Monday, January 29, 2018

Two kinds of people who resist the need to be saved - preached at Antioch on 3.4.2018

All of us here believe the Bible testimony that the natural fate of all mankind is a burning Hell.

Deuteronomy 32:22  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Psalm 86:13  For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

Luke 16:19 ¶  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

And that this is just the holding place for a much worse fate…

Revelation 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever…14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death…15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

And that the only way out of that horror is to trust in Christ’s righteousness and not our own, to live forever in Heaven with the God who created us.

John 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

    9 ¶  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, the possibilities are eternal life or eternal suffering. Street preachers will shout, “Born once, Die twice. Born twice, Die once!”

So, we tell people about the free gift of salvation in Christ.

Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Acts 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

We believe that Jesus rose from the dead and we believe what He said about Himself.

Romans 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

But very few will hear what we have to say, sadly.

Matthew 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Each of us who witness to others about our faith and why we believe what we believe have come across someone who has said, “why do I have to be saved?” To risk oversimplifying complex human justifications I think there are two main types of person who ask this question.

The first type of person has lived an honorable life. They may have served in the military, raised a family, followed traditional morality, payed their taxes, obeyed the law, didn’t lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate anyone who did. I know some atheists with a stronger moral code than most Christians. Maybe they are a Freemason and do lots of good works. Their works, while exemplary and even noble, are just based on the wrong thing and they are holding on to it as a justification for their life. They may not believe there is a God or a Heaven but think in their heart that if there is they deserve His and its blessings.

I’m not going to foolishly tell them that if they ever lied in their life they ought to consider themselves a liar or if they took a pencil home from work they are a thief. We don’t think like that in this culture and you don’t think like that. We typically think of a thief as someone who has that as part of their character or just has a bad character as if that was a fixed, definable thing in each person. They might even define themselves by their sin. They don’t feel guilt about it. They don’t feel shame. They have not repented of their wicked sinful nature or their behavior. Paul said that unrepentant sinners shall not be saved, will not come to Christ unless they reject what they are.

1Corinthians 6: 9 ¶  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

But, let’s look at a “good” person, by the world’s standard. This person has done nothing, they say, that would merit them needing to be punished in Hell or saved from it.

But, they are missing the point. The point is that we have inherited a sin nature. Who here has not stolen something or lied to someone? Who here has not thought of someone’s death in their heart? The problem is our sin nature not an individual sin or careless pocketing of an employer’s pencil or a too long glance at the magazine rack in the airport. Those things are just evidence of a much bigger problem. In the old Perry Mason TV show from the 1960s they used to always have a defendant on trial for murder whose character witness would insist that they were not capable of murder. Of course, we know better. There is no one sin on earth, one thing that we snort at when watching TV, that we are not perfectly capable of doing ourselves.

You see, the problem is in your heart.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The human heart is not just evil. It is desperately wicked. Do you know what that means? This is going to trouble some of you because you don’t look at yourselves this way. If you chanced to be out walking and happened upon a nightclub fire like some of the famous ones we’ve had in past days, say, the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston in 1942 during World War Two where in 15 minutes 492 people died and 166 people were injured you’d see what desperate means. People crowded the exits and would have pulled anyone trying to get out or trying to pull them out to their death in total panic. They were desperate to get out but in their panic kept themselves and others from escaping. Your heart is that desperate to be wicked.

You aren’t just prone to sin, or just an imperfect person who does his or her best in life. You aren’t trying to do your best but making a few mistakes along the way, with the best of intentions. No, your heart wants so badly to do what it knows to be wrong it takes a great deal of socialization, fear of public humiliation, and a desire for approval from others to keep you from winding up on death row or being a permanent resident of the rescue mission if you haven’t trusted Christ.

Admit it, you’ve been angry without a cause, you’ve sought your own, just what you wanted regardless of anyone else’s feelings. You’ve lied, cheated, stolen, and committed sexual immorality all the while justifying it by some misunderstanding or unmet need. You’ve murdered people in your heart, hated them and wanted them to die. I’m not talking about telling the proverbial little white lie or stealing some paperclips from work so I can make some kind of trendy argument to get you to admit something you don’t really believe about yourself. I’m talking about what you and I really are like.

I had a customer in housing sales once who told me an interesting story. He was a good guy, a little abrasive, but a skilled craftsman who loved his wife and family. He was just pure Baltimore, if you know what I mean. He had heart problems. Once, in an unnamed hospital in Baltimore he died on the operating table and had to be revived. He became conscious cursing and screaming and talking about fire and a Hell he didn’t believe in. When he was able to he apologized to the nursing staff for his language. They shrugged it off. A nurse told him that they’d experienced that even with sweet little old ladies at the end of their lives. He thought it was funny and dismissed my efforts to suggest it was real.

You see, this person you’re talking to, and it may be a relative, even a sweet, little old lady, your mother maybe, is a vile, believe it or not, wicked, nasty sinner by nature who cannot enter into the presence of God without Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.

Until most people can wrap their minds around that they will just look at you like a cow looks at a new gate. Good people are hard to convince that they are not good people. They have the testimony of their hearts, their friends and family, their accomplishments, their material success, and, yes, the testimony of their own seared and twisted conscience.

They’ve got to be made to understand that they are not being compared to other, lesser mortals. They are being compared to Christ. In comparison to a sinless, righteous, perfectly moral and obedient man to God, who happened to be God in the flesh at the same time He was fully a man where would this good person you are talking to stand? Imagine that. This good guy or good girl is being compared to God. They are lost without His righteousness as theirs does not and cannot measure up.

It even happens with religious people, people who say they believe in God. Remember,

James 2:19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

And their works, which they trust in, while good and wonderful have no effect on getting them into Heaven. Their works are dead works, on which they are banking their justification, apart from Christ’s righteousness.

Hebrews 6:1 ¶  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Whatever they think justifies themselves before God other than Christ’s righteousness is a lie and a sham. If they don’t wrap their minds around that they are not going to be saved.

Another person that is perplexing is that guy or girl who has led such a rotten, miserable existence and is usually in such awful trouble when you talk to them that they cannot believe that they even could be saved if they wanted to. They are sick and tired of being sick and tired. They hate themselves even while they continue to mess up their lives and the lives of others. I’m going to focus on them. You good people won’t understand what I’m about to say, you folks who’ve been good all your life, exemplary, first-rate citizens. Only people like me will understand this.

Their wickedness is a stench in their own nostrils and they’ve lost all hope of redemption. Their family is going or gone and all sense of self-respect or self-value has fled their disgustingly failed lives. Sometimes, the first person I mentioned is really putting on a front and in his or her heart they are really the second person but you might not find that out in conversation, or you might.

They’ll say they’ve gone too far to be saved. But, they are missing something important, too. I want to thank Jonathan Edwards, a great preacher of the 1700s for this and I’ll use his words sometimes and paraphrase his words at other times.

King David wrote;

Psalm 25:11  For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. 

When this Psalm was written it was a time of great trouble and trial for David. This is very clear by what he asks and what he says;

Psalm 25:7  Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.

Psalm 25:18  Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

Look at the argument he makes pleading for forgiveness.

He pleads for pardon for God's name's sakeHe has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins; though if man's righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as many powerful leaders of men. But he begs that God would do it for his own name's sake, for his own glory, for the glory of his own free grace, and for the honor of his own faithfulness.

 David pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for mercy. He not only does not plead his own righteousness, or the smallness of his sins; he not only does not say, Pardon mine iniquity, for I have done much good to counterbalance it; or, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is small, and you have no great reason to be angry with me; mine iniquity is not so great, that you have any just cause to remember it against me; my offence is not such but that you may well enough overlook it: but on the contrary he says, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great; he pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it; he enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his sins are very heinous.

 But how could he make this a plea for pardon? I can answer that. Because the greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much as if he had said, Pardon my iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the punishment; my sin is so great that I am in need of pardon; my case will be exceedingly miserable, unless you be pleased to pardon me. He makes use of the greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the greatness of calamity in begging for help. When a homeless person asks for food, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more can he say but that he desperately needs help?—And God allows such a plea as this: for He is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case. He does not pity sinners because they are worthy, but because they need His pity.

Now, let’s put this into focus.

If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will be no impediment to pardon.—If it were an impediment, David would never have used it as a plea for pardon, as we find he does in the text.—The following things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy:

 That we should see our misery, and be sensible of our need of mercy. They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy; for it is the very notion of divine mercy, that it is the goodness and grace of God to the miserable. Without misery in the object, there can be no exercise of mercy. To suppose mercy without supposing misery, or pity without calamity, is a contradiction: therefore men cannot look upon themselves as proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable; and so, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for mercy. They must be sensible that they are the children of wrath; that the law is against them, and that they are exposed to the curse of it: that the wrath of God abides on them; and that He is angry with them every day while they are under the guilt of sin.—They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful thing to be the object of the wrath of God; that it is a very awful thing to have Him for their enemy; and that they cannot bear His wrath.

They must he sensible that the guilt of sin makes them miserable creatures, fun they have in life; that they can be no other than miserable, undone creatures, so long as God is angry with them; that they are without strength, and must perish, and that eternally, unless God helps them. They must see that their case is utterly desperate, for any thing that any one else can do for them; that they hang over the pit of eternal misery; and that they must necessarily drop into it, if God have not mercy on them.

 They must be sensible that they are not worthy that God should have mercy on them. They who truly come to God for mercy, come as beggars, and not as creditors: they come for mere mercy. for sovereign grace, and not for any thing that is due. Therefore, they must see that the misery under which they lie is justly brought upon them, and that the wrath to which they are exposed is justly threatened against them; and that they have deserved that God should be their enemy, and should continue to be their enemy. They must be sensible that it would be just with God to do as he has threatened in his Bible, to make them the objects of his wrath and curse in hell to all eternity.— They who come to God for mercy in a right manner are not disposed to find fault with His severity; but they come in a sense of their own utter unworthiness, as with ropes about their necks, and lying in the dust at the foot of mercy.

 They must come to God for mercy in and through Jesus Christ alone. All their hope of mercy must be from the consideration of what He is, what He has done, and what He has suffered; and that there is no other name given under heaven, among men, whereby we can be saved, but that of Christ; that He is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world; that His blood cleanses from all sin, and that He is so worthy, that all sinners who are in him may well be pardoned and accepted.—It is impossible that any should come to God for mercy, and at the same time have no hope of mercy. Their coming to God for it, implies that they have some hope of obtaining, otherwise they would not think it worth the while to come. But they that come in a right manner have all their hope through Christ, or from the consideration of his redemption, and the sufficiency of it.—If persons thus come to God for mercy, the greatness of their sins will be no impediment to pardon. Let their sins be ever so many, and great, and aggravated, it will not make God in the least degree more backward to pardon them. This may be made evident by the following considerations:

The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greatest sins, as for the least; and that because his mercy is infinite. That which is infinite, is as much above what is great, as it is above what is small. Thus God being infinitely great, he is as much above kings as he is above beggars; he is as much above the highest angel, as he is above the meanest worm. One finite measure does not come any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than another.—So the mercy of God being infinite, it must be as sufficient for the pardon of all sin, as of one. If one of the least sins be not beyond the mercy of God, so neither are the greatest, or ten thousand of them.—However, it must be acknowledged, that this alone does not prove the doctrine. For though the mercy of God may be as sufficient for the pardon of great sins as others; yet there may be other obstacles, besides the want of mercy. The mercy of God may be sufficient, and yet the other attributes may oppose the dispensation of mercy in these cases.— So, it is important to consider,

 That the satisfaction of Christ is as sufficient for the removal of the greatest guilt, as the least: 1 John i. 7. " The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." Acts xiii. 39. " By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." All the sins of those who truly come to God for mercy, let them be what they will, are satisfied for, if God be true who tells us so; and if they be satisfied for, surely it is not incredible, that God should be ready to pardon them. So that Christ having fully satisfied for all sin,or having wrought out a satisfaction that is sufficient for all, it is now no way inconsistent with the glory of the divine attributes to pardon the greatest sins of those who in a right manner come to Him for it.

God may now pardon the greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honour of His holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer Him to give the least countenance to sin, but inclines Him to give proper testimonies of His hatred of it. But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner, and give no countenance at all to sin, however great a sinner he may have been. It was a sufficient testimony of God's abhorrence of sin, that He poured out his wrath on Christ, when he took the guilt of it upon himself. Nothing can more show God's abhorrence of sin than this. If all mankind had been eternally damned, it would not have been so great a testimony of it.

 God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice to the honour of his majesty. The honour of the divine majesty indeed requires satisfaction; but the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honourable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and suffers so much for him, it fully repairs the injury done to the Majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully satisfy justice.

The justice of God, as the supreme Governor and Judge of the world, requires the punishment of sin. The supreme Judge must judge the world according to a rule of justice. God does not show mercy as a judge, but as a sovereign; therefore His exercise of mercy as a sovereign, and His justice as a judge, must be made consistent one with another; and this is done by the sufferings of Christ, in which sin is punished fully, and justice answered. Rom. iii. 25, 26. " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."—The law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin, if men do but truly come to God for mercy: for Christ hath fulfilled the law, he hath borne the curse of it, in his sufferings; Gal. iii. 13. " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

Christ will not refuse to save the greatest sinners, who in a right manner come to God for mercy; for this is his work. It is His business to be a Saviour of sinners; it is the work upon which He came into the world; and therefore He will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. ix. 13. Sin is the very evil which he came into the world to remedy: therefore He will not object to any man that he is very sinful. The more sinful he is, the more need of Christ.—The sinfulness of man was the reason of Christ's coming into the world; this is the very misery from which he came to deliver men. The more they have of it, the more need they have of being delivered; " They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," Matt. ix. 12. A doctor will not make it an objection against healing a man who applies to him, that he stands in great need of his help. If a physician of compassion comes among the sick and wounded, surely he will not refuse to heal those that stand in most need of healing, if he be able to heal them.

Herein does the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ much consist, viz. in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end, to glorify the free grace of God. God had it on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute; and therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon: Rom. v. 20. " Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The apostle, when telling how great a sinner he had been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt was the occasion: 1 Tim. i. 13. " Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy; and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."

The Redeemer is glorified, in that he proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceeding sinful, in that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honour of Christ to save the greatest sinners, when they come to him, as it is the honour of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners, if they come to Him; for He will not be backward to glorify himself, and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing He hath so laid out himself to redeem sinners, He will not be unwilling to show, that he is able to redeem to the uttermost.

 Pardon is as much offered and promised to the greatest sinners as any, if they will come aright to God for mercy. The invitations of the gospel are always in universal terms: as, Ho, every one that thirsteth; Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; and, Whosoever will, let him come. And the voice of Wisdom is to men in general: Prov. viii. 4. " Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." Not to moral men, or religious men, but to you, O men. So Christ promises, John vi. 37. " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." This is the direction of Christ to His apostles, after His resurrection, Mark xvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." Which is agreeable to what the apostle said, that "the gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven," Col. i. 23.

So, finally, good person or bad, hero or villain, admirable soul or monster, you need God’s mercy as expressed in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead and He will give it to you.

Now, one final word on what you are being saved from. Eternity is a long, long time.

(Invitation to confess Christ and be saved by Him)



Saturday, January 27, 2018

Exodus 31:1-11 comments: the spirit of God or the Spirit of God

31:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2  See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3  And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4  To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5  And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6  And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; 7  The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, 8  And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, 9  And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot, 10  And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office, 11  And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

Notice here that the word spirit starts with a lowercase ‘s’. In a prophecy of Christ in Isaiah it is written;

Isaiah 11:1 ¶  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

The Holy Spirit, uppercase ‘S’, refers to the agency through which God works in creation and in the hearts and minds of His people.

Genesis 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

The Spirit of God can be referred to as an it.

Romans 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God…26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And can also be called the Spirit of Christ, as God is one being containing three parts as I have previously shown. See the following for the three parts of God mentioned in passages; Matthew 28:19; 2Corinthians 13:14; 1John 5:7.

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

This is in contrast to the Holy Ghost, which is a reference to the third part of God, referred to, always, as he.

John 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

But, spirit with the lowercase ‘s’ is a reference to a trait, a quality, a skill, an emotion, the foundation of an ability, or the spirit of man, the part of man that God uses to know our thoughts and the function of our bodies.

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.


Ezra 7:10  For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.


The way to receive knowledge and wisdom and understanding is first to prepare the heart and mind. Then, it is given. Someone who wants to be a mechanic just doesn’t pray to God for the knowledge. God would say to him, “study the trade and then I will give you understanding. Learn how to do it and I will give you wisdom.” It is a fact of life that if you want to do something of value you need to prepare yourself for it. I don’t remember reading about any brain surgeons or rocket scientists who said they woke up one day and just knew how to do their jobs to the best of their ability without education or training.

Friday, January 26, 2018

Exodus 30:17-38 comments: further instructions for the tabernacle

30:17 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 18  Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19  For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20  When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD: 21  So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

    30:22 ¶  Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23  Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24  And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: 25  And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. 26  And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, 27  And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, 28  And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. 29  And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. 30  And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 31  And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. 32  Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 33  Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people. 34  And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 35  And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36  And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. 37  And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. 38  Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.
  
There are many good commentaries on the tabernacle and on the ceremony and ritual surrounding the worship that God prescribed for the Hebrews. I see no need to simply repeat the work of others. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA and other places there are even displays of this tabernacle for teaching purposes.

Each ceremony and each command can be preached on with comparisons to Christ. Preaching expounds on the text, makes parallels, reveals types and symbols. The washing shows God’s abhorrence of sin, the perfume not being used for common purposes showing the difference His people must keep between sacred and profane things, etc. These are all important subjects for preaching. But, my purpose here is to move through the text and provide you with things that will help you open up the Bible everywhere you read.

With that in mind, there is a term in verse 33 that needs to be examined as it is also used in other applications. The term is cut off. To be cut off does not mean exiled or kicked out of the community as that was not an option. To be cut off from one’ people means something more permanent.

Genesis 9:11  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Zechariah 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.


2Kings 9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Exodus 30:11-16 comments: a ransom paid to who?

    30:11 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12  When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 13  This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:)
an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. 14  Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 15  The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 16  And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the
service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

An important thing to note here is that the ransom for a man’s soul was paid to the Lord.

…then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD…

The Anglican clerics, Westcott and Hort, who were mainly responsible for the Revised Version of the Bible, put forward the error that Satan was such a powerful entity, almost an opponent to God, that Jesus paid a ransom to him at the Cross. This is absurd as you can see as a ransom is paid to God.

Job 33:24  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

Psalm 49:7  None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

Matthew 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Christians have granted too much power and authority to Satan who is subordinate to God. He can do nothing without God’s permission and the book of Job says he must operate under the limits set by God. In the Persian religion there was a good god and a bad god; Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. This eventually resulted in the heresy put forward by the Iranian teacher, Mani, called Manichaeism  of a very clear black and white universe where bad things that happen and good things that happen are clearly separated into the realms of distinct entities.

However, the Bible teaches God’s absolute sovereignty throughout. There is nothing that He did not either cause to happen or permit to happen for reasons He shows in Job we may never know on this earth. Our duty is to trust Him. Satan is wholly subordinate to God’s will and can do nothing that God does not permit. This is very difficult for Christians who have grown up in pagan Christianity where non-Christian ideas like Greek philosophy, are mingled in with Bible truth.

No ransom is now or was ever paid to Satan. That is heresy and blaspheming God’s sovereignty. Satan does not have a position where he can demand a ransom, nor is he ever said to request one.


Notice verse 14 about the twenty year age mark. We often talk about the so-called age of accountability when before, a child is “safe” and not in danger of spending an eternity in God’s wrath, and after, when unless you accept God’s free gift of salvation in Christ you are judged and condemned as a sinner. 

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Exodus 30:1-10 comments: strange incense

30:1 ¶  And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 2  A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. 3  And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. 4  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 5  And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 6  And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7  And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8  And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9  Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10  And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

In verse 7 there is a form of the verb to dress. To dress something in this context means to prepare it, make ready for use, to maintain. For instance, in dressing an animal one has slaughtered for a meal, caring for a garden, or washing one’s feet.

Genesis 18:7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

Genesis 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

2Samuel 19:24  And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.

Paying particular attention to verse 9 you can see again that God does not want pagan worship mingled in with His worship. He demands that no strange incense on this altar. Strange is a synonym for foreign or alien as stranger is a foreigner or alien.

Genesis 35:2  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

Exodus 2:22  And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Exodus 18:3  And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

Psalm 69:8  I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

Ephesians 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, will violate this command of God and die for it.

Leviticus 10:1  And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

What can we take away from this? It reinforces that God does not want pagan elements mixed in with His worship.


Thursday, January 18, 2018

Exodus 29:38-46 comments: to know God

29:38 ¶  Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 39  The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: 40  And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. 41  And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 42  This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. 43  And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. 44  And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. 45  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46  And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.
 
Here is an important point to be made in verse 43. The tabernacle is sanctified or set apart for God’s service by God’s glory present within it.

We are sanctified, as the living temple of the Holy Ghost, by God’s presence inside of us. I think it would not hurt to review some facts again that I’ve touched on before.

First, understand that Satan is the god, little ‘g’, of this fallen world.

2Corinthians 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The Kingdom of God, our Creator, is not visible to the world like human kingdoms. It is within the believers making all state-churches and so-called Christian nations of history counterfeit works of Satan.

John 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Luke 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

We have the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Spirit, which is also called the Spirit of Christ, living inside of us.

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

    10 ¶  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.

We are the temple of God, if we belong to Him.

1Corinthians 3:16 ¶  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

2Corinthians 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

You and I have seen previously that we can neither pray nor worship in a way that is pleasing to God without His involvement, cleansing our prayer and our worship to make it suitable to Him. We do not save ourselves nor do we keep ourselves saved. It is God who makes us presentable to Him. It is Christ, the Son, who makes us acceptable to God the Father by means of the Holy Ghost, all three parts of the Godhead, working in us by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

And so here, it is God’s presence in the tabernacle that sanctifies the tabernacle, with God willing to enter into it when obedience is satisfied by what He has commanded. In the case of the Christian, whether he be Jew or non-Jew, a Gentile this is what is required.

John 6:28 ¶  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

God did not want to just carve out a people from the mass of humanity through Abraham and his descendants, the Hebrews. He wanted to live among them, to move about in the place where they moved. He wanted to experience them close up and personal, not just in the way He does as He directs every cell function and heartbeat and all reality but also in the reality that they experienced. It is important to God to experience our reality and to live in the space in which we live. He wants to know His people intimately, not just as a distant figure, untouchable and unapproachable.

Revelation 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

The institutional church of history whether it be Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Baptist has tried to restrict this desire of God to have a relationship with His people. They tried and try to restrict access to God, to the people experiencing the presence of God, to the church organization only whether it be a catechism of the Roman Catholic Church insisting that the Holy Spirit only operates within the church organization not the individual believer or a Baptist saying that God only speaks to his people through the sermon on Sunday morning. God indwells you for a reason and He wants to experience you without the restraint of a go-between which is why He provided Himself as the go-between, the mediator.


With regard to measurements a hin is, according to Strong’s, about 5 quarts to 1.5 gallons or roughly 6 liters. Some authorities say a tenth deal of flour was the equivalent of 6 pints. I’m sure we cannot be certain with these measurements and would expect to find conflicting statements, much as we would in trying to understand what a cubit was.