But He Was A Leper.

Our Text:
2 Kings 5:1 "Now Naaman, Captain of the host of the King of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, BUT HE WAS A LEPER.

Naaman had a major "BUT" in his life that ensured a permanent shadow cast over him.  No matter his accomplishments as a soldier, no matter the honor and high praise he received from the King, no matter the fame he enjoyed both abroad and at home, he was an unhappy man because he was a leper.

This disease was a death sentence hanging over his head at all times, like the sword of Damocles, and all that fame and money and goodwill which he enjoyed could not cure him,  all the specialists both in medicine and in spiritism could not help him, he was doomed!

Naaman had everything earthly a person could want but he also had that one thing that a person would forfeit all earthly wealth to be rid of,  he was a leper.  Who would trade with him,  the young Hebrew slave girl in his household wouldn't trade with him to obtain her freedom,  nobody would take the leprosy from him even if he offered to give money with it,  he was a 'dead outcast walking.'

Folks speak of the one "but" in Jabez's life because of his prayer,  but Jabez was a successful man.  He was highly favored in his town,  and Bible history had it that his wisdom and piety had scribes flocking to him and the town was even named after him,  see 1 Chronicle 2:54.

Jabez prayed to God because he was getting ready to go and oust the Canaanites who were occupying his people's land,  and he was God fearing enough to acknowledge the providence of God upon his endeavors, so he asked God to prosper what he was about to do and not allow the dark meaning of his name to affect the enterprise. See 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10.

Now Naaman on the other hand had everything including this deplorable, shameful disease,  he was a leper. Therefore he was a very sorrowful man.

An immediate lesson to learn from Naaman's situation is that we must never envy anybody.  On the surface he looked like he had it all,  but who would take that entire package from him?  We know of the one who coveted what Naaman had, he got it all, including that which he did not bargain for (Gehazi in 2 Kings 5:20-27).  Many there are who seemingly have it all but with great sorrow where they cannot enjoy that for which they are being envied.

On the other hand,  this same condition of Naaman's was also his saving grace!  By this he was sent to the servant of God, Elisha who administered God's cure which caused Naaman to renounce the gods of his people and embrace the only true God, Jehovah. When we find ourselves in dire straits and/or hopeless conditions, we should allow them to drive us to God who can save us eternally.

Throughout the Bible, when leprosy is used metaphorically, it denotes sin in a person's life which no amount of money or goodwill or fame can cure.  Only by accepting the sacrificial, substitutionary work of Jesus at Calvary can a person be cured,  healed, and assured of admittance into the Kingdom of God.

We should pray that the Lord God who cured Naaman would do the same and heal us of the one "BUT" in our lives. That He will heal us of our diseases and save us from all our sins.  That He will seal us with the seal of the  Holy Spirit so that when the  trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised,  we who are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet our Lord in the air!  See 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

May the Lord by His Spirit make it so in Jesus' name,  Amen.

#momomily2013 

Broken Cisterns

Jeremiah 2:9-13 NET
"So, once more I will state my case against you," says the LORD. "I will also state it against your children and grandchildren.
[10] Go west across the sea to the coasts of Cyprus and see. Send someone east to Kedar and have them look carefully. See if such a thing as this has ever happened:
[11] Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all!
[12] Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded," says the LORD.
[13] "Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water."
 

Jeremiah 2:5 NLT
This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.  

Now he pleads with those who persisted in that vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers, and with their children's children, that is, with all that in every age tread in their steps.
Jeremiah 2:9 KJVS
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord , and with your children's children will I plead. He pleads with us that we may plead with ourselves.   

EXAMPLE OF GOD PLEADING WITH US:
Isaiah 43:21-24 NLT
I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.
[22] "But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
[23] You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
[24] You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with  your faults.

The King James Version with Strong's Concordance calls "faults" in verse 24 "iniquities."

THE ACCUSATIONS
Verses 10-11
1. SHE ACTED AGAINST COMMON PRACTICE BY FORSAKING THE TRUE FOUNTAIN. 
It was unprecedented in the history of the nations for a people ever to forsake the Gods of their inheritance.  Their neighbours were more firm and faithful to their false gods than they were to the true God. They were ambitious of being like the nations, and yet in this they were unlike them.
He challenges them to produce an instance of any nation that had changed their gods  or were apt to change them. Let them survey either the old records or the present state of 
a) the isles of Chittim, Greece, and the European islands, the countries that were more polite and learned, and
b) Kedar, that lay south-east (as the other north-west from them), which were more rude and barbarous. 

THEY would not find an instance of a nation that had changed their gods, though they had never done them any kindness, nor could do, for they were no gods.

The children of Israel are being invited to examine other cultures to discover that there is no sociological precedent for their massive defection. Even the people whose gods are impotent, who are no gods at all, still remain loyal to them. Yet here is Jerusalem, in possession of the one, true God, forsaking Him and going after emptiness.  
While we cannot praise the pagan nations for this we need to point out, to the reproach of Israel, and Christians, that they, who were the only people that had no cause to change their God, were yet the only people that had changed him.
The zeal and constancy of idolaters should shame Christians out of their coldness and inconstancy.  

2. SHE ACTED AGAINST THE DICTATES OF COMMON SENSE BY HEWING OUT HER OWN CISTERNS.
They not only changed, but that they changed for the worse, and made a bad bargain for themselves.

a). They parted from a God who was their glory, who made them truly glorious and every way put honour upon them, one whom they might with a humble confidence glory in as theirs, who is himself a glorious God and the glory of those whose God he is; he was particularly the glory of his people Israel, for his glory had often appeared on their tabernacle.
b). They closed with gods that could do them no good, gods that do not profit their worshippers. Idolaters change God's glory into shame (Rom. 1:23); in dishonouring him, they disgrace and disparage themselves, and are enemies to their own interest.  

PLEASE NOTE
Whatever those turn to who forsake God, it will never do them any good; it will flatter them and please them, but it cannot profit them. Heaven itself is here called upon to stand amazed at the sin and folly of these apostates from God (v. 12, 13):
Hence He called out: "Be astonished, O you heavens! at this."

Why would anyone take something of great value and deliberately exchange it for something worthless? It defies every law of common sense, so much so that the astonishment can only be felt in heaven because the earth has lost its mind (v. 12).
Jerusalem’s capacity to comprehend the loss was gone Those that forsook God worshipped the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; but these, instead of being pleased with the adorations that were paid to them, were astonished and horribly afraid.  

NOTE ALSO:
Hewing cisterns of their own is, of course, an aggravation of the original offence; it means the setting up of a rival to God in the allegiance of our heart and life, and for that reason constitutes nothing less than an insult to the majesty of Heaven.  
The meaning is that the conduct of this people towards God was such we should
1)  be astonished and wonder that supposedly reasonable men, should do a thing so very absurd.
2) have a holy indignation at such impiety and affrontry to our Maker, whose honour we should guard jealously.
3) tremble to think of the consequences to follow. What will be in the end of this action?    

FIRST, they had forsaken God, the fountain of living waters.
Spoken to a people in a semi-arid land, these words would have had a particular intensity. A water source was a matter of survival. An underground fountain was a rare treasure, gurgling bountifully from secret springs that refreshed the weary.
It makes no sense to forsake such satisfaction, such a link to life itself. No one parched by the desert sun would have given a moment’s consideration to such insanity.
Yet this was exactly what Jerusalem had done. Furthermore she had compounded that insanity with another.  

In relevance to us today,  God is our sufficiency and to deny this is to forsake Him. He has been our bountiful benefactor, being an overflowing, everflowing fountain of living waters. When we deny Him, we withhold the gratitude and love and praise due Him.  

Types of Cisterns: Pleasure,  wealth,  fame and human love. All these can never satisfy the soul that rests in them alone-- all these, made at infinite cost of time and pains, deceive and disappoint. In the expressive words of Jeremiah, they are “broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” And in the time of trouble they will not be able to save those that have constructed and trusted them.  

SECOND, they have hewn cisterns of their own making. Tanks out of hard rock and earth, without feeding springs, were unable even to retain what little water might flow into them because they were broken or have false bottoms. When they went there to quench their thirst or for refreshing, they found only mud mire because the earth drank up all the water they thought they gathered.

BEWARE broken cisterns can also be false teachers as spoken of by the Apostles, Peter and Jude.
2 Peter 2:17 CEV
These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm.

The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. A broken cistern cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so that the water is lost when we have most need of it. Judah had given up everything and had gone after nothing. She cheated herself. The loss was poignant and all pervasive. There was nothing now to quench her thirst but mire and filthy sediment. How totally without logic has been her course of action!  

NOTE FURTHER: DIFFERENCES B/W FOUNTAIN AND CISTERNS
Apart from this root iniquity, however, there are fundamental differences between the cisterns and the Fountain which may serve to illustrate the evil of substituting the one for the other.

1.  To begin with, the Fountain is one, while the cisterns are many. There is one living and true God, but there are many false gods. There is no need for more than a single Fountain, because its living waters are sufficient to meet all the needs of humanity.   But the cisterns need to be multiplied, because none of them is deep enough to answer the call which rises from that other deep of a human personality. The unity of the Godhead is an evidence of its absolute perfection. The variety of the world’s idols is an equally convincing proof of their inadequacy. The devotees of mammon worship at many shrines, and the lovers of pleasure serve innumerable masters. Not all the cisterns in the world can take the place of the living Fountain; not all the rivals of God in the allegiance of  

2.   For another thing, the Fountain is always open, but the cisterns must be hewed out. The everlasting God is “not far off from every one of us.” The bounties of His Providence are lavished upon men with impartial kindness, and the blessings of His salvation are equally free to all who are willing to become debtors to His grace.
But the efforts of men to find a substitute for God involve ceaseless toil and an endless quest.   All this means sweat of brow and weariness of brain; but, alas, it is labour in vain, for even when the gods of men’s creation stand upright as the palm tree, they “speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go!” And this is but a figure of the toil and the weariness of a godless life. The world is a hard taskmaster, and pleasure is an insatiable exactor.
The pursuit of earthly success, the scramble for position, the race for wealth, with all the competition and rivalry, “the weariness, the fever, and the fret”which these involve, are in truth a particularly debasing form of slavery.
The builder of the cisterns is doomed to a life of ceaseless hewing; his hammer and chisel can never be long out of his hand. It would not be difficult to prove that an upright life takes less toll of mind and body than the efforts required of a man who has a distaste for honest work and seeks to live by his wits.  

3.   Once more, the Fountain is always full, while the cisterns can hold no water. The workmanship of the God-forsaking hewer is defective. His efforts at the best can produce only a broken cistern, a cracked and leaking tank, which cannot serve its intended purpose, and therefore renders all his labour of no avail. He may pour water continually into it, but as continually it runs out again, and the cistern is left empty. This is an element in the prophet’s figure which points to the folly of the irreligious life.
The guilt involved in hewing out the cisterns is accentuated by the futility of the procedure. It is not only an evil but a bitter thing to forsake the living God. This is a fact which is amply verified in human experience. A man hews out some kind of cistern for himself with much toil and care. He expects it to provide him with a constant supply of water, and for that reason to be a source of unfailing satisfaction to his heart. But he is doomed to disappointment, for sooner or later he finds that he has been putting his trust in a broken cistern.
“Thou fool”was the description applied by Christ to the man who thought that he could supply the needs of his soul from the contents of his barn. Material possessions are a sorry provision for heart hunger. Earthly success cannot secure real happiness: “the dream of the reality” is often better than “the reality of the dream.” Pleasure affords no balm for a wounded spirit. “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.”  

EPITOME OF SUCH A LIFE: THE PRODIGAL SON
THE young man who forsook the living Fountain by turning his back on the love and happiness and ordered freedom of his Father’s house, and “went into a far country.” His attempt to find satisfaction in the broken cisterns of this new land turns out a tragic failure. Before long his resources are exhausted, and the last cistern to which he turns is a swine-trough.
There we find him –and through the grace of God he finds himself –a broken, lonely figure, sunk low in degradation and shame, and dying of hunger.
Well was it for him that in that hour of bitter disillusionment he thought of the home he had so arrogantly forsaken, and said, “I will arise and go to my Father.”  

And although even the cisterns of legitimate human satisfaction often become empty, the Fountain of Divine comfort never fails.
Earthly joys are proverbially transient; friends sometimes disappoint us when we need them most; loved ones are removed from our side when we least expect it; and, as the years go by, we are increasingly conscious that the roots of our life in this world are being pulled up.
But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever, and His consolations are not as waters that fail. In the hour of trouble He draws near us in loving-kindness and He whispers “Fear not.”  

4.   Finally, the water of the Fountain is pure and life-giving: the water of the cisterns is foul and poisonous. A drink from the one means life everlasting: a drink from the other is a “mortal taste”which brings death into the soul and many a woe. Let us hear Thomson’s vigorous description, in The Land and the Book, of the broken cisterns which he actually saw in Palestine:
“The best cisterns, even those in solid rock, are strangely liable to crack, and are a most unreliable source of supply of that absolutely indispensable article, water; and if, by constant care, they are made to hold, yet the water, collected from clay roofs or from marly soil, has the colour of weak soap-suds, the taste of the earth or the stable, is full of worms, and in the hour of greatest need it utterly fails. Who but a fool positive, or one gone mad in love of filth, would exchange the sweet, wholesome stream of a living fountain for such an uncertain mixture of nastiness and vermin?”
But in the spiritual domain there are multitudes who are so “mad in love of filth” that they prefer the draughts of  “nastiness” to the wholesome waters of the Fountain. Familiarity with the taste of the earth and the stable soon creates a depraved appetite, so that pure water seems insipid in comparison with those more strongly flavoured mixtures.  

REMEDIES:
1.   Let us cleave to the Lord only and join with the apostles in John 6:68-69 NKJV But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. [69] Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
2.   Let us recall the ringing proclamation of Christ “on the last day of the Feast” in Jerusalem, when He stood and cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”
In these arresting words He declares that He Himself is the Fountain of Life.
In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead.
To Him belong all the resources of power, all the riches of grace, and all  the depths of compassion which belong to God, for the Father hath given all things into His hand. In Him the thirsty soul finds satisfaction for all its needs –pardon for guilt, cleansing for defilement, power for impotence, and comfort for loneliness and dejection.  
When we come unto Him in faith we are not only forgiven for our past iniquities, but are so healed and renewed in our whole being that we ourselves become a spring of blessing to others. Out of the believer’s heart “shall flow rivers of living water.”  
The man who drinks at the Fountain of Life not only attains to personal satisfaction of soul, but becomes himself a living spring, from which others derive quickening and refreshment.
3. Revelation 2:5 KJVS
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.  
Forsake the alliances and idolatries which have alienated you from your best Friend.   Open your heart, that he may create in you the fountain of living water, leaping up to eternal life. .·. . .
4. Revelation 22:17 KJVS
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

#momomily2015

Our Legacy (3 of 3)

Our Text :

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NKJV
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
[18] Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
[19] that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
[20] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
[21] For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

When our child looks up at us and says "I love you,"  we feel this indescribable pull in our hearts and know that without a doubt we'd die for that child.  When I was about 13 or 14 years old, my mom came into my room and told me that she needed to go back to school to complete her master's program which she had abandoned when I was a little under 3. I asked why she was telling me and she said she needed to know I was fine with her going back to school! 

I still didn't see why I needed to be involved in that decision and so she told me that when I was a little girl,  she'd go to school on Sunday night and return home on Friday. Well, on this particular Sunday, as she said her goodbyes, I muttered to myself and said "what kind of a mother is this, always leaving her children..."  She said it broke her heart to hear it, and she didn't go that Sunday and hadn't gone since then,  so she really would like my assurance that I'd be fine with her resuming the program at this time.  I was a teenage girl, the only one of six children at home (all the others, including my twin brother were away at boarding school). I needed her to go some where and get out of my hair so I assured her that I was just fine with it.

My point in sharing that is this: parents sacrifice for their children, some more than others but all do.  And most will die in place of their children if it came to it,  well, our heavenly Father did just that!  God the Son,  our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ died in our place to pay the debt justice demanded of us, to redeem us from the one who now owned us through the transaction made with him by Adam and Eve,  and to reconcile us to God the Father. He died for us,  He suffered ignominy, pain, and a cursed death on the cross at Calvary for us!

This, my dear brothers and sisters,  is our legacy.  This is the ministry we inherited,  and the torch we are to carry. Now He made it easy for most of us by giving us biological children.  Which one of us He asked, if his child asked for bread would give a stone or for fish would give a snake? This is one of those rhetorical questions the answer to which it is assumed the audience knows and so requires none to speak.  I do not even speak of spiritual children which if we're truly serving the Lord we all should birth.  Afterall, we are to produce after our kind and our Father in Heaven birthed only spiritual children. The Apostle Paul spoke of his travail in labor to birth these children and his continued labor to form Christ in them. But I'm not going that far. These ones that we physically carried in our wombs for 40 odd weeks and travailed in labor for however many hours to deliver, these ones that we see as extensions of ourselves, are we reconciling them to God? Are we fulfilling the legacy of our heavenly Father in these lives, are we teaching them the same? Are we?

Do we know the terms of this great legacy, are we familiar with the contents or requirements of our covenant with God who bought us back for Himself with his precious, precious blood?  How do we give what we don't have?  The Lord lamented that His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  What do we know of the One to whom we have been so dearly reconciled? What do we know of His terms and conditions of this reconciliation, of this covenant relationship? What do we know? If we can't reconcile our biological children, for whom we claim we will die, if we can't reconcile them to God, how can we go into the community to reconcile any other person to God?

Have we indeed for ourselves received Christ's redemptive sacrifice and been reconciled to God? Are we certain that we have?  Can we say with Apostle Paul that we know in whom we have believed? Can we?

Please let us examine ourselves whether we are in the faith. And may the Holy Spirit help us as we do this in Jesus ' name, Amen.

#momomily2014

Remember When...

Our Text: Jeremiah 31:21 NKJV
"Set up signposts, Make landmarks; Set your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back to these your cities."

A sister called me the other day in somewhat of a distress,  you see, she had misplaced something and couldn't find it. I listened to her carry on about how she'd searched everywhere but it was nowhere to be found!

"Remember when the sons of the Prophets went to fell some trees and the axe head had fallen off the handle of one of the scribes. It had fallen into the water and the scribe cried out saying 'alas Master, for it was borrowed!'" That's what I said to her. See 2 Kings 6:5 NKJV
But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed."

I then gave her several examples from my personal experiences of how the Lord had floated up to the surface items I'd misplaced. For example there was the time I left my purse on the ground beside my car and went into my apartment for the night!  The following morning I got ready for work and couldn’t find my purse. It was sitting right there on the ground beside my car, in the open parking area of an apartment complex.

These were my landmarks and I'd bring them to mind whenever I found myself in an untenable situation. I'd remind myself of these events so my faith in God doesn't wane. He cannot change, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love for me hasn't diminished, His power has not depleted, He is God!

In the legal system,  we have statute law and case law.  Now what's the difference? Statute law is the written code of law that is used to enforce order and punish rebels who will torpedo said order.  But then in arguing a case, one may have to reference a ruling given on similar matters in the past and so sway the decision in one's favor.  This is case law.  That ruling is an action taken by the court redefining or clarifying the statute or code of law.  This brings to mind the saying that "Action speaks louder than words." So we are saying here that we need to argue against all doubt and fear with the actions God has taken on our behalf and on the behalf of others in the past.  These actions are our landmarks. 

The Lord in our text admonishes us to establish the landmarks as we go along. We will need them when it looks like things aren't working out. They help us find our way back to that place with the Lord. You see whenever we are distressed or even simply disturbed,  we tend to lose faith in God and/or His ability to see us through.  These landmarks help us find our way back, build our faith back up.

Whenever we fall apart over a situation, we simply exhibit a lack of faith in God, regardless of what name we call it. And anything done in fear or doubt is sin.  See Romans 14:23 KJV
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

So if we have not begun, let us start building those landmarks,  and let us practice remembering them when we run into situations that require the intervention of Almighty God.  Whenever our axe head falls into the water,  remember that God once floated it up to the surface and He can do it again.

Set up the signposts, make the landmarks. The song says "count your blessings, name them one by one." In our valley moments,  let us turn back using the landmarks as our compass.

#momomily2013

Short of the Glory of God

Our Text:

Romans 3 : 23 NKJV
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 3 : 10-18 "As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one..." I have taken my time to quote all the Scriptures wherefrom the Apostle Paul took the statements following his "as it is written,"  from the Psalms,  Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah.

Psalm 14:1-3 NKJV
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. [2] The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. [3] They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 NKJV
For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.

Psalm 5:9 NKJV
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.

Psalm 140:3 NKJV
They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

Psalm 10:7 NKJV
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

Isaiah 59:7-8 NKJV
Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. [8] The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Psalm 36:1-4 NKJV
An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. [2] For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. [3] The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. [4] He devises wickedness on his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil.

Beyond any measure of doubt we can all agree that we have sinned against God.  We're born with a sin nature and we also sin. This has to be settled if we are to move forward in this discourse.
There has to be penalty for this situation, and throughout the Old Testament, it could not be settled,  but had to be covered daily with an incredible amount of bloodshed.  No blood however could settle it.

But thanks be God, and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, it was settled at Calvary! The question of the penalty was between God and Christ. Christ satisfied the demand of the law, and granted in God’s sight a complete pardon to all mankind, who are willing to accept the provision by faith, for all the sins they have committed: so that they are delivered by their faith, from the penalty they have incurred at once.

But the question of the guilt still being incurred, is another thing altogether; and the child of God, however far he may be advanced, if he is indeed enlightened by the Holy Spirit, must awaken to the consciousness that he has been incurring guilt in the sight of God, not because he has committed what are known among ourselves as definite, acts of sin against the codes of morality and respectability that man puts forward, but because he has incurred guilt in the sight of God: because he comes short of the standard that God puts up, and it may be brought home to his soul that he has committed an act, or spoken a word, or thought a thought, from which guilt will arise in the sight of God.

He must awaken, if his soul is sufficiently enlightened by God, to the consciousness that every thought, word, and deed that proceed from him has, in a deep spiritual sense, brought guilt upon his soul by being short of the glory of God, lacking the perfect holiness of the standard that the Lord Jesus Christ accepted in His person.

Independent of the man, the provision that Christ Jesus made for sinners and for sin, keeps the man, moment by moment, cleansed from this guilt, altogether independent of his feelings or experience; that is the availing power of the blood, for though the man comes short of the glory, and though he cannot walk in this mortal flesh up to the standard of the Lord Jesus Christ’s perfection, and is therefore in that sense, and only in that sense, a sinner, yet he need never have a feeling of depression on account of these unconscious shortcomings, because the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is cleansing him from all sin. Moment by moment as the thing proceeds from the man, springing from the sinful nature that lies deep within him, unconscious he may be of guilt, at the moment, yet incurring guilt, the man finds, by the grace of God, that he is kept cleansed, instant by instant, through the operation of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in God's sight.

As long as we remain in this house of flesh, our offering is tainted and requires the cleansing power in the blood of Jesus to make it acceptable before God, otherwise there will altogether be no need for His blood to continue to work. The work done to justify us at Calvary would have been sufficient, but He continues to work! Hallelujah!

In an earlier post we talked about Isaiah exclaiming that he was a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of people with like ailment.  This is the reason why.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is also the reason why we should take care in our judgments of others. Do I understand that the adulterer is a sinner? I should understand also that in the eyes of God, outside of the cleansing work of the blood of Jesus Christ, and His continual advocacy on my behalf, I am no better than the thief or the adulterer, or indeed the idolater.

#momomily2015

A Man After God's own Heart

Our Text

1 Samuel 13:14
The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart

2 Samuel 5:10
So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him.

I was in a conversation with a sister today who told me that she had done a lot of bad things in the past. She has since decided for the Lord and isn't looking back. But she wonders about the fulness of the Lord's forgiveness toward her.

When the Lord decided to let King Saul go,  he told him through the prophet because he had disobeyed the Lord, that "But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart." 2 Samuel 13 : 14.

We all know the story of David as a King, all the recorded atrocities he committed and yet in 2 Samuel 5:10 we are told that "So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him."

The man whom God sent Samuel to find and anoint had not changed in the eyes of God, or stated differently, God did not change His mind about him. In 1 Peter 1: 18-20 we understand that we WERE redeemed with the precious blood of Christ who was foreordained before the foundation of the world...And in Revelation 13 : 8 we find "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

God did not change His mind about David. He remained "a man after His own heart." He doesn't change His mind about us. The blood of redemption was shed before we were born.
In Psalm 139: 18, the psalmist said "When I awake, I am still with You."  I am still with You because You didn't leave me while I slept, You did not change Your mind about me.

Luke 7:(37-)43
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself saying ,"This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."
So he said, "Teacher, say it."

"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"
Simon answered and said,  "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."

So while thinking about the magnitude of your sins, remember that no sin is so great that the blood of Jesus can't wash, save the sin against the Holy Spirit.  Besides, one of the reasons, perhaps the major reason for our impenitence towards God and our taking the work Jesus did for us so lightly is because we do not see the darkness of our sin in stark relief against the light of the love of God through Christ for us.

So to the lady who said she had done so many bad things,  I answer with Simon to the question of Jesus "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." That is the one who will love Him more.

Now to those who think they haven't done much requiring forgiveness,  I say "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Neither the one who owed 500 nor the one who owed 50 could pay. None of us have anything with which to pay, because the payment required is beyond us. So if anyone thinks they don't owe much, they should please remember that they have nothing with which to pay.

It is when the understanding of having nothing wherewith to pay becomes a truth in our consciousness, when we reach the fact of our utter bankruptcy, when we give up the effort to compound with God, and are obliged to take our places before Him as mere beggars, sinners quite undone, that mercy becomes actually ours. Only then can we appropriate for ourselves the forgiveness provided by Jesus in His shed blood and death.

#momomily2014

All Dead in Trespasses

Our Text :

Isaiah 6:5
So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts."

A beloved sister asked this question the other day "what did Isaiah see that made him cry out that he was a man of unclean lips?" That question prompted this posting.

Isaiah was a prophet of God in the midst of God's chosen people, appointed by God to steer the erring people back to the Almighty Jehovah. Prophets show up amongst the people when they are in error and need to be reminded of their covenant with God, need to be reminded of who God is, need to be reminded of His ways. They show up when the people cry to God on account of the unbearable conditions they're in, usually as a result of erring from "The Way, the Truth, and the Life."

We have no record in the Bible or in extant materials that Isaiah was immoral, unscrupulous, unethical, or any such thing. He was not a thief or an adulterer. He was not an extortioner or given to lasciviousness. We know nothing of Him that would impugn his integrity.

Yet he cried. "I am a man of unclean lips!" We wouldn't place Isaiah beside the thief who on the cross jeered at Jesus Christ and told him to save himself if indeed He was the Christ. We would think Isaiah too good for that, we would say they do not belong in the same class by any means. We would call Isaiah holy and the thief we would call unworthy.

In the days of Jesus Christ distinction of class was very marked. The Pharisee went as far as to think to educate God Himself on this matter for he said "God I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even a this publican. " (Luke 18:11)
Jesus Christ was accused of fraternizing with unworthy people,  "... and they say, 'look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children."

Let's not be too quick to turn up our noses at them, that we wouldn't do that, because we would and indeed, we do! We form class distinctions everyday, all day long. We think we're too good to be with certain kinds of people, or we think we're not good enough. We classify and separate ourselves by education and/or wealth.

Even within the church we do that. I have heard people tell me they cannot fellowship at certain churches because they cannot dress to meet the standard required there. I have been told that I wouldn't fit in well at certain places if I don't dress a certain way. We want to be seen with popular or famous people, with intellectuals or people with certain titles. We won't show respect to someone unless they have a title, and so on and so forth.

And so we will not place Isaiah with a common thief, but he himself it was who cried "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;" Not only did he see himself like that, he recognized that he lived in a community of same kind, unworthy people. He did not think himself better than them.

We are warned in Romans 12 : 3 thus "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

Outside of the redeeming, saving, atoning work of Christ, we are all "dead in trespasses and sins."
All of us, preacher and commoner, royalty and plebeian, we are all dead until quickened by God. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2 : 1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins." In Colossians 2 : 13, he said "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses."

Oh that we would cry like Isaiah, so that like was done to and for him, an angel of God will bring from the altar, a live coal, and will touch our lips so that we will have assurance that our iniquity is taken away, and our sin purged. See Isaiah 6 : 6-7.

#momomily2014