14 items found for ""
- November 11, 2024 - Psalm 139:23 - Search me, O God
Psalm 139:23 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the Way Everlasting." When the LORD hides Himself from one of His own it causes great searching of the heart and how we need that heart exercised! Many times we are looking for a reason outside of ourselves as to why God does what He does. How we need these heart searchings that the LORD causes in hiding Himself. Some nights you lay there awake, your mind spinning and turning and there is a fretfulness; there may be fear; there might even be a sense of guilt, and dreadful unbelief. It's like someone taking a stick and churning a pot, and all of the filth coming to the surface. The LORD purposes these things that we might know our heart, but more so to know our need, that apart from the righteousness of the LORD Jesus Christ ALONE, we have no hope. That leads then to expose the sinfulness of sin, lest we ever think that somehow we have outgrown sin, as some preach 'progressive sanctification,' that somehow the heart becomes less and less sinful. Well, for the LORD's children, such is not their thought, and if they ever begin to think that way, God in mercy hides Himself to expose the sinfulness of their sin. The LORD hiding Himself also brings about an earnest longing for Him, and even restless seeking and fervent prayer after Him. We would not even pray were it not that He withholds for a season His presence, hides Himself. Just as water is vital to our survival in the flesh, so is the Water of the Word to the soul. Go for awhile without and pretty soon there develops a thirst. That is what the LORD is pleased to do, as we see in Psalm 42 verse 1, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the Living God:" What it brings us to, dear friend, is that we cannot live without Him. As one writer said of Christ, "His presence is heaven but His absence is hell!" Amen!
- November 10, 2024 - Hebrews 9:22 - Without Shedding of Blood is No Remission
Hebrews 9:22 "...without shedding of blood is no remission." Some say they can't understand why the Gospel is such a bloody one. They say that it is distasteful and the 'god of love' would never have required such a thing. Well, in their depravity they are right, a 'god of love' would have no need for legal satisfaction and justice for sin because that god is not holy. Their god is weak and subject to change, just like the men that created him. But the True God of the Bible is a Holy and Just God. His justice had to be satisfied with blood shed unto death in payment for sin. Christ is not waiting for anything from us, we are incapable of anything Good. That's why the Father made a covenant with His Son to intervene for His chosen sinners. If you're not convinced of the sickness, wickedness, and evil of sin, then the Holy Spirit has not educated you by His Word. You can't sugar-coat sin. While it sounds nice to say that we 'slipped up' or 'erred' or told a 'little while lie,' in reality, everything done outside of Christ is sin and worthy of death. God didn't leave the fate of His children in their own sinful hands! No, the Sovereign God gave us to His Beloved Son and when He opens your heart to this Truth you'll be beyond grateful, knowing you would be lost forever without Him. "For the life of the flesh in in the blood:...for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11) The blood of innocent animals was only a covering until the blood of Christ was shed unto death, on the cross at Calvary, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?" (Hebrews 9:14) Christ was both innocent of sin and righteous by obedience, the only complete, satisfactory Sacrifice. He is the blood that purged, cleansed us from our own dead blood, "And from Jesus Christ, Who is the Faithful Witness, and the First Begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood..." (Revelation 1:5) "For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28) Christ Jesus our LORD, by His blood, we have Life!
- November 9, 2024 - Romans 8:15
Romans 8:15 "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." This flesh, this world, and the enemy will all hound you while you are on this earth. Death, sorrow, suffering and fear seem to prevail in this fallen world. Like Lot, the regenerated children of God are vexed, distressed by this world of evil, "...Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." (2 Peter 2:7) But these things that vex us are ALL temporary and yet, ordained of God, for His glory. Aren't we told by the Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 12 and verse 6, that God takes care of even the little sparrows, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?" (Luke 12:6) We still fret, don't we, in our sinful minds? But He tells us to remember that every detail, even the hairs on our head, are numbered by the very God Who made each hair and placed each hair where it is, or isn't, "But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12:7) God may seem very far from us during times of distress and trial, but that's only a symptom of our fallen and depraved flesh, the short-sighted weakness of our unbelief. But we are told to cast ALL our cares on Christ Jesus our LORD, our Father, Who shed His precious blood unto death on the cross to redeem us. He is ALWAYS with us, even when we think He has forsaken us, "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." (1 Peter 5:7) As Paul reminds us, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5) So, dear friends, may we glorify our Heavenly Father while we are in this flesh, by crying out from our hearts, by His Spirit, "Abba Father!" "...God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6)
- November 8, 2024 - Job 5:17-18
Job 5:17-18 "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands make whole." Job was well aware of the chastening of the LORD. Here He comforts us that it's for our correction, not for our destruction. Chastening is teaching, meant for our enlightenment, "Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the Light of the Living." (Job 33:29-30) Chastening brings the children of God back from the pit of self-righteousness to learn of Christ, "The LORD hath chastened me sore: but He hath not given me over unto death...I will praise Thee: for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The Stone which the builders refused is become the Head Stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes...O LORD, I beseech Thee, send now Prosperity. Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed You." (Psalm 118:18-26) So how did Christ " become " our salvation? By His coming to this earth, in the flesh, fulfilling all the law and dying a righteous death, in our place, as our Substitute. When we stray from the Truth (not 'if' but 'when'), thinking ourselves righteous in any way, the LORD will bring trials and afflictions. He may take away what we believe is needful but only Christ is needful and He will never be taken away, " ...One Thing is needful:...that Good Part, which shall not be taken away." (Luke 10:42) "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:11) God's chastening yields the Fruit of Righteousness, Spiritual Prosperity, the Light of the Living, Christ Jesus our LORD, our Salvation Who made us whole!
- November 7, 2024 - John 14:2
John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you..." So, how exactly was Christ going to 'prepare' a place? Was He going to build some furniture to put in those mansions maybe? No, Christ is speaking here of His death on the cross. You see, in order to prepare a place for those given to Him by the Father before time began, He had to shed His blood unto death to purchase the release of each one from the sentence of an eternity in hell. They had to be redeemed, made righteous, justified from their sins against God before they would be allowed to spend eternity with Him in His mansions. I can remember many years back they always used to say, "Leave the Gospel of John everywhere you go because that is the simplest of all Scripture to understand." But the more I study the book of John, the more I realize how little I know by this flesh. There is such amazing depth and such richness regarding Christ Jesus in each verse of Scripture, that apart from the Spirit of God teaching us, we would miss the very One that's set forth, "But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10) Being finite creatures, we know so little of the universe around us and even less about the God Who created it all, but in time, He is pleased to reveal the rich, yet free Truth to His children, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." (1 Corinthians 2:12) "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven..." (Matthew 13:11) So may we rejoice in the Word of the LORD, savor Him, be grateful for Him and, "Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given." (Mark 4:24)
- November 6, 2024 - Exodus 20:3
Exodus 20:3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." What was it that was sinful about Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It became their god, their idol. It was not even when they ate of the fruit that they fell: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food," (Genesis 3:6) Eve thought it good, even though God had said it was not good, and Adam must have agreed that it was good because he didn't stop her and ate of it himself. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5) They wanted to be gods. You hear people saying, "Well, I think that God ought to leave the choice up to man." But look what happened when He did! The example of free will was when Adam and Eve, in that upright state, chose to go against God's Word, and I will tell you that the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' today represents all of false religion, which is idolatry. People can change from one congregation to another, one denomination to another, but that is only jumping from one branch of that idolatrous tree to another. Men still run around in circles trying to figure out what is good and what is evil. Every congregation by their bylaws or by what is preached are telling people what is good and evil. But I will tell you this: if it is not the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus alone then it is evil! It does not matter what men say. What God says, His Word, is Good and believing anything else is evil. But you have people out there, right now that are looking at their own morality, looking at their own faith, looking at their own personal obedience, looking at their own progressive sanctification. The bottom line is that they are looking everywhere but Christ and His finished work. Someone had their Bible out this past week and said, "Well, I'm working on defeating temptation this week." Evil is looking to methods and ways of trying to figure out how to be righteous which makes God's Word a lie. That is how they read the Bible. "It's all about me!" If you say, "Well what about Christ?" They will say, "Yes, him too." But that is the idolatry. They do not believe God. The 'christ' they see is a failure. They do not believe Christ has finished the work. They think they must finish the work. They think they can finish the work and in blindness become their own idol. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ, Who is the Image of God, should shine unto them." (2 Corinthians 4:4) There is only One Image of the Invisible God that He has ever purposed and that is His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ: "the Image of the Invisible God," (Colossians 1:15) Only God can give eyes to see Christ and His finished work! ALL Glory to God in Christ alone! "So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him." (Matthew 20:34)
- November 5, 2024 - Proverbs 21:1
Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will." The Word tells us that God ordained some kings to be evil in His eyes, "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father." (1 Kings 11:5-6) David used his power as king to abduct Bathsheba from her home, "David sent messengers, and took her..." (2 Samuel 11:4) Then he used his power as king to cover his crime by sending her husband, his soldier, to the front line of the war to be killed. But God turned David's heart to Him to confess his sin against God, that's repentance. Solomon, on the other hand, continued in his evil, "...he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." (1 Kings 11:3) David's idol became the mother of Solomon, according to God's providence, to continue David's lineage for God's Son to be born on this earth, in flesh, to save His people by His death, as ordained from eternity. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the LORD's sake...to the king, as supreme..." (1 Peter 2:13) The children of God will submit themselves to the LORD's will, not idolizing those He puts in power but recognizing them as mere men, appointed by the King of kings, not to prosper themselves but to do God's will, for God's Glory and for our Good (Christ), "And both of these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed." (Daniel 11:27)
- November 4, 2024 - Galatians 4:4
Galatians 4:4 "But when the fullness of the time was come..." In the dimension of time, natural men are ruled by it. We celebrate the passing of time even as we inch closer to our end. We say that time heals all wounds but it's not time that heals the wounds of our sinful flesh, it's Jesus Who came into time for us; "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son..." We can only be truly healed by the wounds of our Substitute; our LORD Jesus Christ, "For thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous." (Jeremiah 30:12) "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities...and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) It's all Christ: His perfectly obedient life and His perfectly obedient suffering and His perfectly obedient death that healed His children from our sins, for ever more. Ordained in eternity, where there is no time, yet carried out in time and the "fullness" thereof; He is our Healing, "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in One all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him..." (Ephesians 1:10) We celebrate the One Who heals; the Greatest Physician. We'll have no scars in our new flesh from our sin that He saved us from, only the scars of our Savior will remain to His glory and we'll rejoice in Him forever more! "Behold, I make all things new..." (Revelation 21:5) ...in Christ alone!
- November 3, 2024 - Revelation 3:20
Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the Door, and Knock: if any man hear My Voice, and open the Door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me." So, is the LORD of All Creation standing outside some kind of 'door' of free-will, waiting for someone to answer? No, He is the Door, "I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in, He shall be saved..." (John 10:9) We enter in by Him. The Knock is the preaching of the Gospel, the Word of God, "...praying also for us, that God would open unto us a Door of Utterance, to speak the Mystery of Christ..." (Colossians 4:3) His Word, the Voice of God, goes forth at His direction and those who hear His Voice were given ears by Him and they had the Door opened by Him, "...how He had opened the Door of Faith..." (Acts 14:27) The "Knock" of Christ and Him crucified draws us to Him, the Door of Heaven, "...behold, a Door was opened in Heaven..." (Revelation 4:1) "And I...will draw all men unto Me." (John 12:32) The Knock of the True Gospel isn't an opportunity but an announcement, a declaration of Salvation, by the Key of David; God in sinless flesh, Who unlocked, opened the Door of Heaven by His sacrificial death, "...These things saith...He that hath the Key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth..." (Revelation 3:7) Jesus is the Door into Heaven, unlocked by Him, opened by Him, He is the Knock, He gives the hearing to hear His Knock, He draws His sinners with His Knock and we eat of Him and with Him; the Bread of Life. ALL the glory goes to Christ Alone!
- November 2, 2024 - Isaiah 12:3
Isaiah 12:3 "Therefore with joy shall ye draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation." These Words of God speak of Himself, the Water of Eternal Life, the Word of God as revealed to His children by His Spirit. This was His main mission when He went through Samaria; to draw some of His children to Himself and to cause them to draw the Living Water "with joy," from Him; God in the flesh. "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well... There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, give Me to drink." (John 4:6-7) This woman of Samaria was confused at first but the Spirit gave her ears to hear, "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered...If thou knewest the Gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee Living Water. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou that living water?" (John 4:9-11) She thought Jesus was talking about the water of the world but His Words revealed the Truth, "...the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth...God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him mush worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." (John 4:23-24) Jesus the Well of Truth, draws each one of His own to Himself and gives each one the Gift of God; the Word of Life; the Living Water: Himself, "And many more believed because of His own Word...we have heard Him...this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." (John 4:41-42) Indeed!
- November 1, 2024 - Isaiah 58:11
Isaiah 58:11 "And the LORD shall...satisfy thy soul in drought...and thou shalt; be like a Watered garden..." The LORD has made water to be such an awesome picture of Christ. Water can exist in any form: solid, liquid, or vapor. It's a solvent (a cleanser), just as He is that Cleansing Water that washed away our sin-tainted blood at the cross; "Then washed I thee with Water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood..." (Ezekiel 16:9) Power is displayed in His raging seas, His great floods and in His rivers that cut through rock to leave 'grand' canyons. Water is essential to life and made of only two elements; oxygen and hydrogen, an accurate picture of Christ Jesus: God and Man. And just as water gives life, it can also destroy it. Christ; the Water of Wrath, the Great Flood that carried flesh away to destruction, is also the Water of Life for those redeemed at His cross. He is that "Pure River" that satisfies our soul in the droughts of this fallen world and He makes us to thrive as His garden; "Watered" at Calvary by the Fountain of Life released from His House of Flesh, by His death; "a Fountain shall come forth out of the House of the LORD..." (Joel 3:18); "...when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already...pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and Water." (John 19:33-34); "...a Pure River of Water of Life, clear as crystal..." (Revelation 22:1)
- October 29, 2024 - John 3:5
John 3:5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." This passage in Scripture reveals the Gospel in very few Words. The essentials of salvation are all in this one line. All men born into flesh are sinners and therefore cannot enter the Kingdom of God except they are born again of Christ; the Water of Everlasting Life and born again of the Spirit of God. He is the Promise that had to come to the earth; the union of flesh and the Eternal Spirit of God; Christ the God-Man. Christ's seed, chosen before the foundation of the world, were brought to life with the Water released by His obedient death, "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already...one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." (John 19:33-34); "I am poured out like water..." (Psalm 22:14) The Kingdom of God is Everlasting Life in Christ. His seed are born Spiritually dead in sin in our flesh. He had to give His own righteous flesh as the Sacrifice, in our place, to pay for our sin and then quicken, raise us to Spiritual Life, in Himself, by His Spirit, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a Spiritual body...The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a Quickening Spirit." (1 Corinthians 15: 44-45) All glory and honour to our LORD Jesus Christ, our Water of Life, our Spirit of Life, our Kingdom of God!