Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Fruits.
Our actions are a result of who we are. Our words are a result of the thoughts we think. A person who doesn't know you could enter your house and walk around and formulate an opinion on what type of person you are just by looking at your things. Talking to your friends, another person can ask them questions and get an idea of about you. We are often known by what we reveal. A person who keeps to themselves and lets no one into their lives will be known as a hermit, a recluse, an introvert. Someone who is boisterous and out going will be known as such. The more we know a person the more know the *real* them. Ask anyone who has dated someone how much they learn when they actually marry them and are living together- you learn A LOT about a person once you are together for extended periods of time. Family tends to know family better than anyone else. Mothers & fathers know children, children know mothers & fathers. You will hear- I've lived with them for years and never really knew them, but rarely. More often than not you know someone once you've been with them for years.
Our fruits.
Can you name some of your fruits?
Here are some of the fruits of the SPIRIT-
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance
Fruits that are NOT of the SPIRIT would then be the opposite of those mentioned- right?
Hate
Unhappiness
War
Impatience
Harshness
Badness
Faithlessness
Prideful
Intemperance
Now, what are some of your fruits? We call them personality traits. Are you known as being argumentative, depressed, abrasive, impatient, gentle, peaceful, loving, patient? How would you describe yourself? It's important that we think about this isn't it? We are KNOWN by our fruits.
A question came to mind the other night as I thought about this a bit- the analogy of fruit. A fruit tree takes time to grow and then it takes time to bear fruit. A lot things affect the fruit bearing of a tree- weather, environment, insects, sunlight and more.
Often we don't take the time to get to know a person before we judge them. We watch them for a little bit and form an opinion on them. We hear a mother lose her temper with a child and most of us assume the mother has a short fuse. We don't know if that mother has been patient long and is having a bad day. We judge her as having *bad* fruit because of the revealed impatience we see. Could it be that the majority of her fruit is of the Spirit and just a PIECE of her fruit has gone bad? Trees very rarely have ALL good fruit on them. Some fruit grows faster than others, some have insect bites, some are formed badly from within, worms might get in some of the pieces of fruit but not all. You could pick a hundred apples from one tree and the chances of every single apple being perfect is slim to none.
We aren't perfect any more than a fruit tree is perfect, or fruit from the vine is perfect. We know and are known by our fruit and this is true, but it's a knowing that takes time. Are we a good fruit tree or a bad one? If we were a bad one, can we now be a good one? Also, can a good tree go bad?
We are a living breathing being and our fruit is continuous- good and bad. We need to produce good fruit and that comes from the Spirit. The closer we are to our Savior the harder our life will be. The insects will be after us, the weather might turn nasty, the pruning of us might be harsh. Our Gardener will protect us from the destroying power of the insect, from the harsh weather that would destroy us given a chance, and He will prune us for our own good so we can grow more fruitful in Him. If we find that the fruit we produce seems to be all bad and nothing good - we can't give up and let ourselves be cut down and rooted up- we have to realize that the Perfect Gardener can and will work to perfect us.
By their fruits you will know them- and this is true but we too have to figure out first and foremost if the tree is under the Great Gardener's care or not. If the tree is being pruned, if the insects are attacking the tree we need to know. If the tree only pretends to be under the Great Gardener's care and the fruit is rotten, we know we cannot trust in that tree.
Too many are fooled today by those they think are bearing good fruit and that is why we need to go to God's Word and hold them up against God's Word. We need to pray always and study the Word always and we will know that if someone speaks contrary to God's Word that even if it seems as if they are bearing the sweetest of fruit on the outside, they are rotten inside.
Fruit has an inside and outside and we generally judge it by the outside. If it's too bruised, if it bears insect holes, if mold covers it we can safely toss it away. How often though have you cut into a piece of fruit that looks wonderful on the outside, only to find it rotten from within? You won't know until you cut into the fruit but once you realize it's a bad piece of fruit you throw it away- you don't keep eating.
There are MANY things we can take from these analogies- but truthfully we need to pray and study endlessly and understand that we must look at our own fruit bearing and if we aren't bearing the fruit of the Spirit we need to figure out why. It might be that we've been pruned way back and are in the process of re-growth. We could be showing the effects of some bad weather. We might have been transplanted and our roots are settling. The thing is… we CAN'T Give up on ourselves because our fruit isn't ALL fruit of the Spirit. We have to trust that our Gardener will fix us. We have to keep ourselves with the Gardener- not try to take the role of Gardener. We have to keep ourselves where we can be tended to. As for others, yes, we will know them by their fruit, but with deception running rampant these days we need to hold all others up to God's Word which will reveal their fruit for what it is. Thorns and thistles abound, but pure sweet fruit exists too.
We are known.
May God help us to bear the sweet fruit of the Spirit and not thorns and thistles.
May God enlighten us as we try to discern what fruit others are bearing.
In all things may God's will be done in our lives through the loving forgiveness and mercy of our Savior, in HIS righteousness now and forever!
Amen.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Is the law sin?
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
The law isn't sin.
Sin is defined by the law.
We live in a society today that says it's perfectly fine to covet. Is it any wonder we live in a society where lusts control people and people do not control lusts?
We are taught to indulge in lust, not fight it, not forsake it, not to look upon it as something to abhor. We are a very materialistic society here in the USA and elsewhere around the globe.
The law says we shall not covet.
We say it's impossible NOT to covet.
The law says we are not to commit murder.
We say it's impossible for us NOT to WISH people dead.
The law says we are not to commit adultery.
We say it's impossible for us NOT to LUST and DESIRE to have other men and women outside our marriage partners- it's HUMAN NATURE.
All of it is HUMAN NATURE.
All of it is CARNAL NATURE.
All of it is our FLESH NATURE.
We say because it is ALL just nature, and therefore natural for us, the law is impossible to keep- especially the way Jesus magnified it.
Before Jesus we believed that it was only a sin to actually murder someone. After Jesus we are told that to wish someone dead is sin too.
Impossible….the law is impossible to keep.
People say Jesus came to DO away with the law because of its impossibility to be kept.
Jesus didn't do away with the law, we've already pointed out that He MAGNIFIED the law- far from doing away from it.
Some say the Jesus kept the law for us so we don't have to even try.
Yet Jesus told one seeking to follow Him that it was GOOD that he was keeping the law. Jesus didn't tell that man it was wrong and to no longer even try to keep the law. Jesus even told him to do more than just keep the law. Keep the law and MORE.
So if we believe the law is impossible to keep how can we even begin to imagine keeping the law AND more?
The thing is the law reveals our sinfulness, the law reveals our inability to save ourselves. The law reveals the perfection of our Savior who kept the law in all ways. And yes, showed us that it is possible to keep the law through HIS power. Jesus would NEVER want us to stop obeying the law, the same law He kept perfectly. Jesus would NEVER want us to do away with the law He told someone that it was good to do- never. Jesus would NEVER say okay, go ahead and murder now it's okay, I know you can't help yourself. The idea that the law- God's ten commandments could ever be done away with is completely ridiculous. The law was given in love and reveals love.
By the law sin is revealed.
While we say the law is impossible to keep it isn't impossible, not through Christ. We do all we can and where we fall short our Savior has overcome for us. Is this a license to sin? NO, God Forbid, NO!
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
We are under grace, but the LAW is not abolished, the law is not made void, Jesus kept the law, Jesus praised the law being kept. The LAW does not save us. JESUS saves us. Out of love for the one who gave the law, out of love for the one who lived the law perfectly, out of this love we will strive not to SIN. Jesus told us to sin no more, but sin is only revealed by the law. We must know the law to know sin and to sin no more we must keep the law. Jesus would have us not sin.
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
He was telling her to go and KEEP THE LAW.
We are to keep the law and by our faith in HIM and HIS sinless-ness we live!
While it seems impossible to us to keep from sinning, Lord we know that you would not instruct us to do the impossible. We have an advocate when we fall short which is often, and you are that Advocate. Only through complete hope and complete faith in You and the Salvation You offer do we live.
By Your grace!
By Your love!
Amen.
The law isn't sin.
Sin is defined by the law.
We live in a society today that says it's perfectly fine to covet. Is it any wonder we live in a society where lusts control people and people do not control lusts?
We are taught to indulge in lust, not fight it, not forsake it, not to look upon it as something to abhor. We are a very materialistic society here in the USA and elsewhere around the globe.
The law says we shall not covet.
We say it's impossible NOT to covet.
The law says we are not to commit murder.
We say it's impossible for us NOT to WISH people dead.
The law says we are not to commit adultery.
We say it's impossible for us NOT to LUST and DESIRE to have other men and women outside our marriage partners- it's HUMAN NATURE.
All of it is HUMAN NATURE.
All of it is CARNAL NATURE.
All of it is our FLESH NATURE.
We say because it is ALL just nature, and therefore natural for us, the law is impossible to keep- especially the way Jesus magnified it.
Before Jesus we believed that it was only a sin to actually murder someone. After Jesus we are told that to wish someone dead is sin too.
Impossible….the law is impossible to keep.
People say Jesus came to DO away with the law because of its impossibility to be kept.
Jesus didn't do away with the law, we've already pointed out that He MAGNIFIED the law- far from doing away from it.
Some say the Jesus kept the law for us so we don't have to even try.
Yet Jesus told one seeking to follow Him that it was GOOD that he was keeping the law. Jesus didn't tell that man it was wrong and to no longer even try to keep the law. Jesus even told him to do more than just keep the law. Keep the law and MORE.
So if we believe the law is impossible to keep how can we even begin to imagine keeping the law AND more?
The thing is the law reveals our sinfulness, the law reveals our inability to save ourselves. The law reveals the perfection of our Savior who kept the law in all ways. And yes, showed us that it is possible to keep the law through HIS power. Jesus would NEVER want us to stop obeying the law, the same law He kept perfectly. Jesus would NEVER want us to do away with the law He told someone that it was good to do- never. Jesus would NEVER say okay, go ahead and murder now it's okay, I know you can't help yourself. The idea that the law- God's ten commandments could ever be done away with is completely ridiculous. The law was given in love and reveals love.
By the law sin is revealed.
While we say the law is impossible to keep it isn't impossible, not through Christ. We do all we can and where we fall short our Savior has overcome for us. Is this a license to sin? NO, God Forbid, NO!
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
We are under grace, but the LAW is not abolished, the law is not made void, Jesus kept the law, Jesus praised the law being kept. The LAW does not save us. JESUS saves us. Out of love for the one who gave the law, out of love for the one who lived the law perfectly, out of this love we will strive not to SIN. Jesus told us to sin no more, but sin is only revealed by the law. We must know the law to know sin and to sin no more we must keep the law. Jesus would have us not sin.
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
He was telling her to go and KEEP THE LAW.
We are to keep the law and by our faith in HIM and HIS sinless-ness we live!
While it seems impossible to us to keep from sinning, Lord we know that you would not instruct us to do the impossible. We have an advocate when we fall short which is often, and you are that Advocate. Only through complete hope and complete faith in You and the Salvation You offer do we live.
By Your grace!
By Your love!
Amen.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Self-centered or God-centered?
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Love works no ill to his neighbor.
No ill- no wrong, no harm, nothing bad.
We understand this don't we? When we are hurt we don't feel loved at all, even on a base level. Even the God-less who claim they can love and long to be loved don't feel very loved when they are hurt by the one who supposedly loves them. Love works no ill to his neighbor. In essence love works no ill to anyone. It doesn't say love works no ill to his family members. It doesn't say love works no ill to chosen friends. Love doesn't hurt any one.
Have you hurt anyone recently? I'm not talking about punching them, but that too. Have you hurt anyone at all in ANY way recently. Has a harsh word cut someone to the quick? Has a sharp look caused someone pain? You know what I'm talking about. We hurt each other more often in words than any other way. A person who can claim they haven't physically laid a hand on anyone ever might be the same person whose caustic nature has beaten down people left and right, in fact they could claim the World Champion Title winning many a verbal fighting match. Also, don't MANY people take pride in their ability to 'match wits' with another and come out on top? Isn't there a sense of superiority when we get our points, our opinions, our beliefs across even at the expense of another? Some people we call- contrary. We say they have a contrary nature- always being contrary no matter what is said. They don't see themselves as contrary but rather as people willing to stand up for themselves and their own beliefs and opinions- believing their beliefs and opinions are of course superior to another's simply because it's THEIR way of thinking and their contrary nature wants them to argue a point until they come across as being right or… until someone is hurt…namely them because they can't get others to validate their belief, their opinion as being something shared. People with contrary natures hurt others and more often than not they bring hurt upon themselves.
Love works no ill to his neighbor.
NO ILL.
We might not be out there physically bullying people but we could be working a lot of ill in other ways.
Often by standing up for our own belief, our own opinion we do so and pat ourselves on the back uncaring that we've hurt others. Did Jesus do that? Jesus singled out NO person and berated them mercilessly. Jesus singled out wrongs and without any flowery words made known His opinion on those wrongs and the wrongdoers as a whole, but He did not emotionally, mentally, and certainly not physically beat down anyone! Jesus didn't take ANY pleasure in having to even berate the system, the groups of wrongdoers. His anger didn't bring Him any joy, any sense of superiority, not a bit of happiness at all. His anger was heartfelt and sorrowful, it PAINED HIM to feel the anger He felt. He hurt, but hurt NO other. He was truly like a Lamb led to the slaughter- meek, willing, putting up no fight. He had EVERY right to fight to get His point across HE WAS AS RIGHT AS RIGHT CAN BE- in all things! But He didn't fight. He didn't take on ANY sense of self-righteousness, not one bit. Where we often fight verbally to the bitter end- trying to get our point across, trying to come out able to say we were on the right side of the matter- He didn't spend a single moment at all, in all His life, defending His own opinion. Why? In part because He lived NOT for Himself but for who? For God the Father- revealing the Father to everyone. He lived for OTHERS not for Himself in any way whatsoever.
Jesus worked NO ILL to His neighbors- none! Jesus was SELFLESS, completely SELFLESS and completely GOD-CENTERED.
The next time someone contradicts you and your first reaction is to defend yourself, STOP! Don't do it! Just don't do it! It won't be easy, it'll feel like somehow you lost the fight, like you lost getting YOUR opinion across but that's a GOOD thing! We aren't supposed to live to win anyone over to OUR opinions, not in any way, shape, or form. We aren't supposed to live to be considered by all to be in the 'right' of things. We are to live for our Savior, with our Savior as our example. If you find yourself in a contrary situation ask yourself how Jesus would have handled the situation. Seriously- that What Would Jesus Do bumper sticker is a very wise thing, right? WWJD- What Would Jesus Do. If we ask ourselves that question and then answer it by fighting to get our opinions across trying to justify it by saying Jesus would stand up for what's right- you need to read your Bible and realize that while yes, Jesus stood up for all that was right, He did not bicker and fight doing so. HE WORKED NO ILL towards His neighbors, NOT ONE ILL. But He sure took a lot of ill from His neighbors didn't He?
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
This was said after He was rebuked by Peter-
Mat 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
He turned to Peter and said- Get thee behind me, Satan- thou are an offence to me- because you savor things that aren't of God- but those of men.
All Peter did was tell Jesus that what He was telling them of His coming abuse and ultimate death shouldn't be allowed to happen. Peter didn't want Jesus to suffer- Peter knew He was the Messiah and INNOCENT of all wrong doing and only wrong doers should suffer-- men's thinking. The innocent should stand up and fight for themselves-- men's thinking. Jesus was right as right can get and deserved NO suffering, NO abuse- men's thinking.
Jesus was revealing God's thinking, the things of God, to us. Peter's rebuke of Jesus resulted in being told that He- Peter- was acting like SATAN! That Peter was an offence to Jesus! Because Peter's thinking was that of sinful man's thinking and not of God's. God's way works NO ill under any circumstance to others. A person might want to point out that Jesus' response certainly had to HURT Peter so Jesus did hurt others. Jesus worked NO ILL towards Peter, none. Jesus laid bare a fact, He did not berated Peter to drive His point home. Jesus revealed to Peter a truth and He did so out of LOVE without any self-serving, Jesus took NO pleasure in saying what He'd said, none. After He spoke those revealing words to Peter he said this…
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
If ANY MAN will come after me, let him DENY himself, and TAKE UP his CROSS and follow me.
Deny himself- be selfless! And in being selfless you most assuredly take up a cross because you live in a world that only knows selfishness, a world that understands SELF preservation at all costs, a world that understands selfishness as being NORMAL and UNDERSTANDABLE. We are to take up a cross against SELF! The most selfless act in existence was that of Jesus taking up His cross. We have to DENY ourselves! We have to become selfless and God-centered! That cross represents selflessness as much as it represents sacrifice because selflessness is LOVE.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
LOVE works NO ill to his neighbor.
LOVE is the fulfilling of the LAW.
The law points to selflessness.
The law points to our LOVING GOD and LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS- selflessness!
Others FIRST, and not just to be polite - not to reflect on YOUR ability to be polite, but because this is LOVE.
By the grace of our selfless Savior may we truly become selfless like Him!
Amen.
Love works no ill to his neighbor.
No ill- no wrong, no harm, nothing bad.
We understand this don't we? When we are hurt we don't feel loved at all, even on a base level. Even the God-less who claim they can love and long to be loved don't feel very loved when they are hurt by the one who supposedly loves them. Love works no ill to his neighbor. In essence love works no ill to anyone. It doesn't say love works no ill to his family members. It doesn't say love works no ill to chosen friends. Love doesn't hurt any one.
Have you hurt anyone recently? I'm not talking about punching them, but that too. Have you hurt anyone at all in ANY way recently. Has a harsh word cut someone to the quick? Has a sharp look caused someone pain? You know what I'm talking about. We hurt each other more often in words than any other way. A person who can claim they haven't physically laid a hand on anyone ever might be the same person whose caustic nature has beaten down people left and right, in fact they could claim the World Champion Title winning many a verbal fighting match. Also, don't MANY people take pride in their ability to 'match wits' with another and come out on top? Isn't there a sense of superiority when we get our points, our opinions, our beliefs across even at the expense of another? Some people we call- contrary. We say they have a contrary nature- always being contrary no matter what is said. They don't see themselves as contrary but rather as people willing to stand up for themselves and their own beliefs and opinions- believing their beliefs and opinions are of course superior to another's simply because it's THEIR way of thinking and their contrary nature wants them to argue a point until they come across as being right or… until someone is hurt…namely them because they can't get others to validate their belief, their opinion as being something shared. People with contrary natures hurt others and more often than not they bring hurt upon themselves.
Love works no ill to his neighbor.
NO ILL.
We might not be out there physically bullying people but we could be working a lot of ill in other ways.
Often by standing up for our own belief, our own opinion we do so and pat ourselves on the back uncaring that we've hurt others. Did Jesus do that? Jesus singled out NO person and berated them mercilessly. Jesus singled out wrongs and without any flowery words made known His opinion on those wrongs and the wrongdoers as a whole, but He did not emotionally, mentally, and certainly not physically beat down anyone! Jesus didn't take ANY pleasure in having to even berate the system, the groups of wrongdoers. His anger didn't bring Him any joy, any sense of superiority, not a bit of happiness at all. His anger was heartfelt and sorrowful, it PAINED HIM to feel the anger He felt. He hurt, but hurt NO other. He was truly like a Lamb led to the slaughter- meek, willing, putting up no fight. He had EVERY right to fight to get His point across HE WAS AS RIGHT AS RIGHT CAN BE- in all things! But He didn't fight. He didn't take on ANY sense of self-righteousness, not one bit. Where we often fight verbally to the bitter end- trying to get our point across, trying to come out able to say we were on the right side of the matter- He didn't spend a single moment at all, in all His life, defending His own opinion. Why? In part because He lived NOT for Himself but for who? For God the Father- revealing the Father to everyone. He lived for OTHERS not for Himself in any way whatsoever.
Jesus worked NO ILL to His neighbors- none! Jesus was SELFLESS, completely SELFLESS and completely GOD-CENTERED.
The next time someone contradicts you and your first reaction is to defend yourself, STOP! Don't do it! Just don't do it! It won't be easy, it'll feel like somehow you lost the fight, like you lost getting YOUR opinion across but that's a GOOD thing! We aren't supposed to live to win anyone over to OUR opinions, not in any way, shape, or form. We aren't supposed to live to be considered by all to be in the 'right' of things. We are to live for our Savior, with our Savior as our example. If you find yourself in a contrary situation ask yourself how Jesus would have handled the situation. Seriously- that What Would Jesus Do bumper sticker is a very wise thing, right? WWJD- What Would Jesus Do. If we ask ourselves that question and then answer it by fighting to get our opinions across trying to justify it by saying Jesus would stand up for what's right- you need to read your Bible and realize that while yes, Jesus stood up for all that was right, He did not bicker and fight doing so. HE WORKED NO ILL towards His neighbors, NOT ONE ILL. But He sure took a lot of ill from His neighbors didn't He?
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
This was said after He was rebuked by Peter-
Mat 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
He turned to Peter and said- Get thee behind me, Satan- thou are an offence to me- because you savor things that aren't of God- but those of men.
All Peter did was tell Jesus that what He was telling them of His coming abuse and ultimate death shouldn't be allowed to happen. Peter didn't want Jesus to suffer- Peter knew He was the Messiah and INNOCENT of all wrong doing and only wrong doers should suffer-- men's thinking. The innocent should stand up and fight for themselves-- men's thinking. Jesus was right as right can get and deserved NO suffering, NO abuse- men's thinking.
Jesus was revealing God's thinking, the things of God, to us. Peter's rebuke of Jesus resulted in being told that He- Peter- was acting like SATAN! That Peter was an offence to Jesus! Because Peter's thinking was that of sinful man's thinking and not of God's. God's way works NO ill under any circumstance to others. A person might want to point out that Jesus' response certainly had to HURT Peter so Jesus did hurt others. Jesus worked NO ILL towards Peter, none. Jesus laid bare a fact, He did not berated Peter to drive His point home. Jesus revealed to Peter a truth and He did so out of LOVE without any self-serving, Jesus took NO pleasure in saying what He'd said, none. After He spoke those revealing words to Peter he said this…
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
If ANY MAN will come after me, let him DENY himself, and TAKE UP his CROSS and follow me.
Deny himself- be selfless! And in being selfless you most assuredly take up a cross because you live in a world that only knows selfishness, a world that understands SELF preservation at all costs, a world that understands selfishness as being NORMAL and UNDERSTANDABLE. We are to take up a cross against SELF! The most selfless act in existence was that of Jesus taking up His cross. We have to DENY ourselves! We have to become selfless and God-centered! That cross represents selflessness as much as it represents sacrifice because selflessness is LOVE.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
LOVE works NO ill to his neighbor.
LOVE is the fulfilling of the LAW.
The law points to selflessness.
The law points to our LOVING GOD and LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS- selflessness!
Others FIRST, and not just to be polite - not to reflect on YOUR ability to be polite, but because this is LOVE.
By the grace of our selfless Savior may we truly become selfless like Him!
Amen.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Meat for their lust
Exo 16:3 And 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; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Exo 16:5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily
The children of God led out of slavery believed they were led out into the wilderness and would now starve, they no longer had food stores to eat from. The Lord provided manna for them, bread from heaven. Read about it in Ex. 16:3-5 The former slaves would have rather died in Egypt sitting by the food stores than die of hunger being led of God. How many people would rather die today with the comforts of life than suffer and be led of God? How many people choose to pick up the threads of a former life because it doesn't call for any self sacrifice? We have convinced ourselves that God doesn't want us to suffer, the God doesn't really want us to have anything to do with self sacrifice. We have profaned the life and death of our Savior by saying that we don't have to suffer anything at all because He suffered it all and wouldn't want us to deny ourselves anything. But THESE are the words of our loving Savior-
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
LET HIM DENY HIMSELF!
Did you read that? Read it again.
LET HIM DENY HIMSELF.
And when we deny ourselves we are taking up a cross aren't we? The cross is one of self denial, one of SELF-LESS-NESS.
God provided manna from heaven- food for His children so they would not die of hunger. He didn't bring them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. He provided for them. There was absolutely NO danger of them dying from lack of food. The danger was gone and now they had no more any reason to mourn for their past life of slavery, a life where they were not free to worship their God. They were no longer slaves to worshippers of pagan gods. Free, they were free and their bellies were filled, their thirst was abated. They weren't going to die hungry. God had provided for them in the form of a blessed miracle! Food of this sort had never been provided for them before. So no longer having to worry about starving they had no reason to long for their former slave life, right? They could rejoice in their freedom. The rejoicing didn't last for long though.
Num 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Num 11:6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
They remembered the fish.
They remembered the cucumbers.
They remembered the melons.
They remembered the leeks.
They remembered the onions.
They remembered the garlic.
And they obviously began to detest the manna they had to eat day after day, and desired a more varied diet.
Were they starving? No.
Were their bellies full? Yes.
Did they NEED anything other than the manna provided by God, to live? No.
This once again brings to mind the television show Survivor. The contestants on the show are sometimes given NOTHING to eat and must provide for themselves from the surrounding area, or they are given a bit of rice. After awhile they quickly grow sick and tired of eating just plain, unseasoned, unflavored rice and many vow to never eat rice again after they leave the show. Food takes on a whole new dimension for those who are starving and for those who are eating something day in and day out. Are they grateful for the rice? Yes, especially when they run out of the rice or about to run out. They're very thankful to receive more rice- because that awful bland stuff is better than going hungry and starving.
So here we have the children of God led out of slavery and here they have food so not as to starve or even be hungry, yet it's not enough for them. They would rather be slaves.
Psa 78:17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
Psa 78:18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
They tempted God in their HEART by asking meat for their lust.
For all that they were slaves leading a very harsh life, they were very, very selfish people, very self-centered and not God-centered.
We are very self-centered people today.
We lust all the time for things we desire and not for what God has provided us.
We tempt God all the time when we ask that our LUSTS be fulfilled. We do. And we've convinced ourselves that the things that are lustful are our really things we need, but we aren't fooling God.
Jesus said God would provide for ALL our NEEDS not that Jesus would provide for our lusts. So no, we may not have money to go out to a restaurant, we may not have money to get the foods we desire from the grocery store but we may be provide with enough money to buy that which will sustain us- even if it's NOT something we desire. We might not have the latest fashions, or even last years fashions, or possibly even the fashions of five years ago but we will be provided clothing. Will it be in the colors or styles we like? Maybe, but it's not guaranteed. We will be provided for but we truly need to ask ourselves what constitutes a lustful desire- a selfish desire, and understand that the provisions given to us aren't necessarily going to be the provisions that will fulfill our lustful, selfish desires.
Yes, most of us here in the United States have been taught that all things we desire are actually our rights- part of that right to pursue our happiness. The slaves in Egypt had no rights, they were slaves. Those slaves however had a life they longed to return to just so they could fulfill some selfish desires rather than SUFFER any privation. Suffering, self-denial, they didn't want that. They wanted the suffering they knew rather than the suffering they didn't know. They were fixated upon themselves as we all seem to be- simply because we exist.
Selfishness.
Tonight at our Bible Study we began to discuss how we were created God-centered and when sin entered we became self-centered.
Is it possible that as God was leading His children out of Egypt, out of a life of slavery, away from hundreds of years of oppression- that He was guiding them towards a life centered in Him and not themselves? As strange as it might be to think that slaves could be self-centered it is more than obvious that they were and that their selfishness was something that was keeping them from loving God.
We really need to understand this much better and by the grace of our Lord God may we be enlightened. Through the love of our LORD may our hearts be open, may our understanding be guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Amen.
Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Exo 16:5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily
The children of God led out of slavery believed they were led out into the wilderness and would now starve, they no longer had food stores to eat from. The Lord provided manna for them, bread from heaven. Read about it in Ex. 16:3-5 The former slaves would have rather died in Egypt sitting by the food stores than die of hunger being led of God. How many people would rather die today with the comforts of life than suffer and be led of God? How many people choose to pick up the threads of a former life because it doesn't call for any self sacrifice? We have convinced ourselves that God doesn't want us to suffer, the God doesn't really want us to have anything to do with self sacrifice. We have profaned the life and death of our Savior by saying that we don't have to suffer anything at all because He suffered it all and wouldn't want us to deny ourselves anything. But THESE are the words of our loving Savior-
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
LET HIM DENY HIMSELF!
Did you read that? Read it again.
LET HIM DENY HIMSELF.
And when we deny ourselves we are taking up a cross aren't we? The cross is one of self denial, one of SELF-LESS-NESS.
God provided manna from heaven- food for His children so they would not die of hunger. He didn't bring them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. He provided for them. There was absolutely NO danger of them dying from lack of food. The danger was gone and now they had no more any reason to mourn for their past life of slavery, a life where they were not free to worship their God. They were no longer slaves to worshippers of pagan gods. Free, they were free and their bellies were filled, their thirst was abated. They weren't going to die hungry. God had provided for them in the form of a blessed miracle! Food of this sort had never been provided for them before. So no longer having to worry about starving they had no reason to long for their former slave life, right? They could rejoice in their freedom. The rejoicing didn't last for long though.
Num 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Num 11:6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
They remembered the fish.
They remembered the cucumbers.
They remembered the melons.
They remembered the leeks.
They remembered the onions.
They remembered the garlic.
And they obviously began to detest the manna they had to eat day after day, and desired a more varied diet.
Were they starving? No.
Were their bellies full? Yes.
Did they NEED anything other than the manna provided by God, to live? No.
This once again brings to mind the television show Survivor. The contestants on the show are sometimes given NOTHING to eat and must provide for themselves from the surrounding area, or they are given a bit of rice. After awhile they quickly grow sick and tired of eating just plain, unseasoned, unflavored rice and many vow to never eat rice again after they leave the show. Food takes on a whole new dimension for those who are starving and for those who are eating something day in and day out. Are they grateful for the rice? Yes, especially when they run out of the rice or about to run out. They're very thankful to receive more rice- because that awful bland stuff is better than going hungry and starving.
So here we have the children of God led out of slavery and here they have food so not as to starve or even be hungry, yet it's not enough for them. They would rather be slaves.
Psa 78:17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
Psa 78:18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
They tempted God in their HEART by asking meat for their lust.
For all that they were slaves leading a very harsh life, they were very, very selfish people, very self-centered and not God-centered.
We are very self-centered people today.
We lust all the time for things we desire and not for what God has provided us.
We tempt God all the time when we ask that our LUSTS be fulfilled. We do. And we've convinced ourselves that the things that are lustful are our really things we need, but we aren't fooling God.
Jesus said God would provide for ALL our NEEDS not that Jesus would provide for our lusts. So no, we may not have money to go out to a restaurant, we may not have money to get the foods we desire from the grocery store but we may be provide with enough money to buy that which will sustain us- even if it's NOT something we desire. We might not have the latest fashions, or even last years fashions, or possibly even the fashions of five years ago but we will be provided clothing. Will it be in the colors or styles we like? Maybe, but it's not guaranteed. We will be provided for but we truly need to ask ourselves what constitutes a lustful desire- a selfish desire, and understand that the provisions given to us aren't necessarily going to be the provisions that will fulfill our lustful, selfish desires.
Yes, most of us here in the United States have been taught that all things we desire are actually our rights- part of that right to pursue our happiness. The slaves in Egypt had no rights, they were slaves. Those slaves however had a life they longed to return to just so they could fulfill some selfish desires rather than SUFFER any privation. Suffering, self-denial, they didn't want that. They wanted the suffering they knew rather than the suffering they didn't know. They were fixated upon themselves as we all seem to be- simply because we exist.
Selfishness.
Tonight at our Bible Study we began to discuss how we were created God-centered and when sin entered we became self-centered.
Is it possible that as God was leading His children out of Egypt, out of a life of slavery, away from hundreds of years of oppression- that He was guiding them towards a life centered in Him and not themselves? As strange as it might be to think that slaves could be self-centered it is more than obvious that they were and that their selfishness was something that was keeping them from loving God.
We really need to understand this much better and by the grace of our Lord God may we be enlightened. Through the love of our LORD may our hearts be open, may our understanding be guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Amen.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Secret Revealed
Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
The secret of the Lord.
Pro 3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Rom 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Rom 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Rom 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
Rom 16:27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen…
Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Psa 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Psa 78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
Psa 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Secrets.
We all have secrets, don't we? Maybe I should say, most of us have secrets. Usually secrets aren't good things but rather things we want to keep hidden, things kept unknown from others. Secrets can be about good things too, right? But those secrets are ones we only keep until it's a the right time to reveal them.
God's secrets-
The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Secrets from the foundation of the world!
Secrets revealed to us!
There is NO doubt that Jesus' coming revealed God more fully to mankind. Until Jesus came- the promise of the Messiah's arrival was the hope that kept His true believers part of God's true covenant. The promise of full salvation lay in the revelation of God's unfolding plan for their lives. They knew all the ceremonial rituals that pointed to the Messiah. The coming Messiah was their hope.
Since the foundation of the world.
When sin entered the world a promise was made-
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The one who defied God would be destroyed.
There would be hatred between the evil one and those who are God's.
Good and evil were proclaimed and the promise given, a promise that needed to be realized.
The promise was realized in our Savior.
When our Savior died the promise was sealed once and for all.
Before our Savior sealed the promise of salvation with His life He revealed His Father fully to us. He revealed the mercy, the love, the truth of God the Father to us. Things that were a mystery were mysterious no longer but solved by our Savior.
Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
If we fear the LORD we will understand His covenant. We will understand the promises made to His people realized fully. We will believe through faith in the mystery revealed. The secret of the Lord is realized. We have that secret- the wonderful, wonderful secret. Life eternal is real in our Savior!
All praise and all glory to our Lord and Savior!
Amen!
The secret of the Lord.
Pro 3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Rom 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Rom 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Rom 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
Rom 16:27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen…
Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Psa 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Psa 78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
Psa 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Secrets.
We all have secrets, don't we? Maybe I should say, most of us have secrets. Usually secrets aren't good things but rather things we want to keep hidden, things kept unknown from others. Secrets can be about good things too, right? But those secrets are ones we only keep until it's a the right time to reveal them.
God's secrets-
The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Secrets from the foundation of the world!
Secrets revealed to us!
There is NO doubt that Jesus' coming revealed God more fully to mankind. Until Jesus came- the promise of the Messiah's arrival was the hope that kept His true believers part of God's true covenant. The promise of full salvation lay in the revelation of God's unfolding plan for their lives. They knew all the ceremonial rituals that pointed to the Messiah. The coming Messiah was their hope.
Since the foundation of the world.
When sin entered the world a promise was made-
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The one who defied God would be destroyed.
There would be hatred between the evil one and those who are God's.
Good and evil were proclaimed and the promise given, a promise that needed to be realized.
The promise was realized in our Savior.
When our Savior died the promise was sealed once and for all.
Before our Savior sealed the promise of salvation with His life He revealed His Father fully to us. He revealed the mercy, the love, the truth of God the Father to us. Things that were a mystery were mysterious no longer but solved by our Savior.
Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
If we fear the LORD we will understand His covenant. We will understand the promises made to His people realized fully. We will believe through faith in the mystery revealed. The secret of the Lord is realized. We have that secret- the wonderful, wonderful secret. Life eternal is real in our Savior!
All praise and all glory to our Lord and Savior!
Amen!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Take away my filthy garments
Psa 19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
What makes us dirty so that we need to be cleansed? Faults, sins.
Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
All together filthy- none doing good.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Our righteousness are as FILTHY rags.
Zec 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Take away the filthy garments.
I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
1Co 6:11 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.
Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified- IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.
Lev 16:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
Psa 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Wash me THROUGHLY from mine iniquity.
CLEANSE me from my sin.
Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
Cleanse his way- taking heed-according to thy word.
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God
I will save them.
Will cleanse them.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Cleanse your hands ye sinners.
Purify your hearts ye double minded.
We are filthy. We need cleansing. It's no coincidence that there is physical dirtiness. It is no coincidence that we equate good things with clean things. When something, or someone is dirty it's not pleasant, right? We like our things clean. We like our food taken from the ground to be clean before we eat it. We like our hands to be washed before with eat something with them.
We all know our history, how in 'the old days' it was acceptable to only bath once a week and in some cases once a month, yet even those who only bathed that infrequently still generally washed up superficially - their hands, their faces. People did not as a rule walk around with filth covered faces and hands.
There is a television show on called Survivor and on that show they are not given the luxuries of a bathing room- no tubs, no sinks, no soap. These people have to rely upon natures cleansers- oceans, sand, rivers, streams and the like. You can tell how much they detest being without their luxuries of modern living. You can also tell how ill equipped they are to deal with their filthiness.
We, in our modern lives have learned to equate dirt with germs. We'd NEVER operate on a person without sterile conditions yet a hundred years ago or so it was common to merely superficially wash up and have at it. No one knew about invisible germs back then, and even so they didn't equate dirt with sickness.
Of course this isn't true of all peoples or all times. Some cultures take great pride in their cleanliness and have for many centuries.
Clean and unclean. Pure and sinful.
We are taught to be clean people.
We are taught to wash our faces, our hands, our hair, our bodies.
We are taught to take measures to remain clean- wear gloves, wear work clothes, wear work boots.
It is safe to say that we are happier being clean than being unclean, right? And that's superficial cleanliness, that's fleshy cleanliness.
If we are aware so acutely aware of physical filth shouldn't we be just as acutely aware of spiritual filth?
If we understand and appreciate being physically clean, it shouldn't be too hard to comprehend that we need to be spiritually clean.
Sin is filth.
Sin defiles.
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Mat 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Do you see the comparison? We don't like to be dirty physically and go to great lengths to keep clean but it's NOT our physical dirt that defiles us but rather our hearts cause us to be spiritually filthy.
Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Psa 19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Please Lord there is so much filth in my life. I… like Paul, am the chief of sinners. If I look to myself for cleansing all I can to is wash away the physical filth. I need YOU to cleanse me. I need YOU to keep me from falling, I need YOU to present me faultless before the glory of God. I need YOU to spiritually cleanse me. Please Lord WASH me, cleanse me even from the faults that are secret. I have no righteousness of my own, it is all YOUR righteousness which saves me. Please Lord.
Take away MY filthy garments.
CLOTHE ME with change of raiment.
WASH ME, SANCTIFY ME, JUSTIFY ME- IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.
By Your grace!!!!
Amen.
Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
What makes us dirty so that we need to be cleansed? Faults, sins.
Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
All together filthy- none doing good.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Our righteousness are as FILTHY rags.
Zec 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Take away the filthy garments.
I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
1Co 6:11 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.
Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified- IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.
Lev 16:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
Psa 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Wash me THROUGHLY from mine iniquity.
CLEANSE me from my sin.
Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
Cleanse his way- taking heed-according to thy word.
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God
I will save them.
Will cleanse them.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Cleanse your hands ye sinners.
Purify your hearts ye double minded.
We are filthy. We need cleansing. It's no coincidence that there is physical dirtiness. It is no coincidence that we equate good things with clean things. When something, or someone is dirty it's not pleasant, right? We like our things clean. We like our food taken from the ground to be clean before we eat it. We like our hands to be washed before with eat something with them.
We all know our history, how in 'the old days' it was acceptable to only bath once a week and in some cases once a month, yet even those who only bathed that infrequently still generally washed up superficially - their hands, their faces. People did not as a rule walk around with filth covered faces and hands.
There is a television show on called Survivor and on that show they are not given the luxuries of a bathing room- no tubs, no sinks, no soap. These people have to rely upon natures cleansers- oceans, sand, rivers, streams and the like. You can tell how much they detest being without their luxuries of modern living. You can also tell how ill equipped they are to deal with their filthiness.
We, in our modern lives have learned to equate dirt with germs. We'd NEVER operate on a person without sterile conditions yet a hundred years ago or so it was common to merely superficially wash up and have at it. No one knew about invisible germs back then, and even so they didn't equate dirt with sickness.
Of course this isn't true of all peoples or all times. Some cultures take great pride in their cleanliness and have for many centuries.
Clean and unclean. Pure and sinful.
We are taught to be clean people.
We are taught to wash our faces, our hands, our hair, our bodies.
We are taught to take measures to remain clean- wear gloves, wear work clothes, wear work boots.
It is safe to say that we are happier being clean than being unclean, right? And that's superficial cleanliness, that's fleshy cleanliness.
If we are aware so acutely aware of physical filth shouldn't we be just as acutely aware of spiritual filth?
If we understand and appreciate being physically clean, it shouldn't be too hard to comprehend that we need to be spiritually clean.
Sin is filth.
Sin defiles.
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Mat 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Do you see the comparison? We don't like to be dirty physically and go to great lengths to keep clean but it's NOT our physical dirt that defiles us but rather our hearts cause us to be spiritually filthy.
Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Psa 19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Please Lord there is so much filth in my life. I… like Paul, am the chief of sinners. If I look to myself for cleansing all I can to is wash away the physical filth. I need YOU to cleanse me. I need YOU to keep me from falling, I need YOU to present me faultless before the glory of God. I need YOU to spiritually cleanse me. Please Lord WASH me, cleanse me even from the faults that are secret. I have no righteousness of my own, it is all YOUR righteousness which saves me. Please Lord.
Take away MY filthy garments.
CLOTHE ME with change of raiment.
WASH ME, SANCTIFY ME, JUSTIFY ME- IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.
By Your grace!!!!
Amen.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Consent Not
Pro 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Sinners WILL entice us!
It's what sinners do.
By their very nature of being unrepentant sinners they are controlled by Satan. We don't like to hear those words, do we? We like to soften those words up and roll them in a thick coat of sugar.
People are not really controlled by Satan. People are NEVER really controlled by Satan. Is that sugar coating thick enough for you yet? No? You want more? How about this... Satan isn't really even real, right?
I mean come on, we're much more intelligent than that. We aren't going to believe in this invisible evil being that stuff belongs on the television screen. You know that horror movie we've heard about where this evil being makes people do horrible things against their will until they destroy themselves one way or another, but only after making everybody around them miserable . Fiction, that's it. Fantasy, sure, sure that's even better, it's all fantasy, PURE fantasy if you will because I AM A RATIONAL BEING and there is no such thing as an evil invisible being going about wrecking all sorts of sicko havoc.
We live in a normal society, the REAL world where that sort of thing doesn't exists and you know, if someone does do something bad it's completely their own fault and they have to answer for that- not blame some invisible evil dude for their own evil. So DON'T tell me that anyone is controlled by Satan! That's a cop out! That's a scam, an excuse, a lie! We control ourselves end of story.
So now that we have that all cleared up, sinners will entice us, unrepentant sinners will seek to lure us to their sinning ways just because they're bad and that's what they do, right?
Tell me something, does sinning have anything to do with Satan at all? You know, that invisible being you don't think REALLY exists. First of all let's get one thing cleared up right now before we go any further. Do you believe in Jesus- God's Son?
If you do believe in Jesus, praise God, keep reading.
If you don't believe in Jesus-God's Son, you might as well just stop reading right now because everything from here on in will be a waste of time for you. Seriously, it will be just a waste of time where you could be doing something else. I happen to believe in the Son of God, my Savior Jesus Christ and if I believe in Him I have to believe in the invisible evil being, Satan. I can't believe in my Savior without believing in my Savior's adversary, who through default becomes my adversary if I believe in my Savior and choose to follow Him.
Well, do you believe in Satan now? You really can't hem and haw about it, you have to believe if you believe in our invisible Savior being.
Wait, what? Jesus isn't invisible, He took on flesh! He lived and died as one of us and then He rose again and appeared in the flesh. Jesus isn't invisible, He's real! Alright then, all that is true, but what about God the Father that Jesus prayed to, that Jesus relied upon, that Jesus came to reveal to the world? Is God the Father in the flesh too? Well? The answer is, no. God is spirit. If we have NO trouble in believing in the Spirit God, the invisible God, then truly we shouldn't have too much trouble believing in His invisible adversary- right?
Why am I stressing this so much? Because when a person chooses to sin willingly without any thought of repentance, without any remorse or willingness to confess and forsake the sinning they are in league with- Satan. Satan, the one who first sinned and the one who will use ALL his powers of persuasion to get as many human beings to sin and live in sin unrepentant as he possibly can.
Satan tempted our Savior to sin. Even knowing He was the Son of God, Satan tempted Him to sin. Satan tried to get Jesus to rebel against His Father. Satan used his powers- powers he possesses and uses upon earth today, powers to lure people to sin. You can bet everything that Satan stops at nothing to try and get us all to sin unrepentantly. Maybe he doesn't have to use much of that power to get you so he won't. Satan will expend the least amount of his power that he has to in order to get someone. If a little dab will do Him, He's not going to slather on his power, why should he? The lower profile he keeps the better. In fact if He can get people believing he doesn't REALLY exist and everyone is evil of their own accord with no help from Him, well that's just fine and dandy.
The truth is- we ARE evil of our own accord. Our original parents chose the path of evil for us a long time ago. However, our Savior sacrificed Himself to give us a path back to God. So now every single one of us that have been born into the evil world filled with the inclinations towards evil have a choice to make on whether to continue on the evil path, or take the good path.
Sounds like Lord of the Rings, and many other fictional movies doesn't it? Good or evil, which will win. Well we know which one wins however, we still have to choose which side we want to be on and YES we can (and many will) choose the losing side. The losing path will be the most appealing path for those living for the here and now. The losing path will be the one with the most people on it, in fact it will be amazingly crowded and in the majority.
This is REAL, people! Maybe we can't see that we are choosing daily which path to take, but we are.
The paths are very close to one another and it's very easy to step over from one to the other. Of course the Good path is extremely narrow and difficult, very hard to get onto, in fact IMPOSSIBLE to get onto unless you have the Savior's hand to guide you onto it. The Evil path is very wide and extremely easy to get onto without any risk of falling off- it's much too wide for that and you don't need anyone's help to get safely over to the evil path. We have to hold onto the Savior's hand to get onto the good, narrow path and guess what… here's where many falter… we have to KEEP holding onto the Savior's hand the entire time we are on the good path. There will NEVER be a good time to let go and start walking that path on our own, not ever! As soon as we let go of the Savior's hand we fall back onto that wide evil road. Unfortunately Satan has set up the wide evil road to even imitate the narrow good road, that evil road is whatever a person wants it to be but the only hand holding you on that evil road is Satan's and you choose to hold it. It's no joke when we're told that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. So how do we know we are on the narrow good road holding our Savior's hand- through faith.
Pro 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Sinners will entice us and when they do… we are not to CONSENT!
We cannot go along with the sinners. We cannot consent to their sinning and become part of their sinning. We have to choose NOT to consent.
If sinners entice thee…
Do they? Do you know of anyone trying to entice you to sin? There will be MANY that will entice you to sin that you don't want to even believe are sinners at all. We are taught NOT to judge so we placate ourselves by saying I can't say he or she is a sinner- that's not my place, only God can judge. While that's true, only God can judge eternal life, we HAVE to be able to discern between sinning and not sinning and therefore be able to discern between those who are sinning and those who aren't. If we blatantly see sinning we can NOT consent to sin. That sinner might go on to be saved, by the grace of God, but at that moment we have to realize that the sinning act committed by the sinning person is something we can not choose to be part of, we must CONSENT NOT!
Consenting not isn't always easy because often when we consent not, we appear to be 'holier than thou' and that is something sinners do not want to see and will try to use against us. Sinners will try to get us to believe that the very act of consenting not to sin is a sin of arrogance and pride. We cannot let that happen! We have to consent NOT to sin no matter what. We have to expect to be enticed and being enticed is very seductive and alluring, appealing to our carnal natures. Resisting the enticement is our duty to consent not.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Let us consent not! Let us cling to our Savior. We are warned and we must heed the warnings, not ignore them.
By the grace of God may we consent not to those…to sinners... who would entice us to sin. Don't we have enough sin to deal with, enough temptations to sin that aren't encouraged by others. Do we really want to consent to enticements from others? We need to obey God first and foremost, not each other.
Please Lord help us to resist unto blood, striving against sin. Help us to consent not to those who would entice us to sin- those who try to convince us that what they're doing is not sin. Bless and keep us Savior, bless and keep us, by your will, by your grace, your mercy.
Amen.
Sinners WILL entice us!
It's what sinners do.
By their very nature of being unrepentant sinners they are controlled by Satan. We don't like to hear those words, do we? We like to soften those words up and roll them in a thick coat of sugar.
People are not really controlled by Satan. People are NEVER really controlled by Satan. Is that sugar coating thick enough for you yet? No? You want more? How about this... Satan isn't really even real, right?
I mean come on, we're much more intelligent than that. We aren't going to believe in this invisible evil being that stuff belongs on the television screen. You know that horror movie we've heard about where this evil being makes people do horrible things against their will until they destroy themselves one way or another, but only after making everybody around them miserable . Fiction, that's it. Fantasy, sure, sure that's even better, it's all fantasy, PURE fantasy if you will because I AM A RATIONAL BEING and there is no such thing as an evil invisible being going about wrecking all sorts of sicko havoc.
We live in a normal society, the REAL world where that sort of thing doesn't exists and you know, if someone does do something bad it's completely their own fault and they have to answer for that- not blame some invisible evil dude for their own evil. So DON'T tell me that anyone is controlled by Satan! That's a cop out! That's a scam, an excuse, a lie! We control ourselves end of story.
So now that we have that all cleared up, sinners will entice us, unrepentant sinners will seek to lure us to their sinning ways just because they're bad and that's what they do, right?
Tell me something, does sinning have anything to do with Satan at all? You know, that invisible being you don't think REALLY exists. First of all let's get one thing cleared up right now before we go any further. Do you believe in Jesus- God's Son?
If you do believe in Jesus, praise God, keep reading.
If you don't believe in Jesus-God's Son, you might as well just stop reading right now because everything from here on in will be a waste of time for you. Seriously, it will be just a waste of time where you could be doing something else. I happen to believe in the Son of God, my Savior Jesus Christ and if I believe in Him I have to believe in the invisible evil being, Satan. I can't believe in my Savior without believing in my Savior's adversary, who through default becomes my adversary if I believe in my Savior and choose to follow Him.
Well, do you believe in Satan now? You really can't hem and haw about it, you have to believe if you believe in our invisible Savior being.
Wait, what? Jesus isn't invisible, He took on flesh! He lived and died as one of us and then He rose again and appeared in the flesh. Jesus isn't invisible, He's real! Alright then, all that is true, but what about God the Father that Jesus prayed to, that Jesus relied upon, that Jesus came to reveal to the world? Is God the Father in the flesh too? Well? The answer is, no. God is spirit. If we have NO trouble in believing in the Spirit God, the invisible God, then truly we shouldn't have too much trouble believing in His invisible adversary- right?
Why am I stressing this so much? Because when a person chooses to sin willingly without any thought of repentance, without any remorse or willingness to confess and forsake the sinning they are in league with- Satan. Satan, the one who first sinned and the one who will use ALL his powers of persuasion to get as many human beings to sin and live in sin unrepentant as he possibly can.
Satan tempted our Savior to sin. Even knowing He was the Son of God, Satan tempted Him to sin. Satan tried to get Jesus to rebel against His Father. Satan used his powers- powers he possesses and uses upon earth today, powers to lure people to sin. You can bet everything that Satan stops at nothing to try and get us all to sin unrepentantly. Maybe he doesn't have to use much of that power to get you so he won't. Satan will expend the least amount of his power that he has to in order to get someone. If a little dab will do Him, He's not going to slather on his power, why should he? The lower profile he keeps the better. In fact if He can get people believing he doesn't REALLY exist and everyone is evil of their own accord with no help from Him, well that's just fine and dandy.
The truth is- we ARE evil of our own accord. Our original parents chose the path of evil for us a long time ago. However, our Savior sacrificed Himself to give us a path back to God. So now every single one of us that have been born into the evil world filled with the inclinations towards evil have a choice to make on whether to continue on the evil path, or take the good path.
Sounds like Lord of the Rings, and many other fictional movies doesn't it? Good or evil, which will win. Well we know which one wins however, we still have to choose which side we want to be on and YES we can (and many will) choose the losing side. The losing path will be the most appealing path for those living for the here and now. The losing path will be the one with the most people on it, in fact it will be amazingly crowded and in the majority.
This is REAL, people! Maybe we can't see that we are choosing daily which path to take, but we are.
The paths are very close to one another and it's very easy to step over from one to the other. Of course the Good path is extremely narrow and difficult, very hard to get onto, in fact IMPOSSIBLE to get onto unless you have the Savior's hand to guide you onto it. The Evil path is very wide and extremely easy to get onto without any risk of falling off- it's much too wide for that and you don't need anyone's help to get safely over to the evil path. We have to hold onto the Savior's hand to get onto the good, narrow path and guess what… here's where many falter… we have to KEEP holding onto the Savior's hand the entire time we are on the good path. There will NEVER be a good time to let go and start walking that path on our own, not ever! As soon as we let go of the Savior's hand we fall back onto that wide evil road. Unfortunately Satan has set up the wide evil road to even imitate the narrow good road, that evil road is whatever a person wants it to be but the only hand holding you on that evil road is Satan's and you choose to hold it. It's no joke when we're told that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. So how do we know we are on the narrow good road holding our Savior's hand- through faith.
Pro 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Sinners will entice us and when they do… we are not to CONSENT!
We cannot go along with the sinners. We cannot consent to their sinning and become part of their sinning. We have to choose NOT to consent.
If sinners entice thee…
Do they? Do you know of anyone trying to entice you to sin? There will be MANY that will entice you to sin that you don't want to even believe are sinners at all. We are taught NOT to judge so we placate ourselves by saying I can't say he or she is a sinner- that's not my place, only God can judge. While that's true, only God can judge eternal life, we HAVE to be able to discern between sinning and not sinning and therefore be able to discern between those who are sinning and those who aren't. If we blatantly see sinning we can NOT consent to sin. That sinner might go on to be saved, by the grace of God, but at that moment we have to realize that the sinning act committed by the sinning person is something we can not choose to be part of, we must CONSENT NOT!
Consenting not isn't always easy because often when we consent not, we appear to be 'holier than thou' and that is something sinners do not want to see and will try to use against us. Sinners will try to get us to believe that the very act of consenting not to sin is a sin of arrogance and pride. We cannot let that happen! We have to consent NOT to sin no matter what. We have to expect to be enticed and being enticed is very seductive and alluring, appealing to our carnal natures. Resisting the enticement is our duty to consent not.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Let us consent not! Let us cling to our Savior. We are warned and we must heed the warnings, not ignore them.
By the grace of God may we consent not to those…to sinners... who would entice us to sin. Don't we have enough sin to deal with, enough temptations to sin that aren't encouraged by others. Do we really want to consent to enticements from others? We need to obey God first and foremost, not each other.
Please Lord help us to resist unto blood, striving against sin. Help us to consent not to those who would entice us to sin- those who try to convince us that what they're doing is not sin. Bless and keep us Savior, bless and keep us, by your will, by your grace, your mercy.
Amen.
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