The Royal Law

Posted on February 21, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Henrique Malaguti on Unsplash

James 2:1-13 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 8 If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 9 but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

To Understand And Apply The Bible,
You Must Consider Your CONTEXT

Today we are looking at the writings of James, the stepbrother of our Lord Jesus. People often get confused when they compare Jame’s writing to Paul’s writings. You need to understand that, though both Paul and James are Holy Spirit inspired writings, each Bible writer addressed different situations that was hindering the Church.

Strong Emphasis Here! The Apostle Paul wrote to Gentile Churches being attacked by Pharisees in his absence. The Pharisees were telling the Gentiles that we needed to be circumcised, to follow the Jewish Feasts, and the Jewish dietary restrictions. We are NOT under the Mosaic Codes that were shadows of the Coming Christ. We are NOT under the RITUALS of the Mosaic Law. Our Priests do not come from the Line of Aaron, but from the Order of Melchizedek (Melchisedec in KJV NT). Our High Priest is not from the Tribe of Levi, but from the Tribe of Judah. Our High Priest is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:15-17, 21). We who are Christians are NOT under the Levitical Priesthood. We are under the Order of Melchizedek, and are ourselves are made kings and priests unto God (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). This is why the Apostle Paul declared:

Romans 6:14-15 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

and, Galatians 3:23-26 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 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.

Paul’s point was that the Christian is no longer under the Mosaic Law insofar as the rituals, feasts, sacrifices, and priesthood are concerned. But the Christian is still under the moral codes of God’s Law.

Jesus often referred to the Ten Commandments when speaking. For instance, when Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him, Jesus quoted the Old Testament Moral Commandments:

Matthew 4:10 Get thee hence, Satan: for IT IS WRITTEN, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

A quotation from both Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:7. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, he quoted numerous parts of the moral code in the Law.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

The Apostle declared that those who violate the 7th commandment of “thou shalt not commit adultery/ sexual sin” {Exodus 20:14}Paul specifically addresses those involved in single heterosexual sin (fornicators), married heterosexual sin (adulterers),transsexuals (effeminate),and homosexuality (abusers of themselves with mankind). The Apostle also addresses violators of these commandments:

2nd Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5) (idolatry)
8th Commandment (Exodus 20:15) (thieves)
10th Commandment (Exodus 20:17) (covetousness or greed)

It is clear that the Apostle meant we are still under a moral Law of God. Though drunkenness and wild revelry, as well as extortion are not covered in the Ten Commandments, they are found within the framework of the Law of God. Believers in Christ are freed from all ritualistic or dietary portions of the Law. We do not sacrifice animals for sins. We do not have to be circumcised to be entered into God’s family. Jesus Christ, dying on the Cross, fulfilled all of the ceremonial and ritualistic parts of the Law. We are Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26). However, as Children of God we do righteousness. The Apostle John stated:

1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever DOETH NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Christians “do righteousness”. When the Apostle Paul spoke to the Church telling us “you are not under the Law”, what he was saying (as God led him) that we do not have to be circumcised. We are free to eat all meats. We do not have to keep the ceremonial feasts. We do not participate in animal sacrifices. But the moral codes, we still uphold them.

James’ Context Is Different: He Deals With Prejudice

James pastored the the Church at Jerusalem as it transitioned from a wholly Jewish population and began to receive Gentiles like us. James conveyed God’s message to “the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (1:1). Paul’s Churches were dealing with Pharisees trying to push Old Covenant Law on New Covenant Believers. James was dealing with Jewish believers who were trying to be sectarian, prejudice, and in turn were not living up to God’s standard for love.

When Jesus Christ came, He changed not only how the Christian treats the Law, but also how believers should should treat others around them.

James addresses prejudice and preferential treatment of others. James tells his Jewish audience (and us):

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

The Jews had, over time, developed prejudices, just as we all have prejudices. This is a part of the sin nature we inherited from Adam. The Jews often discriminated against non-Jewish peoples. James reminds them – and us – that “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ” does not allow for “respect of persons”. The Apostle Paul said:

Galatians 3:28 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.

Word Study James speaks of “respect of persons”. This is the Greek προσωποληψία prosōpolēpsía, pronounced pros-o-pol-ape-see’-ah), which means “favoritism or partiality”. It is to look at someone and judge them based on their skin color, clothing, or outward appearances. People give what the King James calls “respect of persons” by making judgments about people and their station in life without getting to know that person. This is a horrendous sin in the eyes of God. The Bible says that:

Acts 17:26 {God} hath made of ONE BLOOD ALL NATIONS OF {people} for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ..

God our Father does not judge people based on their outward appearance, nor on the basis of their melanin. We all bleed red. Every person has value. Every person is made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27).

The believer in Christ is not to show bias based on COLOR, CULTURE, or CASTE. A Jew died for our sins.

Prejudice has NEVER been acceptable with God, in neither Old nor New Testaments. God despises prejudice! God told His nation Israel (and us):

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but IN RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALT THOU JUDGE THY NEIGHBOR.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall NOT RESPECT PERSONS IN JUDGMENT; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a {שַׁחַד shachad, [pronounced shakh’-ad] = bribe}: for a {bribe} doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

The Lord tells us “to have respect of persons is not good” (Proverbs 24:23; 28:21). People are called to Christ to love as Christ loves. What James saw among believers was CASTE bias – and he called it out.

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

Illustrate The word RESPECT this time is not what was in verse 1, but the Greek ἐπιβλέπω epiblépō, (pronounced ep-ee-blep’-o), which means “to stare at and have admiration for, to look up to”. This is actually a form of idolatry, and is wide spread throughout America today. In my lifetime I have seen Christian Celebrities raised up to be almost idols – only to come crashing down. From Jim & Tammy Faye (Messner) Baker to Jimmy Swaggert, and most recently the late Ravi Zacharias, we endanger ourselves and put too much faith in broken humans when we elevate the messenger above the message. The fallen Mega Church Pastor today is no worse that, truly, each and every one of us are. As the old saying goes, “There but for the Grace of God go I”.

Illustrate No person should ever be regarded by themselves or others as “better than” because of their COLOR, CASTE, or CULTURE. I remember an episode of M*A*S*H (a very old TV show. The episode was called Strange Bedfellows) where Major Charles Winchester was snoring. He refused to admit that he snored, though the whole camp could hear him snoring at night. Finally Winchester goes to the camp Chaplain, and tells him he is concerned about snoring “because then I’ll be as common as the rest of the camp” (my paraphrase). Charles, you ARE just as common as the rest of us! COLOR, CASTE, or CULTURE does not make someone better than someone else. The Bible paints us all with the same brush. We are all born into this world fallen creatures. Listen to God’s Word:

Romans 3:23 for ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God …

We all fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES, that they are ALL under SIN.

and, Romans 11:32 God hath concluded them ALL in UNBELIEF, that He might have mercy upon all.

As the Bible says in Galatians 3:22, “the Scripture hath concluded ALL under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. None of us are better than the other. We all need the salvation that God offers in Jesus.

Sometimes the least among us are the blessed. James says:

James 2:5-7 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

What did our Lord Jesus say about the poor? Do you remember when He spoke of His ministry:

Matthew 11:5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

In this world there will always be poor people (Matthew 26:11), but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Affluence often blinds people to the glorious Gospel of salvation. Do you remember Jesus telling the rich man:

Matthew 19:21 … go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

That man walked away from Jesus that day, for he had great wealth, and loved it more than God. “What is a person profited, if they gain the whole world, but lose their own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Riches often diverts a person away from the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, and leads the wealthy to a sham faith that will not save. Remember this:

God never knew the name of the rich man, but He loved the impoverished Lazarus. The poor, the Lazarus’ of this world, are often quicker to find and be found of Christ than the rich are.

The Christian Is Called To Fulfill The Royal Law

James 2:8 If ye fulfill THE ROYAL LAW according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:

The Christian is under what James calls “The Royal Law”. Why is it “The Royal Law”? Because it is the Law as defined by Jesus Christ.

Word Study A “Lawyer” came to Jesus one day and asked, “Master, which is the Great Commandment in the Law?” The word “GREAT” is the Greek μέγας mégas, {pronounced meg’-as}, which means “the most important, the key, the overwhelming principle”. This “Lawyer” studied, not human laws, but the Law of God. He was testing Jesus to see if Jesus, known as a Great Teacher, understood the primary principle or the driving force behind the Law. Jesus did not hesitate. He said:

Matthew 22:37-38 … Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the FIRST and GREAT commandment …

Word Study Jesus said that this commandment is not only the MEGAS commandment, it is also the πρῶτος PRŌTOS or “first in time or place, first in rank”. The commandments of God are built on this one principle – we are to love God with our ALL. Not of HALF, but our ALL. When you look at the Ten Commandments, the FIRST FOUR deal with love for God. If you do not love God primarily, then you will not love others – the other 6 commandments. Then Jesus continued:

Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

The GREAT commandment is the basis of the Law. The SECOND GREAT commandment follows the first. These two principles are called “The Royal Law” because they are given to us by God our King in both Old and New Testaments. Jesus said:

Matthew 22:40 On these TWO COMMANDMENTS hang all the Law and the Prophets

The entirety of God’s Law hangs on these two nails. They hold up the Law.

James 2:9 but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are CONVINCED of the law as transgressors.

If you are prejudiced toward people, then the Royal Law rebukes {ἐλέγχω elénchō, pronounced el-eng’-kho} you. It admonishes you. You are supposed to treat others the way you want to be treated. You would not want to be pulled over and stopped just because you are black. You would not want to be shunned because you are brown. You would want others to treat you with respect, even if your clothing shows evidence of poverty. You would want to be treated like Jesus treated you. Now this next set of Scripture are often taken out of context, and misapplied. We read:

James 2:10-11 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

James is NOT telling us that we do not need to keep the Law. He is telling us we NEED, as believers, to follow the Royal Law. It is Jesus Christ Who gave us these Laws. We honor Him when we follow them. We dishonor Him when we treat others with prejudice, regardless as to it’s flavor.

If you do not commit adultery (which would be a violation of the second great Law), but you murder someone (a violation of the second great Law), then you have broken God’s Law. And yes, we are under these two great Laws. We as believers are to love God our Savior, Father, and Lord, with our ALL. We as believers are also to cherish our neighbor, and treat our neighbor as we would be treated.

“But”, you might ask, “what about those who have done wrong to me”? Jesus gave us a third Royal Law. Jesus said:

John 13:34-5 A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

The believer in Christ is under three Royal Commandments. We are to love God with all that we have. We are to love and so treat others as we want to be loved and treated. But the New Commandment, this is a doozy! We are to love one another as Jesus loved us. This is a sacrificial type of love.

Let’s suppose someone has hurt you. Are you free to hurt them back? Well, what did Jesus do?

1 Peter 2:22-23 {Jesus} did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously …

This is what Jesus told us to do. We are to have a sacrificial love toward others. When we are treated badly – and it happens to me weekly – we are to obey the Third Great Commandment:

Matthew 5:44-48 I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

We who are Christians are not under the Yoke of the Law as the Old Covenant believers were. We do not have to sacrifice animals. We do not have a priesthood we kowtow to. We do not have to keep the Feasts, the moons, and the special days that the Israeli had to do. We do not have travel to Jerusalem once a year, nor to Mecca. We are under a Royal Law – a Law of Liberty. We are freed from sin so that we can serve the Lord. We are priests together, and Christ our High Priest – blessed be the name of the Lord. We will be judged one day on how we fulfilled these three great laws.

James 2:12-13 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Love God with your all. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And love even those who mistreat you. Do good to them who hurt you. Pray for those who treat you badly. Jesus prayed from the Cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Let love accompany us as we move toward Heaven. May God the Holy Spirit and His Holy Word touch our hearts and minds, honor Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen and Amen!

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We Walk By Faith

Posted on February 21, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5:7. As you turn there I want to make a universal application.

As humans, we all can be terribly obtuse.

Did everyone understand what I just said? Probably not, because I used a word you may not have all recognized – “obtuse”. When I say “as humans, we can be obtuse”, you may not understand what I’m saying. But if I speak the plain language, I would say “as humans, can be DENSE” or “DOPEY” or “DUMB” or even “SLOW ON THE UPTAKE”, you now understand my words. Words should be used simply, so that all can understand them. Someone once said, “If you can explain it to a six year old, you can explain it to everybody”.

The Apostle Paul, though highly educated (for he studied under the Rabbi Gamaliel – see Acts 22:3), used language simply so as to be understood. The Apostle tells us in our focal text today …

(for we WALK by faith, not by sight:)

These are very clear and simple words. Some other versions of the Bible that are out there manipulate the text, translating this as “For we LIVE by faith, not by sight”. That’s not a good translation. The word “WALK” is the Greek περιπατέω peripatéō, {pronounced per-ee-pat-eh’-o}, meaning “to walk, to move about”. The word peripatéō is found in verses like:

Matthew 4:18 … Jesus, WALKING by the sea of Galilee …
Matthew 9:5 … {Jesus said} Arise, and WALK.
Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, the lame WALK …
Matthew 14:25 … Jesus went to them, WALKING on the sea.
Matthew 14:29 … {Peter} WALKED on the water …

Why did the Apostle use the word WALK to describe the Christian way of life? It is because GOD uses the word WALK to describe how believers are to live.

Walking Itself Is An Act Of Faith

How many of you “walked” today? I suspect most of you walked, and were not carried or wheeled into the congregation. Have you ever thought about walking?

Most humans are born with the ability to see, to breathe, to vocalize, to feel pain. We are born with emotions. We are NOT born walking, talking, or reading. We have the POTENTIAL to do so, but these things must be learned. From our earliest stage of development we have had parents or guardians who taught us how to walk and talk. Walking is an act of faith. The baby holds onto the elder’s hands, and trembling, falteringly, makes one step, then another. The baby can’t stand, doesn’t have the strength nor the balance to stand. But as it grows, it begins to partially walk by holding onto furniture or an elder’s hand. In time the child is released, and it makes a few faltering steps in faith. The child may not know it’s called FAITH, but it is FAITH. It takes faith to walk.

Walking is scientifically complex. If you ask a doctor or a medical scientist to explain the act of walking, they would explain how all the muscles in the feet and legs are precisely adjusted and corrected in order to keep us upright. It doesn’t make sense that such a small base as a human foot can hold up such a large, vertical frame as the human body is. The inner ear, the nerve endings, the bones, the impulses that come from our minds, the whole of the human body is elegantly designed by our Creator God. Most of us are able to learn to walk, but it starts with faith, and with practice.

Walking is something we learn to do – and something we do every single day that we are not stopped by infirmity.

Walking is a normal part of the human experience. It is something we should do. Walking moves us from one place to another. It was by walking you got to Church today. It is something you do not want to be without.

God designed us all with the potential to walk. Not just to walk, but to walk with Him. God created Adam and Eve, and ordered Adam against eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17). When Adam sinned and ate of that which was forbidden, what happened?

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 not only caused sin to enter his life, but it caused “death”. Adam killed himself – and us – in two ways. Adam first died to the Presence of God. When the Lord God came into the Garden of Eden, how did He come?

God came WALKING!

Genesis 3:8 {Adam and Eve} heard the voice of the Lord God WALKING in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

Our God made Adam and Eve to WALK with them every day. The Creator came WALKING in the Garden. He came to talk to those whom He made in love. But where were they? They “hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God“. This is abnormal, wrong. God made humanity to walk with Him. Adam allowed another love to supplant his love of God. We are to love God with all our hearts, to WALK with Him daily. This is how we were designed, how things were meant to be.

God was not meant to be an afterthought or a leftover, nor even an accessory we tack onto our lives to give us “Our Best Lives Now”. The best life is the one in step with the Creator. The best life is the One that daily walks with Him, regardless as to our situations. God called out to Adam,

Genesis 3:9 … Where art thou?

Adam did not admit his sin. He blamed his sin on the woman Eve. Then he blamed his sin on God. “The WOMAN whom THOU gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). Don’t we use the same excuses today? “God made me this way – so I’m not to blame!” As Greg Morse wrote in his article Forsake Your Favorite Excuse,

“What {Adam and Eve} had never seen practiced became natural. The first man and woman, our parents, discovered in the forbidden fruit the idea to cover up their evil. And this knowledge was passed down to their children … Humanity’s mind became well stocked with fig leaves to cover our sin’s nakedness. All of us have become tailors and seamstresses, dressing up our failures in fine clothing.”

We were made to walk by faith with God daily. No matter where we go, or what we do, God is to be in it. This is how we were designed.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:)

We were designed to walk by faith in God, trusting that what He said was true. When we are told in …

Genesis 3:6 … when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The first sin has been reproduced many times. God says one thing, but we think another. We look and experiment, and inevitably fall into a horrible situation. We are to daily walk by faith in God – not by what we think or see!The human mind is corrupted by the fall of Adam, immersed in sin. We as humans seeks to be our own gods and goddesses, to set our laws of right and wrong. That is not what a Christian is to be.

Before you can walk, you must be born.

Before a baby walks, it must be born. Beloved, in order to walk with God, you must be born again. You must be changed from a child of Adam to a child of God. God must come into your heart. You must stop holding onto the fruit of the forbidden, and release it. You must grab the hands of the Master, Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Lord Jesus came preaching,

Matthew 4:17 … Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

There is a life beyond the life that walks by faith in the gods and goddesses of this world. We are to repent of the idols, and turn to Jesus. God calls all to come to Him by faith. “The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus Christ came to this earth to save sinners, broken people like you and I. I along with the Apostle say with joy:

1 Timothy 1:15 …. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief

I speak not to just the faithful tonight, but to the seeker as well. If you are a sinner, Jesus Christ came to save you. He will save you, just as He saved – and keeps on – saving me. You must be born before you can walk. You cannot make yourself be born. Birth is a thing that comes from God. But when you hear His Word – Oh how I pray that God would open your eyes as He did with Elisha’s servant – when you hear His Word, and run into His arms, God will take care of the rest. The Law trumpets:

Isaiah 1:28 … the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

Destruction does not need to be yours. Oh, how He loves you and me! When Jesus walked this earth, “many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him” (Matthew 9:10). The religious Pharisees asked Jesus, just as the self righteous do today. They ask, “Why, Jesus, do you eat with these sinners, these broken people?” And Jesus, with love in His voice and joy in His eyes says, “I am not come to call the righteous, the well, those who think they have it all together. I have come to call sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13). Do you labor? Is life hard for you? Do the things, the terrors of life, bear you down? Come to Me. I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Beloved, you must be born before you can walk. You must repent of your idols. Lay down that god who looks at you from the mirror. Put away that self and selfishness. Cry out to Jesus, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

When you turn from yourself, from the nature of Adam so natural in all of us, and turn to Jesus, He promises to save.

Repent.
Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Rest in Him.
God will cause you to be born again (John 3:3,7; 1 Peter 1:23)
Then you can begin to walk with God.

The Normal Christian Walks With God

Just as Adam walked daily with God, the Normal Christian is to walk daily with God. Walking with God is not a chore, but a pleasure. Walking with God is what the believer is designed to do. One of the first believers to walk with God was a man by the name of Enoch. The Bible tells us that:

Genesis 5:24 … Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him.

Enoch walked with God daily. Let me ask you. How many of you walked today? Walking is a normal part of your day, isn’t it. Well, walking with God is to be a normal part of your day. Enoch walked with God for 365 years until one day God told Enoch, “Come on. Let’s just walk into Heaven”. And Enoch did. The Bible tells us that:

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that HE PLEASED GOD.

The reason we are given the twin gifts of physical life and eternal life is so that we can walk with God every day.

Enoch walked with God, having none of the blessings that we have today. Thank God for the walkers! Thank God for those who walk with God every day. These people may be unknown in their age, but God uses them to save the world.

  • If NOAH had not “WALKED with God” (Genesis 6:9), the flood would have destroyed us all.
  • If ABRAHAM had not walked with God, there would have been no Israel, no Messiah, no salvation for any of us. God told Abraham, just as He tells us, dear Christian,

Genesis 17:1 … I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect {תָּמִים tâmîym, [pronounced taw-meem’ means COMPLETE or WHOLE]}

Walking with God completes us. It repairs our brokenness daily. Walking with God, we are available to the Potter’s hand:

Isaiah 64:8 … we are the clay, and Thou art our Potter (O Lord), and we are all the work of Thy hand …

When you walk with God, He completes our brokenness. He repairs us. He makes us into what we should have been but for sin. When you give your life to God, walking with Him daily we become:

Ephesians 2:10 … His WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before {ordered} that we should walk in them.

Those who have met & received Jesus
are no longer spiritual cripples.

When you meet Jesus “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up” (Matthew 11:5). Without Jesus, you are “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). Without Jesus, you cannot walk with God. But with Jesus, you are given the ability to walk with God everyday. The Master bids us, “Rise, take up thy bed, and WALK” (John 5:8). Jesus tells us, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worst thing come upon thee” (John 5:14). Walk with God. Christians, we MUST walk with God daily.

I have known professing Christians who refuse the ordinance of water baptism. If you are saved, if you “walk by faith, and not by sight”, then you should honor Jesus and do as His Word commands. We are not rebellious like Adam. We are Children of God, Christ Children. We walk honoring Jesus.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so WE ALSO SHOULD WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.

We no longer walk after the ways of the world. We, like Abraham, walk before God and are complete. We do not follow the ways of the world. We do not cherish the ways of flesh as the children of Adam do. We are God’s Children, born to walk with Him daily.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who WALK not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The “righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us, who WALK NOT after the FLESH, but AFTER THE SPIRIT” (Romans 8:4). Christ is our completion, our Savior, our Lord. We walk with and in Him daily. The Apostle tells the Christian:

Romans 13:13 Let us WALK honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

God walks with us – every day. We are to consciously walk with Him. Has He not said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5)? He is always by our side. Let us walk before Him, knowing He is there always. Let us please God, as Enoch, Noah, and Abraham did. If you are a Christian, then:

2 Corinthians 6:16 … 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.

WALK in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). If we live in the Spirit, LET US WALK IN THE SPIRIT (Galatians 5:25).

The Christian Walk Is Far Different
From Adam’s Walk

2 Corinthians 5:7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:)

There was a time when every person “WALKED according to the ways of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the devil” (Ephesians 2:2). Christians, we are not that way anymore. We WALK worthy of the vocation we have been called to (Ephesians 4:1). We do not WALK as other Gentiles WALK, in the emptiness of their minds (Ephesians 4:17). We walk before God. Christians, we are strangers and foreigners in this world.

We are Children of Love.
We are to love our God Who saved us.
We are to love others as Jesus loved us.

Ephesians 5:2 WALK IN LOVE, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

We are Children of love, Children of God. We are to WALK in love. To WALK in the Light of God. We are to …

Colossians 1:10-11 … WALK WORTHY of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God 11 strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

If you are walking with God daily – DAILY – then your life will not fall apart when your life falls apart!

I have often talked with dear Christians who have lapsed in their faith. Sickness has caused them to lose their former strength. Perhaps they are unable to physically walk now. I had one lady ask me if God hated her. I had another gentleman ask me if God was punishing him for an indiscretion in the past. No, I do not believe this. When God forgives, He forgives completely. We are told that when we repent,

Micah 7:19 …{God} will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities, and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Billy Graham wrote in his book Peace With God:

“Your sins have been forgiven. God has buried them in the depths of the sea and placed them behind His back of forgetfulness. Every sin is completely wiped out. You stand before God as a debtor, and you have received your discharge, you have become reconciled to God. You were actually an enemy of God before. The Bible says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18).

But more than all of that, you have been adopted into the family of God. You are now a child of God. “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Ephesians 1:5). You are now a member of the royal family of heaven. You have royal blood in your veins. You are a child of the King.”

Christian, you are not what you were before Christ. You are changed by God, indwelt by God, and destined to live with God forever. This world is not your home. This body is not your eternal body. It was designed by sin to be temporal – but there is another body coming. This world is marred by sin, but there is another world coming. If we groan, let us not groan faithlessly, doubting the love of God. Let us groan as the Apostle groaned. Let’s end with the words that God gave Paul before this blessed focal text we have studied today:

2 Corinthians 5:1-6 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

While we Christians are in this body, we are not home. Oh, God is with us. His Spirit indwells us. But our Jesus is in yonder, on the right hand of God the Father. Daily I groan. I am a son of God. I am a soldier of the Lord on temporary assignment.

I am not home.
I will not be home until the day I see my Jesus face to face.
Until I kneel before Him, and cling to Him as Mary did at the Tomb.
Until I see Him on Heaven’s shore, and I cast myself
naked into eternity’s sea.

We who are Christians walk by faith, not by sight. We walk toward our Jesus. One day we will walk from this place, to another place, blessed and prepared for us by our Jesus. Let us be faithful to Him until that day comes. If you cannot physically walk, you can still “walk by faith”. You can read the Word of God daily. You can be a witness to those around your sick bed. You can “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and “in everything – even your infirmity – give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Walk by faith. Walk as Job walked, honoring the Lord though you have lost all. For beloved, when you have Jesus, you can never lose all.

May God touch your hearts, and open your eyes, through His blessed Spirit and His Word. Amen and Amen!

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

Then Everyone Ran Away

Posted on February 17, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Matthew 26:46-56 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. 50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? 55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

This coming Sunday morning we will once more celebrate the Lord’s Supper at our Church. The Lord’s Supper reminds us of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for us on Calvary. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus said:

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man IS COME to seek and to save that which was lost.

Mark 10:45 … the Son of man CAME NOT to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mankind was lost because of Adam’s sin. Jesus Christ came to redeem us, to bring us from the Kingdom of darkness, and into God’s marvelous Light (1 Peter 2:9). There was only one way for Jesus to save us and bring us into God’s Kingdom. Jesus had to take our place. He had to stand in the dock, being judged for our sins, the perfect for the imperfect, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

God the Father sent His Son on a mission to come to lost souls, and to invite the lost into the Kingdom of God. But this invitation came with a great price. Jesus would have to die a horrid death on Calvary.

Jesus Is Betrayed So We Can Be Blessed

Adam betrayed his Creator in the Garden of Eden. Now a son of Adam will betray Jesus in another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. Was Jesus surprised at Judas’ betrayal? Let’s see. Our Lord said:

Matthew 26:46-48 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. 47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

  • JESUS KNEW WHAT WAS IN THE HEART OF PEOPLE. When Jesus washed the feet of His disciples Peter initially refused to be ministered to. Jesus said,

“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me”

The child of God is the one who has received Jesus as BOTH Lord and Savior. The child of God does not reject the Master, but obeys Him, whether we fully understand His Word or not. Peter replied, “Lord, don’t just wash my feet, but my head and hands, too!”. Jesus told him, “You are clean, BUT NOT ALL“. The Bible said:

John 13:11 For {Jesus} knew who should betray Him; therefore He said, Ye are not all clean.

Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him. Jesus knew, because He knows the heart of man. As God, Jesus looks not on just the outward. God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesus knows what was in man (John 2:25). When Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to be one of His core disciples, He would later say:

John 6:70 … Have not I chosen you twelve, and ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL?

Jesus knew that Judas was “a devil”, a man who was lost. Judas Iscariot “was a robber and a thief” (John 12:6). Why in the world did Jesus choose him, knowing that he would betray Him? It was because of Christ’s HIGH VIEW of the Bible.

  • JESUS KNEW SCRIPTURE MUST BE FULFILLED. Judas Iscariot was prophesied by Zechariah over 600 years before Jesus was incarnate as perfect Man. Let’s take a moment to look at this amazing prophesy.

Zechariah 11:12-13 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

God knew and foretold the betrayal of Judas over 600 years before the acts occurred. What is fascinating is how precise the Word of our Lord is. The Prophecy tells us that Judas would haggle over the price to betray Jesus. “If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear“ is perfectly fulfilled in

Matthew 26:14-15 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? …

The Gospel of Luke tells us:

Luke 22:3-6 … Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray {Jesus} unto them. 5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 6 And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

The devil entered into Judas – though this was not an actual “possession”. Judas was well aware of what he did.

The Bible tells us that “your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Judas had been with Jesus – among the Master’s inner 12 – for over three years. At any time he could have given his heart to the Lord. But he hardened his heart, rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior. When the time was right Satan – watching Judas – moved to indwell his heart. And Judas went and made a covenant with other evil men to betray Jesus our Lord.

Though this was prophesied, this does not remove responsibility from Judas. Jesus made this clear when He sent Judas out from the Lord’s Table:

Matthew 26:23-24 … He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.

It would have “been good for that man {Judas} if he had not been born“. Judas is being held accountable for his actions, as he should be. But all this is happening as the Scripture foretold. Jesus said, “The Son of man goeth AS IT IS WRITTEN of him“. Jesus was operating according to the Script that God the Father foreordained, as did Judas. But Judas served Satan, whereas Jesus served the Father.

Zechariah also prophesied “they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (11:12). The exact amount of money, in the exact TYPE of currency, was prophesied. Jesus was betrayed (again, 11:12) for thirty pieces of silver. Not gold, not copper, but silver. In our context we read:

Matthew 26:15 … they covenanted with {Judas} for THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.

Why did God foreordain that Jesus be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver? This goes back to the Law of God. As God laid out the Law for Israel, His Old Testament people, God established rules by which His people should live. God told Israel in:

Exodus 21:28-29, 32 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be {acquitted}. 29 But if the ox {was known to gore people}, and it hath been testified to his owner, and {the owner did not keep the ox from people, which lead to the ox killing}… a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. … 32 If the ox shall {gore a male or female servant}; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

The Israeli was responsible for even the behavior their oxen. If an ox killed a person, but had never done so before, the ox was to be killed, and it’s meat not eaten. God considers human life to be very valuable! From the earliest time in humanity God said “the blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it … whoever sheds the blood of a human, then his blood shall be shed – for humans are made in the image of God” (Genesis 9:5-6). Life is precious to God, because He made us in His image. You were held accountable for what your ox did. But once the ox was killed, you were acquired – your payment for the death was the death of the ox. UNLESS the OX was KNOWN to gore people! If an ox gored and killed a person in that case, BOTH the ox and his owner was stoned to death. Life is precious.

If an ox gored and harmed (but did not kill) one of your servants, then there was a fine of THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER paid to the master of the house. This ties in to what Jesus did for us. The Bible tells us that:

Philippians 2:7-8 {Jesus} made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him{self} 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 came to minister, not to be ministered unto (Matthew 20:28). Jesus Christ lowered Himself from the throne of Heaven, to come to this earth for us. He became the Servant of God, and willingly lays down His life for our lives. Jesus was not gored by an ox, but He was gored by the Cross.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Just as 30 pieces of silver was given to the master of the house when a servant was gored, 30 pieces of silver were given for the goring of Jesus Christ. Our Jesus was “disallowed of men, but Chosen of God, and Precious”. To us who believe in Him, He is much more precious than 30 pieces of silver. But to Judas, who had no love for Jesus, this was his contract price.

Zechariah also tells us “I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord” (11:13). Judas Iscariot would take the 30 pieces of silver, then betray Jesus. Matthew tells us:

Matthew 27:3-10 Then Judas, which had betrayed {Jesus}, when he saw that {Jesus} was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. 9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 10 and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.

The Prophet foretold that Judas would get buyer’s remorse over what he did, and that he would take the 30 pieces of silver back to the house of the Lord (the Temple). It was exactly as Scripture said. Judas threw the money to the potter – God calls Himself the Potter, and we the clay (Isaiah 64:8). Judas did not repent before God. The Scripture says “he repented HIMSELF”. He was upset with himself. Going into the Temple, he tried giving the money back to the priests that gave it to him. When they would not receive it back (they “washed their hands of Judas”), Judas threw the money toward the Potter. One commentary I read said that he threw the money toward the Holy of Holies, trying to make restitution toward God without genuinely repenting. The priests took up the money and purchased a piece of land, a “Potter’s Field”, a type of “Boot Hill” where “strangers” or unknown and unJewish people could be buried. It was not considered hallowed ground, as it was purchased with blood money. When Peter later spoke of Judas and his horrible death, he said:

Acts 1:17-20 .. {Judas} was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

Judas “hung” himself. His death was, by his own hand, very violent. “He burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out“. What a horrible way to die! No wonder it was called a “field of blood”. The Bible warns us,

Hebrews 10:31 It is a FEARFUL THING to fall into the hands of the living God!

Just as Jesus said, it would have been better that Judas had never been born. But all that happened, happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Matthew 26:48-50 Now he that betrayed {Jesus} gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. 50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

Jesus is betrayed with a kiss. This is not a romantic kiss, but a kiss of respect given to teachers and friends. We today shake hands (or because of the Coronavirus, bump fists). In Jesus’ day believers “greeted one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 6:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26). David kissed Jonathan his friend (1 Samuel 20:41).Judas used this act of love to betray our Lord. Again, this is all in accordance with the prophecy of Scripture.

Jesus Said The Scripture MUST Be Fulfilled

As Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter showed the opposite extreme. He drew his sword and struck the ear off of one of the soldiers who grabbed Jesus. We read:

Matthew 26:51-54 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Jesus had earlier told His disciples:

Luke 22:36-38 But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. 38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

Jesus told His disciples to buy a sword. I believe He was telling them to get ready, that persecution was coming. The swords were perhaps for defensive use, but NOT for offensive use. Perhaps Peter remembered Jesus’ words. Misunderstanding, he drew one of two swords, and cut the ear off of Malchus, a servant of the High Priest (see also John 18:10; Luke 22:50-51). 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 did not want His disciples to offensively attack the enemy. I believe that it is appropriate for a believer to defend his or her home from intruders. But as saints of God, we are called to be patient, and not aggressive toward evil. The Bible says:

Romans 12:19-21 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jesus always put the Bible first. He cherished the Word, for I believe He wrote the Word. Our Jesus Christ is the Living Word who was in the beginning with God – and was God (John 1:1-3). Jesus had a HIGH view of Scripture, of our Bible. Jesus told His disciples:

Matthew 26:53-54 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Our Jesus “laid His life down for His friends, for those who would believe in Him” (John 10:15, 17). Peter had promised to lay his life down for Jesus (John 13:37-38), but failed. Jesus did not fail. Jesus never fails! Jesus also laid down His life for the Scriptures, for the Bible that God has given us. The Bible said it had to be done, so Jesus did it. Beloved, should not we do the same? We will close with this:

Matthew 26:55-56 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

When Jesus went to the Cross, it was exactly the right time, fully in accordance with God’s will and God’s Word. The Bible says,

Galatians 4:4-5 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.

Jesus came at the right time, in perfect sync with the Bible, the Word of God. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, the disciples running away from Jesus, everything that happened, happened in accordance with God’s Will and God’s Word. Let us cherish and hold on to God’s Word. It was accurate, though written hundreds of years before Christ, and it is accurate today.

May God through His Spirit and His Word touch your hearts and grow your faith today. Amen and Amen!

Posted in Matthew, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Speaking The Truth In Love

Posted on February 16, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

Ephesians 4:15 … but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ …

Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

We live in a day where the truth is very scarce – even rare. The big thing we hear today is “Follow the Science”. Mike Huckabee recently stated on his February 7, 2021 show:

“..when I’m told that a biological boy can declare himself to be a girl, and even participate in girl’s sports, I’m wondering what the science is that says that makes sense. … How is a woman’s health protected by conducting an unnatural, irreversible, surgical procedure that results in the death of a baby? Especially when the baby is a girl … a future woman?”

That is a very truthful statement. What does the Science say? But here’s a better question. What does the Bible say? What does Jesus say? When Jesus was questioned about marriage, His response was:

Matthew 19:4-6 … Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

In today’s world we are being told to go along with the crowd. We are being told as God’s Church to use gender neutral pronouns, and to recognize that biological men are women because to do otherwise will be to offend them, and hurt their feelings. We are being told to redefine marriage as Jesus and our Father has said it should be, to toss away Biblical definitions, and go with what others feel. Truth today is relative, variable, based upon what the crowd says.

When Jesus prayed for His Church, He prayed that we would be “sanctified through God’s Truth – God’s Word is truth” (John 17:17). Throughout the Bible one of the most used phrases is “It is written”. God’s Word is TRUTH. When Jesus Christ left Heaven to come to this earth, He did so to reveal the TRUTH to us all. Jesus said:

John 18:37 … To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Jesus bears witness to the TRUTH. God’s people, heeding Jesus, HEARS His truthful voice. Though the world, just like the Governor Pilate in John 18:38, asks the question:

“What is TRUTH?”

Truth is not fluid, changeable based upon what we feel!

Illustrate I remember an old Andy Griffith show called Mr. McBeevee. It first aired on October 1, 1962 when I was but 3 ¾ years old! Opie Taylor begins to tell his dad about a man named Mr. McBeevee that he met in the woods. Opie did meet such a man, a fellow that was a lineman, someone who climbed trees to reach power lines that were near the woods the child played in. His dad Andy, good natured, goes along with Opie’s stories of Mr McBeevee – that is, until Opie starts coming home with gifts from what Andy believes is an imaginary friend. Andy tells Opie if he doesn’t start telling the truth, he will be spanked – but Opie, though tempted, refuses to change his story. Mr McBeevee “walks around in the trees”. He “jingles as he walks” (this is his tool belt making noise). He “wears a shiny hat on his head” (this is his helmet). The man is real, though Andy has never met him. At the end of the episode Andy decides not to punish Opie, but in frustration goes out to the woods where his son often plays. As he, frustrated, cries out “Mr McBeevee!”, above him in the trees a man hollers, “Hello!” He comes down from the lines via the trees, much to Andy’s surprise and relief, proving Opie was telling the truth all along.

Beloved, God’s people are to “speak the truth IN LOVE”. There is a truth, a truth that transcends all others, a truth taught in this glorious old Book we call the Bible. We are to – like Opie – speak the truth in love, even if it means getting a whipping from others who – like Andy – misunderstand us. It is only by speaking God’s truth – His Bible – that others are led to Christ. It is only by speaking the truth that other believers in Jesus near us “may grow up into {Christ} in all things, which is the head, even Christ”. God saved us, and wants us to be like Jesus. God wants others to come to know Jesus. We MUST speak the truth IN LOVE.

We Are To Be Like Jesus, Not The Devil
Speak THE TRUTH in LOVE

God despises lies. It was a lie spoken by the serpent Satan that led Adam to eat that which was forbidden. The devil said in Eden:

Genesis 3:4-5 … Ye shall not surely die: 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Lies and liars pull people away from God! When you lie, and do not speak the truth of God’s Word, you imitate the Devil!

The Psalmist declared:

Psalm 5:4, 6 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. 5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak LEASING {leasing is the Hebrew כָּזָב kâzâb, pronounced kaw-zawb’ which means “deceitfully or dishonestly”}: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

We are to speak the truth in love. Not harshly. Not vindictively, nor pridefully. But in LOVE. We are to be kind in our speaking. We are to remember that we “once were lost, but now are found, were blind, but now we see”. Love should be in our hearts and our voices when we reject the world’s lies. Yet we ARE to SPEAK THE TRUTH. We are not to lie to either saved or lost people. If you are saved, you are commanded to “put off” that old way of life Jesus saved you from.

Colossians 3:8-9 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Fear may tempt us to lie. Look to the Lord!

Abram, who is also Abraham the father of faith, allowed fear to lead him to lie. As Abram went where the Lord told him to go, he and his family had to pass through Egypt. Abram told his wife Sarai:

Genesis 12:11-13 …. Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: 12 therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

What Abram did at this point was NOT a noble, faithful thing. He had Sarai lie in order to protect his own life. Fear rather than faith was driving him. I have heard some excuse Abram’s behavior by saying, “Well, Sarai was Abram’s half sister, so he really wasn’t lying. He was just hiding part of the truth out of fear for his life”. Beloved, Abram was lying. A half truth is a half lie. God never justified Abram’s action in Egypt, neither does He justify Abraham when he does the same thing with Abimelech king of Gerar. God has to intervene, and warn Abimelech that Sarah is Abraham’s wife. Abimelech chastises Abraham, saying:

Genesis 20:9-10 …. What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

Abraham justifies his action by saying “I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife” (Genesis 20:11-12). Abraham bore false witness to Sarah, and by his actions nearly led an innocent but lost man into sinning against God. Beloved, lies are dangerous. To give a half truth is to give a half lie.

The Worst Of All Lies Is The False Witness

When people think about the Ten Commandments, they think that one of those ten is “Thou shalt not lie”. That’s not true. The Ninth Commandment states:

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

To bear FALSE WITNESS is to make a statement about another person’s person that is not true. This was done to Jesus at His trial.

Matthew 26:59-63 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61 and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? 63 But Jesus held his peace.

God despises the false witness, the person who speaks lies about another’s person. God tells His people:

Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

God’s people are to be salt and light. We are not to bear false witness against anyone. The Bible does not restrict this just for fellow believers, but speaks of your neighbor. Your neighbor is whoever is near you at any time. “Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor (Deuteronomy 5:20). The Bible tells us a shocking thing about God – God does HATE. What does He hate?

God HATES The False Witness!

Proverbs 6:16-19 says,These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 a proud look, a LYING tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A FALSE WITNESS THAT SPEAKS LIES, and he that sows discord among the brethren …

Two of the six things that God hates is LIES. The LYING tongue, and the false witness speaking LIES.

Have you ever heard that often quoted Scripture text, Deuteronomy 19:21? How many have ever heard someone say,

Deuteronomy 19:21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

This verse is usually quoted out of context. The context has to do with FALSE WITNESSES. The whole of the text is:

Deuteronomy 19:16-21 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; 17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19 then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. 20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. 21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

That “eye for an eye” thing is tied to the FALSE WITNESS. Whatever judgment would have been made against the accused would instead be made against the FALSE WITNESS. God said that by doing this, “you would put away this evil from among you”. God despises the false witness, the one who tells lies about another person’s character.

Why Doesn’t The Ten Commandments Say
“Thou Shalt Not Lie?”

Let’s look at the 9th commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor”, through Jesus’ eyes. Jesus said that “the GREAT COMMANDMENT in the Law” is…

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

Jesus made these two commandments the core of the Law of God. Every part of the Law must be interpreted through the lens of these two commandments.

When Abram, and later Abraham bore false witness about his wife in order to save his own life, he was violating the Ninth Commandment as well as the general principle, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”. Sarai was Abram’s neighbor, as was the Pharaoh who chastised Abram, saying:

Genesis 12:18-19 … What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

Abraham would later also be in the wrong when he did the same thing to Sarah and Abimelech (Genesis 20). The son born to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, would follow in his father’s footsteps when he went through Gerar.

Genesis 26:6-10 Isaac dwelt in Gerar: 7 and the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. 8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

First Abraham, now Isaac! Though Abraham had the excuse “Well, she IS my HALF sister”, Isaac had no such excuse. Abimelech chewed out Isaac, saying …

Genesis 26:10 … What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

Isaac and Abraham hiding the identity of their wives in order to protect their own lives shows us all that FEAR can rule us. It shouldn’t, but it can. Later on after these events their wives would make demands of them, or misuse them, because they had not been treated with love. What a horrible thing it is to bear false witness against another! The Bible tells us that in Heaven there will be NO ONE who “loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:15). Love does not bear false witness. God’s people are to “speak the truth in LOVE”.

So why doesn’t the Ninth Commandment say “Thou shalt not lie”? It is because there are times when love will demand we carefully use deception for a greater good.

A good example of this is in the Book of Joshua. Before Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, we read:

Joshua 2:1-6 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: 5 and it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

Somehow the King of Jericho heard of these spies, and knew they went to Rahab’s home. The King told Rahab to “bring those men forth”. Rahab hid the spies on the “roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof”. Rahab said (and I’m going to put this in modern English so you can understand it):

“Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. It came about, when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”

Rahab lied. She used deception for a greater good. So what does the Bible say about Rahab?

  • First, Rahab is in the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5). Rahab married Salmon, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah. She and Salmon bore a child, Boaz, the husband of Ruth. Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, is a direct descendant of Rahab.
  • Second, Rahab hid the spies out of faith in our God. The Bible commends her action of hiding the spies in Hebrews 11:31, which says “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Rahab had faith in God, saving faith, and her actions in hiding the spies and yes, lying, were acts of faith. Rahab told the two spies, “the Lord your God is God in Heaven above and on earth below” (Joshua 2:11). Rahab agreed to save the spies if her family was protected (Joshua 2:12-14). Rahab “bound a line of scarlet thread in her window” (Joshua 2:18, 21) as the spies asked, and she and her family were saved.
  • Third, the stepbrother of Jesus, James, commended Rahab for receiving and hiding the spies. “In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:25-26).

Illustrate 1: We can see from the story of Rahab that there are times in life when deception must be used to save life. Suppose you were a Christian in Germany during World War II hiding Jews. In a recent Breakpoint Daily article John Stonestreet wrote: “Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a small village in south-central France. Back in 1940, the total population of this area, including the surrounding villages, was only about 5,000. Sill, under the leadership of their Protestant Pastor André Trocmé and his wife, Magda, the residents of these villages were responsible for saving up to 5,000 Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps during World War II”. The only way these Christians could do this was by deception. The Pastor and his Church created an underground network to help Jews travel safely across the Swiss border. When the local officials found out what Pastor André was doing, they demanded he stop helping the Jews. The Pastor said, “These people came here for help and shelter. I am their shepherd. A shepherd does not forsake his flock. I do not know what a Jew is. I only know human beings”.

The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 22:39 … Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself…

Would you be “loving your neighbor” if you aided the Nazis in putting the Jews on the cattle cars to Auschwitz? No, you wouldn’t. Love would dictate I hide that innocent from the concentration camps and nearly sure death.

Illustrate 2: In 2 Kings 6 there is another interesting Biblical account where deception is used, this time by the Prophet Elisha. The King of Syria was upset with Elisha because each time the King planned the capture of the king of Israel, Elisha would reveal the plan to the King of Israel, and the King of Israel would be protected. The King of Syria decided to capture Elisha. He sent a mighty force down to Dothan to take that precious old Prophet. When Elisha’s servant woke up, he saw that Dothan was surrounded by the Syrian Army. “What shall we do?”, he cried out to Elisha. Elisha simply said:

2 Kings 6:16-18 … Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

After Elisha had God blind his enemies, he used deception, and led them to Samaria where the Army of Israel was. We read:

2 Kings 6:19-20 … This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. 20 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria …

Elisha did not tell the truth. He told them that he would lead them to Elisha, and led them to Samaria and certain capture. Elisha deceived, but did so for a higher good. When the King of Israel had the Syrians surrounded he asked Elisha:

2 Kings 6:21-23 … My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? 22 {Elisha} answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 23 And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

Elisha used deception. But his deception saved his and his servant’s life. His deception also caused a bloodless battle, and life was saved all about. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”!

Conclusion Of The Matter

It is tough being a Christian in a lost world. Jesus told us that we would be hated – and even tried – for our faith in Christ. Jesus told us to remember:

Luke 6:22-23 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

The Christian has been “chosen out of the world” to follow Jesus, and “the world will hate us” (John 15:19; 1 John 3:13). Let us speak the truth in love to our neighbors. Let us not compromise the integrity of God’s Word, nor of the truth found in His Scripture. Let us stay the course, no matter how hard it might be. But also let us remember, we are to never bear false witness against anyone. We are to love God with our all, remembering that our God is the Lord God of TRUTH (Psalm 31:5). We are to love our neighbor as we would be loved. But if we must deceive, let us do so not to harm others, but to help others. Let us live wholeheartedly for Jesus in this lost and dying world.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen!

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There Are friends And There Are Friends

Posted on February 12, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

We Were Designed To Have Friends

Humans were designed by Gods to be relational, to care for someone besides ourselves. When God created Adam it was never with the intent that Adam be alone. God declared his intention, however, before He did it. The Lord said:

Genesis 2:18 … It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Though God said this, He did not immediately create a companion for Adam. God wanted man to know that singular solitude was not what we are created for. Our God “formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). God did not do this because He Himself couldn’t think up names for His creation. Our God,

Psalm 147:4 … telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names

God brought the animals to Adam so that Adam would see every creature had a counterpart, a mate. After Adam named all the creatures the Bible says “for Adam there was not found an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:20). Adam had to recognize he needed a companion, someone to relate to. It was then that God formed Eve out of Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:21-22). The Bible says that:

Genesis 1:27-28 God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it …

In our current chapter, just above our focal text, we see these words:

Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.

The first “friend” God created for man was woman, and for woman was man. Men, if you are married, you are to cherish your wives. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

As Jesus loved us – and died for us – the man is to love and give his life for his wife. Brothers, you are to DIE for your wives. This is a command of God. The Apostle tells us in:

1 Peter 3:7 … ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Pastor John Piper said that “When we have HORIZONTAL problems we have a VERTICAL breakdown”. God will not hear our prayers when we mistreat our wives. And wives are commanded,

1 Peter 3:1-4 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the {way of life} of the wives; 2 while they behold your chaste {way of life} coupled with fear. 3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

God did not create humans to be solitary creatures. We are created in the “image of God”. God Himself is One, but He is Three. The Bible says that our God – which the Scripture names in Genesis 1:26 as אֱלֹהִים ‘ĕlōhîm – is an “US”. “God said ‘Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness’”. God is a compound unity.

God is ONE in essence, but THREE in Person.

The Father is God. Galatians 1:1 speaks of “God the Father”. The Son, Jesus Christ, is God. In John 20:28 Thomas called Jesus “My Lord and My God” – and Jesus did not correct him! The Holy Spirit is God. In Acts 5:3-4 the Apostle Peter asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? … You have not lied to men, but to GOD”. Our God is relational, not solitary. He made us relational, and not solitary.

I genuinely believe that Satan is doing all he can to make us solitary creatures, shunning friendship and embracing technology. Beloved, everyone needs a friend. Everyone needs a companion to speak to, relate to, share you heart with.

We Should CAREFULLY Pursue Friendship

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly:

Just as it is good to find a wife, it is a great thing to find a friend. We find friends by being friendly. Believers in Christ should be friendly and kind to others – but we should be careful in the friends we actually make. The Apostle Paul warns the Corinthian Christians:

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

When you read this in the King James the archaic language may cause you to miss the point. “Evil communications corrupts good manners” is the Greek

“kakos homilia phtheirō chrēstos ēthos”, which is better translated as:

“Wicked or evil COMPANIONSHIP destroys good CHARACTER”

Who you choose to make a friend or a wife will effect your walk with God. It will effect your very life. I know of a young man now who was in a great position. He had a grandfather that was going to leave him substantial properties and quite a bit of money in his will. The young man, ignoring the advise of his pastor and of his family, began to hang around with other men who were abusing drugs and generally were godless. The young man – once so full of promise – is today disinherited, and in a perpetually drugged up state. “Wicked companionship destroys good character”. The Bible tells us that, in choosing friends, we are to remember:

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.

The Christian is to be friendly toward all. We are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and are to “be kind one to another” (Ephesians 4:32). Like the Quakers of old, we should be friendly toward all. The Apostle said,

“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). We are to be friendly. But Beloved, we are never to be FRIENDS to the WORLDLY. The stepbrother of Christ, the Blessed James wrote:

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Friends are people who help one another with their burdens. Friendship is a YOKE, a bond. If you choose the wrong friends, when you are in a bind and in need of help, these wrong friends can hurt you. The Apostle Paul spoke of two “fair weather” friends who abandoned him – but one good friend who stood by his side:

2 Timothy 1:15-18 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 17 but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. 18 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.

While Paul was writing his second letter to Timothy, he was in a Roman prison cell. Phygellus and Hermogenes were “fair weather friends” who turned away from Paul when he needed them the most. But there was one good friend named Onesiphorus who stood by Paul’s side. The name “Onesiphorus” literally means “one who brings profit to another”. We don’t know much about Onesiphorus, as he is only mentioned in 2 Timothy. We do know this, though. As a good friend, Onesiphorus:

  • Often refreshed Paul (vs 16). The word for REFRESHED is the Greek ἀναψύχω anapsýchō, {pronounced an-aps-oo’-kho}, which means “to recover one’s breath, to cool off or revive a sagging spirit”. When David was but a shepherd, and an evil spirit was upon King Saul (1 Samuel 16:23), “David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him”. Being imprisoned, and hindered from preaching the Gospel, had to be a heavy burden on the Apostle Paul’s spirit. Onesiphorus did not add to Paul’s burden, but obeyed the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Comfort yourselves TOGETHER, and BUILD UP one another” (my paraphrase).
  • Onesiphorus “was not ashamed of Paul’s chain” (vs 16). When Onesiphorus was in Rome, Paul said “he sought me out very diligently, and found me”. It was not SAFE to be a Christian in Rome at this time, but Onesiphorus did not hide from Paul. He sought Paul out. Why? Because Onesiphorus loved Jesus. Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed” (Mark 8:38). Onesiphorus loved Jesus, and as a good friend loved Paul. A good friend is not ashamed of your infirmities or needs. Paul was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel of salvation. Rather than run away from Paul, Onesiphorus ran toward Paul. He acted as Christ unto his friend.
  • Onesiphorus was not stingy with his love. The Apostle said, “many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus” (vs 18). The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity”. Fair weather friends only want you when they can use you. Good friends will stay by your side, through thick or thin. B
  • Because Onesiphorus loved Jesus and loved Paul, for he modeled Christ, his entire family was saved. As Paul closes this letter he writes, “Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus” (2 Timothy 4:19).

There is nothing better in this life than a good and godly friend. A friend will tell you the truth, though may hurt:

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Several years ago I approached a cross road in my ministry, and was uncertain as to the path I should take. I had several other active pastors that I prayed with every week, men I thought were my friends. The Bible says, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). I shared my dilemma with my friends, they agreed together with me that I should take a certain path. Later, when that path turned out to be disastrous (though God meant it for good – Genesis 50:20), one of my friends wrote to me, saying, “I thought it was a bad idea – but I didn’t say anything”.

Choose your friends wisely, dear friends. Be friendly to all, but choose your friends wisely!

There Is One Friend Who Is Always Faithful

Proverbs 18:24 … there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

It is good to have a good friend. Not a fair weather friend. Not a worldly friend. But a friend sent from God. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Friends help one another out of trouble. They help one another with burdens. Our Lord Jesus is “A Friend that sticketh closer than a brother”.

When we choose good friends, do not forget that the BEST friend you can have is God Almighty. When you believe God, and prove your belief by listening to and doing His Word, He becomes our Friend. When God told Abraham to “offer up Isaac on the altar” (Genesis 22), that old man did not hesitate. He immediately set out with his son and all that he needed to sacrifice Isaac upon that altar. The Bible tells us that God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac – it was but a test of his character. The Scripture tells us:

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

The best Friend you can have is a friendship with God. What was the most amazing miracle that happened in the lifetime of Moses? Was it:

– the pillar of fire and of cloud that led Israel (Exodus 13:21)
– the water parted at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21)
– the manna that God fed Israel from Heaven (Exodus 16:4 ff)
– the water that God gave Israel from the Rock (Exodus 17)

No, the most amazing and miraculous thing was when …

Exodus 33:9-11 … the Lord talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door. 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

Our God is looking for people who will receive Him as Friend. Jesus Christ left the glory of Heaven and came to this earth to save sinners, and to call people to friendship with God. Jesus told His disciples:

John 15:9-15 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 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. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

True friends lay down their lives for one another. Jesus laid down His life for us. He died on Calvary “to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). As Jesus laid down His life for us, we who believe in Him lay down our lives for Him. We heed and do His commandments. We are Christ’s friends if we abide in His love.

  • Jesus is our Friend Who will always give us good counsel. The Prophet Isaiah said “His name shall be called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus never gives us bad advise, or poor recommendations. As eternal God in the flesh (John 1:1-3, 14) He has the perspective of our Creator. He knows what is best for us. We are wise to heed His direction.
  • Jesus is our Friend Who will never forsake us. He is no fair weather friend. Jesus has promised “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). He has said, “fear not, for I am with thee” (Genesis 26:24). “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee” (Jeremiah 1:8). “And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20).

The genuine Church that represents Jesus is filled with friends of Jesus, working together, honoring Him Who is our Friend. Where “two or more are gathered together in Jesus’ Name, there Jesus is in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

Galatians 6:1-2 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Friends lift one another up when hurt comes, and rejoice together when blessings come:

1 Corinthians 12:24-27 … God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: 25 that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

As friends we are to lift one another up to Jesus, our Best Friend. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, may I introduce you to my Friend? He is the Best Friend you can have. He gave His life for you, and rose again so that He can represent us before God the Father. I close with those wonderful words of that grand old song:

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

May God touch your hearts and minds with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen!

Posted in Proverbs, Sermons Preached | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Remember Lot’s Wife

Posted on February 8, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

Last week we talked about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel that saves you from sin is also the Gospel that brings you into the Kingdom of God.

Luke 17:20-21 … The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Is your heart submitted to Jesus Christ and his Word? Then you are in His Kingdom. God has always had a people in His Kingdom on this earth. God calls out a people to live for Him, to shine as …

1 Peter 1:14-16 … obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (15) But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; (16) Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

What has God said of those in His Kingdom, His children saved by faith in Christ?

2 Corinthians 6:16 …. 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.

God’s people are called to follow God in love. We are to be ready, and help others to be ready. Jesus is coming again. In our text today Jesus tells us that He will come and the judgment of God will fall. Jesus compares this future judgment to Noah and Lot.

Luke 17:26-30 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

I believe the latter days are upon us. I believe Jesus could come at any time. When He does, it will be QUICK. Like in the days of Noah, God has allowed the world to hear the Gospel. Much time has passed since Christ ascended to Heaven. There will come a day – maybe today – when the Father says, “Son, go get my children!” When that happens it will be quick. Noah was preaching, then he and his family got on the Ark, and GOD CLOSED THE DOORS. Judgment had come. The rains fell. God’s grace was locked on board the Ark, and if you were on it you were saved.

Do you have Jesus in your lives?

As we are reading about Jesus’ return, our Lord gives us a short command.

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.

Word Study What a tiny verse this is! We might consider it so small, that we should skip it, and go read those larger texts. But our God often conveys great truths in short texts. They are no less important. Our Jesus tells us “Remember Lot’s wife”. The verb “REMEMBER” is the Greek μνημονεύω mnēmoneúō, {pronounced mnay-mon-yoo’-o}, which means “to say over and over mentally, to fill your mind with, to dwell on as a child might dwell on a primer, to hold it in your memory”. Jesus did not often tell us to REMEMBER other people. Jesus said of the woman who washed His feet with her tears, and anointed His head and feet with ointment from a precious Alabaster box:

Mark 14:9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

The glorious faith of this unnamed woman with an Alabaster box so impressed our Lord that her wanted her remembered. This is a standard we are to follow. But now Jesus says “REMEMBER Lot’s wife”. This is unnamed woman sets a standard that we are NOT to keep.

Who In The World Is “Lot”?

Go with me to Genesis 12. It does no good to tell you about Lot’s wife, if you don’t know who Lot is. Lot’s story begins with ABRAM, who would later be renamed ABRAHAM. To avoid confusion, I’ll use ABRAHAM as I speak of this great old man of faith. God came to Abraham, telling him:

Genesis 12:1-2 …. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee …

Jesus said of Abraham, “Father Abraham rejoiced to SEE MY DAY, and was GLAD!” (John 8:56). I believe that Abraham was saved by faith in Christ. That the pre-incarnate Jesus presented Himself to Abraham, and called him to the Kingdom of God. Abraham was given a free choice. “Leave all you hold dear and follow Me, and I will bless you, or NOT”. Abraham did not hesitate. He heard the call to salvation, and moved. Jesus prayed for His followers:

John 17:16-17 They {who follow Me} are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

The Lord told Abraham “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred” (Genesis 12:1), and we read Abraham …

Genesis 12:4-5 … departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: … 5 … Lot his brother’s son …

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. Abraham was not supposed to take his kindred with him, but he took Lot. Beloved, no believer is perfect, not even Abraham. We are flawed. We grow. At this moment, Abraham is only Abram, a young believer. Why did Abraham take Lot with him? I think that – and this is my opinion, and not Scripture (though it seems to fit the context) – Abraham witnessed to Lot, and Lot was saved by faith in Christ also. Haran was a pagan land, as in this area was ancient Babylon. I suspect that Uncle Abraham did not want to leave his nephew, a believer in Christ, in that place. We know that Lot was saved because of what the Apostle wrote in:

2 Peter 2:6-8 … {God turned} the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes {, He} condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 {God} delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds😉

Word Study The Apostle calls Lot “JUST” and “RIGHTEOUS”, signifying he was saved. The Bible says:

1 Peter 3:18 … Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just {díkaios} for the unjust, that he might bring us to God

If a person is JUST or JUSTIFIED, it is because God has done it to us. “The JUST shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11).

Romans 3:24-26 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Lot was JUST and RIGHTEOUS, and he traveled with a JUST and RIGHTEOUS Abraham. But there’s one problem. When you disobey God, it will not be long before trouble comes.

If You Try Living Without God & His Kingdom
Trouble Will Come

It wasn’t long before there was strife between Abraham’s herdsmen, and Lot’s herdsmen. God had blessed both Abraham and Lot for following him, so much that their herds were too much for the land they were on. Abraham told Lot:

Genesis 13:8-10 … Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

Genesis 13:12 … Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Word Study The name “Lot” means “a searcher”. Lot was saved by faith, blessed by God, but as “a searcher” he began to believe “the grass is greener over on the other side”. Lot’s eyes wandered, then he wandered, and strayed from God. Lot is like the compromising Christian who drifts away, little by little, from God.

Beloved, if you wander from God, you will fall!

Lot wandered to Sodom, married a wife, and set up a nice home in that area. But God wasn’t in it. If God isn’t in it, you are at risk! Enemy armies from five nations, led by Chedorlaomer, the King of Elamraided Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction was overwhelming. We read:

Genesis 14:11-12 they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. 12 And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

Had Lot been following God and not on bivouac in Sodom, he would not have become a casualty of war. But Abraham got word that lot was captured. Without hesitation, this grand old man of faith …

Genesis 14:14-16 … {Abraham} armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Bear in mind that Abraham – with God’s blessing and just 318 men – defeated a five nation army. Oh, what a blessing it is to live in God’s Kingdom, heeding His Word!

Did not Jesus tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”.

When we live in God’s Kingdom, we will be blessed as Abraham. When our hearts depart from God, we enjoy the curse of Lot. Oh, it is so much better to live in God’s Kingdom, heeding His Word.

There is power in walking with God, obeying His rule over your life, in “imitating God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). The Psalmist cried:

Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the {one} that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

You would think that Lot, being rescued by Abraham, would leave Sodom to follow God. But no, he went back to that foul place. Lot “pitched his tent toward Sodom”, and conformed to the world around him. He has placed himself and his family in the pathway of destruction. But Abraham has once more interceded for him, begging God for his salvation. So God sends a delegation to Sodom to rescue foolish Lot.

Genesis 19:1-2 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.

Sexual sin had taken over Sodom, so much so that an angel could not even walk down the street without being accosted. Men of the city saw Lot take these angelic beings (who looked like men) into his home. The men of Sodom stormed Lot’s home, demanding that these “visitors” come out to them so they could be sexually molested. Lot refused to do this, and the angels confused the men at the door so they could not get in the house. The Angels tell Lot:

Genesis 19:12-14 … Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Now We Meet Lot’s Wife

Genesis 19:15-16 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

This is the first mention of Lot’s wife. The Angels told Lot to move, but Lot dragged his feet – HE LINGERED. So the Angels grab hold of Lot, his wife, and his daughters. They literally drag them out of the city. The Angels then give them the COMMAND OF GOD:

Genesis 19:17-22 Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19 behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

God told Lot (through the angels) to escape to the mountains. But Lot still drags his feet, resisting God. Lot wants to go to Zoar. Zoar was one of the cities that God had planned to destroy, along with Sodom and Gomorrah. God in His grace spared Zoar for Lot’s sake. As Lot and his family entered Zoar:

Genesis 19:23-25 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

God’s destruction on those cities was complete. Now God had told Lot and his family:

Genesis 19:17 Escape for thy life; look not behind thee…

What did Lot’s wife do? The Bible says:

Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

The Bible warns us that “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Lot resisted God. He lingered. Now his wife, following his example, lingers. She crept along, and got far behind the Angels, and far from God. She toyed with sin.

So many professing believers are like this. They creep along slowly, getting farther and farther from God. “Look not behind you”, the Lord warns. Jesus said:

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

Lot’s wife looked back. Certainly she had a poor example in Lot, but Lot kept his eyes on the Angels as he ran. Lot’s wife looked back. She did just as the first generation of Israel did when they left Egypt – they kept looking back. “The children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full” (Exodus 16:3). We are not to look backward to Egypt. We are not to look backward to Sodom. We are to look forward.

Hebrews 12:1-2 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith

Faith looks to Jesus – it does not look backward to the old way and the old life. God would not allow Israel to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. Lot’s wife was not able to enter Zoar because of unbelief. She looked back.

Lot’s Wife Brought A Terrible Doom On Herself

Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Sin in the life, even in the life of the Christian, destroys the joy of living. It can lead to a horrific loss of life.

Ananias and Sapphira “lied unto God” (Acts 5:4), and they both died.

Wicked Queen Jezebel was thrown from the palace, and dogs ate her
(2 Kings 9:33-37).

Corinthian Christians “are sickly, and many sleep in death”
(1 Corinthians 11:30)

As I dwelt on Lot’s wife as my Master commanded, I asked my God: “Why was Lot’s wife turned into salt? What is the significance of this?” It is because

The Christ Follower Is To Be Salt And Light

  • Salt was one of the most valuable minerals in the ancient world. Soldiers were paid in salt. Salt was also very valuable in the Old Testament Kingdom of God.

Leviticus 2:13 states “with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt”.

The Prophet Ezekiel said of the sacrifices made to God, “thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.” (Ezekiel 43:24). Salt was part of the sacrifices made unto God.

  • In the New Testament Kingdom of God our Lord Jesus made His people out to be salt. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Beloved Christians, we are to be salt for God while on this earth. Lot’s wife should have been salt. Salt flavors. Salt blesses. Salt preserves. Salt was given in sacrifice. We are to live as “living sacrifices unto God”.

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

If you are a child of God by faith in Christ, you are called to be salt. You are God’s salt. You live for Him. You live in Him. Our hearts belong to God. Our bodies belong to God. We are God’s people, children of His Kingdom. We are not to look back, to the world, to give our hearts to Sodom or anywhere else. God owns our hearts. Look unto Jesus! Live for Jesus!

If you are not a Christ follower, today is a wonderful day to come to Him. Jesus is coming soon. The Judgment of God hangs over the world. Will you escape like Lot, or will you be judged like Lot’s wife? The choice is yours. Receive Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, and begin visibly living in His Kingdom this very day. Oh the blessings you will have when you have Jesus! May God the Holy Spirit drive this message into the hearts of both saved and lost. Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus! Amen and Amen!

Posted in Luke, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Faces Of Genuine Faith

Posted on February 7, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

Luke 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Do you have faith in Jesus?
If you do, you are in Christ’s Kingdom.

In Luke chapters 17 and 18 Jesus has been talking about the Kingdom of God. Jesus told the Pharisees:

Luke 17:20-21 … The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.

The Kingdom of God comes within you, within your heart, when you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This Kingdom spans the earth, as

every believer that follows Jesus by faith is in
the Kingdom of God.

After talking about the PRESENT Kingdom of God, Jesus began to speak on the FUTURE Kingdom of God. Beloved, Jesus is coming soon! We do not know when, but we know He is. Today Jesus asks us a question:

Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh,
shall he find faith on the earth?

When the “Son of Man” – that’s a title of Jesus as Messiah – “when the Son of man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?”. I believe Jesus will find some faith on the earth, but I also believe Jesus will find false faith.

There is a true faith that saves, and a false faith that damns.
There is a true faith from the Savior, and a false faith from theSatan.
There is a true faith given by God, and a false faith manufactured by man.
What does genuine, saving faith look like?

Genuine Faith Is An OVERCOMING Faith

The Bible tells us that those in the Kingdom of God, those justified by faith in Christ, must “live by faith”. This principle is revealed in both the Old and New Testaments:

Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

This principle is repeated in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11.

The Bible declares “no one is justified by the law”, and “{it is} not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which {God} shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Jesus Christ is the One Sent from God the Father
Who is the Key to Heaven!

When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, He sends the Spirit (John 15:26)

The Holy Spirit causes us to be “born again” (John 3:3, 7; 1 Peter 1:23).
We are reborn as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).
We are “transferred from the darkness into God’s marvelous light”
(1 Peter 2:9).
We are not what we were, but are now “new creatures in Christ”
(2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15),
“predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son” (Romans 8:29)

Illustrate Our lives are radically changed by God when we surrender to His Son. A man came eagerly but very late to a revival meeting. He found the workmen tearing down the tent in which the meetings had been held. Frantic at missing the Evangelist, he asked one of the workers, “What can I do to be saved?” The workman, also a Christian, said, “You can’t do anything to be saved. It’s too late.” Horrified, the man said, “What do you mean? How can it be too late?” The believer told him, “The work has already been done. Jesus Christ died on Calvary for your sins. He rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. You just need to believe and receive this. JESUS is THE ONE SENT from the Father, the Key to Heaven”.

Because Genuine, saving faith is GOD MADE, it is PERSISTENT. Jesus illustrates this.

Luke 18:1-8 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily….

This is a beautiful picture that compares a lost judge to the Holy and ever faithful Judge of all creation. The lost judge cared nothing for the widow. What had happened to the widow? Perhaps she had been robbed, as people stalk and rob senior citizens today by telephone scams, or shoddy workmanship. This widow had been done wrong. She went to the judge, and demanded that her adversary be punished. The lost and uncaring judge at first would not hear her. But as she came day by day, eventually he was wearied to the point where he decided to do his job, and punish her adversary. would do his job. Jesus asked:

Luke 18-7-8 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily…

God’s Chosen – the Saved – cry DAY AND NIGHT to Him. Genuine faith OVERCOMES. It looks to Jesus.

This is a concept that we see carried forward from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers

God calls all to salvation. He doesn’t call us because we are worthy. He calls us because WE NEED HIM. God chooses to save us, though we are broken. I love what the Apostle wrote, because it is so much like our Deuteronomy passage:

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 … God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: 29 that no flesh should glory in his presence.

God chose to love us.
God chooses to call us.
Once we are saved, we REST IN HIM.
God indelibly marks us by inhabiting Us.
We look to Him NO MATTER WHAT.

This widow kept on calling on the unjust judge. She persisted, though there was no indication that the judge would ever do anything for her. Beloved, the faith that saves is persistent.

  • When we are tried by the adversary the devil (1 Peter 5:8), cry out to the Father.
  • When we are tried by the adversary of sickness or disability, cry out to the Father.
  • When attacked by the world, we cry out to God in Jesus’ name. God loves us. He shed the blood of His Son on Calvary for us. God will hear us. God loves to hear us, and will avenge us. God fights for me!

Time may pass, but let us rest in Jesus’ work. We are now God’s for Christ’s sake. Be persistent in prayer. If you are the elect, the chosen of God, then you are to cry out to Him DAY AND NIGHT. Neither prayer nor God is not a spare tire, but is a daily way of life for the Christ follower.

Genuine Faith Not Only OVERCOMES,
But It RESTS In Jesus, The One Sent

Luke 18:9-14 And {Jesus} spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Two men went to the Temple to pray. One man had a proud focus on himself. Let’s break down the Pharisee’s position and prayer. First we read,

Luke 18:11 … The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself

The Pharisee did not kneel, but stood up. He made himself equal to God. He was too good to bend the knee – after all, he was a great and godly guy! He “prayed with himself”. His prayers went no farther than his own ears. God was not listening to Him. The Pharisee was not relying of God as he prayed. Notice how many times he uses the word “I”:

I thank Thee,
I am not as other men are,
I fast twice in the week,
I give tithes of all that
I possess.

The Pharisee started his prayer right. He said “I thank Thee”. But even his thanks was defiled. He was thanking God for making him better than those around him. As a Pharisee, he looked good on the outside. Jesus said of the Pharisees, the self righteous:

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

If you’ll notice, the Pharisee uses the pronoun “I” FIVE TIMES. In the Bible FIVE is the number of GRACE. The Pharisee traded his works for the Grace of God. He was not relying on Jesus, the One Sent.

God does not judge us based on how others around us are. God judges us based on how we compare to HIM. This is why salvation MUST be by Grace. We are to rest in Christ, trusting Him and Him alone for salvation.

Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Why does the text say “LABOR to enter into THAT REST”. Because our own worst enemy is ourselves, our pride, our self sufficiency. We have to battle that BAD ME, and force ourselves to rest in Him. God told Israel:

“The LORD God of Israel has given rest unto His people” (1 Chronicles 23:25 See also Exodus 33:14). Jesus Christ is the One Sent to give us rest.

“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Compare the PUBLICAN to the Pharisee. The Publican humbled himself. We read:

Luke 18:13 … the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner

The publican (someone who collected taxes for the Roman Empire), was totally focused on his inabilities and sinfulness. He was NOT presumptuous with God, but prayed “God be merciful to me a sinner”. He was relying on the One Sent to save us. Jesus says:

Luke 18:14 … this man {the Publican} went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Justified) shall live by faith! You cannot be made right before God by your own works. You must Rest on the Lord Jesus. As the late Andrew Murray said:

“Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”

Genuine Faith Not Only Overcomes and Rests,
But It Is Obedient To the One Sent From God.

Luke 18:16-17 Jesus called them unto him, and said, {Allow the} little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for OF such is the kingdom of God. 17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Many churches today have internal problems because they are not representative of the Kingdom of God. The Pastor is the king, the deacons are the kings, or certain well placed families are the kings, or the flock itself is the king. Beloved, the Kingdom of God has only ONE King, and that is God. It is not a democracy, but a monarchy. We are to become like little children. What God has said, we receive. What God has rejected, we reject. We base our beliefs on the Bible, not on what our opinions are. This is certainly not popular in our current politically correct, cancel culture – but it wasn’t popular in Jesus’ day, either. What does the faith of a child practically look like?

Almost before Jesus finishes speaking “a certain ruler” asks Jesus:

Luke 18:18 Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus tells the man:

Luke 18:19-20 … Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. 20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother.

When Jesus quotes the commandments to this man, He quotes the second part of the ten commandments. The first part of the ten commandments relate to loving God, i.e.

  1. God will be first in your life (Exodus 20:2-3)
  2. You will not worship anyone but God (Exodus 20:4-6)
  3. You will not take the Name of God in vain (Exodus 20:7)
  4. You will dedicate one day in seven to worship God (Exodus 20:8-11)

You can sum up these first four commandments as “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). This man was not doing these things. He was following an idol. So Jesus starts out with the second part of the ten commandments, which is to “love others the way you want to be loved” (Matthew 22:39). Of course, the man easily passed that part of the text. The man honored his parents (5th commandment), had murdered no one (6th commandment), had committed no sexual sins (7th commandment), had not stolen property from others (8th commandment), nor had he slandered anyone (9th commandment). The man replied, “I’ve done all these things from my youth up”.

But the man had committed idolatry. He put THINGS in front of God.

Luke 18:22-25 … when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. 24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

This man had made an idol out of his stuff. He was not following God as a little child, but had surrounded himself with stuff that he loved more than God. Genuine Faith rejects the golden calf, and looks to the One Sent from God.

Jesus told him “sell it all – give it away – and come follow Me”. We, as God’s children, are to love our Heavenly Father more than anything else we have.

Back in 1852 Pastor John Angell James preached a message entitled “What is the Idol of our Day”. In that message he noted three things as the idol of our day: Love of pleasure, Excessive worldliness, and Wealth. Truthfully, this has always been our problem. We place our trust in the wrong things – often to our damnation.

We called to put away our idols, and trust in the One Sent. The Apostle Paul tells us:

Philippians 3:4–9 … Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Do you have the faith, saving faith, the only faith that comes from God? Have you believed on the One Sent, Jesus Christ our Lord? Oh, what a blessing it is to have Him in your life, to be a part of His Kingdom. Come, and give yourselves to Him this very day. For the glory of God, for your earthly peace of mind, and your heavenly destination. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen and Amen!

Illustration Prior to the message I passed out Cross Pennies from the Cross Penny Ministries. Jesus Christ is the ONE SENT from God. You can order 500 stamped Cross Pennies by sending a check to Steve Petty/ Cross Penny Ministries. Details are at https://www.crosspennyministries.com/

Posted in Luke, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Harden Not Your Hearts

Posted on February 5, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

Hebrews 3:7-11 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

I want to talk today about hardening of the heart. I’m not talking about

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a hardening of the physical heart. We have had people in our Church afflicted with congestive heart failure. I myself take statins to keep my cholesterol levels down and so protect my physical heart. When there is too much cholesterol in your blood, it builds up in the walls of your arteries (this is called atherosclerosis), which hurts that muscle in your chest that they call “the heart”. The “heart” I’m talking about today is not the pump in your chest that causes your blood to flow, but the spiritual center of your soul.

The Bible Considers The Spiritual Heart To Be The Driving Force Of Our Lives With God

What is in the heart, the spiritual heart, determines what type of person you are. Solomon said:

Proverbs 23:7 for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

God looks at the heart of a person to determine whether they are His, or whether they are lost. God told Samuel when He rejected Saul as King of Israel:

1 Samuel 16:7 … Look not on {Saul’s face}, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

When God chose David to be King over Israel, the Scripture says “the LORD sought a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine Own heart, which shall fulfill all my will” (Acts 13:22). God has a heart, a spiritual heart, and He looks at our spiritual hearts.

The Bible tells us that the source of all sinfulness is the wayward heart. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote:

Proverbs 14:10 … the heart knoweth his own bitterness …

BITTERNESS comes from the heart, as does PRIDE:

Proverbs 21:4 An high look, and a PROUD HEART … is Sin

WORRY and SORROW come from the restless heart:

Ecclesiastes 2:23 For all his days are SORROWS, and his travail GRIEF, yea, his HEART taketh not rest in the night …

REBELLION against God comes from the heart:

Jeremiah 5:23 … But this people hath a REVOLTING and a REBELLIOUS HEART …

Our Lord Jesus told us that what defiles people is what comes out of the mouth:

Matthew 15:18-20 … those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

The Spiritual Heart of a person is very important. A person without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will have a lost heart, filled with sin. But praise God, Jesus came to save sinners. The Bible says:

Romans 10:9-10 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

It is the HEART that must repent and believe on Christ. The HEART must be surrendered to God for salvation to occur. What are the two greatest commandments? Jesus said:

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

We are to love God with ALL OUR HEART. Our hearts are to be devoted to Him. When God has ALL of our HEART, and ALL of our SOULS (the life essence of humanity), and ALL our MINDS (our intellect), then we are where He wants us to be. When we love God with our ALL, then we will love the others around us as we want to be loved.

A person who treats those around him like furniture has a heart problem.

Illustrate I hate to text! I do, if I must, but I hate to text. Just yesterday someone texted my little flip phone, “This is Susan”. I texted back, “Who R U?” The text returned, “Don’t you know Susan?” My reply was, “If you don’t tell me who u r, I will block your number”. The message that returned stunned me. “I’m Susan’s husband, and I found your name and number in HER phone.” I still don’t know who this is, so I texted again, “Who R U?” He started texting more gibberish, and so I blocked his number. When I got home I told Sherry my wife about it, and she said “Don’t you remember you helped someone named “Susan” with groceries and gas money?” Well, then I remembered. Listen, I help a lot of people, and I can’t remember everyone who comes by needing help. But I digress. My question is this: WHY wasn’t this man asking his WIFE about my name and number? And WHY is he snooping in his wife’s phone? He obviously has a HEART problem, as well as a marital problem. If he loved and trusted his wife with his heart, he wouldn’t be snooping and irritating me with needless texts!

The heart needs to be given to Jesus.
The heart needs to be focused on serving the Father.
The heart needs to heed God’s Word, to be conformed to God’s heart.

God said “Let thine heart retain MY WORDS: keep MY COMMANDMENTS, and live!” (Proverbs 4:4). The Psalmist said:

Psalm 28:6-7 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

When the heart trusts in God and His Word, there is joy in the heart. When the heart is focused Christ-ward,
there are songs on our lips!

The Heart Can Be Hardened To God

What you pursue is what you will become. You become a Christian by surrendering your heart to Jesus. You grow as a Christian by reading and studying God’s Word, by feeding your heart the Scripture. God said “Let thine heart retain My Words” (Proverbs 4:4). Jesus prayed for His Church.

John 17:5-6, 8, 14 … O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. … 8 .. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. … 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. … 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

When the Word of God is heard and received into the heart by faith, then the heart drives the hand of the believer to do what God has said do. The healthy heart is open to God’s Word and His guidance.

The hardened heart rejects the Word and
the leadership of God.

Hebrews 3:7-8 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness …

The Holy Spirit saith. This is a word and a warning from God, and a quotation from

Psalm 95:7-8 … For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

What caused the hardening of the hearts of Israel? There were several things.

  • “To day if ye will hear his voice”. They hardened their hearts because they would not listen to what God was saying. God was talking, but no one was paying attention. God showed them grace, but no one was looking.

Israel’s FIRST failure was at Marah:

Exodus 15:23-25 … when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

The people complained instead of going to God in prayer. They grumbled, and murmured. God showed Moses a tree to drop in the bitter waters, and they became sweet. After this God told Israel:

Exodus 15:26 … If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

God told Israel, “Do what I tell you to do. Hear what I command you to do. I am the YAHWEH Who will heal you – UNLESS”. God is to be honored by His people. We are to trust Him, and trust that He knows what is best for us.

Israel’s SECOND failure was at Rephidim:

Exodus 17:1-2 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?

When Israel got to Rephidim there was no water there. Rather than pray, and seek God’s face, they murmured at Moses. Now Moses was God’s spokesman. As soon as they murmured (complained), Moses warned them: “Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?”. Moses has no power to give Israel water – Moses is not God. They need to be seeking God in prayer. God took Israel through the Red Sea – surely He can provide water.

When Moses asks “why do you TEMPT Yahweh?”, the word “TEMPT” is the Hebrew נָסָה nâçâh, (pronounced naw-saw), meaning “to put God to the test, to provoke Him”. The warning should have sufficed. But Israel ignored the great miracle at the Red Sea, and ignored the pillar of cloud that guided them by day and the pillar of fire that guided them by night. Israel ignored the lessons learned at Marah. They allowed their thirst and their opinions to drive their demand.

Moses went to the Lord in prayer, and the Lord told him:

Exodus 17:5-7 … Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah (means temptation), and Meribah (means strife), because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

God had the elders – the leaders – stand up front while Moses struck the rock. The Bible tells us “that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). Israel saw Moses pray. They saw God’s provision. They were to watch and learn from this, to draw this lesson into their hearts. Yet they would not learn.

Hebrews 3:10-11 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Israel refused to cross over the Jordan and enter into the Promised Land. They sinned repeatedly against God, but never really repented. God told the first generation of Israel that:

Deuteronomy 1:35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers

God did not punish all of Israel. He allowed Joshua and Caleb to enter the land 40 years later. God also said:

Deuteronomy 1:39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

Unconfessed and unrepented of sin causes the heart to harden, so much so that God cannot bless you. Taking advantage of the grace of God can also harden your heart. God punishes the hardened heart!

How Do I Avoid The Hardened Heart?

Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

How do I avoid a hardened heart? First of all, I need to examine myself daily. “Take heed, brethren”. Look at my own life. Examine myself. Am I living in the Kingdom of God. Is God my Father. Am I a “brethren”? Many Christians are like Pharisees, comfortable with their status in life, and always looking for fault in others. Jesus said:

Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote {speck of dust} that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam {the 2×4} that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote {speck of dust} out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam {the 2×4} is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam {the 2×4} out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote {speck of dust} out of thy brother’s eye.

Jesus is NOT saying that we are not to tell others that they are in sin when they indeed in sin. No, for later in our text we will see that we are to:

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

The word “exhort” is the Greek παρακαλέω parakaléō, (pronounced par-ak-al-eh’-o), which means “to call to the side so as to encourage, admonish, console, or beseech, to teach”. In the Church we are to encourage one another to put away sin. However, we are not to be like the Pharisees, who judged everyone else, but never themselves. The Bible tells us:

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Examine yourself daily. Ask the hard questions. “Am I in the faith? Is God the Father in my life? Is my daily goal to exalt Jesus, and to honor my Father? Am I devoting enough time daily to read and heed God’s Word?”

There is no such thing as a part time Christian. You are either dedicated to God and His Kingdom, or you are not. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end

Those who continue to look to God daily, trusting in Him, are those who are partnered with Christ. God will not bless a part time, spare tire sort of faith. As God wrote to the Churches in the Book of Revelation, one word stands out. See if you can find it:

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

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

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

Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: (see also Revelation 3:5; 3:12; 3:21; 21:7)

Do you see a pattern here? What does it mean “he that overcometh”? It refers to the person genuinely saved by God. The Apostle John said it clearly:

1 John 5:4-5 For {whosoever} is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior look to Him one day at a time, one step at a time. We live as Christ’s Kingdom people. We live by faith in Him. We are to look unto Jesus. We who are saved are of the House of Christ. The faith that saves is the faith that endures. I’ll end with these words:

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

My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

May God the Holy Spirit fasten His Word into your hearts this very day. God bless you all. Amen and Amen.

Posted in Hebrews, Sermons Preached | Tagged | 1 Comment

Christians Are To Be Vessels Of Grace

Posted on January 31, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Balaji Malliswamy on Unsplash

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians 4:29.

Last week we studied the miracle of the Christian. We were in Ephesians 2:8-10, which tells us:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The Christian is saved by grace, not by works. Before being a Christian we were all dead in trespasses and sins. We were alienated from the life of God. We were followers of the world, and of the darkness. We were in a spiritual condition where we were lost, and could not save ourselves. Then God in Grace stepped in. He called us to salvation. He opened our eyes by His Spirit, and beckoned us to Him. We, like Lazarus, stumbled out of the tomb of our lives at Jesus’ call. We were saved by Grace.

Then by Grace God begins to work on us. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works”. God did not save us to abandon us. He saved us to shape us. To make us. To work on us. You are God’s Masterpiece. You are not done, but God is working in you.

It is by Grace the Word of the Lord came to you.
It is by Grace that God called you.
God now calls you, as His people, into the ministry of Grace.

Christians Are To Be Vessels Of Grace

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister Grace unto the hearers.

The Bible says that Christians are earthen or clay vessels, called by and inhabited by God (2 Corinthians 4:5-7). We are jars of clay filled with Grace!

God calls us by Grace to minister with Him, sharing the Grace of God with others. We who are His people are to be focused on “ministering Grace unto the hearers”.

Who Are The “Hearers”?

God hears us. God indwells the Christian. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:9). God indwells us. He is inside us. “The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:17). “God is in you” (1 Corinthians 14:25). God is not in some distant place, far from His children. He has promised …

Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

The Author of Eternity – the eternal and Great I AM – has said “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”. Our Lord has said in:

Matthew 28:20 … I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

God is with us. He is ever with us. He listens to the words we say every day. He listens for us to speak Grace to others. God hears every word you speak. God hears the kind words, and the unkind words. God hears everything. But God is not the only One Who hears. Our other “hearers” are those in proximity to us.

Our wives,
Our husbands,
Our children,
Our fellow believers,
Our enemies,
Our friends,
Our employers,
and every stranger we meet.

Whoever is close enough to hear our voice, as vessels of Grace we should be speaking Grace. We are God’s Workmanship, not the devil’s dupes. We speak Grace, not corruption.

Ephesians 4:29 Let NO corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister Grace unto the hearers.

Word Study This is not a command given to the lost, but to the saved. “The plowing of the wicked is sin” (Proverbs 21:4). If even the most mundane act of the wicked is sin, their every godless word is sin. No, this command is not to the lost, but to those “saved by Grace” (Ephesians 2:5; 2:8). What is this “corrupt communication” we are to avoid?

  • The word translated “CORRUPT” is the Greek σαπρός saprós, {pronounced sap-ros’}, which means “rotten, putrefied, poor quality, worthless, unfit for use”. Jesus uses the word saprós in

Luke 6:43-45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt {saprós} fruit; neither doth a corrupt {saprós} tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

“Good” trees – those saved by the Grace of God – are made alive from the inside out. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The lost person speaks without grace, speaks rotten words. The believer in Christ – the workmanship of God – is called to speak Grace, to speak Life, to speak Love.

One day Jesus’ disciples were following our Lord, and at that moment happened to pass a corn field. The disciples reached out, and in accordance with the Law of God, took an ear of corn to feed themselves. The Pharisees saw this, and asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands when they eat? This is the tradition of the elders!” (Matthew 15:2, my paraphrase). Jesus told them:

Matthew 15:10-11 … Hear, and understand: 11 not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Graceless or rotted words defile a person. Graceless talk hurts others, drives people away. Graceless talk labels others. It is in the Congresswoman who calls another a “White Supremacist”. It is in the media talking heads that slaps labels on people, like “Homophobic”, “Transphobic”, or “Racist”. An old saying is:

What’s down in the well, comes up in the bucket!

Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-20 … those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.

If you have been born again, you have been born of Grace. The lost know nothing of Grace. But we are not to be like the lost.

Ephesians 4:17-24 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; 21 if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that ye 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.

The world walks “in the vanity (the emptiness) of their mind”. They follow nothingness. Their “understanding is darkened” because they are “alienated or separated from the life of God”. God is not in them. They are yet in darkness. They are afflicted with “blindness of the heart”. They need Jesus. They need to be saved. They speak as they speak because they are bad trees – but God would make them good. We are to put off that old way, and put on the new man – put on Christ. We are to remember that we are vessels of Grace. Praise God!

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation

We have the “ministry of reconciliation”. We are to speak Grace, to share Grace, to be Grace oriented in act and speech.

Corrupt Communication Always Departs
From The Written Word Of God

The reason that we come together as a Church is to grow to be more like Jesus. We are to be like God’s Kingdom on this earth. When God established His Church, He gave the Church His Word through certain offices.

Ephesians 4:11-12 {God} gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

“And God set in the Church Apostles and Prophets” (1 Corinthians 12:28). The Apostles and Prophets were used by God to write the Scripture, this Holy Bible, that we cherish. When you enter this Church, the first thing you see is the Communion Table, and on it, elevated, the Bible. This is the Prophets and the Apostles. The Bible says that the Church is …

Ephesians 2:20 … built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone ..

It is the Bible that is true. When Jesus prayed for His Church, our Lord said:

John 17:17 Sanctify them through Thy truth {o God}: Thy Word is truth

The Bible is true. God gave the Scripture to us, His Children by faith,

Ephesians 4:12 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

  • This Bible “perfects the saints”. Beloved, if you are saved by faith in Christ, you are a saint. You are set apart for God’s use. But you are – as we studied last week – God’s Workmanship, God’s Masterpiece. The Bible was given to shape you, and make you more like Jesus. WE MUST UNFLINCHINGLY SPEAK HIS WORD AND LIVE HIS WORD IF WE WILL GROW, being what God wants us to be.
  • This Bible is also “for the work of the ministry”. How is a person saved? By being good? No! By being saved by faith in Christ. By repenting of sin, and seizing the Savior in love.

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

I have seen famous “Christian” music artists and actors, famous “Christian” preachers interviewed who were asked, “Do you believe that faith in Jesus Christ alone is the only way to be saved?” Several years ago Larry King (now deceased and standing before the righteous Judge of all) asked a famous preacher questions. King said:

“We’ve had ministers on who said, your record don’t count. You either believe in Christ or you don’t. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don’t no matter what you’ve done in your life, you ain’t.”

King asked this preacher if someone who rejected Christ as Savior would go to Heaven. The preacher choked. He spoke corrupt communication. He said,

“You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know …”.

This is contrary to what Jesus said. He said:

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

To be fair, this same preacher later posted on his web site an open apology for that interview. I commend him for his retraction, and his apology. There but for the Grace of God go we. But corrupt communication kept Larry King from hearing the Gospel message before he died, and kept millions of Americans from hearing about the Grace of God only available through Christ. How many people will leave this life without Jesus because of corrupt communication?

Ephesians 4:12 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

  • The Bible also edifies or builds up the Body of Christ. When God’s Church departs from the Bible, or begins deleting sections of the Scripture, then the Church is no longer the Church but the world. It is the devil that twists the Word of God. He did this in the Garden of Eden, and does it today.

Genesis 3:1 … Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? … {you may eat of that forbidden tree} … 4-5 Ye shall not surely die: 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Just as the self righteous Pharisees and the corrupt Politicians struck at Jesus, they will strike at us. We will be tempted and pressured to go the way of the world, to get off the path of righteousness. Jesus said,

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

The Church is not to be like the world. The Christian is not to be like the lost. The standard that God has for His Church is that …

Ephesians 4:13-15 we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

The Church is the Kingdom of Christ. The believer is to be like Christ. We are not to be like the world, tossed about, confused and frightened. Corrupt communication leads to this type of instability. We have the Word of God. We Cherish the Word of God. We live the Word of God.

We Are Called To Speak The Truth In Love
Not Hatefully, Nor Vengefully, But Lovingly

Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

You tell a lie when you do not say that marriage is what God says it is. You tell a lie when you condone aberrations from the Divine Design of human sexuality. Beloved, speak the truth, speak the Scripture … for it is true! Jesus declared “God’s Word is truth” (John 17:17).

Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psalms 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Beloved, the truth is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21). We are to let the Word of God be in us, and flow from us. We are to affirm what God affirms, and reject what God rejects. Corrupt communication will never bless others. It always tears down. “We are members one of another”. If our nation keeps drifting from the Word of God, our nation will collapse. Christians, we must speak His truth in love.

Ephesians 4:28 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 neither give place to the devil.

Guard your tongue when you are angry. When you are angry you are often going to say something that you will later regret. Before you say it, ask “Does this build up or does this tear down? Is this true to God’s Word, or is it my emotion talking”. Be like Jesus in your anger.

Ephesians 4:29 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Quit living your lives to satisfy yourselves. Live so as to satisfy the Lord Who saved you. Live so as to lead others to Christ. Live so as to lift others up to the Grace of God.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Remember, God is listening. God the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian. We are to love God with all our hearts, so live and speak so as to please the Lord Who saved. To sum it up, Christian,

Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

John Piper put it this way:

“…it is not Christian just to stop stealing. It is not Christian just to work honestly in order to have things. It is Christian to work to have in order to give {to those in need} – to meet needs. All our work is to be a display of Grace. It is Christian to ask the deeper, internal question: am I speaking now to edify? … It is out of hopeless hearts of discouragement and frustration and anger and bitterness and resentment that all rotten and hurtful language comes … Is your mouth a means of Grace? … all our speech is to be a display of Grace.”

When we speak without Grace, we do not lead to Christ, nor do we build up the Kingdom of God. We must speak the truth in love. We must love God, and love our neighbor for the glory of God. Beloved, let us shine for Jesus in these Pandemic addled days. Let us grow in His Grace, and speak life to those around us. America needs Jesus. Let us lead others to Jesus.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.

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The Kingdom Is Where The Eagles Are Gathered

Posted on January 31, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Sam Bark on Unsplash

Luke 17:20-21 And when {Jesus} was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

WHEN Will The Kingdom Of God Come In?

The Pharisees – constantly at war with the Lord Jesus – wanted to know WHEN the Kingdom of God would come. Why did they ask Jesus this question with such force? Because Jesus had previously presented Himself as the Messiah. Jesus called Himself “Son of Man”. Our Lord told people:

Matthew 8:20 The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

In Matthew chapter 9 Jesus told a crippled man,

Matthew 9:2 … Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

The Scribes on hearing this said “this man blasphemes God, for only God can forgive sins” (also Mark 2:6-7). Jesus told them:

Matthew 9:6-7 … that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to his house.

The phrase “son of man” was used in prophecy to describe the Messiah’s earthly Kingdom. The Prophet Daniel – of whom the Pharisees were well acquainted – wrote of the Messiah:

Daniel 7:13-14 … I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Jesus repeatedly, in His ministry, referred to Himself as “the Son of man”. When the Pharisees were upset that Jesus’ disciples picked corn to eat on the Sabbath, Jesus told them:

Matthew 12:6, 8 …. in this place is one greater than the temple. … 8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

If Jesus is the Messiah then WHEN is He going to bring in his kingdom? They DEMANDED Jesus answer this. Jesus replies:

Luke 17:20-21 … The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

“The kingdom of God is within you”. God will one day send Jesus back to this earth. He is coming again. He may come tonight. Oh, how I wish He would. But the Kingdom of God is NOT just when Jesus returns. The “kingdom of God is within you”. When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you become a part of His Kingdom. After John the Baptist was imprisoned, our Lord …

Mark 1:14-15 … Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

“The kingdom of God is at hand”. To enter His Kingdom you must repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:4; 19:16). He is the King of His Church, the King of the Christian, the King of our hearts. His Kingdom at this time does not “come by observation”. The Scribes and Pharisees carefully watched Jesus, observing Him, waiting for Him to stumble, finding fault. They would not see His Kingdom because they would not believe. Those who will not believe Jesus, those who will not “keep His commandments”, will never be a part of His Kingdom.

Oh Beloved, there are so many “pretend Christians”, much like these Pharisees, in the world today. They hear His Word, but never DO it. Did not Jesus say:

John 14:15-17 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

If you will not love Jesus, the King of the Kingdom, then you will not receive God’s Spirit. But if you love Jesus, the Kingdom of God is within you. The Pharisees cannot know nor understand this. If Jesus is not King of your heart, you are not in His Kingdom. Religion does not make you a part of His Kingdom. Jesus said:

John 15:9-11 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 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. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Where Jesus is, the Kingdom of God is. If Jesus is in your heart, you are in His Kingdom RIGHT NOW. Just prior to this query by the Pharisees we read:

Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as {Jesus} went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

Jesus went through the middle of Samaria and Galilee. As Jesus was moving southward, the text should say “Jesus went through the middle of Galilee and Samaria”. But it doesn’t. It lists Samaria first. Now Galilee was an area that was thoroughly Jewish, but Samaria, oh, that was a different story! Samaritans were despised by Orthodox Jews. Samaria was an area that had been occupied by Assyria many years before. Many of the Jews that lived in Samaria intermingled with the Assyrians. Why would God give Samaria first billing in the text? It is because faith was found in a Samaritan. Read with me:

Luke 17:12-14 And as {Jesus} entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

The ten men, lepers, stand far off. God told Moses “Command the children of Israel to put out of the camp every leper” (Numbers 5:1-2). Those who were lepers in the Old Testament were often afflicted with the disease as a punishment from God (see 2 Chronicles 26:16-23; 2 Kings 15:5; 2 Kings 5:25-27). This group of ten men were Jews as well as Samaritans, all bound together by one common affliction. They cry out to Jesus, “Master, have mercy on us”. The word “Master” is the Greek word ἐπιστάτης epistátēs, (pronounced ep-is-tat’-ace), which means “overseer, boss, the One in charge”. Jesus’ disciples often called Him “Master” (see Luke 5:5; Luke 8:24, 45; Luke 9:33, 49), recognizing that He was in charge. These men recognize Jesus – at least outwardly – as the Lord. He is our Master. He is our King. Jesus is our Messiah.

The lepers asked the Master for mercy.
Mercy is to we receive that which we do not deserve.

Jesus does not hesitate. He tells them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. When Jesus came, He did not come to eradicate the Law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:18). The Law of God said that when a person was healed of leprosy, they were to go to the priests to diagnose their healing, as well as to make a sacrifice in thanksgiving to God (see Leviticus 13:1-46; 14:2-32). Jesus came to fulfill the Law. “Go, show yourselves to the priests”. They were healed at that very moment, but needed to be diagnosed healed, and to make sacrifice to God.

Luke 17:15-16 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

The ten men were healed. The priests diagnosed their healing. They made their sacrifices before God as the Law commanded. Then the nine went home. But one, the Samaritan, the hated Samaritan, the half breed Samaritan, he came back to the Master. This man did not just give Jesus lip-service – he honored Jesus with his life. He fell down at Jesus’ feet – Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus says:

Luke 17:17-18 … Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

Where are the nine? Jesus knows where they are, but He speaks so we can know this truth. Ten lepers went to the priests to be diagnosed, according to the Law. Ten lepers offered sacrifice to God at the Temple, according to the Law. But only one leper gave glory to God. Only one leper came and bowed down to Jesus, worshiping at His feet. Only one leper came to the King of the Kingdom of God, and honored the Son of God. Jesus told that Samaritan:

Luke 17:19 … Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

To HEAR Jesus and not HONOR Jesus is not faith.
Saving faith receives Jesus Christ as
both Savior and Lord.

John 5:22-24 … the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Beloved, the faith that saves is the faith that, from the heart, honors the Son. The Kingdom of God is within you – or it is not. Do you love Jesus? Then do as Jesus said. Do you love the King? Then you are part of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God Will One Day Be Over The Earth

The Kingdom of God is within you. But there is a future Kingdom of God that will come. Jesus tells His listeners:

Luke 17:22-25 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. 23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. 24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

Jesus told those listening, “There will be a day when you will want to see the Son of Man, the Messiah, but won’t be able to. I must suffer many things and be rejected by Israel.” Jesus was living under the shadow of the Cross. He was getting ready to die for your sins and mine. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). The Pharisees will not miss Jesus, but His disciples, members of His Kingdom will. “Jesus is the satisfactory payment for our sins, and not just for us, but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2, my paraphrase).

But Jesus is coming again.

Luke 17:26-27 And as it was in the days of {Noah}, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

When Jesus returns for His Church, it will be just like it was in the days of Noah. People will eat, and drank, and marry wives, or be given in marriage. People will live their lives without God, and consider life normal. God’s Word will be preached. It will be available. God’s Word is available in our Church in person, or in the parking lot, or on Facebook, or by mail. In our world today you can heart the Word of God. In Noah’s day, there was only Noah preaching the coming judgment. God was going to judge the earth because of sin, because of trespasses against his person and His Law. What was true in Noah’s day? The Scripture says:

Genesis 6:2 … the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

  1. God’s people stopped caring about the Lord. It has always been God’s commandment that

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Believers in Christ are to love unbelievers, but are not to form an intimate bond – like marriage – with an unbeliever. When light marries darkness, the light dims. The beginning of the judgment of God on the world was when the sons of God (the saved) married the daughters of Adam (unbelievers). This is what has happened in America today. Christians and Churches have made covenants with those who are lost and without Christ.

When the Light becomes dark,
the judgment of God is not far off!

2 Peter 2:5 {God} 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;

  1. When God’s people ignored God’s warning, it brought rampant evil on the earth – evil so great that God decided to wash it all away.

Genesis 6:5 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.

Can we not say that this is true in America today? Everywhere you look, evil abounds. The Bible says in …

Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Our God is not mocked – what you sow, you shall reap (Galatians 6:7). When you dabble in sin, it isn’t long before judgment finds you.

  1. However, God did not destroy the world immediately. He made Noah a preacher of righteousness, and allowed him to preach. God said,

Genesis 6:13 … Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make thee an ark

God gave mankind time to repent, and a way to escape judgment. This way was narrow and specific. There was only one way to life – and that was God’s way. In our world today, just as in Noah’s day, the lost believe there are many ways to salvation. They think they can build their own boat and escape the judgment of God. But beloved, there is but one way, and that narrow way is through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

There was no way of salvation in Noah’s time but the Ark.
There is no way of salvation in our time but the Cross of Christ.
Noah manned the Ark. Jesus died on the Cross.

The Scripture without shame declares:

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other {but Jesus}: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

It is Jesus only who suffered for our sins, one time only, on Calvary. The Righteous Jesus died for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:15). There was no other way to be saved, then our now, but by the means that God has given. Ark or Christ? Have you been saved?

  1. When judgment came, it came suddenly and unexpectedly. God told Noah:

Genesis 7:1 … Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Jesus warned us in:

Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Our Lord told us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Sudden destruction will come. Beloved, we do not know when Jesus is coming for His Church, but once He takes His Church from this earth the Great Tribulation will come. There will be seven terrible, frightening years on the earth as Satan’s son the AntiChrist reigns. Judgment is coming. It is certain. But we do not know when. God says over and over again “the day of the Lord will come as a thief” (2 Peter 3:10). Will you be ready? Are you on the Ark that is Christ? Oh Beloved, do not wait. You do not know when Jesus will return – but He will! You do not know when the last day of life is, when you yourself will leave this body. God knows, but you do not. It is appointed to each person a time to die, and after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Oh Beloved, today is the day of salvation:

2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I {helped} thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, now is the accepted time – now is the day of salvation.

When we started our sermon today, I quoted two texts. They were:

Luke 17:20-21 And when {Jesus} was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

In the first text we talked about WHEN the Kingdom of God would come. But we never examined the second text. The Pharisees asked Jesus “WHEN is the Kingdom coming?” The disciples asked Jesus “WHERE is the Kingdom of God?” Jesus’ response sounds cryptic, but it’s not. Jesus said, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together”. What is this “BODY” Jesus is speaking of? It is simple – He is still discussing the Kingdom of God. The Bible calls the believers, united together by faith in Jesus, the “Body of Christ”:

Romans 12:4-5 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

God’s people are those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God’s people are united, loving God with all their hearts, all their souls, and with all their minds (Matthew 22:37). God’s people are those who, loving God most, obey His commandment:

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

In fact, God’s people are those who obey the new commandment Jesus gave us,

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Where the Body gathers, the Eagles are. Eagles are often presented in the Scripture as believers who rest on the Rock of Christ. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 40:31 … they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Eagles escape those that would prey on them by making their nests high up in the rocks. That Rock is Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). If you are in Christ, you are not the devil’s prey. You are an eagle. You are to soar on wings of faith, looking to the One Who saved you. Eagles soar without flapping their wings, being lifted by the wind. The Christian soars by spreading the wings of his faith, and by resting on God’s Spirit and His Word. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6). Are you resting on Jesus? Are you obeying His Word? Oh Beloved, I pray you will. May God’s Holy Word and His Holy Spirit draw you to Him this very day. Amen and Amen.

Troublesome times are here, filling men’s hearts with fear
Freedom we all hold dear now is at stake
Humbling your hearts to God saves from the chastening rod
Seek the way pilgrims trod, Christians awake

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound

Amen and Amen!

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