June 30, 2021
Isaiah 51:6,” Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished”
It’s hard to imagine what lies ahead even with all the scriptures that provide the facts because when we start thinking about it, it seems too surreal. Then the mind block kicks in because the reality of what God said is coming is at the same time horrible for those in unbelief and wonderful for those who are saved. But the Lord is certainly not silent in His Word about the future and the passage above is one of those that people have tried to disregard as symbolic or poetic rather than literal yet it speaks of an event that even godless science predicts: the ending of things as we know them. At the height of the empires of Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome those living during those times no doubt believed their civilizations had reached a place they would continue forever but we know each of them had their appointed time and the Lord brought them down. When Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall in Daniel 5, The Babylonian empire was enjoying prosperity, culture, and security on a level unknown to the ancient world but remember the words of Daniel’s rebuke to him Daniel 5:18-20, 21, “ O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will”. Following this statement, Daniel revealed Babylon was about to fall and it did so that very night unlike the Roman Empire which passed away gradually but, in all history, God brought nations and empires on the scene of time and took them away. Not only does God do this on a grand scale, but He also does it on more local and regional levels as He said of Sodom in Ezekiel 16:50,” And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good”. And speaking of the large scales, the catastrophic flood of Noah did more than just remove an established empire or nation.
It’s hard to imagine this world without an America but for thousands of years, people came and went on this planet and didn’t even know our continent existed let alone that there would be a nation rise up under the red, white, and blue which would, for a period of time, dominate the thinking, progress, and economies of most of the world. A nation that gave the world great blessings and sacrificed its young sons fighting and dying for the freedoms of people in wars and countries that were not our own. What’s heartbreaking is that almost no one attributes our existence from the discovery of North America to the rise and great blessings of our nation, to the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth but they claim we are here solely because of the adventurous spirit of explorers, coincidences of circumstances, and intelligence and courage of those who settled here and worked hard to make a success. Now we’re fighting over which statues we should keep honoring those we claim have contributed to America’s greatness while at the same time, we’re trying to scrub the Name of God from every public place, every hall of learning, and every public ceremony especially those that include prayer. We’re even starting to follow plans to remove or restrict the worship of the true God when it is not carried out under the banner of our twisted notions of “correctness” while honoring the false religions and cults that blaspheme the God of the Bible and His chosen people, allowing them great freedom in their efforts to dominate our Christian heritage and culture with their lies and violent histories. One question that usually comes up in Bible prophecy studies, is about America’s role in the end times and whether or not this nation would join in the antichrist’s coalition of nations against Israel. There is a possibility that when the tribulation comes, there will not be an America as we know it especially since all believers will be raptured out and the restraint of the Holy Spirit removed. It is arrogant and foolish to believe God will have any pity on this nation after it has denounced Him on every level and fully fits the verse of Psalms 9:17,” The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God”. Christianity was established and expanded for a thousand six hundred years before this country was settled and besides, Israel, not America, is God’s chosen with Jerusalem established in the millennium as the center of the earth Ezekiel 5:5, “ Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”
June 29, 2021
Matthew 13:33,” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
The most common explanation for this parable that has permeated most teaching through the years is that like yeast is added to a dough mix and it soon spreads throughout the entire quantity, so the gospel will fill the entire world until all the world is Christianized. This was the thought and teaching for several hundred years that there would be a time when all nations and people would be evangelized, the kingdom would be complete, and Jesus would return to rule over this vast worldwide regeneration. Some interpreted Constantine’s conversion to Christianity and his order that the Roman Empire become Christian or die as a sort of Manifest Destiny for the faith that either by evangelism or at the point of a sword, paganism would succumb to Christ. But as the years passed and reality set in, it became clear that the whole world was not embracing the gospel and, in some places like China, where Christianity at first found a foothold and missionaries began working hard to establish churches, political upheaval in the early 1900’s stopped the progress, and the expansion of the faith experienced a reversal. There are still preachers and people today who cover their ears and close their eyes to the encroaching darkness of unbelief around the world and continue to shout there’s a great revival happening and soon the whole world will be converted and baptized in the Holy Spirit. But this parable was shocking to the Jews because since the giving of the Law hundreds of years before, leaven was always associated with evil based on the teaching of God’s Word particularly concerning the Passover in which salvation is pictured in Leviticus 12:8 and 12:15-20. Other times Jesus mentioned leaven it was associated with wickedness in Matthew 16:6 and Mark 8:15 and there alone is reason to believe here in this parable it does not represent the goodness of the gospel and massive conversions spreading throughout the world. Also, this interpretation contradicts the parables of the wheat and tares and the dragnet both of which reveal the scenario at the end of the age is a corrupt world with God’s people scattered among it.
The woman in this parable hid the leaven in the meal, a word meaning to conceal and implies the leaven is working secretly until the entire mass (the three measures here is about 50 lbs.) is leavened and surely reminds us of the warnings in Jude 1:4,” For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” and Galatians 5:7-9,” Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Note how in Galatians 5:9, a reference is made again to leaven of which a small amount contaminates the entire mix. If we take a practical view to see how this relates to our current situation, a survey of all that calls itself Christian shows much confusion and disparity of doctrines and as one looks deeper into organizations, ministries, and belief systems under the Christianity umbrella, part of what forms their basic core of teaching is so far removed from Bible principles it’s really what the Bible calls “another gospel” in Galatians 1:6,” I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel”. Take the world at large with all its religious and non-religious belief systems, then take the section labeled as “Christianity” then take the segment of that section who claim to have only the Bible as their source of truth and normally called evangelical, and these are the current estimates: 31% of the world identifies as Christian and 25% of that 31% identifies as evangelical and people who love the Bible and believe it is inerrant, infallible, and inspired then comprise a small percentage of that 25%. The point here is that the leaven has permeated Christianity in almost every area fulfilling the prophetic words of the Lord’s parable.
June 28, 2021
2Thessalonians 2:7-8, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming”
If you watch YouTube or scan social media about things relating to the coming of the Lord, there are lots of sermons and posts about the antichrist and his infamous mark, the “mark of the beast” with all sorts of warnings and theories that it’s related to the Covid Vaccinations, microchip implanting, universal ID cards, or the rise of cryptocurrency and some people are afraid they might get the mark accidentally and be forever doomed. One website I came across recently said getting a tattoo of any sort opens a person up to evil spirits and attracts them resulting in continuous demonic oppression and insures the acceptance of the evil mark. Sowing the seeds of all this unBiblical garbage clutters minds and has the end result of a harvest of unbelief because the things declared as truth never come to pass. After a while, like the fable of the boy who cried wolf, people stop listening to any warning about where the world stands prophetically. It is deception from the enemy because one of his weapons is confusion and God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). Those fearful of losing their soul’s salvation, are either not trusting the finished work of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, or they are not anchored in the Bible truth of their New Testament sonship. Believers are not saved by avoiding the antichrist and his mark but are assured of their eternal salvation by placing their trust in the sacrifice of Jesus but this does not diminish the fact that there are many clues the world is well on its way to seeing the rise of the man of sin.
When this passage speaks of the antichrist, it says in verse 6, “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time” which paraphrased means “you know what is holding him back so he can be revealed when his time comes” and can be speaking of no other than the Holy Spirit because, in our text verse, it declares the antichrist will be restrained until someone, “he”, is taken out of the way. Some people have thought this is referring to the church but, in that case, it would be a plural pronoun such as “they” or even “it” referring to the body of Christ as a whole but instead, the singular third-person “he” is used. The idea is that the plans of the enemy in the person of the false christ, the antichrist and his revealing, are being blocked by the Holy Spirit until the time God permits his appearance. The KJV uses the old English word “let” which means to restrain or hold back and the very thought should give us comfort to know the rise of the antichrist is not on satan’s timetable but is fully under the control of the Almighty God and will not happen until the Lord allows it. The world is not rushing helter-skelter and out of control into the end times but as with all things from the beginning of creation, everything is following a trajectory foreseen and determined by our God. The order of events is that at an appointed time, the church will be taken out and as the Holy Spirit is embodied in every believer, the Holy Spirit’s restraining power will be moved aside allowing the flood of the antichrist and his armies, policies, and deception to sweep those left behind. It is during this time there will be great tribulation on this earth and the antichrist will demand everyone be sealed with his mark, the anthesis of the sealing of believers with the Holy Spirit. The mark of the beast is not being slipped into society right now in the form of a vaccine, debit card, or any other manner because the church is still present on this planet and the Holy Spirit is restraining satan’s man of sin. When the world is under the power of the antichrist, it will be in the midst of a cataclysmic upheaval of war, death, plagues, environmental destruction, the collapse of world economies, and complete worldwide terror on an unimaginable scale. The hope of believers is not in our power to resist the mark of the beast, but in our confidence in the promises of God that say 1Thessalonians 5:9,” For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” and Revelation 3:10,” Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”.
June 27, 2021
Luke 11:5-8,” And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth”
This parable relates to a most important aspect of prayer that should be central to our deliberations when we pray. In the verses before these, the disciples had just asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and He set the example with what we call the Lord’s Prayer then without a break in the dialogue, He connects the prayer with this parable. In those times, the entire family lived in a small one-room house and at bedtime, they gathered all their animals inside the house and fastened the door securely. The family went to sleep all together on one side of the house on a raised platform and the animals, perhaps their cow, some sheep, goats, and even the family dog, slept on the floor below. When the fellow came to their house at midnight asking for bread, it took a lot of courage and shamelessness on his part because once he banged on the door, everyone including the animals woke up in the commotion. He acted with “importunity” which means he came and knocked on the door with boldness, persistence, deliberately, without shame, and with great confidence in that he put himself on the line and at his friend’s expense because he needed something. It is quite a picture if we see the householder waking up from a deep sleep, the wife and children rousing up, the animals mooing, bleating, barking, and someone fumbling to get a lamp lit. Praying in this fashion has been compared to Abraham’s prayer for the people of Sodom in Genesis 18 when he keeps praying and whittling down the number of possible righteous people from 50 to 10 and the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15 that came asking Jesus to heal her daughter and when at first He seems to rebuttal her, she kept asking for help. Jesus said at the first the householder will not rise even though it is his friend at the door but when the asker won’t go away, he gets what he is asking before because of his persistent, shameless boldness and there are dynamics at work in the story of this parable that involve both the asker and the giver on a lot of levels.
The account reminds us of the passage of Hebrews 4:16,” Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” where some have translated the phrase “come boldly” as “ with confidence” but the Greek here means more than that as it carries the meaning of continually, unrestrained, with persistence (importunity), and assurance and is given to us because of what is described in Hebrews 4:14-15 where Jesus is declared to be our eternal High Priest, interceding for us and He does so knowing full well what we are experiencing because He has himself experienced it. When we approach God with importunity He doesn’t answer because we are pestering Him but as we pray earnestly, fervently (James 5:16), and expectantly, God is not changing His mind but in the course of our praying, WE are being changed and our heart is transforming to believe with a faith that knows what we really want is God’s will in the matter. At the same time, God knows our heart and is very willing to give us the desires of our heart when it is within His plan and purpose for us. This is why we may drop to our knees in the spur of the moment and begin a pleading prayer visualizing some path or solution that we are confident is the absolute answer or quick fix but God, who is not bound by our current emotional state or limited point of view, always knows the perfect answer and through importunity on our part, we will arrive at the same place He is in resolving the need or desire. The Lord wants to answer our prayers, wants to give us what is in our best interests, has promised to answer us, and is unlimited in His abilities to do all things for our good and as we pray with faith in these truths, continuing to ask, continuing to seek, and continuing to knock, the answer will come.
June 26, 2021
Matthew 15:14,” Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”
The Pharisees brought accusations against the Lord when they saw His disciples eat without ceremonially washing their hands and accused them of breaking the cabala, or unwritten law which they claimed had the same authority as the law itself. One Rabbi, Aquiba, taught that people who eat without washing their hands are worthy of death and another Rabbi, Jose, said the sin of eating without washing the hands is on the same level as having relations with a prostitute. It was here that Jesus aimed the gun of truth at them and said Matthew 15:7-9,” Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”. He pointed out one of their traditions where even though the law said they were responsible for taking care of their parents when their parents were unable to care for themselves, the Jewish tradition rules told them to take the money that should have given to their parents and donate it to the temple claiming as a gift to God it was more holy than if it were given to their parents. It was on this basis Jesus called them hypocrites because they appeared so holy and spiritual on the outside, appearing before others to be so serious about approaching God, but they were deceptive and unrighteous within their hearts. The disciples said to Jesus, “do you realize the Pharisees were offended at Your words?’ and the Lord answered them with the parable that if blind people guide other blind people both of them will fall into the ditch prefacing what He would say in a scathing rebuke to the Pharisees at another time in Matthew 23. (Mt 23:16) “Woe unto you, ye blind guides”, (Mt 23:17) “Ye fools and blind”, and (Mt 23:26) “Thou blind Pharisee”. The parable drew upon a sight common in those times when blind people held on to other people depending on them for navigational safety. Calling the Pharisees blind guides and accusing them of being responsible for the ruin of others was words of truth that cut them to the heart but instead of repenting of their ways and falling on the mercy of God, they decided to get rid of Jesus by killing Him.
The teaching of ideas that Jesus was some soft-spoken, timid, sugar-speaking little fellow is a satanic lie because not only did our Lord rebuke the most feared and powerful people in His time, don’t forget the incidents where He made a whip and drove the deceivers out of the temple at which time the Bible says John 2:17,” And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” a reference to Psalm 69:9 with the word zeal here meaning hot with indignation and jealousy. It was with this same drive that He exposed the religious leaders’ counterfeit form of Godliness and warned his disciples, His audience, and us of the danger of having words, routines, and rituals that seem near-perfect images of what one would think shows spirituality and a love for God but are really completely false. It is one thing to be in spiritual blindness, far from God, and in desperate need of the Savior but the enemy places unsaved but religious appearing ministers in positions where people follow them, support them, and give them their allegiance. The Bible says in 2Corinthians 11:14-15,” And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness” showing that the deception of the Pharisees didn’t disappear with the advent of the church age. This form of godliness, a characteristic of these perilous days of Laodicea described in 2 Timothy 3, will lead the world into the false religion of the antichrist reminding us again it wasn’t a devil-worshiping crowd that screamed for Jesus to be crucified, it was the straitlaced, ultraconservative, over-the-top and oozing with a form of godliness bunch of cutthroats. Are the blind still being led by the blind today?
June 25, 2021
2Thessalonians 2:3,” Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”
There has been a lot of internet and social media chatter that today, June 25, 2021, is the day of the rapture and it seems every year people start setting dates or seasons when the Lord will return. A few years ago, the “blood moons” dominated a lot of religious speculation and some ministers made a bundle of money publishing books about how all that was pointing to the return of Christ. Since the Lord didn’t return, I guess they used their pile of cash to buy toilet paper for the pandemic which those “prophets” never saw coming. Maybe this nonsense of people continually setting dates, claiming to have dreams and revelations, writing books, getting some people all stirred up, and then nothing happens has silenced a lot of well-meaning preachers and teachers about the second coming for fear they will look as foolish as the false prophets. But for all who believe the Bible and know the day and hour is known only to the Father, we are certain the current times are unlike anything we have known in our lifetime or the generations before us. A few days ago, June 14th, was my deceased dad’s birthday and he was a pastor, teacher, and lover of God’s Word for over 50 years. Even though it hasn’t been so long since he passed away in 1994, 27 years ago, the church world was very different than it is now. In our local churches in the Tri-Cities, there were always revivals, camp meetings, gospel singings, people were getting saved, and there was a different atmosphere in churches and among God’s people. Since then, there has been a massive exodus from a lot of churches, especially among young people with a lot of recent studies showing mounting evidence that today’s younger generations may be leaving churches for good. Churches and denominations are scrambling trying to find new methods, new approaches, and often completely changing the “worship experience” to offer something new and different in an attempt to stop this departure but the result is it’s only attracting a core of people who are mostly leftovers from the massive cultural shift that’s been playing out in our society. Not only is that core moving from church to church searching for something, but pastors are also on the move with the average tenure of a pastor at a church now less than four years.
Even though the falling away predicted by the scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is not necessarily about church attendance and the current trends there, but it points to the picture that altogether there is a huge change in so many aspects of society, and underlying it all are dramatic revolutions in our views of morality, allegiance to the Bible, concepts of marriage and family, definitions of holiness, determination of gender, and so many other upheavals happening so quickly it’s impossible to get a detailed picture of where we are and where we are headed. The sum of it all, however, is that the Bible is no longer recognized as the standard in any area even among many who profess Christianity. Some, when pinning the blame especially for the moral mess, point to the church and argue the church wouldn’t address the questions and issues confronting people in this cultural breakdown so people became frustrated and abandoned traditional churches then abandoned religion altogether. The truth seems to be both churches and church members didn’t want real Biblical answers because the Bible had already been displaced as the absolute authority for all things moral and right, long before this current confusion reached a boiling point. And we can say, well, things aren’t that bad but even such a statement reveals the blindness of people exactly as it was when Israel was denying their impending demise at the hands of the Babylonians before the destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity. For the few who read these daily devotions and others like them, I’m not attacking preachers, pastors, churches, or ministries because the ones who are fighting the good fight of faith have their hands full trying to do God’s work in these perilous times but I’m just pointing at the evidence that there is a falling away. Not from just traditional worship types, but surely an hour of television time, watching the commercials, listening to the dialog, and viewing any other form of current entertainment or even the news shows clearly the minds and hearts of people are far, far from the ways of God and sliding deeper into perversion on a scale that was unknown a generation or two ago. My heart goes out to pastors, especially young ones, and Christians who are battling against the moral current of our times, still trying to hold up the Word of God as our hope because many powers and voices are trying to shut them down and may the Lord give them special grace in times like these. The phrase “ a falling away” in the target scripture actually includes the definite article and in the Greek, reads “ hē apostasia” meaning THE falling away rather than just a general sense of “a” falling away and indicates a rebellion or departure which some have suggested means the departure of the church in the rapture but the word apostasia is used and does not mean a departure as in the sense of leaving a place or situation, but rather a rebellion and always is connected with that which is sinful and negative. For us who love the things of God and have this common conviction that things are now drastically different in a way that we’ve never experienced before, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit stirring within us, grieved at the outpouring of evil and degradation but at the same time pointing us to the truth of the word of God for the Spirit and the Word are in full agreement: Jesus is coming again.
June 24, 2021
1John 5:18-18,” We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness”
The Bible is not teaching sinless perfection here, but reminding us that when we are born again and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are equipped to win the battle over sin so that it no longer has dominion over us and we refuse it the power to reign over us as given in Romans 6:14,” For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace”. The phrase that God’s born-again child “sinneth not” grammatically is the lineal present active indicative and means does not keep on sinning in a habitual, continuous sequence. The idea that seems prevalent is that we always see ourselves as sinners so we adopt the view that oh well, I admit I’m a sinner and that’s all I will ever be in this life so I will accept my sinfulness as inevitable. Maybe this is why verses such as the above in 1 John 5 make us nervous because it declares there’s something we can do about sin and God expects us to do it. Consider 1Peter 2:11,” Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” and see how it applies to our target devotional verse saying that we are responsible to wage a war against our fleshly sin, not hold up the white flag of surrender and become its prisoner. Looking again at Romans 6:12-13,” Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God”, it is clear we are people who have been delivered from both the penalty and power of sin and we have victory over our flesh. Defeatism leads to compromise and compromise leads to defeatism and the cycle continues when we justify it by saying that’s just how it is. The Holy Spirit within us cries out for holiness and even under the law, the Spirit dictated these words: Psalm 19:13, “O Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression” showing that when we desire what God desires we want to live free from the wickedness of this world.
Our victory is declared here as “he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth (attaches to) him not” and rightly divided, the “he” is Jesus and “himself” is actually “him” and can be paraphrased “Jesus keeps him (the believer) and the wicked one can not attach himself to him”. Look at the distinction in the verse, “we know we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness”. Because we belong to the Most High God, He will not abandon His children to the sewers of sin and it is wrong when we will not raise the bar of morality to a standard of holiness. Every person has sinned and come short of God’s glory but the cross of Jesus did more than just give us eternal life it gives us the power to proclaim we are free to live as saints and that may seem strange to a church world that has branded itself as perpetual sinners but it’s the meaning of Colossians 1:12-13,” Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son”. We all can look at instances in our journey where, after we were saved, we made bad choices, fell short of God’s will, listened to wrong advice, and found ourselves yielding to sin but the Holy Spirit was right there urging us to ask for forgiveness, get up, dust ourselves off, and turn our back on whatever it was that sidetracked us, leave it behind under the blood of Jesus and determine by God’s grace we will not visit that exit ramp again. Such times are not proofs of a habitual life of sin but simply times of errors, correction, growth, and proof of God’s grace and we say, “those errors are not who I am, but I am a child of God, born from above, I am separate from this wicked world, I am forgiven, I am a new creation, and by God’s grace I am called to holiness, purity, and victory over my flesh, this world, and the devil.
June 23, 2021
Matthew 13:47-50, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”
Fishing with a dragnet was a common sight around the sea of Galilee where fishermen would use a large net weighted on the bottom portion, and drag it through the water to capture fish then they would separate edible, desirable fish from everything else the net snagged. The good fish would be put into containers usually bags made of woven cloth to take to the market and the bad stuff tossed away. This parable used this scenario as a picture of judgment at the end of the world. Sometimes people use this parable to speak about the church age where there is a mixture of true believers with those that claim to be Christian but they have never been born again and they use references to the judgment seat of Christ to say there is where those born again will be separated from those religious but lost. This interpretation usually implies a general resurrection at the end of the world and is the account I heard in the churches I grew up in as a boy visualizing all humanity standing in a big line before the throne of God and being judged one by one and either allowed into heaven or sent to hell. Most people who do not make a distinction between the judgment seat of Christ and the white throne judgment, have this view of humanity’s final demise or reward and some scripture taken out of context or not rightly divided seem to support this such as Hebrews 9:27,” And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” and John 5:28-29,” Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”.
Matthew records a resurrection of saints that occurred when Jesus arose from the dead Matthew 27:50-53,” Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” but the Bible does not say what happened to these saints afterward with most people thinking they went to heaven with Jesus to await the future resurrections. Then the Bible tells us when Jesus appears in the clouds to rapture living believers, there will be a resurrection of all those who died as Christians as given in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17,” For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. There will be many people saved during the tribulation and will die for their faith but they will be resurrected at the beginning of the millennium reign as described in Rev 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” with the phrase “first resurrection” referring to there being two resurrections connected with the appearing of the Lord as King of Kings. Finally, there is a resurrection of all who have not been previously resurrected as described in Revelation 20:11-13,” And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works”. This final scene fits the parable of the man without a wedding garment in Matthew 22:11-13, “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” and also fits the picture of the parable of the net when there is a final separation. Untold millions will be at this final judgment including people before the flood, all gentiles who lived and died through the centuries, all descendants of Abraham who lived before the law, all those who died in the church age, and all who lived in the tribulation and millennium reign.
June 22, 2021
Matthew 13:44-45,” Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
For a parable of 37 words, this one is loaded with meanings and speaks so deeply there have been many views drawn from its picture. Some say it is speaking of sinners that hear the Word of salvation and realize what a treasure it is, hide it in their heart, and forsake themselves and all they claim as theirs to possess the treasure of the Lord. In this explanation, the treasure would be Jesus and would seem to imply we find Him instead of Him finding us and has been the theme of a lot of songs with lines like, “I found a treasure when I found the Lord” and the parable has been used in such a way to illustrate a lot of children’s Bible study materials and vacation Bible school themes because most children dream of finding buried treasure. It does ring a bell with the teaching of the indescribable value of Christ and the unspeakable riches of His grace as declared in Ephesians 2:7,” That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”. In defending this point of view and combining the Lord, salvation, and eternal life into one package called the kingdom of God, John Piper writes “The kingdom of God is so valuable that losing everything on earth, but getting the kingdom, is a happy trade-off. That’s the main point”. Then there is the view that the treasure is the church, the body of Christ, the man desiring it is Jesus and to obtain it he forsakes heaven and its glory to purchase, by His blood, all creation meaning He died for every man, then the church is hidden with Christ in God as referenced in Colossians 3:3,” For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”. Another line of thinking here is that the mystery of the church must be considered in this parable because it was actually purposed and all its details foreordained before the foundation of the world but all was hidden until it was revealed in the church age as described in Ephesians 3:8-11,” Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord”
The final interpretation, which is the one I believe is the primary meaning, is that all the kingdom centers around the covenant God made with Israel and He describes their value to Him in Exodus 19:3-6 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel”. The field is the world as previously declared in Matthew 13:38,” The field is the world” where Israel was hidden from the beginning known only in the purpose of God until He called Abraham out of the world to Himself. When Jesus came, He came to His own, Israel, and presented the Gospel of the kingdom to Israel only, offering Himself as their redeemer and it was in this framework of grace that these parables were given. Jesus is not presenting the message of the church because the mystery of the church was held back until the Jews had the opportunity of the kingdom. When Israel rejected and killed John the Baptist, the messenger of the Lord, rejected their Messiah and crucified Him, and rejected the Holy Spirit by stoning Stephen and other of God’s witnesses, Israel was removed from her lampstand and hidden again, dispersed throughout the world. But the field has been bought by the shed blood of Jesus along with all of creation and will soon be claimed by its rightful owner as declared in Revelation 11:15,” And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”. No matter which view you hold of this parable, one common point to be considered is that the things of the Lord are the things of value compared to the pig sties of this world and it is blatant eternal foolishness to forfeit one’s immortal soul to gain anything this world offers.
June 21, 2021
Matthew 13:3,” And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow”
The parable of the sower and the seed is one of the most well-known and preached about of the parables and for good reason in that it explains why the different outcomes from different people when they all receive the same seed. In this parable, we get a picture of the farming method at the time of Christ. The farmer would first plow the field then he would carry the seed in a bag or pouch attached to his waist or slung from his shoulder and as he walked through the plowed field, he would reach repeatedly into the seed bag and scatter the seed with a sweeping motion of his arm, a method called broadcasting. He would finish the process by either plowing the field again to cover the seed or dragging branches or a log behind his oxen to bury the seed. Then he would wait while the seed germinated, took root, and began to grow. The most common and important crops were barley and wheat which would be used to make bread and bread was the foundation for every meal in Bible times hence Jesus identifying Himself as the bread of life. When the Lord gave the people this parable, He was speaking of something so common in their culture they immediately identified with his illustration even though they didn’t readily grasp its spiritual connection. When the Lord was alone with His disciples, they asked Him why He spoke in parables and even though the Lord explained the parables to the disciples, His use of these earthly stories to explain heavenly truth was the perfect way to teach in the will of God because the parables either revealed the truth to those whose hearts were open and searching for God or they concealed the truth to those who refused to believe. Jesus used a quote from Isaiah to explain what was taking place in the hearts of those He was teaching Matthew 13:14-17,” And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them”
The seed, which the Lord says is the Word of God, is the same no matter where it lands in the field of souls and is unlimited in its potential because it is pure and powerful but there are three types of hearts that will not result in a harvest. The hardened wayside heart provides no ready soil at all and immediately the seed is attacked by the enemy and taken away. Two of the other hearts seem to be a good place for seed to sprout and grow but time proves it otherwise because the rocks and thorns keep the ground from providing a good environment and while it looks like things are going good for a while there will never be a harvest. The ground that produces harvest is explained by the Lord in Luke’s account of this parable in Luke 8:15,” But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”. If parents could only understand the importance of an honest and good heart when they are raising their children, it could mean such a difference in the outcome of their immortal souls. Time spent training our children and building our families as the Lord teaches us in His Word, is preparing the soil of the heart to receive the seed of God’s truth, and the more rocks and thorns we can remove by patient and loving parenting the more receptive and ready are the hearts of our kids. Even as adults we are told in Hebrews 3:13,” But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” where the hardened heart will not be receptive to the Word of the Lord. May the Lord give us willing minds to allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts, remove the rocks and thorns and plow us deeply until our hearts are honest and good that when the Word falls in us, it finds fertile fallow ground.
June 20, 2021
Luke 12:35-37,” Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them”
Every generation of believers has been aware of the imminent return of the Lord as promised in scripture and this is the teaching of this parable, that we should always live in readiness for His appearing. Our faith in these heavenly events grows as we increasingly shift our gaze away from the things of this world as the Lord warned us in the parable of the rich fool, and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal what lies just beyond the horizon. The Bible says 1Corinthians 2:9-10,” But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God”. What we can’t seem to get into our heads and hearts, is that when we live as if this life and its circumstances are what really matters and allow whatever hopes and dreams available here to preoccupy our thinking, we are investing in things that are temporary and soon it will all vanish away. Even the heavens and earth itself as we know them, are on a countdown to be replaced as the Bible describes so beautifully in Hebrews 1:10-12,” And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail”. Again, the impermanence of all creation is described in 2Peter 3:10-13,” But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”. The day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night links this passage to this parable where the Lord said if the man of the house knew when a thief was coming, he would stay awake and not allow his house to be robbed with the idea of being always ready.
But even though believers of all generations have looked for the second coming of Jesus, we have more in place right now than any previous generation to cause us to be excited about His return. The nation of Israel has been reestablished in their land after 2000 years of exile and there is a remnant of them that are making plans to rebuild their temple. There is a falling away from absolute truth as prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. All the events of Romans 1 describing the downward spiral of the total depravity of mankind are here and have been accepted as “good”. The church has fallen into the apostasy of Laodicea as described in Revelation 3:14. We are quickly moving worldwide to a cashless economic system that will facilitate the economic domination by the man of sin and at the same time, nationalism is rapidly being replaced by an embraced vision of a global community. There is much religion but a famine of the Word of God as prophesied in Amos 8:11. The stage has already been set for a common religion that embraces any deity, any philosophy, any moral code, any form of worship, and any definition of “spirituality” as all pathways to heaven. And the main players in end-time events are taking their place on the world stage: Israel, Egypt, Persia (Iran), Assyria (Syria), Babylon (Iraq), Russia, China, and the resurrected Roman Empire (confederated Europe). May we all shout the last two verses of the Holy Bible, Revelation 22:20-21,” He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
June 19, 2021
Luke 12:16-17,” And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?”
This parable is the story of a rich man that God called a fool and is given to cause us to stop and consider just what is a treasure. This wealthy man’s focus and efforts were all centered on the here and now, what he possessed, and how to best secure his future but we know he had not made preparations for eternity. Listen to his words of “I”,” I”,” I”,” my”,” my”,” my” and notice how he and his riches were the center of his life: vs 17-19,” And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, this will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”. Then hear God’s reply to him in vs 20-21,” But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”. The parable was given to a fellow who came to Jesus wanting him to take his part in a dispute over an inheritance and the Lord would not take any role in the matter. Instead, he warned him against covetousness in verse 15, “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” and followed that with this parable about the rich fool. People will argue against this pertaining to them because they say ”well, I’m not rich” but that’s not the point of the meaning. This is about people who will not believe and obey the verses following the parable Luke 12:22-23, “ And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment” and followed that with verse 31, “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you”.
True believers know their source of everything in this life is from the Lord and that He provides for them by His Word of promise to supply all their needs and work all things for their good. The man that prompted this parable was angry over not receiving his inheritance but Jesus taught him when death comes knocking, and it will come knocking, every single thing we claim as “ours” will be left for someone else to sort through and squabble over and only what we’ve done in our life for the glory of God will continue into eternity. Apostle Paul said it like this, 1Timothy 6:7-8,” For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”. Why is it that people always want more and never seem satisfied with what they have? The enemy plies his tactics as he did in the beginning with Adam and Eve to tempt us that what we have is not enough and there’s more that we deserve, would make us happier, would add to our appearance and standing in front of others, and would finally bring us contentment. The rich fool was blessed by abundance but had no thought of using what he had been given to be a blessing to others. He had more food than he could possibly eat but wanted to keep it all for himself instead of helping the poor in his community. He had barns to store his stuff but he wanted bigger barns to pile up what he considered treasures. He was alive and able to live for the will of God but he wanted to take it easy, eat drink and be merry and live for his own selfish pleasure. He assessed his situation and came up with a game plan that would maximize his security and pleasure but he was a fool because that very night death came to his door and he had made no provisions for that appointment. Hebrews 9:27,” And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. Are you a child of God and if so, do you believe He is the one that supplies what you need, and if there is anything you need you can depend on Him for it? Do you believe your security for now and as long as you live comes from what money you’ve saved, your income from your paycheck or retirement, or what you’re able to do for yourself, or does it come from God alone? Do you believe you are responsible to use what God has given you to be a blessing to others and not just to consume for yourself? Can you believe that the same God who cares for all His creation including the birds of the air is caring for you? Do you believe the Lord is speaking to us all when he said Luke 12:28.” If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” We live in such a time and in a country where there is so much to be had unlike previous generations that barely had food and shelter such as the pioneers and early settlers. The Lord is not asking us to get rid of all we have, move into a cave, and live like primitive man after all Abraham was wealthy and was a friend of God. The Holy Spirit will show us how to enjoy what the Lord has given us, share with others when we see their need, but at the same time prepare for eternity by living for the glory and will of God.
June 18, 2021
Matthew 12:25-26,” And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?”
I want to publicly thank the Lord for the mercy He has shown me and my family since my cancer surgery over 8 months ago. When I realized I would not be able to speak, it was in my heart to write a daily devotion as a witness to the grace of God in allowing me to recover from the operation and enjoy more time with my wonderful wife. The past months have been some of the most blessed in our life as we have spent every day together and enjoyed the presence of the Lord in our home. As of today, I have written and posted over 175 daily devotions and while I know I am not a great writer, these little “mini sermons” have been such a blessing to me to write and I hope that if you read them, they speak to you in the same way they have spoken to me while I typed them. Thank you for your prayers, texts, emails, and most of all thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
163 years ago this week, on June 16th, 1858, Abraham Lincoln used this verse and this parable in a speech after being nominated as the Republican candidate for state senator of Illinois. His “House Divided” speech proved to be prophetic in that he said,” I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other”. Our Lord spoke these words when he cast a demon out of a man and the Pharisees accused Him of performing the miracle by the power of Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Jesus answered them by saying that that would be like the devil casting himself out and he would be divided against himself causing his kingdom to fall. Then the Lord gave the ominous warning about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by attributing the power of the Holy Spirit to the devil which is what has commonly been called the unpardonable sin. But it is a statement of practical spiritual reasoning and shines light on the foolishness of the Pharisees and their hatred-driven absurd arguments. The Pharisees were charging Jesus with sorcery working in collusion with satan and the Lord’s rebuke that they were standing on dangerous ground should be considered by all of us that God takes the work of the Holy Spirit very seriously. While believers would never blaspheme the Spirit, all of us are called to honor the things of the Lord and even if we are tempted to joke or make fun of people who are doing something for the Lord, remember Jesus said Matthew 12:30,” He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” and summed it up in verses 35-36,” A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment”.
The enemy understands God’s will for unity among His people, in the home, and churches and he also understands the power of division and its outcome. Most always there’s someone with a ready mind to stir up strife, sow confusion, and create fertile ground for division and when they are entrenched in a family, a church, or any setting where there’s a group of people, they wield influence over others and soon storms are brewing. Families often have one member that’s antagonistic, argumentative, and forceful and they turn what could be a peaceful, Christ-centered family into a constant battlefield with members choosing sides against each other, holding grudges, and word-fighting for years. The parable of the house divided against itself is a picture of many homes and churches where people refuse to follow the ways of the Lord and the end result is years wasted in continual bickering that could have been times of great blessings but they operate as described in Romans 3:14-17,” Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known”. When Jesus was being tried before His crucifixion, the religious leaders of the Jews drove the wedge between the people and the Lord as the Bible says in Matthew 27:20,” But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus” showing that there are people with the ability to use their hatred and words to convince others to do the unthinkable: destroy a perfectly innocent man. Idle words fill the toolbox of the devil and the Bible says we will face them in the day of judgment and give an account for them.
June 17, 2021
Luke 7:41-42,” There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?”
The occasion of this parable was in the home of Simon the leper, a Pharisee that had invited Jesus to eat with him. Matthew and Mark also record this event but Luke is the only one that tells the parable Jesus gave. It’s uncertain why Simon had invited Jesus and we could speculate many possibilities including that he wished to be healed except he did not exercise faith to reach out to Jesus for healing. But we do know from the words of the Lord that Simon didn’t offer Jesus the customary courtesies common to their culture because he didn’t have his servants wash Jesus’ feet, didn’t greet him respectfully, and didn’t anoint him with oil which was done as a sign of hospitality in that age for the Jews and the Arabs. But a woman the Bible says was a sinner, showed up at the gathering and it’s not that Simon and the others were not sinners, but that the woman was guilty of many sins declared by the Lord in Luke 7:47,” Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven” with the word for many here meaning “major, large, repeatedly”. This woman’s actions when she broke the alabaster box of very precious, expensive ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus and openly wept while she washed his feet, brought out the worst in Simon the Leper and Judas Iscariot who both threw the event in the Lord’s teeth. Judas claimed the ointment was wasted and should have been sold and given to the poor and Simon wrote Jesus off as a fraud because he thought if Jesus was really a prophet of the Lord, he would have recognized the woman as a gross sinner and refused her gift and touch. It is a remarkable account of the Savior and a houseful of sinners led by two men, Judas who would betray the Lord for money given by the Pharisee’s club of self-righteous killers. I ask you, besides Jesus, who was the best person at this shindig? The Lord’s parable gives the answer and it concerns two men who were both in debt to a creditor one for 50 pence, about 25 dollars, and the other for ten times that amount for 250 dollars, and neither of them could pay their debt but their creditor forgave them both their full amounts. It is a picture of sinners because we owe God a sin debt and even though Simon’s sins were not as visible, he was still a sinner and the Lord was calling him out for his accusations against the woman. Her actions and her remorse which demonstrated her desire for forgiveness and mercy brought her great compassion and forgiveness from the maker of heaven and earth and because of the depth of her iniquities, when she was set free from her debt, she loved Jesus with great love.
There are people who have lived fairly good moral lives and when they are saved, there’s not a huge change visible to those around them. But there are others who were in the darkest, ugliest, and deepest pits of sin, and when the Lord saves them and brings them out, it’s a change so visible and startling they have a remarkable testimony of God’s grace. The parable is about a debt that’s owed by everyone and whether we deem it large or small, that’s just because we see it from human eyes. But no matter how we calculate the debt as to how “bad of a sinner” people are, all the debts must all be settled the same way in that the sinner must die or someone must die in his place. Simon the leper could have had the same forgiveness as the woman he was condemning but he saw her as a worse sinner and as far as we know, he remained a sinner, he remained a leper, and he never knew the joy of the Lord’s salvation. The sinner woman on the other hand may well have been one of the 120 people waiting in Acts 1 for the coming of the Holy Spirit and one fact we can be sure of is that the Holy Spirit recorded her story in three of the gospels and memorialized her by putting her in her own hall of fame of faith as stated in Mark 14:9,” Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”.
June 16, 2021
Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock”
This parable of two builders each building a house but using different foundations is the answer as to why some people begin following Jesus and remain solid, strong in their faith, and victorious while others begin but at some point, end up shipwrecked. This is not talking about people who get saved and then fall away and become lost again because such teaching is against the truth of the new birth and it is not the scope of this small devotion to point out the security of believers but it has been Biblically shown in earlier devotions, just read through the archives. But this is a parable about what we do with the Word of God and whether or not we build a life in obedience to what God says or build on something else as the scripture says in James 1:22,” But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”, and in verse 25, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed”. Most of us at some time have said the rock foundation is Jesus but the Lord says the difference between the two houses is that one man listened to the Word of the Lord and obeyed it while the other man heard the Word of the Lord but did not obey. Through the years, church pews have been occupied every Sunday by people who listened to good Bible preaching, some of them read their Bibles, but they would not live by God’s precepts. Yesterday’s parable taught there are two gates and two paths but there are people who enter the narrow gate but spend their lives in the ditches on either side of the narrow road.
Concerning the parables we have been talking about, the beatitudes and Lord’s teachings was His presentation of the message of the kingdom to Israel for the Bible says Matthew 15:24,” But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Following the beatitudes or the teachings of Christ is not God’s plan of salvation for us but in the church age, we use the Words and the ministry of Jesus to cast light on salvation by grace through faith as expounded to the gentile church in the epistles. A point to ponder is when Jesus healed a leper, the Bible says in Luke 5:14,” And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them” showing He and all Israel were still under the dictates of the law while He ministered. But no matter the dispensation, the Word of God in agreement with the Holy Spirit (1John 5:7,” For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one) is the method by which all creation was made and maintained (Heb 1:1-3,” God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power) and the power that works in us and through us to establish our lives, secure promises available to us, protect us from the enemy and our own flesh and causes us to flourish and prosper. Through the years, the enemy, knowing obedience to the Word of the Lord is the foundation, has continually messed with the Word, twisting, re-writing, and all the time conniving to cast doubt on the Word or weaken its power. Christians have been sold a bill of goods and most of them never get a Bible and stay with it, digging deep to build their foundation but they are all over the radar with a zillion translations until their Biblical knowledge of the Word is a jumbled mess. In this same parable in Luke, it says the wise man “digged deep” and laid the foundation on a rock with the word rock given as “petra” meaning a mass of solid rock and not just a piece of rock and is the same word used in Matthew 16:18,” And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Here “Peter” is “petros” meaning small rock but the rock is “petra”. You probably know some wise people who have built on the solid mass of the Word because they have weathered the rains, floods, and winds but their faith is stronger today than ever before and when they speak about the trials, they give glory to God and tell of how He brought them through. Likewise, I’m sure we’ve all seen people that faced the same storms but they suffered great loss and when they speak about it, their testimony is not about the goodness, mercy, and grace of the Lord that brought them through their hardships but they speak words of bitterness, anger, remorse, and doubt. The difference is the foundation.
June 15, 2021
Matthew 7:13-14,” Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”
Our Lord tells of two gates or entrances and two ways or roads and in this parable/metaphor, they represent two systems of beliefs and the destination of each. The gates are at the beginnings of the roads and as insinuated in this parable, all humanity will enter one of the gates and will travel one of the roads with the roads being the journey of their life. Sometimes we confuse the word “strait” with “straight” but the two have different meanings in that “strait” means narrow, strict, or constricted and is how we get the original spellings of straitjacket and straitlaced while “straight” means without a curve or bend. With this meaning we have the picture of the first gate mentioned being narrow, one people would have to pass through single file sort of like the one-lane underpass in the old road of our little community that can barely accommodate one vehicle passing through at a time. The meaning of this strait gate also means obstructed and Jesus mentions this gate again in Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” where the word strive here has the same root of the word translated contend in Jude 1:3, “ye should earnestly contend for the faith”. The other gate is called wide meaning spread-out and by its picture in this illustration, is one that’s easily entered and well used. The parable reminds us of the well-known verse of Deuteronomy 30:19,” I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” where the Lord says there are two choices and He urges us to choose life over death. The word narrow means to be pressed hard, to pinch, to crush and is associated with affliction, suffering, and tribulation in its figurative sense and it is the way of which the Lord spoke in Matt 16:24-25,” Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”.
The strait gate is the new birth through faith in the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and is echoed in the words of Jesus in John 10:9,” I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” and as has been pointed out many times, He is not “a” door but “the” door for in the name of Jesus alone is salvation. The exclusion of any and all other thoughts and schemes of salvation is clearly stated in Acts 4:12,” Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. All other plans and hopes of salvation outside of Jesus is the wide gate through which most people pass to follow the broad or spacious road which leads to death. The narrow way is associated with pressing, tribulation, and affliction but the traveler walks in freedom is promised his burden will be light. The broad way is associated with pleasure, sin, and lots of worldly companionships but the traveler is bound with chains of sin and his burdens are heavy. When the Jews heard this parable, they were no doubt reminded of the rules by which the Jews constructed their roads where private roads were four cubits broad, roads connecting city to city were eight cubits, normal public roads were sixteen cubits and they saw the smallest of ways as the one constricted and narrow. The heartbreaking conclusion is that few people enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way so the population of the lake of fire will be far greater than that of God’s heaven. The deception now is that there are many roads leading to God’s heaven and it seems most people are convinced the road they’re walking is good enough to get them safely inside heaven’s gates. While our beliefs and theories constantly change and we gamble our immortal souls on the hogwash of whatever current popular rant is loudest at the time, the Word of God, forever settled in heaven has never and will never change the message of the two gates, the two roads, and the two destinations.
June 14, 2021
Matthew 7:15-17,” Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit”
This parable is about false teachers and uses trees and their fruit as illustrations of how to determine if what we’re listening to is true. There have always been false prophets claiming to represent the Lord and we are warned in the scripture to carefully check out what we’re listening to or being influenced by to determine if it’s true. The Bible says in 2Peter 2:1,” But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction”. In our age with preachers and ministries available by the truckloads on YouTube, social media, and all sorts of television channels, we are flooded by their messages all claiming to be from the Lord but all of them are not who they claim to be. These are the days of Laodicea where the catchphrase of the most prevalent ministries is sounded in Revelation 3:17,” Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” and their poster child ministers are flush with cash and dripping with Rolex watches, multiple luxurious homes, private jets, plastic surgery, and even bodyguards. The problem is they all wear sheep’s clothing and talk like shepherds but the Holy Spirit is never deceived and will bear witness with us as to their authenticity. One common theme that sounds over and again is described in 2Peter 2:3,” And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” where the word covetousness describes not only their purpose, to get rich, but also the real desire of the people who follow them, thinking these ministers are going to help them find some “key” to unlock the doors of heavens lottery in their favor. Driven, not by the love of the Lord and the souls of the lost, but by their greed, they are like the horseleech (bloodsuckers) of Proverbs 30:15, “The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give”. It’s interesting that these ministries make millions hawking their “merchandise” just as the Lord declared in 2Peter 2:3. For years many Christians have bought books, tapes (remember them?), CD’s, pamphlets, videos, and who knows what else all from shysters masquerading as ministers with the promise of making them happier, richer, more knowledgeable, and healthier and none of it worked because God changes people through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and He does it for free if they will give themselves to Him.
Jesus said there are only good trees and corrupt trees and when we look at their fruit, we can tell them apart. The Lord said in Matthew 7:18,” A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” and followed with the conclusion in verse 20, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them”. No matter how good they may seem or how enticing their words and promises, all people/trees will bear fruit and Jesus tells us to determine the person/tree by the fruit because if they are good, they can not bear corrupt fruit and if they are corrupt, they cannot bear good fruit. He isn’t talking about mistakes pastors, ministers, or people in general make because we all have specks in our eyes but He’s talking about the finished product of their ministries and lives and if it is fruit that brings honor to God and is fitting with the description of the fruit of the Spirit summarized in Galatians 5:22 as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All trees can be known by their fruit and a good place to start is in ourselves, asking the questions: “What kind of fruit do I bear when I see myself in the light of God’s Word?”. Do I bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit as described above? Am I a good tree or a corrupt tree?
June 13, 2021
Matthew 7:5,” Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”
This parable of motes and beams stuck in people’s eyes comes on the heels of the Lord’s warnings for us not to judge one another in verses 1 and 2. For most of us, the Holy Spirit must help us undo a lot of our thinking about ourselves and others to come to a place where we can love others as the Lord would have us but without approving the things that are against the ways of the Lord. There are many who use verse 1, judge not that you be not judged, as a defense for sin as though we are to accept all behaviors, teachings, and lifestyles without question like the thief that’s robbing someone at gunpoint while saying, “don’t judge me for what I’m doing, I need your money more than you”. The wisdom of the Lord shows us how to love people unconditionally without approving sin and in a later parable, Jesus calls us to inspect the fruit people bear to determine if it’s something the Lord would have us accept. The world tries to hold Christians to false standards in this matter, accusing believers of being judgmental, while they themselves flaunt their judgment and condemnation of things and people approved of the Lord. The justification for sin today, says “don’t judge me because I sin differently than you”, is used in an attempt to silence any critic of any behavior being committed and flourished as if all sin is the same. But the Bible says there are degrees of sin declared by the Lord Himself in John 19:11,” Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin”. Sin has already been judged by the decree of God and proven by the Levitical law and we do not have to pass any judgment on those who chose to continue in sin for God has already declared the wages of sin is death. It may sound like a hollow statement to say, “I love you but I can’t accept this (whatever it is) as right, but that’s what we must learn to do and how we learn to live because it’s an everyday matter when we in our imperfections interact with imperfect others. Good parents do this every day with their children when they love them so much they would die for them but they also deal with the children’s behaviors and refuse to accept bad behavior as good simply because they love them so deeply. But as far as how we treat others, we seem to come into this world loaded with prejudices, pride, and inflated ego, and when we run headfirst into the wall of God’s grace, we want it for ourselves but are reluctant to offer it to others.
The word mote might suggest dust but it is actually a tiny speck of wood like a bit of sawdust or a tiny splinter. The word beam is a log and one large enough to support a foundation or a roof. It is a humorous picture and even when we speak of it today, it brings a smile because of the obvious disparity. A fellow with a huge foundation log in his eye concerning himself about an almost invisible speck in another one’s eye. But underlying the comical picture, the truth that before I start trying to “help” someone else with their imperfections, I must first examine myself and my vision and get into a place where I can see clearly, will sometimes prove to be a harder task than imagined. The teaching here is not to remove the log so we can see more clearly to criticize the speck in someone’s eye but so that we can help as given in Galatians 6:1-2,” Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. The purpose is focused on restoring someone who has been entangled and trapped. All of us will always have specks of some sort and sometimes what we flag as faults are not faults at all but just differences attributed to individual personalities, levels of maturity, cultural environments, and various convictions. The wisdom from the Lord is that we love others without judgment but not approving what God condemns, we hold fast to the Word of truth to seek God’s will, we work to restore and lift those who are fallen, and we practice self-judgment as in 1Corinthians 11:31,” For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged”.
June 12, 2021
Matthew 9:17,” Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved”
Here, the Lord continued his parables, explaining to John’s disciples the transition that had begun moving from the dispensation of the law to the gospel of Jesus. Grapes and their juice, were a very important part of life in ancient times and it was usual for guards to be stationed at wine press sites and the wine industry was a large part of the economy. Grape juice was preserved in different ways including drying the grapes into raisins so they could be boiled later to extract their juice, boiling the juice down to a concentrated sticky honey-like substance which could be re-hydrated for later use, storing the juice in large ceramic jars, or containers crafted from animal skins, especially goat. It is these skins to which the Lord was referring in this parable where the word translated “bottle” here does not mean glass bottle as we think of today but comes from the word “askos” which means wineskin. The Spanish word for bottle, “bota”, means leather bottle. The truth of the parable is multifold and is an amazing picture of aspects of the new birth. Old wineskins were untrustworthy and apt to fail especially along the seams where they were sewn and one could not risk losing the valuable juice trusting a skin that could break or leak. Also, juice that has not been heated to at least 165 degrees naturally begins fermenting as soon as the grape is crushed due to wild, ever-present yeast on our planet so juice stored in skin bottles would cause a buildup of pressure breaking old wineskins. Grape juice naturally ferments but in ancient times, wine was often mixed with water to make the supply of wine go further, and also, the alcohol in the wine killed a lot of the bacteria and parasites in their questionable water supplies. The problem with wine as far as the warnings in the scriptures, is for those described in Proverbs 23:30,” They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine” the mixed wine here meaning mixed with something to make it stronger. While the parable of the garment dealt with the new covering of righteousness the parable of the wine and its bottles deals with what is on the inside and way of life provided by faith in Jesus Christ is God’s plan to do something the old containers under the law couldn’t handle.
The Lord told the woman at the well, John 4:14,” But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” the word “well” is from the word pege meaning “a gushing source” and is referring to the Holy Spirit which God purposed to live within the believer, something the law never provided. The Bible describes this New Testament provision in Hebrews 10:20,” By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” and points us back to the word of Jesus that promised the water He gives will be gushing and flowing in us. This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:4 when the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers who were assembled and waiting for the promise as the Lord had instructed them. God did not put the wine, the Holy Spirit of the new dispensation, into the old bottle of the law with its rules and ordinances. Applying this in a personal sense, when we are saved, we are regenerated and become a new creation with the parable of the wineskins taking on another layer of meaning. The old man with his carnal nature is rendered and declared dead because of sin and the miracle of new birth takes place. Old things, the old bottle, passes away as the Holy Spirit can’t live in an unclean tabernacle, and Christ in us is the new wine in a new bottle. And the new birth is a miracle though we don’t often address it as such and perhaps don’t consider that the person who receives Christ as Savior is instantly transformed in so many ways yet all of it is invisible to the natural eye. The flesh can’t contain the power of the Holy Spirit and is unable express His will but the new creation, by the purpose and decree of the Almighty, can. And like the expanding wine in the new bottle, as we are filled more and more with the Word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit the Lord has ensured we are well able to become all the Lord has planned us to be. When we read about those living from the beginning of creation until the time of Jesus, may we look back realizing that people living under all previous dispensations including the law, all before the institution of the New Covenant, might encounter the Holy Spirit from time to time but were not temples, houses, for Him. This should fill us with awe and humble our hearts to be a part of God’s plan through Christ where God lives in us. Romans 8:11,” But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you”.
June 11, 2021
Matthew 9:16,” No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse”
Jesus finished answering the question asked by John’s disciples by giving the parables of the old and new garments and wine bottles. In this devotion, we will consider the garments of which the Lord said an old garment can’t be patched up by sewing in a new piece of cloth. The word for new cloth means raw, undressed cloth which, when wet, would shrink and make the tear in the garment larger. The ministry of John reached back to the law of Moses and the ministry of Jesus was the new and living way and all that John and the law represented would be fulfilled in the Lord. Then, the law would no longer be the method by which sinners approached God as the scripture says, John 1:15-17, “John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. All dispensations are displays of God’s grace but as the transition took place from the Law to Jesus, the new grace of Christ was imparted to the old grace of the Law hence grace for grace. Salvation did not abolish the law, it did not patch it up, but it added another layer of grace to what had already been given, and in Jesus Christ, like the mana that appeared every day, New Testament grace is a continuous, unintermittent supply. One of the meanings of the parable is that the old garment of the Law would not be added to or refurbished but would remain as it was and a new garment was given so the two remain unmixed. One point often overlooked is that the law still holds its ground in the eyes of God who sees it completely and eternally fulfilled in the person of Jesus and is now fulfilled in us as we are in Christ: Romans 8:3-4,” For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”. In Jesus, we are keepers of the law.
The parable does not just talk about cloth but it is about a garment, something to be worn and in the sense that it is connected with the old representing the law, it also indirectly testifies of a new garment from new cloth. We must be covered by something approved by God in order to appear before the Lord and this was first evident in the sin of Adam and Eve who found themselves naked in their unbelief. God provided grace for them when He slew the innocent beast and made them clothes of skins setting the type for the need of covering and this need continues until that day we receive our final covering as presented in 2Corinthians 5:2-4,” For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life”. No matter which dispensation of grace is being considered, the covering is always based on substitution because man’s depravity is such that there is nothing in us to create a garment sufficiently righteous to shield us from God’s consuming holiness. Although the old garment of the law was perfect, it was unable to cover as Romans 8:3 points out, because we were unable to keep it perfectly so it included provisions for animals to be sacrificed to appease God’s wrath. But then came Jesus with a covering of righteousness, fully accepted by the Father and He not only made the substitution, but through the power of imputation which is God ascribing the righteousness of Jesus, the Holy One to us, the unrighteous, by an act of mercy and grace so our sin is not just covered, it ceases to exist! One way to view it is that if we had been able to obey the law perfectly, we would have attained a righteous standing before the Lord, and blood sacrifice would have ended and this is exactly what Jesus did. He perfectly obeyed the law, gave Himself once as the sacrifice for all the rest of us, and His one complete life, followed by His sacrificial death and resurrection is the eternal covering planned, purposed, and carried out by the will of God before the creation of all things. We close again with that amazing passage of Romans 11:33-36,” O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever”. Amen.
June 10, 2021
Matthew 9:14-15, “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast”
The disciples of John brought up the question as to why Jesus’ disciples did not fast and this brings us the next parable in the Lord’s teaching. John was in prison and it isn’t clear here whether his disciples were criticizing Jesus and his men or if they were just asking a question to understand the difference between John’s ways and the Lord’s ways in matters such as fasting. John’s ministry was austere as could be seen in his manner of dress and his observance of strict codes of diet and differed from the ministry of Jesus as reflected in the Lord’s words of Luke 7:33-34,” For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!”. Apparently, fasting was an important part of their calling and it was a common theme they shared with the Pharisees who fasted often, usually twice a week but in the case of the Pharisees, their fasting was not due to the humiliation of their souls and sorrow for their sin, but it was to make them appear more spiritual in other’s eyes: Matthew 6:16,” Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward”. The Lord’s answer to the question was in the form of a parable using the illustration of the events of a wedding and a bridegroom and his attendants. The wedding occasion was a time of rejoicing as the friends of the bridegroom was happy to be a part of the joy of the bridegroom and during such times, feasting, not fasting was the rule of the day. Interestingly, John had used a similar illustration concerning himself and the Lord in John 3:29-30,” He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease”. The three years Jesus and His disciples were together was a wonderful time of traveling, teaching, miracles, feasting, and companionship but the future that lay ahead of them was one of suffering and hardship with the Lord being crucified and most of the disciples dying as martyrs. This would be the time of fasting for the disciples.
There are insights for us today from this parable besides the circumstances surrounding its presentation by our Lord and one of those is the study of fasting and how this practice applies to us. Our Lord, before He began His ministry, fasted 40 days and nights after which He emerged victorious over the temptation of the evil one. Fasting was a part of the early church as presented in Acts 14:23,” And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed” and very much a part of Paul’s ministry recorded in 2Corinthians 11:27,” In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness”. Most protestant Christians today do not practice fasting and it is not a subject often taught in their churches because we are far more prone to church dinners, homecomings, and meals with friends than we are to abstaining from food and praying. There is a practice that calls itself “fasting” when people give up something they like, such as chocolate or some other luxury, or modify their diet for a while before Easter to allegedly prepare themselves spiritually as a period of penitence but the observation of “Lent” is traditional, not Biblical and the attempt to connect it to Jesus’ 40 day fast is error. The Bible does give us verses as to why fasting is important and these can be found in Isaiah 58:6-8, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward”. A study of this passage shows that fasting is connected to deliverance from things that bind us and the power to live free from things that oppress us. It is followed by an outpouring of benevolence to the poor and needy. Depriving the flesh of food during the time of fasting places the will of the flesh in submission to the Holy Spirit and relinquishes our power to His. As mentioned in a previous devotion, a good picture of fasting is seen in Daniel 9:3, “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” when Daniel was preparing his heart to seek the Lord. While there is no prescription for fasting such as when to fast, how long to fast, and whether it completely without food or only bread and water, fasting is still a valid exercise in Christianity today.
June 9, 2021
Luke 5:31,” And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick”
This parable/metaphor occurred when Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector, to be His disciple. Tax collectors, called publicans because they handled the money taken from the public, were always regarded as horrible sinners because they were extortioners in that they were allowed to keep all the money above what the Roman government required so they cheated, lied, and deceived citizens and in the process were usually very wealthy. When men took the office of a tax collector, they were cast out of the synagogues, forbidden to serve in any judicial capacity, and in the eyes of the public, they and their entire family were objects of shame, disgrace, and scorn. One of the Lord’s miracles is that of all people Jesus could have called to follow Him and be one of His disciples, He called Matthew, also known as Levi. The Lord included him in His core of intimate followers and to top that, Matthew ended up writing one of the gospels meaning God chose him to convey an infallible, inerrant, Holy Spirit directed portion of the Eternal Word of God one of the innumerable examples of God’s amazing grace and a testimony of His mysterious plan for the New Testament church. When Matthew answered Jesus’ call, he threw a huge feast in Jesus’ honor and invited a bunch of publicans and other outcasts and we know they were outcasts for no respectable Jew would have attended the feast because it was given by a publican and attended by publicans and other such sinners. When the scribes and Pharisees saw all this, they began to grumble (Luke 5:30,” But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?”) appalled at the very idea Jesus and His chosen men would dare eat with such people. The Lord gave them the answer using the metaphor that sick people need a doctor, not people who are whole, the word “whole” meaning good in health, uncorrupted, and strong and in this meaning, He shows Himself not only as the great physician and healer of all manner of disease, but He is declaring Himself to be the healer of our sick, sinful souls. Luke 5:32,” I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”.
The blindness of the scribes and Pharisees kept them from seeing they were just as much sinners as the ones they were calling sinners and just as much in need of Jesus the great physician. It is our sinfulness and pride that deceives our hearts and causes us to point the finger at others when we are in the same shoes as them. Romans 2:1,” Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things”. Jesus answers the skeptics by allowing them to consider themselves righteous for the sake of argument even though they needed him as much as the publicans and sinners they were condemning. The Lord isn’t just a helper, He is the healer of the whole man: body, soul, and spirit but the problem with us all is the same as it was with the Pharisees. When we will not admit we are sin-sick and in need of a Savior, we will remain in our sin just as Jesus declared to the Pharisees in John 9:40-41,” And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth”. Those who were obvious sinners such as the publicans invited the Lord to come into their homes, talked with Him, and shared meals with the King of Kings. The self-righteous religious crowd considered themselves more righteous than everyone even God in the flesh and had nothing but hatred for the One who could and would make them whole. This problem with Israel’s sin was not new, God used a similar metaphor in Isaiah when pointing out their sin centuries before in Isaiah 1:5-6,” Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment”. In the words of the song “The Healer”, He has healed my sick soul, made me every whit whole, and he’ll do the same for you. He’s the same yesterday, and today and for aye, this Healer of men today.
June 8, 2021
John 4:35,” Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest”
Jesus gave this parable/metaphor to His disciples outside the Samaritan village where He had just met a woman at Jacob’s well. He used a natural circumstance to explain a spiritual truth and referred to the harvest of grain in this agrarian society which was four months away and called the disciple’s attention that while the food harvest was apparent to them, there was another harvest in front of their eyes. When the Samaritan woman went back into her village, testified of her encounter with the Lord, and people came streaming out of the village towards Jesus and the disciples, the Lord told the disciples this harvest was ready and they would be a part of winning the souls to Christ even though they had not participated in sowing the seed. In the Lord’s work, people play different parts, some sow the seed of truth and others water the seed, but all share in the reward of the harvest (1 Corinthians 3:6). If you’ve ever heard people talk about how many souls they’ve won to the Lord, remember the truth of God’s Word which says it’s a joint effort and no part of the effort is more important than another for when the salvation occurs, it is all about the glory of God because salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). It doesn’t matter if the ministering of the word of God is taking place face to face without any other means or if it’s through modern electronic methods, it’s still the process of sowing the truth, watering, and then comes the harvest. The Lord’s words that the fields are white to harvest is an allegory referring to the appearance of a field of wheat that is ready to reap. The full, ripe grains give the wheatfield a shimmering white appearance and Jesus knew the Samaritans, people who were the least likely to hear His words because of their long-standing feud with the Jews, were coming to Him with expectation, hope, and faith.
There might be the temptation to ignore the fact people need the Lord now and procrastinate for a better opportunity or another time when it might seem they are more ready to come to salvation but the Bible says in 2Corinthians 6:2, “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”. Concerning the will of the Lord about the harvest, the Bible says in Luke 10:2,” Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” causing us to consider the availability of believers to enter the Lord’s work on His terms. One indicator of the declining number of people entering the ministry can be seen in the continued decrease in enrollment in schools that train pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders, most of them showing at least a 30% decrease in enrollment in the past ten years with many of them cutting their staff as much as 50%. One blame area is that most schools say today’s parents discourage rather than encourage their children to follow the Lord’s work because it isn’t economically rewarding and they are pushing their kids towards business, medicine, or technology because they value an education that pays off in dollars and cents. With the traditional, smaller fundamental churches, there’s a massive shortage of pastors and other dedicated servants, a decline in church attendance, and a lack of the revivals and youth rally’s that in times past, encouraged scores of young people to dedicate their lives and future to the Lord and follow His call into the fields of harvest. We can obey the words of Luke 10:2 and pray the Lord would send people into the fields and even though the world around us shows signs of the appearing of Christ, until He calls us home the message of hope and salvation will remain the same as stated in Luke 19:10,” For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”.
June 7, 2021
John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, was drawn to Jesus and came to Him secretly under cover of darkness to try to learn who He was. When Jesus talked to him here in St John 3, He explained the foundation of what it means to be born again, and this segment of scripture has probably been quoted and referred to more often than any other in the Bible especially John 3:16. It is here we find the beginning of the teaching of the new birth and the Lord tells Nicodemus it does not take place in the natural realm but in the spiritual. He compares the spiritual birth to the wind and says the wind is a mystery to us because it blows wherever it wants and we can hear it but we don’t know where it came from and where it’s going. In all the languages associated with the Bible, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac, the same word is used for both wind and spirit and shows us further the divine connection between the two as the Lord is revealing to us we don’t have to understand all about the wind to believe it exists so we do not need to understand the new birth in the natural sense because it is a supernatural occasion. In the Greek text, the word is “pneuma” and Robertson says in his book Word Pictures, “The Spirit is the use of pneuma as a metaphor. Certainly, the conclusion “of the Spirit” is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit who works his own way beyond our comprehension even as men even yet do not know the law of the wind”. It’s sad that many Christians are not given to prolonged meditation on the Word of God for if they were, time spent thinking about the wind in the natural is a great help to understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t explain what wind is, where it comes from, what gives it the power, what limits its duration, where it goes next after it passes us, and where it eventually ends up or dies. The wind is unseen but it can blast with such force nature and man-made structures cannot withstand its power or it can blow so gently it cools the air on a hot, humid day and now that unseen power can drive the blades of a turbine to generate electricity. The wind powered the great boats that brought our ancestors across the ocean to America and to a child with a kite, a bit of wind makes for some old-fashioned fun. As it relates to the Holy Spirit, this is not something man can produce with his religion, rituals, and contrived attempts at creating a “spiritual atmosphere”.
On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came into the upper room like a mighty rushing wind something I dare say many people today have never experienced and if it were mentioned to them that such a stirring in the Spiritual is one of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, they would balk at that possibility. Church people have long been told that such a movement of the Holy Spirit was a one-time thing that day thousands of years ago and what we have now is different and we experience the Lord through our natural senses, not in a supernatural outpouring. But here is God’s answer to that in Jude 1:17-19,” But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit”. We are not talking about the Holy Spirit in terms of emotionalism although He can cause emotions, but we are talking about the Holy Spirit as heavens wind that affects us spiritually as the Bible says, we are “quickened” or made alive by its power. We can’t explain It nor can we understand Its presence but It is real and it satisfies our hungry souls with the good things of heaven’s touch. If you have ever tasted this, dead religion, dead churches, thumped-up music programs, stale sermons, and forms of Godliness will never satisfy you. We cry out, “Lord, breathe on us, send the wind of the Holy Spirit to flow through us, change us, quicken our mortal bodies, we wait upon Your presence to shake us with heavens wind, and remove anything and everything that would block or hinder the power of the Holy Spirit. We hunger for You Lord, for Your touch please take us from the dry, dead religion and its fleshly ways and blow on us and through us, we pray in Jesus’ name.”
June 6, 2021
Matthew 5:14,” Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid”
We are the light of the world, terms which the Lord also declared of Himself in John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” then further clarified in John 9:5,” As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. When Jesus ascended back to heaven, believers then began carrying on the mission as light and are equated to a city built on a hill that can be seen above all else. The imagery is not only of the city in the daylight being visible above the terrain, but after night fell in those ancient times with no light pollution and total darkness, all the lamps burning in the windows and around the city wall would be a prominent focal point to anyone miles away and it’s God’s will for believers to be a reflection of the light of Christ to a world in darkness. There is so much artificial light in today’s world we seldom ever experience total darkness and similarly, in the spiritual realm there is much artificial light in the guise of religion but the scripture says in 1John 2:8,” Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” and calls the light of the Lord the true light. When the gospel of John described the appearing of Jesus in 1:9, it says “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. This was a jolt to the Jews for they had been taught by their Rabbis they were the light and hope of the world because of their Jewishness with its claim to fame being their genealogy back to Adam, their link to Abraham, the law, the temple, and their monotheistic way of life and then came Jesus and His vagabond-looking bunch of disciples claiming He and they were the light of the world.
How is it then that we are the light of the world knowing our humanness and our tendency to be far less than we should be in our walk with the Lord? The Lord gives the answer in Matthew 6:22-23,” The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” showing that as natural light enters our body through the eye, our spiritual being receives light from wherever our faith eye is focused. If our sight is upon Jesus and the things of the Lord we are filled with the light of God. But if our gaze is fastened on this wicked world, it fills us with its darkness. Believers reflect back to this world the light of the Lord when they are filled with the light of Christ because we bear witness to Him who is not of this world John 8:23,” And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world”. It is a grave mistake to think we can produce the Lord’s light through our own contrived methods of religion, programs, committee decisions, education, and well-laid plans because the light we have through the Savior is supernatural and while the man-made light of religion and religious things can attract some attention, it doesn’t have the power of Holy Spirit to reveal the eternal truth of God. This is why the Bible says 1Corinthians 1:26-28,” For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are”. God’s light is not generated by our savvy technologically advanced displays of theatrical type church services because those things may titillate the senses but the true light penetrates past the senses to the very heart.
June 5, 2021
Matt 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”
Jesus gave many parables and metaphors, stories and types with meanings, to explain deeper spiritual truths and in our devotionals for the next few days, we will look at these as a small Bible study beginning with the one above where believers are called the salt of the earth. The Lord didn’t say we should aspire to become salt but that we are the salt which is at once a great honor and a great responsibility. In the ancient world, where there was no refrigeration, salt was a rare, valuable commodity to flavor food that wasn’t always in its freshest stage, particularly meat. This is the meaning of the phrase if the salt has lost its “savor” or flavor, it is useless to use as a food flavoring and would be discarded. Salt was not as readily available as it is now with our salt mines and was often used as monetary exchange with the Roman soldiers sometimes being paid in salt hence the old saying, “He’s not worth his salt” giving us a picture of the value of believers in a saltless world. As salt was used then to flavor, actually cover, the taste of half spoiled meat in their hot, scorching environment, believers add a flavor of goodness to a world that is putrid in its sin. When they compromise and live in such a way that they are indistinguishable from the world around them, they become castaways as described in 1Corinthians 9:27,” But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” not meaning the God rejects them but that they lose their flavor to a godless world. But not only does it flavor but salt preserves and protects from contamination such as in salted fish, salted dehydrated meats, and vegetables. There is no way of knowing how much of the flood of bacteria-like evil of our world Christians hold back and through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Bible says there is a tsunami of iniquity led by the antichrist, that is being held back until we are taken out of the way. Wouldn’t you rather your neighborhood be filled with people who are honest, helpful, trustworthy, and kind instead of a bunch of thugs, thieves, muggers, rapists, and guttersnipe? An interesting extension of this saltiness is seen in Colossians 4:6,” Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” with salt here meaning when we speak in grace, our speaking should be with wit and good sense: savory.
The power of the salt has been evident through the centuries because the morals of Christianity permeated much of society until the last few decades. The very laws of the land reflected the code that honored the Lord and reverenced His great name and the entertainment industry was censored from producing movies and television shows spouting profanity. When we were in public elementary school in Kingsport, our teachers began every class with prayer and we memorized scriptures. I still have my 3rd-grade class picture from 1965 where we were all sitting at our desks and our teacher, Mrs. Richardson was standing beside a huge flip chart on which you can clearly see the first Psalm handwritten in huge letters. We had a Bible teacher that came every week, taught Bible lessons, and gave us little Bibles to keep. Sometimes if students would complete a series of Bible studies, they would be given free passes to a summer Bible camp. On Saturdays, we would go to town and street preachers would stand at different places on Broad Street preaching the gospel in the open air and crowds would gather around them to listen. It’s flummoxing and utterly futile to try to figure out exactly what has happened to bring us to where we are so quickly because the whole system has fast-forwarded in a quantum jump that dumped us where we are and it feels like a completely different universe. But looking around, I suspect that the salt has lost its savour and we’re seeing the fulfillment of Romans 1:28,” And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” and the beginning of 2Thessalonians 2:11-12,” And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness”.
June 4, 2021
Psalm 113:3,” From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised”
The name of the Lord is certainly blasphemed continually by the very creatures He gave life. The rocks are ready to cry out His praise but people take God’s name in vain as if He is trash under their feet. A few nights ago, I thought I would watch a movie and within the first ten minutes, one of the characters began swearing, using the name of God as filth and I immediately turned off the mess, asked the Lord to have mercy upon the foolishness and sin of us all and determined many people must fill their minds daily with the enemy’s words of hatred towards the Almighty. After all, who would write a movie script, pay for its production and feed it to the public where the Lord’s name is taken in vain? Is that not the work of the enemy of God and why do we reach out and drink in such garbage, honor the actors who have no morals, and support these organizations that clearly belong to the devil? Remember the words of our Lord, Matt 12:33-37, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”. This answers the argument that whatever we say, they’re words and don’t matter. The teaching is continued in Jude 1:15, “To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” where the words “hard speeches” means harsh, severe, rough. Consider the demands of the Law in Leviticus 24:15-16,” And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death”. The very Word of God reveals the seriousness of how His name is handled in our words and while, thank the Lord, we are not under the Law, the type it lays as a foundation declares the reverence due God’s name.
Our praise of the name of the Lord is to be carried out in our worship where we find many examples in the Bible commending both what we say and how we posture ourselves while giving honor to the name of the Lord. Psalm 134 with only 3 verses, says in verse 2, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD” which should be taught to all believers because the enemy fights to make us embarrassed to raise our hands publicly in honoring the name of the Lord. Why is it that the simple act of raising our hands in obedience to God’s Word becomes such a problem with our flesh wincing at the very thought of such a thing? You might say you don’t feel like it or it’s not your custom but it is an act of honor to the name of the Lord and is done deliberately to physically declare His worthiness. Don’t make it complicated, just do it as part of your worship and even though I’m unable to testify to the glory of the name of the Lord, at least I can still lift my hands and by God’s grace will continue to do so while I meditate on Psalm 63:3-4,” Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name”, one of my personal favorite verses. But it’s not only in worship, but we praise the name of the Lord when we ascribe who the Lord is and what He has done. When Jesus cast the demons out of the maniac at Gadara, the fellow wanted to become one of Jesus’ traveling band of disciples but Jesus said in Mark 5:19-20,” Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel”. We praise the Lord’s name when we give honor to Him by telling what He has done for us and giving acknowledgment that it is the Lord that led us, helped us, favored us, supplied us, kept us, delivered us, and will be the One that takes us safely home. How much more in every area of our speech and conversations with others, the name of the Lord should be on our tongue so that all may know it’s Him, not us that deserves all the praise. Every believer has countless examples of the Lord’s faithfulness to us to fulfil His promises that all things work for our good, our steps are ordered by the Lord, our needs are met, our prayers are answered, and we are kept by the grace of our Lord and may we purpose to praise the name of the Lord by declaring His goodness in everything whenever we have the opportunity from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.
June 3, 2021
Ephesians 6:18,” Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”
The verses preceding this one describe the armor of the believer such as the covering of truth, protection of righteousness, shoes of ministry, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit then attached to this by a colon, is this verse about praying and watching. The word “watching” interestingly enough fits yesterday’s devotion about sleeping because it means “to stay awake”. But the primary emphasis is on prayer and gives us the clue that no matter how well-armed we are, without prayer it’s a no-go. The Bible says “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” and presented literally from its Greek, it means “on every occasion praying with all kinds of prayers upon prayers”. Christians who are prepared to live their lives for the Lord no-holds-barred are those who, on every occasion, pray and not just when we normally associate occasions of prayer like before a meal, at bedtime, or when called upon. And we are encouraged to pray all kinds of prayer: standing prayer, kneeling prayer, lying on the floor prayer, walking prayer, group prayer, solo prayer, silent prayer, audible prayer, whispering prayer, hollering prayer, bad grammar prayer, sophisticated prayer, and any other kind of prayer there is but the idea is on every occasion with every kind of prayer we are to reach the throne of grace and speak powered by the Holy Spirit, to the Creator of all things. All kinds of prayer can also mean prayers of intercession, thanksgiving, praise, requests, confession, reflection, and desperation. The hymn “Tell it to Jesus”, says “Are you weary, are you heavyhearted? Are you grieving over joys departed? Do the tears flow down your cheeks unbidden? Have you sins that to men’s eyes are hidden? Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow? Are you troubled at the thought of dying? For Christ’s coming kingdom are you sighing?” Then it says “tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus He is a friend that’s well known. You have no other such a friend or brother, tell it to Jesus alone”.
All of us could become better and more faithful in our prayers and one way to mature in that capacity is to study prayers recorded in God’s Word as examples. God’s Word is perfect and He recorded prayers of people to show us their heart when they prayed and as these prayers are a part of the Word, they are fully suitable for us to meditate on and help us when we approach the Lord. David’s prayer of confession for example in Psalm 51 helps us understand the cry of a man the Bible calls a man after God’s own heart and when we pray this prayer or parts of it back to the Lord in our times of confession, it places our own heart on solid ground with the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to search our intentions and desire. When we see the sin around us and begin to intercede for the souls trapped in unbelief, how wonderful it is to turn to Ezra 9 and cry out to God as Ezra did as he prayed for mercy for people. It is said there are 650 prayers in the Bible and when we look to the Word and pray the Word it adds another element to our prayer life and we grow in our knowledge of the Lord and the Word of God searches our hearts because the Word is alive, powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword and when it is prayed back to its Author, the Spirit and the Word agree. The prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9, is one of the most searching prayers in the Bible and tells us the prophet’s determination and method of praying in Daniel 9:3, “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” revealing his was no spur of the moment, say a few words, and then get back to whatever you are doing type prayer. F.B. Meyer says of this type of prayer, “The blank checks are drawn and signed in our favor, but they must be presented at the bank for payment”. Daniel’s prayer and others in the scripture convict us that if we would only take our praying seriously and besides the impromptu, customary, and usual prayers, if we would but give ourselves to purposeful prayer, using God’s Word as our model, the prospects of the great and wonderful answers we could receive from heaven’s storehouse are unlimited.
June 2, 2021
Ephesians 5:14,” Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light”
This verse is not to the lost but to the saved and brings out a sleep condition that is mentioned several times to believers in the New Testament although it is a rendering of Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee”. This is probably where we get our wake-up greetings of “rise and shine”. Those who are asleep can think, talk, move, hear, and even walk but they appear almost dead and in fact, we use statements about sleeping people like, “they are dead to the world” and they are “dead-heads”. But sleeping people are mostly oblivious to everything around them and they have no thoughts for the well-being of their families, the needs of their neighbors, and the dangers of the world. When I was a boy, at night when I went to bed, I used to try to figure out how it was I went to sleep but it would happen to me and I’d wake up the next day never remembering just how sleep caught me. It’s almost like it sneaks up behind you and knocks you unconscious because people fall asleep and don’t realize they’re asleep, where they are, and what are the circumstances around them. But the sleep spoken of in this verse and other similar places is a spiritual state that compares to natural sleep in that we can be saved but in a frame of being where we are not even aware we are spiritually asleep even though we are going through the Christian motions of singing, praying, attending church, and even involved in ministries. Unlike natural sleep where we can wake up on our own, spiritual sleep usually requires a shaking or some other jolt to our senses that brings us back to the realization of where we are and our condition and has been referred to by terms such as “awakening” and “revival”. It’s interesting this verse says to awake and arise from the dead for “dead” is exactly what we call the condition of people and churches that have lost their zeal for the things of God and fallen into the stupor of a form of Godliness. Note that in the parable of the ten virgins, as they approached the midnight hour when the bridegroom was coming, the Bible says in Matthew 25:5,” While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept” which is the very condition the disciples were in when the Lord was agonizing in the garden until His sweat became drops of blood. With all the examples and warnings in the scriptures towards us, it appears above all things, we are prone to sleep, probably asleep right now, and don’t even know it. In the case of the sleeping disciples if we use them as examples, remember the Lord came a couple of times and woke them which might parallel times of revival and awakenings we have experiences in times past but finally the Lord said in Mark 14:41,” And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come”. If there is to be no revival then Laodicea will sleep on.
Now that we are inundated with every sort of sin with no social barriers or public laws holding any of it back and we are so desensitized that any mention of moral standards is comical fodder to this generation, the absence of convictions in the lives of Christians are another indicator that we are so deeply asleep even the continual profane droning of the culture around us does nothing to stir us to pick up the weapons of our warfare. Remember the parable of the tares and the wheat? The Bible says, Matthew 13:25,” But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way”. The church is content to teach its members to practice the philosophy of “inner growth” which is another way to say they are addicted to self-analysis, self-actualization, and self-will while never confronting their culture with Biblical truth lest it will be offended. The argument that “we can’t win them by offending them” is another lie of Satan because guess what… we’re not winning them anyway with our non-offensive, ducking and dodging of the straight, plain words of our God. Churches that are growing are doing so not because they are winning bunches of people to the Lord, they’re just pulling attendees from other churches by offering something different. Not something more Godly, Holy, and Truthful, just different to attract a bored, self-centered, pleasure-loving more than God-loving band of church gypsies who will just as quickly abandon that church when something new and exciting appears. Their only Loyalty? To themselves. We don’t have to look far for the evidence that we are not winning this generation to the Lord and changing this culture because its values, worldview, language, and rancid sin has spilled out of its gutters and flooded into our homes, schools, churches, government, and our pastimes and sources of entertainment. Proverbs 6:9-10,” How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep”.
June 1, 2021
Galatians 5:13,” For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another”
The book of Galatians is about liberty, freedom, and was written to those who were being pulled back into the law of Moses under the lie that unless one obeyed certain ordinance, there was no salvation. It’s easy to imagine that the central place the law held, for many hundreds of years in the Jewish culture and the lives of individuals, would make it difficult for new believers to trust the truth that the law was no longer a part of their lives now they had come to Christ and that liberty from the law was God’s plan for them. But Jesus came to set the captives free and the message of freedom in Him was the heartbeat of the grace of God. The mystery of the church age was so radical to what had been the pattern for obtaining righteousness through the Old Covenant that the Bible describes it as Isaiah 9:2,” The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” and of Jesus, the scriptures say, John 1:9,” That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. The fact that we are free is still so unbelievable to us that we have never been able to just walk in the liberty so we’ve constructed elaborate doctrines, denominations, written and unwritten codes, and painted ourselves by our own unbelief into such organized religious corners through the centuries we have created our own species of “Christian Pharisees” and cling to all the accompanying tomfoolery as if it’s the gospel truth. But Jesus said “It is finished” and we are free whether we want to believe it or not with this liberty being paid for by the unimaginable suffering and shed blood of the Son of God. Maybe one of the fears of the legalists is that when people embrace their freedom, they will believe there are no restraints since their sin has been forgiven and removed to never be remembered, their righteous standing before God is complete, and their salvation is eternal. It is on this note that the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit continue to teach us that we are indeed free but we are charged with great responsibilities.
This freedom in Christ makes it possible to do what the law could never provide and that is to love one another and not only to love but to serve one another by this love. Perhaps a missing element of our Christianity is that we have fallen into a self-serving trap and lost sight of the purpose of our new birth, which is to exercise the servant heart of our Savior. In one of the final acts He performed with His disciples before He was taken from them and crucified, He bowed before them all one by one and washed their feet, and dried them with a towel. This was the capstone of the life He lived which was marked every day by serving others and it is stated of our Lord in Philippians 2:7,” But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”. It’s not that He only served the will of His Father but everywhere He went His mission was completely centered on the needs of others and He gave us this teaching in Luke 6:31,” And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise”. It’s a limited view that sees this as what we have commonly called it, “the golden rule” but its richness is that it fulfills the law and the writings of the prophets and displays the heart of the Creator of all things. This “lovers of their own selves” mess today can even be seen in the Lord’s work where it appears not many want to give their heart, time, and talents willingly and gratis, but they expect to be paid or compensated and no one seems to be telling them if that’s the path they choose, their reward will only be whatever coins they pocket here and now. If that’s their heart, that money is what makes it work, they are not servants of the Lord, they’re just employees of some organization and need a full understanding of the Lord’s example of a servant’s heart and actions in the story of the Good Samaritan.