Mat 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Let your communication be Yes or No- whatsoever is more than these comes from evil.
When we use 'Maybe', what are we really doing? Seriously, think about it for a moment. We've ALL used the word maybe when someone wanted us to say yes or no, haven't we? Ask a question and someone says maybe… you get that gut feeling their real desire is to say no, but when we want them to say yes, or yes when we want them to say no. Maybe is used when a decision isn't ready to be made and that's not such a bad thing. But this isn't really talking about saying maybe it's talking about swearing an oath. We need to understand something- historians of the day tell us that it was common for people before Christ to swear and oath to someone but NOT feel obligated to truly keep that oath believing that God would understand the reasoning- the performing unto the Lord the oaths and NOT the people to whom you've made them was a way to appease the guilt of not keeping your word- and THIS wasn't right. Just as God allowed people to divorce for petty reasons until Jesus came to set them free with the truth because of the people heart hardness- people were allowed to appease their guilt of being unable to complete an oath by claiming God's understanding.
No more! This would be allowed NO longer! People who were genuine in their needing God's help, God's forgiveness when they failed to keep an oath were overshadowed by those abusing the situation. How easy it became for them to make an oath and then know that they NEVER really had to keep that oath- they LIED. Just as people used the allowable reason for divorce and abused that reason, they abused this too.
No reason was good enough to lie! No reason was good enough to make an oath and then NOT keep it! People have DIED to stand by their oaths, but for some reason others think absolutely nothing of lying to a person. Some think nothing of making an oath all the while they know even as they are making that oath that they won't keep it. LIARS!
God cannot abide a liar, and is it any wonder???
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The devil is a LIAR. The devil is the Father of LYING!
Is it any wonder Jesus said this--
Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Swear NOT at all.
Swear by NOTHING!
Don't even swear by yourself, not even a HAIR on your head!
If you don't swear - if you don't make any oaths- if you don't make any promises especially if you don't know if you can keep them- then you won't be lying. An oath, a promise, is important. We are NOT to make any oath lightly. In the third commandment God states we are not to take His name in vain. We do take it in vain when we swear by God, when we perform our oaths to God while lying to others. Jesus would have us understand that sin separates us from Him. Lies separate us from God. Every time we lie we sin. People don't want to believe that, they just plain don't want to believe that it's true. They love their lying, they love their cherished white lies, they love the ease with which they can tell untruths and deceive others and they pacify themselves by telling themselves that it isn't hurting anyone. Wrong. It hurts God. It hurts us and we don't even realize it because we don't feel physical pain when we lie. We don't feel physical pain when we are being separated from God. If we felt the pain we wouldn't believe that lying hurts no one. Spiritual pain, agonizing spiritual pain… if we could only realize. God realizes, God knows. Jesus knows and anything that separates us from Him is not acceptable to Him. Love, this is love- God and God with us.
By His grace may we keep from swearing any oaths. By His grace may we keep from lying. By His love now and forever and ever!
Amen.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Two As One
Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
The cause of fornication.
Fornication-
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]
1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.
2. Adultery. Mat 5.
3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.
4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.
*******
Save for the cause of fornication. If a married man or woman commits adultery then they may be divorced- but other than this there is NO cause for divorce. Simple NOT enjoying the company of your married partner any longer is not a reason for divorce. Let's read the OLD law of divorcement-
Deu 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
Deu 24:3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Some uncleanness- the world here for uncleanness is…
From H6168; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish): - nakedness, shame, unclean (-ness).
1. pudendaplural of pu·den·dum
Noun: A person's external genitals, esp. a woman's
If a husband found uncleanness in his wife- obviously it can't be nakedness because a husband and wife are allowed this privilege- so figuratively if they found some disgrace, some blemish the man could divorce his wife. This left it open to so many possibilities for divorce. A blemish… can you even imagine. A woman gets a freckle that the husband doesn't like- he could divorce her! You know that's not much different than it is today. We can divorce a person for any reason we like- we just have to say we're incompatible and what exactly does that mean? It means we just don't get along with each other any more. That could be ONE person not getting along with the other even if the other does everything in their power to please them. We have NO real binding contract any more, none whatsoever. And guess what, they didn't in the Old Testament times, the times before Christ, either. Is it any wonder at all that Jesus once again explained the TRUE meaning of God's word? This all goes so much deeper than just marriage between a man and a woman. This symbolizes God and His church, God and His people!
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
God's people committed adultery! God's people can choose to worship other gods and when they do they are committing adultery! There is NO way God would frivolously divorce His people, no way!!! This was a SERIOUS offense. To believe that God would use fickleness as a reason to divorce His people is to misunderstand God completely! Is it any wonder we as married people should NEVER divorce save for adultery? If we believe it's fine to divorce each other for any little reason, then we have to believe it's fine for God to divorce Himself from us for any little reason.
Let's read more...
Mar 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
Mar 10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
Mar 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
Mar 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
Mar 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
Mar 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
Mar 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
For the hardness of your heart- this was the reason that they had been allowed to divorce so frivolously because they didn't have their hearts right! There hearts were hard, and a hard heart is a heart that isn't fully open to our Savior's love. When we harden our hearts we are pushing God out of our lives.
These words- hardness of your heart- means this:
sklērokardia
sklay-rok-ar-dee'-ah
Feminine of a compound of G4642 and G2588; hard heartedness, that is, (specifically) destitution of (spiritual) perception: - hardness of heart.
Destitute of spiritual perception! Being UNABLE to perceive GOD! People hardened their hearts and in doing so they can no longer perceive God's love! Unable to perceive God in His full truth God allowed the people to have their way to because they were too HARD hearted to perceive what marriage between a man and woman really meant.
No longer would our Savior accept a hard heart- no longer would divorce for frivolous reasons be allowed.
From the beginning God made man and woman- a pair that would procreate, a pair that would stay together as one, a pair that would LEAVE their parents to join with one another. Two that would become ONE joined by GOD. A spiritual joining that if God joins NO man can separate.
The idea that we can be separated from God is very frightening! Separated from our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer! Loving God- longing to be ONE with God through the grace of our Lord and Savior who makes the ONENESS possible (makes ATONEMENT for us), this is LIFE. We only have real LIFE in our God, in our Savior, in the Holy Spirit!
Is it any wonder at all that God wants married couples to stay together as one?!
If God's people separate themselves from God they are committing spiritual adultery.
If a man or a woman separates themselves from their husband or wife by taking ANOTHER husband or wife, they are committing adultery.
Separation- something together coming apart. Something that is two becoming one and then becoming two once again.
We don't ever want to be separated from God!
And we should never want to be separated from our marriage partner.
Yes, divorce is allowed when there is fornication, why? Because God will NOT join with a people who have separated themselves from Him and gone with other gods. God does not force people to stay with Him. People are allowed to choose to separate themselves from Him, Satan chose to separated Himself from God. The price that is paid for those who choose to apostatize from their Creator, their Sustainer, their Redeemer, their God is very high- eternal death, it will be as if you never were. Why? Because the truth is, we CANNOT survive eternally without God, it's just not possible. We can try all we want to come up with our own plan to be saved and live eternally but nothing we do will work, nothing. We cannot LIVE without God. People think they can because they really believe this life here and now is real living, they don't understand this is just a stepping stone. This isn't REAL life, we are living under the weight of sin, suffocating under sin and people call this life. Life is in Jesus! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
By the grace of God may we never leave our Savior, may we NEVER leave our God, may we stay true to Him now and always!
In Him always and forever!
Amen.
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
The cause of fornication.
Fornication-
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]
1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.
2. Adultery. Mat 5.
3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.
4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.
*******
Save for the cause of fornication. If a married man or woman commits adultery then they may be divorced- but other than this there is NO cause for divorce. Simple NOT enjoying the company of your married partner any longer is not a reason for divorce. Let's read the OLD law of divorcement-
Deu 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
Deu 24:3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Some uncleanness- the world here for uncleanness is…
From H6168; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish): - nakedness, shame, unclean (-ness).
1. pudendaplural of pu·den·dum
Noun: A person's external genitals, esp. a woman's
If a husband found uncleanness in his wife- obviously it can't be nakedness because a husband and wife are allowed this privilege- so figuratively if they found some disgrace, some blemish the man could divorce his wife. This left it open to so many possibilities for divorce. A blemish… can you even imagine. A woman gets a freckle that the husband doesn't like- he could divorce her! You know that's not much different than it is today. We can divorce a person for any reason we like- we just have to say we're incompatible and what exactly does that mean? It means we just don't get along with each other any more. That could be ONE person not getting along with the other even if the other does everything in their power to please them. We have NO real binding contract any more, none whatsoever. And guess what, they didn't in the Old Testament times, the times before Christ, either. Is it any wonder at all that Jesus once again explained the TRUE meaning of God's word? This all goes so much deeper than just marriage between a man and a woman. This symbolizes God and His church, God and His people!
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
God's people committed adultery! God's people can choose to worship other gods and when they do they are committing adultery! There is NO way God would frivolously divorce His people, no way!!! This was a SERIOUS offense. To believe that God would use fickleness as a reason to divorce His people is to misunderstand God completely! Is it any wonder we as married people should NEVER divorce save for adultery? If we believe it's fine to divorce each other for any little reason, then we have to believe it's fine for God to divorce Himself from us for any little reason.
Let's read more...
Mar 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
Mar 10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
Mar 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
Mar 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
Mar 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
Mar 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
Mar 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
For the hardness of your heart- this was the reason that they had been allowed to divorce so frivolously because they didn't have their hearts right! There hearts were hard, and a hard heart is a heart that isn't fully open to our Savior's love. When we harden our hearts we are pushing God out of our lives.
These words- hardness of your heart- means this:
sklērokardia
sklay-rok-ar-dee'-ah
Feminine of a compound of G4642 and G2588; hard heartedness, that is, (specifically) destitution of (spiritual) perception: - hardness of heart.
Destitute of spiritual perception! Being UNABLE to perceive GOD! People hardened their hearts and in doing so they can no longer perceive God's love! Unable to perceive God in His full truth God allowed the people to have their way to because they were too HARD hearted to perceive what marriage between a man and woman really meant.
No longer would our Savior accept a hard heart- no longer would divorce for frivolous reasons be allowed.
From the beginning God made man and woman- a pair that would procreate, a pair that would stay together as one, a pair that would LEAVE their parents to join with one another. Two that would become ONE joined by GOD. A spiritual joining that if God joins NO man can separate.
The idea that we can be separated from God is very frightening! Separated from our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer! Loving God- longing to be ONE with God through the grace of our Lord and Savior who makes the ONENESS possible (makes ATONEMENT for us), this is LIFE. We only have real LIFE in our God, in our Savior, in the Holy Spirit!
Is it any wonder at all that God wants married couples to stay together as one?!
If God's people separate themselves from God they are committing spiritual adultery.
If a man or a woman separates themselves from their husband or wife by taking ANOTHER husband or wife, they are committing adultery.
Separation- something together coming apart. Something that is two becoming one and then becoming two once again.
We don't ever want to be separated from God!
And we should never want to be separated from our marriage partner.
Yes, divorce is allowed when there is fornication, why? Because God will NOT join with a people who have separated themselves from Him and gone with other gods. God does not force people to stay with Him. People are allowed to choose to separate themselves from Him, Satan chose to separated Himself from God. The price that is paid for those who choose to apostatize from their Creator, their Sustainer, their Redeemer, their God is very high- eternal death, it will be as if you never were. Why? Because the truth is, we CANNOT survive eternally without God, it's just not possible. We can try all we want to come up with our own plan to be saved and live eternally but nothing we do will work, nothing. We cannot LIVE without God. People think they can because they really believe this life here and now is real living, they don't understand this is just a stepping stone. This isn't REAL life, we are living under the weight of sin, suffocating under sin and people call this life. Life is in Jesus! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
By the grace of God may we never leave our Savior, may we NEVER leave our God, may we stay true to Him now and always!
In Him always and forever!
Amen.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Horror of Sin
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Do you think for ONE moment that plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand would stop a sinner from sinning? Seriously. How wondrous it would be to think that all we had to do was sacrifice and eye and we would no longer sin through the things we look on to lust for. And our hand, is it truly the hand that is sinning? Think about it. If we could lose a hand and gain salvation why we'd have whole churches filled with one-handed, one-eyed people guaranteed salvation. Sin is in our hearts and we can't pluck or cut those out.
Jesus knew that the actuality of us plucking out our eyes and chopping off our hands wasn't what He was trying to teach us. Using such GRAPHIC depictions allows us to realize just how important it is that we don't accept sin in any form in our lives. We cannot condone sin. It's better for us to do all we can not to sin, to rid our hearts of sin through Him than it is to die eternally. It's better for us to SUFFER the agonies of denying ourselves our sinful desires than to burn in the lake of fire.
Remember our study on Hell? Maybe not, let's just recap a bit of it…
We talk of hell and there are different meanings for that word throughout our Bibles. Geenna is one of those words--and the particular word used here in Matthew 5:29,30
G1067
γέεννα
geenna
Thayer Definition:
1) Hell is the place of the future punishment call “Gehenna” or “Gehenna of fire”. This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction.
Originally the valley of Hinnom- a place that had a fire continually burning to burn the constant refuse brought to be destroyed- much like a garbage dump only this dump destroyed the garbage turning it into ash rather than let the garbage just simply accumulate. The fire there in the valley never went out - day and night it burned having a constant, steady stream of refuse to feed it.
Using this word for hell here in Matthew 5:29,30 refers to the body being cast in the 'lake of fire' the lake of permanent punishment that all wicked will be burned in.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Obviously Jesus is telling us that it's better to SUFFER whatever we need to suffer in order not to sin than to give into sin and make it part of our lives- accepting sin, indulging in the perversities of sinning rather that risk being among the wicked not found in the book of life.
THESE are Jesus' words! These aren't my words! I'm not telling you it's better to pluck out your own eye, or cut off your hand than be burned to the point of total annihilation in the lake of fire reserved for the wicked.
I can already hear the cries- WE CAN'T SAVE OURSELVES! You're telling us by our actions we are saved! You're telling us if we don't sin then we are saved! You're telling us if we mortify the flesh we have salvation! It's not me, it's not my words, it's the word of Inspiration! It's the word of GOD!
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Don't you see? It's better for US to realize that we are NOT the same people after we accept Christ as our Savior. We have HIM on our side. We have the Holy Spirit to lead us! We HAVE to put off sinning. We HAVE to mortify our members. We HAVE to mortify the deed of the body. We have to live after the Spirit, not the flesh at all costs! And don't make the mistake of thinking that it's not hard, or that you must not be right with God if it's hard. Such a HUGE mistake. Jesus is telling us to CUT OFF OUR HANDS! Jesus is telling us to PLUCK OUT OUR EYES! Just for one moment imagine doing it…go on, IMAGINE IT!
Visualize yourself bringing your hand up to your face, your thumb and forefinger heading towards your eye… touching your eye…pressing inwards… are you shuddering at the thought yet? Can you truly imagine plucking your own eye out? How about raising a butcher knife over your wrist getting ready to slam it down and hack your own hand off? SICK! Disgusting! Horrifying thoughts! We NEED to understand how horrific sin is. You and I will suffer when we war against the cherished sins in our lives. You and I will agonize over the hold sin has on us as we weep at the feet of our Savior begging forgiveness. We must constantly seek forgiveness and we must constantly place our salvation in the hands of our Savior who alone has the power to save us. We must never forget the horror of sin and Satan would have us do just that, Satan wants us to trivialize sin and make it of little consequence. We can't do that, we mustn't do that! We have to recognize sin and fight it, mortify our flesh, resisting sin, striving unto blood against sin!
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Never minimalize sin, never ever think that it is of no importance, it is sin that brings eternal death, it is sin that reserves for us a place in the lake of fire, it is sin that will make us as if we never were one day, it is sin that killed our innocent Savior!
Jesus was talking to a group of people who had a sacrificial system in place- they knew all about sin and what they needed to do to find atonement - to be one with God again. They had daily sacrifices, yearly sacrifices- they knew that sin cost the life of an animal that symbolized the coming Messiah. They knew blood had to be shed for the remission of sins. These people understood, but they'd grown complacent, they'd become immune to the horrors of sinning. This had become a way of life for them- they sin- they sought forgiveness through a sacrifice the priests made for them. Sin had lost a lot of it's horror, much as it has today for so many people - in fact for the majority of people.
Here Jesus was teaching that what they knew to be sin was even more sinful than they'd imagined, that their thoughts could be sin, that their hearts could be corrupted by sin and that sin was so horrific they needed to understand that it would be better to maim themselves than sin and warrant everlasting destruction. And we understand just as our Savior wanted us to understand that to rip out our own eyes, to cut off our own hands are very graphic reminders of the horrors of sinning going unchecked within us.
By His grace through the Holy Spirit may we keep from sinning, may we be found in the Book of Life! In His amazing love now and forever!
Amen.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Do you think for ONE moment that plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand would stop a sinner from sinning? Seriously. How wondrous it would be to think that all we had to do was sacrifice and eye and we would no longer sin through the things we look on to lust for. And our hand, is it truly the hand that is sinning? Think about it. If we could lose a hand and gain salvation why we'd have whole churches filled with one-handed, one-eyed people guaranteed salvation. Sin is in our hearts and we can't pluck or cut those out.
Jesus knew that the actuality of us plucking out our eyes and chopping off our hands wasn't what He was trying to teach us. Using such GRAPHIC depictions allows us to realize just how important it is that we don't accept sin in any form in our lives. We cannot condone sin. It's better for us to do all we can not to sin, to rid our hearts of sin through Him than it is to die eternally. It's better for us to SUFFER the agonies of denying ourselves our sinful desires than to burn in the lake of fire.
Remember our study on Hell? Maybe not, let's just recap a bit of it…
We talk of hell and there are different meanings for that word throughout our Bibles. Geenna is one of those words--and the particular word used here in Matthew 5:29,30
G1067
γέεννα
geenna
Thayer Definition:
1) Hell is the place of the future punishment call “Gehenna” or “Gehenna of fire”. This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction.
Originally the valley of Hinnom- a place that had a fire continually burning to burn the constant refuse brought to be destroyed- much like a garbage dump only this dump destroyed the garbage turning it into ash rather than let the garbage just simply accumulate. The fire there in the valley never went out - day and night it burned having a constant, steady stream of refuse to feed it.
Using this word for hell here in Matthew 5:29,30 refers to the body being cast in the 'lake of fire' the lake of permanent punishment that all wicked will be burned in.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Obviously Jesus is telling us that it's better to SUFFER whatever we need to suffer in order not to sin than to give into sin and make it part of our lives- accepting sin, indulging in the perversities of sinning rather that risk being among the wicked not found in the book of life.
THESE are Jesus' words! These aren't my words! I'm not telling you it's better to pluck out your own eye, or cut off your hand than be burned to the point of total annihilation in the lake of fire reserved for the wicked.
I can already hear the cries- WE CAN'T SAVE OURSELVES! You're telling us by our actions we are saved! You're telling us if we don't sin then we are saved! You're telling us if we mortify the flesh we have salvation! It's not me, it's not my words, it's the word of Inspiration! It's the word of GOD!
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Don't you see? It's better for US to realize that we are NOT the same people after we accept Christ as our Savior. We have HIM on our side. We have the Holy Spirit to lead us! We HAVE to put off sinning. We HAVE to mortify our members. We HAVE to mortify the deed of the body. We have to live after the Spirit, not the flesh at all costs! And don't make the mistake of thinking that it's not hard, or that you must not be right with God if it's hard. Such a HUGE mistake. Jesus is telling us to CUT OFF OUR HANDS! Jesus is telling us to PLUCK OUT OUR EYES! Just for one moment imagine doing it…go on, IMAGINE IT!
Visualize yourself bringing your hand up to your face, your thumb and forefinger heading towards your eye… touching your eye…pressing inwards… are you shuddering at the thought yet? Can you truly imagine plucking your own eye out? How about raising a butcher knife over your wrist getting ready to slam it down and hack your own hand off? SICK! Disgusting! Horrifying thoughts! We NEED to understand how horrific sin is. You and I will suffer when we war against the cherished sins in our lives. You and I will agonize over the hold sin has on us as we weep at the feet of our Savior begging forgiveness. We must constantly seek forgiveness and we must constantly place our salvation in the hands of our Savior who alone has the power to save us. We must never forget the horror of sin and Satan would have us do just that, Satan wants us to trivialize sin and make it of little consequence. We can't do that, we mustn't do that! We have to recognize sin and fight it, mortify our flesh, resisting sin, striving unto blood against sin!
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Never minimalize sin, never ever think that it is of no importance, it is sin that brings eternal death, it is sin that reserves for us a place in the lake of fire, it is sin that will make us as if we never were one day, it is sin that killed our innocent Savior!
Jesus was talking to a group of people who had a sacrificial system in place- they knew all about sin and what they needed to do to find atonement - to be one with God again. They had daily sacrifices, yearly sacrifices- they knew that sin cost the life of an animal that symbolized the coming Messiah. They knew blood had to be shed for the remission of sins. These people understood, but they'd grown complacent, they'd become immune to the horrors of sinning. This had become a way of life for them- they sin- they sought forgiveness through a sacrifice the priests made for them. Sin had lost a lot of it's horror, much as it has today for so many people - in fact for the majority of people.
Here Jesus was teaching that what they knew to be sin was even more sinful than they'd imagined, that their thoughts could be sin, that their hearts could be corrupted by sin and that sin was so horrific they needed to understand that it would be better to maim themselves than sin and warrant everlasting destruction. And we understand just as our Savior wanted us to understand that to rip out our own eyes, to cut off our own hands are very graphic reminders of the horrors of sinning going unchecked within us.
By His grace through the Holy Spirit may we keep from sinning, may we be found in the Book of Life! In His amazing love now and forever!
Amen.
Friday, March 25, 2011
In our heart
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
From OLD times, from LONG AGO, in AGES PAST the word came- 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'
Then man decided this meant simply the act of adultery and not the thought of it. The thought was okay, but was it ever okay? We know this...
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Temptation begins in the thoughts, in the mind. Seriously, temptation begins when we allow our thoughts of temptation to take over. Jesus was tempted but He did not succumb to temptation, He NEVER let His thoughts take over. He didn't stand on the highest pinnacle and begin to contemplate what it would be like to have all mankind right then and there bow down to Him. He didn't allow His mind to dwell on thoughts of how good a piece of bread would taste, how filling it would be to his fast starved body. He didn't stop for a few moments and think about how wonderful it would be to show off to Satan by falling and letting angels bear Him up. Our Savior didn't allow any thought of the temptation to take over Him. When tempted He was QUICK with a rebuke to that temptation. His first thought was REBUKE.
re·buke
1.
to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand.
–noun
2.
sharp, stern disapproval; reproof; reprimand.
Pasted from
What is our first thought when we are tempted? Seriously, lets consider this for a moment and be frank about our answers. We all know of times we've given into temptation and sinned. The moment the temptation came did we rebuke it? We may have recognized it as temptation but recognizing temptation IS NOT rebuking temptation. Recognition is good but after the first moment of recognition that we are facing temptation we need to be instant in our rebuking of that temptation.
All too often we recognize that we are being tempted but then something else comes into play- our lust to give into that temptation. We feel a rush of desire towards that temptation. That IS what temptation is, isn't it? Being face to face with the opportunity to give into a desire, a lust we hold. I'm not talking uniquely sexual desire or sexual lust, but a desire or lust for anything that is sin. You can desire an object, you can lust after gold. When the desire is for something forbidden- another man's wife, a treasure of gold belonging to another- you are tempted wrongly, tempted towards sin. When you indulge that temptation in your thoughts you are imagining yourself committing the sin, you are entertaining sin as being something good- allowing it to fill your mind crowding out truth, crowding out God because God cannot dwell where sin dwells.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
'Whosoever LOOKETH on a woman to LUST after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'
It's not enough to just keep ourselves from the act of outward sin- we MUST keep our hearts and minds pure, we must keep our hearts and minds on our Savior, not self and self desires, self lusts.
We must REBUKE temptation instantly! We must not look upon our temptation and lust for it in our heart. We must not come face to face with temptation and embrace it. We must not think about our temptation and continue to think upon it. The more lust after our temptation the more likely we are to give into that temptation, the more we lust after our temptation in becomes sin right there in our minds even if we never act upon that lust.
Lust--
epithumeō
ep-ee-thoo-meh'-o
From G1909 and G2372; to set the heart upon, that is, long for (rightfully or otherwise): - covet, desire, would fain, lust (after).
If our hearts are SET upon, if we are coveting in our hearts ANY SIN we are guilty of that sin. May God keep us from coveting any sin whatsoever! Sin is to be abhorred, not just - not physically committed. How many, many people do not commit the physical act of sin yet in their hearts they sin continuously all the while patting themselves on the back for NOT actually sinning. Is it any wonder our Savior is going to say to so many people that He never knew them, when there they'll be thinking they should be saved. Sin begins in the heart. When our hearts desire is to sin we are sinning. Our Lord must be our all in all. Our treasures MUST be in heaven. Our hearts desire must be towards God, towards His love and not towards self. We have resist the pull to self and that pull is soooooooooo great because we have people on all sides wanting to help us indulge self, and we have a GREAT adversary who wants nothing more than for us to put self first, we have a flesh nature that wars against the spiritual nature.
The path is narrow, few will find it, please God we pray that we are among the few! We pray we are known by You! We pray for the ability to rebuke temptation, to rebuke even thoughts of temptation. By Your grace! By Your will! In Your love!
Amen!
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
From OLD times, from LONG AGO, in AGES PAST the word came- 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'
Then man decided this meant simply the act of adultery and not the thought of it. The thought was okay, but was it ever okay? We know this...
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Temptation begins in the thoughts, in the mind. Seriously, temptation begins when we allow our thoughts of temptation to take over. Jesus was tempted but He did not succumb to temptation, He NEVER let His thoughts take over. He didn't stand on the highest pinnacle and begin to contemplate what it would be like to have all mankind right then and there bow down to Him. He didn't allow His mind to dwell on thoughts of how good a piece of bread would taste, how filling it would be to his fast starved body. He didn't stop for a few moments and think about how wonderful it would be to show off to Satan by falling and letting angels bear Him up. Our Savior didn't allow any thought of the temptation to take over Him. When tempted He was QUICK with a rebuke to that temptation. His first thought was REBUKE.
re·buke
1.
to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand.
–noun
2.
sharp, stern disapproval; reproof; reprimand.
Pasted from
What is our first thought when we are tempted? Seriously, lets consider this for a moment and be frank about our answers. We all know of times we've given into temptation and sinned. The moment the temptation came did we rebuke it? We may have recognized it as temptation but recognizing temptation IS NOT rebuking temptation. Recognition is good but after the first moment of recognition that we are facing temptation we need to be instant in our rebuking of that temptation.
All too often we recognize that we are being tempted but then something else comes into play- our lust to give into that temptation. We feel a rush of desire towards that temptation. That IS what temptation is, isn't it? Being face to face with the opportunity to give into a desire, a lust we hold. I'm not talking uniquely sexual desire or sexual lust, but a desire or lust for anything that is sin. You can desire an object, you can lust after gold. When the desire is for something forbidden- another man's wife, a treasure of gold belonging to another- you are tempted wrongly, tempted towards sin. When you indulge that temptation in your thoughts you are imagining yourself committing the sin, you are entertaining sin as being something good- allowing it to fill your mind crowding out truth, crowding out God because God cannot dwell where sin dwells.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
'Whosoever LOOKETH on a woman to LUST after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'
It's not enough to just keep ourselves from the act of outward sin- we MUST keep our hearts and minds pure, we must keep our hearts and minds on our Savior, not self and self desires, self lusts.
We must REBUKE temptation instantly! We must not look upon our temptation and lust for it in our heart. We must not come face to face with temptation and embrace it. We must not think about our temptation and continue to think upon it. The more lust after our temptation the more likely we are to give into that temptation, the more we lust after our temptation in becomes sin right there in our minds even if we never act upon that lust.
Lust--
epithumeō
ep-ee-thoo-meh'-o
From G1909 and G2372; to set the heart upon, that is, long for (rightfully or otherwise): - covet, desire, would fain, lust (after).
If our hearts are SET upon, if we are coveting in our hearts ANY SIN we are guilty of that sin. May God keep us from coveting any sin whatsoever! Sin is to be abhorred, not just - not physically committed. How many, many people do not commit the physical act of sin yet in their hearts they sin continuously all the while patting themselves on the back for NOT actually sinning. Is it any wonder our Savior is going to say to so many people that He never knew them, when there they'll be thinking they should be saved. Sin begins in the heart. When our hearts desire is to sin we are sinning. Our Lord must be our all in all. Our treasures MUST be in heaven. Our hearts desire must be towards God, towards His love and not towards self. We have resist the pull to self and that pull is soooooooooo great because we have people on all sides wanting to help us indulge self, and we have a GREAT adversary who wants nothing more than for us to put self first, we have a flesh nature that wars against the spiritual nature.
The path is narrow, few will find it, please God we pray that we are among the few! We pray we are known by You! We pray for the ability to rebuke temptation, to rebuke even thoughts of temptation. By Your grace! By Your will! In Your love!
Amen!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Agree with thine adversary quickly
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Agree- reconcile with
Adversary- enemy, opponent
This seems strange doesn't it? Agreeing with one you don't agree with on principle. To have an enemy, to have an opponent means not agreeing with that person- they are your enemy, you obviously don't agree. Can you think of a person who is or has been your adversary in the past, or even currently? In thinking about them what makes them your adversary? You could say something as simple as ' "I just don't like them." and that could be true, we don't instantly like everyone, some people are very abrasive to our personalities and seem very incompatible. So we just don't like them and they just don't like us and in not liking each other we aren't inclined to want to be agreeable with each other. However, and this is a big HOWEVER, Jesus would have us LOVE our enemies and adversaries.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies...
Just in the previous verses Jesus is teaching us the importance of loving our fellowman. How we aren't to treat others badly, we can't judge another's eternal life, we can't KNOW another as God can know them.
So when Jesus tells us to agree with our adversaries He's NOT telling us to BE LIKE our adversaries. Jesus is NOT telling us to agree to their evil and commit evil with them. Jesus is really telling us to LOVE our adversary. We can LOVE our enemies, we can love our adversaries because GOD loves us! If we are loveable to God, then our enemies are loveable to God, and if our enemies are loveable to God they are loveable to us. Do we have to like them? No. Do we have to like what they do? No. Can we judge their actions? We HAVE to judge their actions because the actions people make reveal right and wrong and by judging an action we decide whether or not we're going to do right or wrong ourselves. We must love but commit no sin in doing so. Agreeing with our adversaries does not mean going along with their sins, their crimes, their wrongs. If we were asked by our adversary to commit sin we should NOT commit sin- it's not that sort of agreeing!
Agree- G2468 G2132
G2468
??´s??
isthi
is'-thee
Second person imperative present of G1510; be thou: - + agree, be, X give thyself wholly to.
e????´e?
eunoeo¯
yoo-no-eh'-o
From a compound of G2095 and G3563; to be well minded, that is, reconcile: - agree.
Be well minded, be reconciled-
Webster--
Reconciled
RECONCI'LED, pp. Brought into friendship from a state of disagreement or enmity; made consistent; adjusted.
Webster--
Agree
AGREE', v.i.[L. gratia. the primary sense is advancing, from the same root as L. gradior.]
5. To come to a compromise of differences; to be reconciled.
AGREE', v.t. To admit, or come to one mind concerning; as, to agree the fact. Also, to reconcile or make friends; to put an end to variance; but these senses are unusual and hardly legitimate. Let the parties agree the fact, is really elliptical; let them agree on the fact.
I like this definition- to come to a compromise of differences- to be reconciled.
When we are with our adversaries and there are intense disagreements, resolving things is very important. When two people usually buckle down and don't *agree to disagree* they are digging their heels in and that refusal to PUT SELF aside is where Jesus would have us emulate Him and shove self totally aside and when that happens more often than not there is a reconciliation.
Self is often unwilling to agree to disagree. Self is right there wanting victory. Self wants to be proven right at all costs. Self wants earthly justice which is often missing in many, many trials between adversaries. I've found out personally dealing with the courts and my ex-husband for child support issues that fairness, justice is RARE! That's just my experience there but I'm sure there are a lot of instances where justice seems absent and the guilty win over and over again. We see a whole lot of *proven innocent years later through DNA evidence* going on and for every case that is proven you know there have to be so many more that are as well but they're not proven. Satan loves when the innocent suffer and if he can get an innocent put in jail he has an easy situation in which to corrupt that person. They might not have been guilty before but the incarceration experience changes all that. Is it any wonder we should not be eager to get involved in situations that lead to adversarial disagreements that could have us end up in jail?
Brotherly love, selflessness, these are things Jesus wants to teach us, things we should all be learning and building on that learning experience daily. We have countless opportunities to love, to show the love of our Savior.
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
We should show brotherly love and selflessness when we are with our adversaries, having a willingness to agree to disagree, having a willingness to be cheated, abused, face injustices without seeking vengeance. Jesus is our example in ALL things and there were many adversaries He faced that wanted to do Him harm. He didn't provoke them. He didn't taunt them. He didn't seek earthly justice. He spoke truthfully in all things but He did not egg on His adversaries hoping they'd drag Him to court. The Apostles were the same. They did NOT provoke their adversaries, they did stand up for the truth in all things and they were judged and killed for their faith. Does this mean they didn't listen to Jesus? That they didn't *agree* with their adversaries? No. They did listen to Jesus. They NEVER senselessly sought to provoke their adversaries, never.
Jesus would have us love one another selflessly. When we find ourselves in-- let's call them *tense* situations, when we face adversarial encounters , let's remember Jesus' words. It's not important that we garner justice here on earth no matter how much we desire that justice. Allowing others to seek our pain and use the government court system to increase that pain tenfold- or to the *uttermost farthing* isn't what Jesus would have us do. We must do as He would have us do, we must learn what Jesus wants to teach us and by His grace we will!
In His love!
Amen.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Agree- reconcile with
Adversary- enemy, opponent
This seems strange doesn't it? Agreeing with one you don't agree with on principle. To have an enemy, to have an opponent means not agreeing with that person- they are your enemy, you obviously don't agree. Can you think of a person who is or has been your adversary in the past, or even currently? In thinking about them what makes them your adversary? You could say something as simple as ' "I just don't like them." and that could be true, we don't instantly like everyone, some people are very abrasive to our personalities and seem very incompatible. So we just don't like them and they just don't like us and in not liking each other we aren't inclined to want to be agreeable with each other. However, and this is a big HOWEVER, Jesus would have us LOVE our enemies and adversaries.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies...
Just in the previous verses Jesus is teaching us the importance of loving our fellowman. How we aren't to treat others badly, we can't judge another's eternal life, we can't KNOW another as God can know them.
So when Jesus tells us to agree with our adversaries He's NOT telling us to BE LIKE our adversaries. Jesus is NOT telling us to agree to their evil and commit evil with them. Jesus is really telling us to LOVE our adversary. We can LOVE our enemies, we can love our adversaries because GOD loves us! If we are loveable to God, then our enemies are loveable to God, and if our enemies are loveable to God they are loveable to us. Do we have to like them? No. Do we have to like what they do? No. Can we judge their actions? We HAVE to judge their actions because the actions people make reveal right and wrong and by judging an action we decide whether or not we're going to do right or wrong ourselves. We must love but commit no sin in doing so. Agreeing with our adversaries does not mean going along with their sins, their crimes, their wrongs. If we were asked by our adversary to commit sin we should NOT commit sin- it's not that sort of agreeing!
Agree- G2468 G2132
G2468
??´s??
isthi
is'-thee
Second person imperative present of G1510; be thou: - + agree, be, X give thyself wholly to.
e????´e?
eunoeo¯
yoo-no-eh'-o
From a compound of G2095 and G3563; to be well minded, that is, reconcile: - agree.
Be well minded, be reconciled-
Webster--
Reconciled
RECONCI'LED, pp. Brought into friendship from a state of disagreement or enmity; made consistent; adjusted.
Webster--
Agree
AGREE', v.i.[L. gratia. the primary sense is advancing, from the same root as L. gradior.]
5. To come to a compromise of differences; to be reconciled.
AGREE', v.t. To admit, or come to one mind concerning; as, to agree the fact. Also, to reconcile or make friends; to put an end to variance; but these senses are unusual and hardly legitimate. Let the parties agree the fact, is really elliptical; let them agree on the fact.
I like this definition- to come to a compromise of differences- to be reconciled.
When we are with our adversaries and there are intense disagreements, resolving things is very important. When two people usually buckle down and don't *agree to disagree* they are digging their heels in and that refusal to PUT SELF aside is where Jesus would have us emulate Him and shove self totally aside and when that happens more often than not there is a reconciliation.
Self is often unwilling to agree to disagree. Self is right there wanting victory. Self wants to be proven right at all costs. Self wants earthly justice which is often missing in many, many trials between adversaries. I've found out personally dealing with the courts and my ex-husband for child support issues that fairness, justice is RARE! That's just my experience there but I'm sure there are a lot of instances where justice seems absent and the guilty win over and over again. We see a whole lot of *proven innocent years later through DNA evidence* going on and for every case that is proven you know there have to be so many more that are as well but they're not proven. Satan loves when the innocent suffer and if he can get an innocent put in jail he has an easy situation in which to corrupt that person. They might not have been guilty before but the incarceration experience changes all that. Is it any wonder we should not be eager to get involved in situations that lead to adversarial disagreements that could have us end up in jail?
Brotherly love, selflessness, these are things Jesus wants to teach us, things we should all be learning and building on that learning experience daily. We have countless opportunities to love, to show the love of our Savior.
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
We should show brotherly love and selflessness when we are with our adversaries, having a willingness to agree to disagree, having a willingness to be cheated, abused, face injustices without seeking vengeance. Jesus is our example in ALL things and there were many adversaries He faced that wanted to do Him harm. He didn't provoke them. He didn't taunt them. He didn't seek earthly justice. He spoke truthfully in all things but He did not egg on His adversaries hoping they'd drag Him to court. The Apostles were the same. They did NOT provoke their adversaries, they did stand up for the truth in all things and they were judged and killed for their faith. Does this mean they didn't listen to Jesus? That they didn't *agree* with their adversaries? No. They did listen to Jesus. They NEVER senselessly sought to provoke their adversaries, never.
Jesus would have us love one another selflessly. When we find ourselves in-- let's call them *tense* situations, when we face adversarial encounters , let's remember Jesus' words. It's not important that we garner justice here on earth no matter how much we desire that justice. Allowing others to seek our pain and use the government court system to increase that pain tenfold- or to the *uttermost farthing* isn't what Jesus would have us do. We must do as He would have us do, we must learn what Jesus wants to teach us and by His grace we will!
In His love!
Amen.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Merciful love
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
What exactly is our Savior teaching us here? Brotherly love? How important is it that we not even get angry with each other? Seriously. We so easily get angry with each other that it's become common place and we've minimalized it into being something of non-importance. To hear someone say that another person made them so angry- means nothing, we're not shocked by it at all, in fact we expect that people will anger each other. Controlling our anger has become something people have made jobs out of. Anger management is something a court will sentence a person to in an effort to rid them of destructive anger. We have doctors prescribing pills to relax people and keep them from allowing their natural tendency for anger to get the best of them. We teach our children that anger is punishable all the while they witness our anger in our every day lives- on the drive to the store, as we rant about being short changed, when we yell at them and get angry with them for some misbehavior. I've seen babies - yes, babies throwing tantrums, we all know about the 'terrible twos'. A two year old throwing a fit of anger. How about a one year old screaming and turning red in the face, little bodies shaking because they've been denied something they want?
Anger is another trait of our flesh- just as lust is, just as so many detrimental attributes we are born with. These flesh traits are not something we can ignore and just say oh well, that's just how it is. These flesh traits can and will dominate us if we simply let them, submitting to the flesh, embracing the natural. Many will say that because something is natural it has to be acceptable and fine. It's natural but we only allow that up to a point as an excuse for naturally bad behavior. People *born* that way, born with the natural tendency towards evil we've locked up and even put to death.
There is a line WE - in our world-wide civilized society - draw. We draw the lines and make them into our laws that must be followed and if not followed then there is a penalty for breaking those laws.
God's laws coincide a lot with our supposed man-made laws. We have laws against murder and God has a law against murder. We have laws against stealing and God has a law against stealing. And so on…
Yet God's laws start to differ from ours when God says- 'Thou shalt have no other God before me', 'Thou shalt not worship any graven image.', 'Thou shalt not take God's name in vain.' , 'Thou shalt not covet.' Do you see… God's laws differ and become what people consider religious laws- not civil, not government laws. This allows those who choose NOT to follow God's law freedom from having to obey them. While people in our society generally have NO problem keeping government law the majority do have a problem with keeping God's laws, even the most staunch civil law keepers in existence, the most upright citizens- those who have been rewarded for their honesty - even they will think nothing of breaking God's laws, thinking they don't matter at all.
People have tried to do away with God's laws, people have tried to change God's laws, but God's laws do not change and they can't be done away with- remember this…
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
When Jesus tells us this…
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
… we must listen!
Jesus isn't giving us a NEW law, Jesus is explaining an OLD law, the real meaning of the law, undistorted. The law of love, and that law is for the love of God and our fellow man. LOVE. MERCIFUL LOVE.
And merciful love demands we go beyond what has been deemed acceptable- to what is truly acceptable by our Lord and Savior.
We are not to be angry without cause- true cause- not trumped up causes of selfishness, not petulant causes. We are not to call others worthless, to God none are worthless, all are worth saving not all however choose to be saved. We should not call others foolish, stupid again because we are to be judged by God. Yes, we judge actions and the actions a person makes may be stupid and foolish, but that doesn't mean that they are stupid and foolish. Labeling another human being tends to make it so they are judged and to judge so that we look down upon another person is NOT our right- only God's. The worst of the worst can only truly be judged by our Lord who knows the end from the beginning, who knows the heart inside and out, who knows a person like no other can ever possibly know them. We might THINK we know people, especially those we live with and those we love, but we don't. We do NOT know the heart, we do not know the spirit of a man, be hardly know ourselves let alone any others.
We need to know that what we say and what we do has an affect on others and if we demean another human being it puts us in danger and we cannot be right with our Lord until we do all we can to make things right with that person we've demeaned.
People joke about the 12 Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous when it comes to the part about having to go to all those you've hurt and make amends, there have been numerous comedies that have included this step- that's not to say there haven't been drama's and based on true story movies as well with this included. The point I'm trying to make with mentioning the amendment step in the 12 steps of AA is that this program uses this principle of making amends with our fellowman and that's something very important for ALL mankind not just those in AA.
Our great teacher wants us to learn from Him that we are to be like Him in any way we can. No, we aren't perfect and any perfection we ever do hope for comes from Him. We need to love like Jesus loves and treat others as Jesus would treat them. We have to forget about what our society thinks because the world is not of Jesus, another is in control of this world and governs the majority of the people. With that knowledge we have to realize that the only source of truth comes from our Savior. Not that other people can't be honest and such, but Jesus was honest and truthful in ALL things, in ALL ways.
Our Savior would have us love and we need to learn to love, and love through Him.
By His grace!
Amen.
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
What exactly is our Savior teaching us here? Brotherly love? How important is it that we not even get angry with each other? Seriously. We so easily get angry with each other that it's become common place and we've minimalized it into being something of non-importance. To hear someone say that another person made them so angry- means nothing, we're not shocked by it at all, in fact we expect that people will anger each other. Controlling our anger has become something people have made jobs out of. Anger management is something a court will sentence a person to in an effort to rid them of destructive anger. We have doctors prescribing pills to relax people and keep them from allowing their natural tendency for anger to get the best of them. We teach our children that anger is punishable all the while they witness our anger in our every day lives- on the drive to the store, as we rant about being short changed, when we yell at them and get angry with them for some misbehavior. I've seen babies - yes, babies throwing tantrums, we all know about the 'terrible twos'. A two year old throwing a fit of anger. How about a one year old screaming and turning red in the face, little bodies shaking because they've been denied something they want?
Anger is another trait of our flesh- just as lust is, just as so many detrimental attributes we are born with. These flesh traits are not something we can ignore and just say oh well, that's just how it is. These flesh traits can and will dominate us if we simply let them, submitting to the flesh, embracing the natural. Many will say that because something is natural it has to be acceptable and fine. It's natural but we only allow that up to a point as an excuse for naturally bad behavior. People *born* that way, born with the natural tendency towards evil we've locked up and even put to death.
There is a line WE - in our world-wide civilized society - draw. We draw the lines and make them into our laws that must be followed and if not followed then there is a penalty for breaking those laws.
God's laws coincide a lot with our supposed man-made laws. We have laws against murder and God has a law against murder. We have laws against stealing and God has a law against stealing. And so on…
Yet God's laws start to differ from ours when God says- 'Thou shalt have no other God before me', 'Thou shalt not worship any graven image.', 'Thou shalt not take God's name in vain.' , 'Thou shalt not covet.' Do you see… God's laws differ and become what people consider religious laws- not civil, not government laws. This allows those who choose NOT to follow God's law freedom from having to obey them. While people in our society generally have NO problem keeping government law the majority do have a problem with keeping God's laws, even the most staunch civil law keepers in existence, the most upright citizens- those who have been rewarded for their honesty - even they will think nothing of breaking God's laws, thinking they don't matter at all.
People have tried to do away with God's laws, people have tried to change God's laws, but God's laws do not change and they can't be done away with- remember this…
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
When Jesus tells us this…
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
… we must listen!
Jesus isn't giving us a NEW law, Jesus is explaining an OLD law, the real meaning of the law, undistorted. The law of love, and that law is for the love of God and our fellow man. LOVE. MERCIFUL LOVE.
And merciful love demands we go beyond what has been deemed acceptable- to what is truly acceptable by our Lord and Savior.
We are not to be angry without cause- true cause- not trumped up causes of selfishness, not petulant causes. We are not to call others worthless, to God none are worthless, all are worth saving not all however choose to be saved. We should not call others foolish, stupid again because we are to be judged by God. Yes, we judge actions and the actions a person makes may be stupid and foolish, but that doesn't mean that they are stupid and foolish. Labeling another human being tends to make it so they are judged and to judge so that we look down upon another person is NOT our right- only God's. The worst of the worst can only truly be judged by our Lord who knows the end from the beginning, who knows the heart inside and out, who knows a person like no other can ever possibly know them. We might THINK we know people, especially those we live with and those we love, but we don't. We do NOT know the heart, we do not know the spirit of a man, be hardly know ourselves let alone any others.
We need to know that what we say and what we do has an affect on others and if we demean another human being it puts us in danger and we cannot be right with our Lord until we do all we can to make things right with that person we've demeaned.
People joke about the 12 Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous when it comes to the part about having to go to all those you've hurt and make amends, there have been numerous comedies that have included this step- that's not to say there haven't been drama's and based on true story movies as well with this included. The point I'm trying to make with mentioning the amendment step in the 12 steps of AA is that this program uses this principle of making amends with our fellowman and that's something very important for ALL mankind not just those in AA.
Our great teacher wants us to learn from Him that we are to be like Him in any way we can. No, we aren't perfect and any perfection we ever do hope for comes from Him. We need to love like Jesus loves and treat others as Jesus would treat them. We have to forget about what our society thinks because the world is not of Jesus, another is in control of this world and governs the majority of the people. With that knowledge we have to realize that the only source of truth comes from our Savior. Not that other people can't be honest and such, but Jesus was honest and truthful in ALL things, in ALL ways.
Our Savior would have us love and we need to learn to love, and love through Him.
By His grace!
Amen.
Except your righteousness shall exceed...
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Remember this… Mat 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
We talked about this verse before and the fact that Jesus taught as one with authority and NOT as the scribes. We discovered that the scribes were proud men who wanted adoration, who wanted to be thought of as being very important. These were men that were more interested in their status than in their relationship with God. These men believed themselves to be the 'greatest' among other men and so is it any wonder that Jesus taught NOT as the scribes. Is it any wonder these words of Jesus come to us?
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
OUR righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
We already know that it is our Savior's righteousness that saves us not our own- yet we read these words- except our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees we will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven. This clearly states *our* righteousness. And you know what? From all we've learned so far OUR righteousness is CHRIST'S righteousness. We have to RELY on His righteousness and NO scribe, and NO Pharisee was willing to accept Christ's righteousness.
Those who are UNWILLING to accept Christ's righteousness will NOT be saved, they will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven, they CAN'T enter the kingdom of heaven because our Savior has reserved the kingdom of heaven for those who are HIS.
Our righteousness, if we accept Jesus as our Savior, is HIS righteousness. We cannot forget this! We have to live with this as our reality.
Psa 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness
We are delivered in GOD'S righteousness.
The scribes and Pharisees believed their own righteousness was a righteous as you could get, never believing their righteousness meant absolutely nothing. They believed they could save themselves because they were after all Scribes, the were the elite Pharisees of God's chosen people. Obviously they didn't learn the lesson their revered Moses had to learn. We are to take NO glory to ourselves, none. It's by the grace of God alone we live. It is God's power, not ours that saves us. It is God's power not ours that all good things come from. God's glory is everything, we have NO glory except in Him. We HAVE TO LEARN THIS! This is the lesson our Savior needs for us to understand. This is the lesson our great Teacher is bringing to us. In the flesh He is bringing to life all that we need to know all that God has desired we know, that we learn of Him. He is our all in all. Our very breath comes from Him, our lives come from Him, our eternal life will come from Him.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
By the grace of our Savior we will have His righteousness as ours, the only righteousness that will deliver us.
Amen!
Remember this… Mat 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
We talked about this verse before and the fact that Jesus taught as one with authority and NOT as the scribes. We discovered that the scribes were proud men who wanted adoration, who wanted to be thought of as being very important. These were men that were more interested in their status than in their relationship with God. These men believed themselves to be the 'greatest' among other men and so is it any wonder that Jesus taught NOT as the scribes. Is it any wonder these words of Jesus come to us?
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
OUR righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
We already know that it is our Savior's righteousness that saves us not our own- yet we read these words- except our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees we will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven. This clearly states *our* righteousness. And you know what? From all we've learned so far OUR righteousness is CHRIST'S righteousness. We have to RELY on His righteousness and NO scribe, and NO Pharisee was willing to accept Christ's righteousness.
Those who are UNWILLING to accept Christ's righteousness will NOT be saved, they will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven, they CAN'T enter the kingdom of heaven because our Savior has reserved the kingdom of heaven for those who are HIS.
Our righteousness, if we accept Jesus as our Savior, is HIS righteousness. We cannot forget this! We have to live with this as our reality.
Psa 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness
We are delivered in GOD'S righteousness.
The scribes and Pharisees believed their own righteousness was a righteous as you could get, never believing their righteousness meant absolutely nothing. They believed they could save themselves because they were after all Scribes, the were the elite Pharisees of God's chosen people. Obviously they didn't learn the lesson their revered Moses had to learn. We are to take NO glory to ourselves, none. It's by the grace of God alone we live. It is God's power, not ours that saves us. It is God's power not ours that all good things come from. God's glory is everything, we have NO glory except in Him. We HAVE TO LEARN THIS! This is the lesson our Savior needs for us to understand. This is the lesson our great Teacher is bringing to us. In the flesh He is bringing to life all that we need to know all that God has desired we know, that we learn of Him. He is our all in all. Our very breath comes from Him, our lives come from Him, our eternal life will come from Him.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
By the grace of our Savior we will have His righteousness as ours, the only righteousness that will deliver us.
Amen!
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