaven apart from faith in God’s only begotten Son. Jesus is Lord! The Scripture says:

Romans 14:10-11 … we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

As a sheep willingly yokes itself to the Shepherd, we willingly yoke ourselves to Jesus. Without the Shepherd we are in danger. With the Shepherd, we are protected. Jesus said:

John 10:11, 14 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. … 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

When we willingly yoke ourselves to Jesus Christ, we yoke ourselves to the same Creator Who made all things. Are we not in a blessed position when we repent, and turn away from yoking ourselves to other things, and instead yoke ourselves to Christ?

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

Salvation demands we love Jesus. Salvation demands we obey Jesus, that we willingly yoke ourselves to Him. Jesus said:

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

And again, John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Jesus says to those He has saved, “take My yoke upon you”. This “yoke” is not an instrument of torture. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, my burden light”. The yoke is in place to protect and guide the believer. Jesus’ yoke on my life insures that I will go through the terrors of this life, for Jesus is by my side, guiding me, protecting me. The Christian is a work in progress. Saved by faith in Christ, every believer lives under the easy yoke and the light burden of Christ Jesus. Only the believer fully submitted to Christ is unafraid of death and unafraid of life. While in His yoke, He is with me, and I am with Him. What a blessed life it is, this life in Christ! Pastor John MacArthur said:

“The yoke of the law, the yoke of human effort, the yoke of works, and the yoke of sin are all heavy, chafing, galling yokes. They represent large, unbearable burdens carried in the flesh. They lead to despair, frustration, and anxiety. Jesus offers a yoke we can carry, and He also gives the strength to carry it (Philippians 4:13). Therein is true rest. … Unlike the Pharisees and scribes, He does not desire to oppress us. He does not want to pile burdens on us that we cannot bear. … Obedience under His yoke is a joy. It is when we disobey that the yoke chafes our neck.”

The eagle has learned that it can fight the wind and fly, or it can surrender to the wind and soar.

Jesus Christ Is The Stronger Ox

When I read the words of Christ,

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me …

my first thought is of the old time farmer on the plow. I see Jesus as the Farmer, and myself as the ox pulling the plow. But Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost pointed out to me that this is too narrow a definition. Jesus said “Take my yoke upon you”. He is not necessarily speaking from the superior position of the Farmer, but insinuating that He, Jesus, is in the yoke WITH ME. Dr. Pentecost wrote:

“Back in my college days, I observed an incident that made this Scripture clear to me. On Sunday afternoons I used to go out to a little rural Sunday School to teach. One such day the superintendent, a farmer, and I were visiting in the community. We saw an old farmer plowing with a team of oxen. As I saw this team, I was somewhat amazed, for one was a huge ox and the other a tiny bullock. That ox towered over the little bullock that was sharing the work with him. I was amazed and perplexed to see a farmer trying to plow with two such unequal animals in the yoke and commented on the inequality.

The man with whom I was riding stopped his car and said, “I want you to notice something. The large ox is pulling all the weight. That little bullock is being broken in to the yoke, but he is not actually pulling any weight.”

In the normal yoke, the load is equally distributed between the two that are yoked together, but when we are yoked with Jesus Christ, He bears the load, and we who are yoked with Him share in the joy and the accomplishment of the labor but without the burden of the yoke.”

Our Lord Jesus is the larger Ox. He bids us to get in the yoke with Him. This is what salvation is all about. Because I am in the yoke with Jesus, I will one day be with Jesus.

I am a son of God because I am yoked to THE Son of God.
I am indwelt with the Spirit of God because I am yoked to Jesus.
I am a lesser priest before God because I am yoked
to the GREATER Priest, Jesus.
I am fit for Heaven because Jesus, to Whom I am yoked,
is the Lamb of God, acceptable, and fit.

The Bible says:

Hebrews 13:5-6 (ESV) Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Because I am yoked to Jesus, and Jesus is yoked to me, I will be able to go through the roughest parts of this life. In Acts chapter 27 the Bible tells us that the Apostle Paul is in chains, and headed toward Rome, Italy to be judged by Caesar. Paul was yoked to Jesus, though he was chained to a Centurion. Paul told the Centurion:

Acts 27:10-11 (ESV) “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

Of course, what Jesus told Paul came to pass. For three days the ship was buffeted by the winds and the waves. But Paul was yoked to Jesus! Paul encouraged his shipmates, and told them:

Acts 27:23-26 (ESV) … this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”

On the fourteenth night of this terrible voyage, all were frightened by Paul. Why? Because Paul is yoked to Jesus. Paul tells his shipmates:

Acts 27:33-37 (ESV) “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.)

Was this amazing courage on Paul’s part? No. He just remembered that he was yoked to Jesus, and Jesus was yoked to him. They safely landed on the Island of Malta, and set about to make a fire. The Bible says:

Acts 28:3-6 (ESV) When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Paul was not “a god”, but he was yoked to God the Son, and God the Son was yoked to him.

Jesus said “take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me”. Rest in Jesus. Willingly yoke yourselves to Him. As you go through the trials and tribulations of this life, remember that you are yoked to Jesus.

In recent years, many Millennials and Generation Z-ers have “fallen away from the faith”. John Stonestreet of Breakpoint Ministries notes:

“What if we are seeing the fruit of a generation that was sold endless attempts to make Christ cool and likable, worship relevant and hyper-emotional, and Christian morality more about politics and cultural influence than obedience to God? And what if this generation has now found those experiences elsewhere? What if all the trendy marketing, political capital, and massive concert experiences inadvertently taught a generation to love the glamour and the feelings, but not Christ?

God doesn’t want our success; He wants us. He doesn’t demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of paradox, where through the ugly defeat of a Cross, a holy God is utterly glorified. Victory comes through defeat; healing through brokenness; finding self through losing self.”

You must be yoked to Jesus Christ to be saved. But if you are yoked to Christ, He is always with you, and you with Him. We are victors, because He is THE Victor. Death has no hold on us, because death has no hold on Him.

Oh, that all here today would discover the joy found in the yoke of Jesus! May God the Holy Spirit lead you to surrender to the yoke of Jesus! May God the Holy Spirit through His Word draw you closer to Jesus Christ is day. Amen and Amen.

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Rest In The Heart Of Jesus

Posted on September 5, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

Turn with me to Matthew chapter 11, where we find these familiar and blessed words:

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Though God has given us four Gospels – four points of view of Christ’s earthly ministry – rarely one Gospel will report something that the others do not mention. The words we read today are unique to the Gospels. Though you will find the Lord’s Prayer in both Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4, and the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 & Mark 16:14-18 (as well as Acts 1:8), these words of our Lord are only found in this text.

What makes this text unique is that it is the ONLY place where Jesus tells us about His own heart!

What Is The “Heart”?

Word Study: Jesus tells us “I am meek and lowly in heart”. Let’s talk about the “heart” first. What is the Lord referring to when He speaks of the “heart”? The Bible mentions the word “heart” 884 times, and it never refers to the muscle that’s in your chest pushing blood. God Himself has a heart. The Lord God said of King David,

Acts 13:22 … I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.

God has a heart, so that which He is talking about cannot be that beating muscle in your chest.

The “heart” is the center of your being. The Bible says that we are born with broken or damaged “hearts”. God spoke through His Prophet Jeremiah on the fallen condition of our hearts:

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart…

God knows what is in the heart of man. It is the sin damaged heart of man that brings evil into the world. Jesus told us that the SOURCE of our problems is a broken heart. He said:

Mark 7:20-23 …. That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

We are all born in sin, with broken hearts.
All, that is, but Jesus Christ.

God told Israel to to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 13:3). Jesus tells us today that we are to:

Matthew 22:37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (also Mark 12:30 & Luke 10:27)

This is a standard we cannot keep with a broken heart. God must fix our broken hearts, He must “put His Law in our inward parts, and write His Law in our hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). Only God can fix what is wrong with our hearts. God will only fix us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus, Pure Of Heart, Wants To Fix Our Hearts

Jesus calls whosoever will to His loving embrace. Jesus’ – Eternal God born into the human race to be our Savior (for He shall save His people from their sins {Matthew 1:21}). Jesus is equipped to be the only Savior of mankind because His heart is pure and unbroken. Jesus Christ was, is, and will always be without sin. His heart is pure. The Bible says:

Hebrews 4:15 {Jesus Christ} was in all points tempted like as we are, yet WITHOUT SIN. Emmanuel – God with us – our Lord Jesus never sinned, from birth in a manger to death on the Cross. Jesus told the Pharisees and Chief Priests who stood against Him:

John 8:28-29 … When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

From eternity past and beyond His life on earth, Jesus always did that which pleased God the Father. ALWAYS. He is perfectly sinless. When Jesus describes His heart, He says:

Matthew 11:29 I am meek and lowly in heart

Word Study: His heart is not “desperately wicked, who can know it?”. Jesus’ heart is “meek”. This is the Greek πρᾷος prâios, {pronounced prah’-os}, which means “gentle, humble, meek”. The word prâios is only found here in the New Testament, and is only applied to Jesus. The word usually used for humility is the Greek ταπεινόω tapeinoō. James, the stepbrother of Jesus said “Humble (tapeinoō) yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up” (James 4:10). The Apostle Peter said, “Humble (tapeinoō) yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). Jesus Christ is unique in His humility. He is “prâios”. Though Eternal God in human form, Jesus voluntarily humbled Himself. Though King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Bible says:

Philippians 2:6-8 {Jesus}, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus Christ humbled Himself – from birth to death – so that He might save the souls of sinners. Compare Jesus Christ to Mohammad of Islam. As American troops departed Afghanistan, Islamic forces called “Taliban” (which means “A Student of Mohammad” began attacking and killing people. When our Lord Jesus came, He said:

Matthew 11:28-29 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Compare our Lord Jesus’ words to the words of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini: “Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Islam says Kill them (the non-Muslims), put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you!” (quoted in “Islam Unveiled” by Robert Spencer, p. 35). As C.H. Spurgeon once said:

“The very strength of the false prophet lays
in the absence of any meekness”

Jesus bids all to come to Him, but He does not do so at the point of a sword, nor at the promise of a beheading. Jesus Christ is, at this time, “prâios”. He reaches out in love, bidding all to enter the Family of God through faith in Him. When Jesus was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Apostle Peter “drew his sword, and struck a servant of the High Priest, and cut off his ear”. Jesus told Peter:

Matthew 26:52 … Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Jesus had to go to the Cross for our sins. Jesus had to willingly die for us, to cover our sins, to make atonement for us. Jesus told Pilate:

John 18:36 … My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Jesus calls the broken hearted to His humble side! We often misunderstand this great truth, dear Christian. When Jesus was hindered from going to Jerusalem through Samaria, the Apostle John asked Jesus:

Luke 9:54 … Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as {Elijah} did?

The Muslim or the Hindu may cut off the head of those who reject their religion, but not Jesus. Jesus told John,

Luke 9:55-56 … Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.

Jesus Christ came to save souls. Jesus preached a long time in Jerusalem, and yet they would not receive Him. Did Jesus curse Jerusalem? No, but He wept over that city, saying:

Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

When Jesus was beaten by the whips of the soldiers, did He curse those who harmed Him? When Jesus was laid down on the rough wood of the Cross, and nails pierced His hands and feet, did He call on Heaven to bring death to those hurting Him? As He hung naked, bleeding our His life, abandoned of man and God, did Jesus call on the angels to avenge Him? No, for Jesus is “prâios”. He has Godlike humility. Even as His tongue clung to the roof of His mouth for want of water, Jesus pulled against His bonds, and lifted Himself up, praying:

Luke 23:34 … Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Meekness Does Not Excuse, But Corrects Sin

Jesus upheld the Law of God, and upholds it still. He never flaunted God’s Law, but held it to the Divine Standard at all times. Jesus did not come to eradicate the Law, but to fulfill it.

Matthew 5:17-18 … Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Jesus humbled Himself, becoming the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus never excused sin, but bid sinners to repent of sin and follow Him. The Apostle said “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus did not come to shun sinners, nor to belittle sinners, but to “save sinners”. In John chapter four we are told that:

John 4:4 … {Jesus} must needs go through Samaria.

Why did He have to go THROUGH Samaria? Most Orthodox Jews would go out of their way to AVOID Samaria. But Jesus “must needs go through Samaria”. Why? Because there is a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that needs to be saved. When Jesus reaches out to her, she says:

John 4:9 … How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

No self respecting Jew would reach out to a Samaritan. Yet Jesus did. Jesus is uniquely humble. He is “prâios”, He is humble.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart

Word Study & Illustration: The word translated “lowly” is the Greek ταπεινός tapeinós, {pronounced tap-i-nos’}, which means “of low degree, humble, base, near to the ground”. As a Pastor, I have moved and preached in three different states, and in my moving I usually use a Hertz Rental Trailer. One thing about these trailers is they are low to the ground, so it is easy to carry heavy burdens onto their decks. Our Lord Jesus is low to the ground. Though Eternal God in human form, He is easily accessible to the least of any person, while being strong enough to handle any burden we put on Him.

The Samaritan woman wondered why a Jew like Jesus would talk to her at all. Jesus will talk to anyone. This not only shocked her, but it shocked His disciples. The Bible says that they …

John 4:27 … marveled that he talked with the woman

Jesus Christ came to save the lowest, just like you and I are. Jesus did not excuse her sins. He told her “Ye worship ye know not what” (John 4:22). Jesus told her “thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband” (John 4:18). This woman had a broken heart that needed fixing. She was an idolater, and a sexual sinner. This woman needed Jesus. She needed to receive Him as Lord and Savior – which she did. Then she ran home, excited, and told all her friends “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). Her heart was fixed, healed by Jesus.

Jesus Christ is lowly in heart. He came to reach the least of us. When a woman taken in adultery – in the very act – was cast in front of Jesus, her accusers asked Jesus what should be done to her. Jesus said,

John 8:7 … He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Who among you is NOT broken? Who among you has NOT sinned? One by one, each of her accusers realized a truth that we all need to grasp.

We are all sinners, deserving of hell.
This is why Jesus came.

When the last person left, Jesus said to her:

John 8:10-12 … Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. 12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Jesus never excuses sin – but He does offer salvation from it. Jesus offers to change the life of those who follow Him, who love Him. He is uniquely humble. Though in Jewish society the leper was shunned. To touch a leper was to become unclean yourself. But with Jesus, He was never afraid to touch the lepers. The Bible tells us that …

Matthew 8:2-3 … there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Jesus is meek and lowly in heart. He did not hesitate to touch the leper. When Jesus touched the leper, Jesus did not become unclean, but the leper became clean. Jesus’ righteousness rubbed off on him. You cannot be too low for Jesus to heal. You cannot be too broken for Jesus to fix. The Pharisees mocked Jesus for His lowliness.

Luke 15:2 … the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Jesus doesn’t just allow those “sinners” to come to Him. Jesus actually lowers Himself down to “eat with them”. No one is too low to be received by Jesus. Salvation comes when you realize that ..

Psalms 38:3-4 There is no soundness in my flesh … neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. {4} For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

Our solutions for what ails us does not work. We cannot fix our own hearts. We all need Jesus.

Illustration Benny was known by all his friends as a chronic worrier. He came into work one day whistling and happy. No matter what happened that day – good or bad – Benny smiled right through it. At the end of the day his best friend asked him why his life was suddenly so different. Benny said, “I used to worry about everything. Then it came to me – why not hire someone to worry for me? That’s what I did. I put an advertisement in the local paper offering 500.00$ a day to anyone who would worry for me. Believe it or not I had someone call and take the job. Now I don’t worry – my worrier worries for me!” Benny’s friend looked at him and said, “Well, that’s fine. But 500.00$ a day? You don’t make that much money! How are you going to pay your “worrier”. Benny replied, “That’s not my worry”.

I don’t think what Benny did was a solution – but I do believe you should cast your cares on Jesus. Beloved, do not carry your sin on trembling knees and on bent back. The words of Christ are for you. He pleads, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest “. Oh that you would come believing, for the Scripture says:

Romans 10:11,13 … Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. … {13} For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Jesus Bids You To Come …

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

When we come to Jesus Christ, trusting Him as our Savior and committing to Him as our Lord, He gives us spiritual rest. Oh, what a joy it is to be in Jesus! Those who are in Christ are under His New Covenant. As we participate in the Lord’s Table today, we will remember His words when He “took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Jesus gave His life for you. Jesus reaches out to you. Will you receive Him as Lord and Savior? Oh, how I pray that you would this very day. May God the Holy Spirit cause this Word to bring forth fruit unto Eternal Life in your souls this very day. Amen and Amen!

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