The God of Jacob by Rebecca....

“The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness,
         The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
         And established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
         Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
         Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
         Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
         And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
         Who seek Your face.  Selah 
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
         And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
         And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
         The LORD strong and mighty,
         The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
         Lift up, you everlasting doors!
         And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
         The LORD of hosts,
         He is the King of glory.” – Psalm 24:1-10
Messiah had not yet come when David penned these Spirit-inspired words.  The hill of the LORD and His holy place – at least on earth – was Mount Moriah, home of Jerusalem and the tabernacle, and later, the temple.  It was in Jerusalem that the Lord set His name, and in Jerusalem alone His people were to worship their God.  But access to God was not free or easy.  It was based on heritage, performance, person, and condition, according to the 613 precepts of the Law of Moses, and apart from this there was no other way a relationship with the Lord could be achieved.  If you did not measure up, you were, quite rightly, not among those who could ascend the hill or the Lord or stand in His holy place.

But the problem is that no one truly measures up.  None of us can stand before the Living God.  In our fallen state, seeing Him in the fullness of His glory results in certain death.  Even the faintest echoes of His Presence caused such great men as Joshua, David, Moses, Isaiah, and Daniel to fall flat on their faces.  God’s standard is perfection.  And we fall so far short of it.

Under the Law of Moses, ritual animal sacrifice was the prescribed way to “cover,” one’s sin.  There was an entire system in place designed to make it possible for the holy God to dwell among sinful man.  But as good as this system (Judaism) was, it could not change the fact that human beings are, by nature, evil.  The blood of bulls and goats could not take away our sin.  It could only cover it – until we sinned again.  The Law could not save those who tried to keep its precepts.  The Law condemned them, and it condemns us today.

Of course, humanly speaking, we might cry that God is unjust for demanding perfection.  How can He be so unfair?  Why doesn’t He make it easier for us to measure up?  Why doesn’t He “lower the bar”?  It’s cruel to force such rigid conformity.  Doesn’t He know how easy it is to mess up?

But that’s humanly speaking, and objectively speaking, it’s all insane – to say the least.  “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness; the world and those who dwell in therein…”  God, as Creator, has the right and the authority to make the rules, and the power to enforce them.  And besides this, would any of us truly want a standard that is less than perfection?  Do we really want less than the best?  Of course not!  The only reason we gripe about God’s perfectionism is because we fail to meet it.  And that’s our fault, not His.  Once, mankind was perfect.  We were the crowning glory of God’s creation.  Adam and Eve walked with their Lord in the Garden of Eden, living a life our death-ridden experience doesn’t even permit us to imagine.  Adam and Eve were without sin and creation was without stain.  What changed?

We were what changed.  Adam and Eve chose to use their good, God-given free will to reject God and go their own way.  Mankind fell, and he dragged the physical creation with Him.  The gates were opened for death, sorrow, pain, evil, sickness, deformity, corruption, decay, rebellion, arrogance, murder, loss, cruelty, deceit, immorality – and more – to take over.

Now, if God was only just, He would have blasted such cancerous depravity out of existence the moment Adam sinned.  But He didn’t.  From Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David, from David to Jesus, and on into today, His loving, merciful, gracious hand can be seen throughout in human history.  The Lord destroyed the ancient world with a flood, lest our own iniquity cause us to implode (as Rome did); He confused our languages at Babel so that we would have to work much harder and much longer before we could be capable of working implosive evil again; He set up the nation of Israel at the crossroads of the world to declare His name to all mankind; and through it all He prepared for the unveiling of His ultimate plan for salvation: the death of His beloved Son.  It would require no less than this to make sinful man stand before the holy God.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?  Or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.”

Can any of us attain even those four prerequisites?  No.  None of us, on our own merit, are worthy to ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place.  Even under the Mosaic Law, which provided for limited access to God, one is forced to conclude that much more than animal blood is needed.  Untold millions of animal sacrifices were barely sufficient for one nation, just one, to have minimal access to a shadow of God’s Presence.  Works could not save us.  It had to be Jesus.

As David wrote this psalm, describing the glory of God and the glory of a relationship with Him, he was speaking of the Old Covenant.  That covenant was, indeed, glorious; God owed man nothing, and yet He stooped to call Israel His special people, and to set them up as His witness to the world He loved.  But the Old Covenant – the Law – was only a promise and a foreshadowing of that covenant which was to come.  If the promise was glorious, what about the fulfillment?

Jesus was that fulfillment!  He, the uniquely begotten Son of God, willingly laid aside His deity, became a man, came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a death He did not deserve to He could impute His righteousness to our bankrupt accounts.  He bore the just wrath of God against sin, the wrath that should have been ours, and He rose again to prove the sufficiency of His sacrifice.  All that is required is that you “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead” (Romans 10:8-9), and you will be saved.  You will be counted worthy to ascend into the hill of the Lord and to stand in His holy place.  It won’t be on your own merit; it will be on His.  Of that person, the one who has been saved, David writes, “He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face.”

Jacob was a sinner, a conniver, a liar, and a man who was out for himself.  Yet he was also the man whom God named “Israel.”  Throughout Jacob’s life we can see the conflict waged between those two names.  Which name – which nature – was Jacob living in at any given time?  His own sinful one?  Or the new one God gave him?  That is the question for every person who seeks the Lord and desires to see His face.  In Christ, we’ve been reborn.  We’ve been given His nature.  But that nature is, on this earth, bound to bodies of death.  My body was born in sin and it will continue in sin until the day it breaks down and dies.  That will be a day to rejoice, because that will be the day my desire is fulfilled.  That will be the day that I see the face of my God, in His righteousness, and I will be like Him at last.  But in the meantime, while the Lord has a purpose for me on earth, how should I be living?  Like Jacob?  Or like Israel?  “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  (1 John 3:1-3, emphasis mine)

Believers are Jacob.  Once we belonged to the world and shared its nature of death.  No longer!  And yet, because our bodies still belong to death, our each day is a spiritual battle.  Paul writes in Romans 7:14-25, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Jesus has indeed delivered us!  Because of Him, there is “therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  (Romans 8:1-5)  Christ fulfilled the Law for me.  He won my salvation.  Oh, yes, I will battle now, but ultimate victory is assured.  The grace of God is there for His children in every confrontation, and He will complete what He has begun in us.  “Not that I have already attained,” Paul writes, “or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 3:12-14)  The Lord has a purpose for each of His redeemed in this life, and until He fulfills it, we as believers are to press on.  We are to seek His face.  We are to die to ourselves daily so that we might live in Him.  We are to walk in the Spirit so that we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh!  We are not, of course, going to win every battle.  But that’s no excuse not to try!  Our job is simply to be obedient; the Lord will handle the results.


“Lift up your heads, O you gates!
         And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
         And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
         The LORD strong and mighty,
         The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
         Lift up, you everlasting doors!
         And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?
         The LORD of hosts,
         He is the King of glory.”

We know that Adam’s and Eve’s rejection of God, their choice to deny Him, led to the horrendous world we now inhabit.  Their sin opened the gates to death.  But, as the word of God has declared, the Lord made a way for us to be redeemed from those gates.  He is called the “God of Jacob”; the God who, instead of giving us what we do deserve (judgment), He gives what we could never deserve: Himself.  He takes worthless, depraved, dying sinners and gives them new life.  He takes those who cannot stand on their own and makes them stand on Him.  He gives us blessing and righteousness and salvation.  He shed His very heart’s blood to become our Redeemer and to adopt us as beloved sons and daughters.  He takes a Jacob to sculpt an Israel.  He is the King of Glory, mighty in battle, who fought and died to save us, and He is standing outside the gates of our hearts.  He is standing there, stretching out His hands, pleading, longing to come in, so that He can bless us exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think.

The choice to seek after God is before each of us, believer or unbeliever.  For a believer, of course, the critical choice has already been made.  We’ve been snatched from those gates of death, and it’s how we’ll walk the path of life that we wrestle with now.  But for those who have not yet accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, today is the day of salvation!  Don’t wait!  Time is growing short.  Open the gates of your heart.  Open them and let Him ride in.  Please, please, do not turn Him away.  Because, if you do, there will come a day when your choice will force Him to turn you away.

A more devastating moment cannot be fathomed.

Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’  Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’  Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Reasons to Watch and Pray...

Watch because you do not know the hour your Lord is coming...

Watch so that you are ready...

Watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation...

Watch with your waist is girded and your lamps burning...like men who wait for their master's return...

Watch because you will be blessed if He comes and finds you watching and waiting...

Watch and take heed to yourselves less your heart be weighed down with the wrong things and the day come upon you unexpectedly....it comes as a snare...watch!

Watch and  pray because other saints will be blessed as you bring them before the Lord.

Watch and pray that you will be a blessing to all God has providentially placed in your life.

Watch and pray for open doors that you may speak the Word boldly as the Spirit leads and as you ought to speak...

Watch because you are not appointed to wrath but to be with Him whether you wake or sleep....

Watch in all things because you are His soldier...endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist...fulfill your ministry!

Watch because the end of all things is near.

Watch because fervent love for one another will be needed as persecution increases and as a result temptations will abound...watch lest Satan gain any foothold and stir up divisions and discord.

Watch because your adversary the devil knows where the chinks in your armor are. Stand strong in the Lord.  Be sober, be vigilant...Resist him steadfast in the faith.

Watch because others are facing similar circumstances and are watching you and will be encouraged by your courage and steadfastness in the time of trial.

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." 

Fighting the Wrong Battles....

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.--Ephesians 6:12

To My Girls...



This verse is so helpful to remember when you are in the midst of an earthly battle....with...you know,  people you profess to love and care about.   We need to see the offenses that will undoubtedly come our way with the eyes of faith.  Satan often will use people or things knowing that we will forget and be drawn into the battle we can see...which is exactly what he wants.  It is then that he has the advantage.  Our eyes are not focused above but on people and circumstances.  We get discouraged, depressed, angry, bitter, overwhelmed and worst of all we get self-focused.  We forget that our job is to glorify our God in all things. We forget that we are to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation.  We forget that we are to put off offenses against us and in so doing shine the light of Christ in a fallen world.  See your battles for what they are for you as a believer...spiritual.  Fight against the principalities and powers not with earthly things but fight against them with the resources and armor that our Lord gives us.

If you find yourself wrestling with people and things you are fighting the wrong battle.  Respond biblically to provocations!  Responding in any other way will create more chaos and unrest.  God wants to perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.  This is done as we go through trials and learn obedience through submitting to His will.  The settling comes by focusing on Him...it comes from the wisdom that He gives freely when we ask in faith.  His wisdom is pure and peaceable...willing to yield.  The wisdom from the world filled with self-seeking and envy.  It will bring confusion, chaos and every evil thing to your life.    Be serious and watchful in your praying...our spirit is indeed willing but our flesh is so weak!  And above all have fervent love for one another...

Imitate the Lord Jesus Christ who watched and prayed, whose soul was sorrowful even unto death...who was despised and rejected, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.    Behold Him who was oppressed and afflicted and yet opened not His mouth.  WHY SHOULD WE DO THIS????  HERE IS THE BEST PART!!!! AS HE SUBMITTED TO HIS FATHER'S WILL...WAIT FOR IT...

The pleasure of the Lord prospered in His hand!!!  He saw the labor of His soul and was satisfied!!!!

Isn't that what we want as believers....for the Lord's will to prosper in our lives...to see the labor of our souls and be satisfied?  Look up and see your God work as you pour out your soul for those He has placed in your lives.    Meditate on some of these biblical responses to provocation.

Love
Mom






Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.... Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.--Romans 13:8,10

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. --1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Let your gentleness be known to all men.--Philippians 4:5

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.--Philippians 4:8-9

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;  not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;  distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.  Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.   Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.  If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.  Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  Therefore
 

      “ If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
      For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 
 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.--Romans 12:10-21


But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.--James 1:22


Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.  This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.--James 3:13-18



 Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,  holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.  For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.--Philippians 2:14-18


Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” --Mark 14:38

Choices...

Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.  Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!" Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!" So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. --Mark 15:6-15


What a choice the people made!   Pilate knew Jesus had done no wrong and attempted to finagle Jesus' release by manipulating the people.  The chief priests, however, had already worked the crowd and stirred them up...they wanted Barabbas...who had taken a life...to be released.   Jesus who had come to give His life would, in fulfillment of much prophecy,  be crucified.   Jesus represented the law of God.  Barabbas represented lawlessness.  The people chose lawlessness.  Pilate chose to please the people rather than do what he knew was right. 




The question Pilate asked the crowd is one each one of us has to answer.... 

"What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  

What will you do with Jesus?  The fulfilled  prophecy in the bible is overwhelming.  When you look at it,  the sheer numbers are undeniably significant.  After careful study the only conclusion you can draw is that someone outside of time wrote the book. What will you conclude?  Will you confess Him or deny Him.  Submit or rebel?  Greater more intelligent men than you or me have decided to look into the question...study the evidence and concluded that Jesus was who He said He was and submitted to His Lordship.  Your eternal destiny rides on your decision...it is worth looking into.  Eternity is a very long time.

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Mary's Devotion to Her Lord

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always." --John 12:1-8

To My Sweet Daughters,

 This supper takes place  in the town of Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper...well, former leper.  It occurred 6 days before Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and just prior to the most difficult week of his life. Neither Matthew nor Mark name this woman.  John, however, does and identifies her as Mary of Bethany...the sister of Lazarus and Martha.  We see Mary three times in the New Testament and all three times she is at the feet of Jesus worshiping or listening attentively .  Her utter devotion to Jesus is in sharp contrast to Judas' treachery in this story.

There is so much in this one short section of Scripture...so many applications for our lives. The Scripture tells us that they made Jesus supper.  Then it says that Mary took a pound of costly spikenard oil and anointed the feet of Jesus.  In Mark's version we find that she broke the flask and poured it on His head also.  Mary honored Christ with the best that she had.  She did not want to give Him anything that cost her nothing.  Her gift was lavish and from her heart.  The amount spoken of would be equal to a year's wages. Her gift was sacrificial...it cost her much.

Scripture goes on to say that she wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair.  The hair of a woman in Scripture represents her glory...Mary laid her glory at Jesus' feet in humble love and devotion.  It is a beautiful picture of a heart given over completely to her Lord and Savior.  The house was filled with the scent of fragrant oil...

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?--2nd Corinthians 2:14-16


One of the consequences of Mary's act of worship was criticism.  Judas begins the criticism saying that the flask of perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor and  the disciples join in.  John tells us that Judas' motives were not pure...that he cared not for the poor but wanted the money for himself.  In fact, even at the last supper the disciples were still thinking Judas was concerned for the poor.

Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly."  But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, "Buy those things we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. --John 13:26-29

Whenever, you give your best to the Lord, like Mary did, there will be people who will criticize and misunderstand.  No matter how beautiful your best is, there will be attempts to sully it. They may have wrong motives like Judas or the glow of your light for Him highlights their own sin.  They will defend themselves by attacking you.  Rejoice!  You have become the aroma of Christ.  That. is. a. good. thing.

Jesus rebukes Judas and tells  him to "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."  Now most commentators will say that Mary did not know what she was doing when she anointed Jesus with the oil of spikenard.  Mary spent much time at the feet of Jesus listening to His words.  Hanging on to them.  I believe that she showed Him her love and devotion while He was still alive knowing He was going to die as He had predicted.  Jesus had told the disciples and spoke plainly that He would be killed, buried and rise from the dead.  Maybe they did not understand it...but I believe Mary did. 

Jesus saw Mary's heart. It didn't matter what anyone else thought of her gift...Jesus was pleased.  That should always be our goal...to please Him.  Let others say what they may...Mary's name is associated with fragrant oil and what she did is written about in three out of the four gospels.  Hear what Jesus says in the gospel of Mark about this specific act of worship by Mary.



For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." --Mark 14:7-9


Wow...a memorial to her.  Jesus words have, of course, come to pass. Her gift of worship has blessed many who came after her and has served as a beautiful example of humble, singular devotion to Jesus.  Though dead...she still speaks! Contrast Mary's pure love for Jesus with  Judas' treachery and evil.  Though dead he still speaks.  His name is synonymous for treachery in the dictionary.


Proverbs 10:7  The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot. 

Love
Mom

Notes on Revelation 5

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals." --Revelation 5:1-5




 The Scene:  The Throne of God in Heaven...

The scroll - This was the title deed to the earth.  John weeps here that no one was worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.  Then one of the 24 elders tells him not to weep...that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the scroll and loose its seven seals.  THIS. IS. GOOD. NEWS. Jesus is the One worthy...He is the heir of David and the Lion with power. Before Jesus could be the Lion in judgment and the King of Glory, He had to be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! --John 1:29


When Adam and Eve sinned the earth was given over to the power of Satan.  The cost of its redemption was the Son of God's sacrificial death on the cross for our sins and the Father's acceptance...the resurrection.  Jesus did not take possession of the earth at this time.  That time will come at the end of the Great Tribulation. Now, He patiently waits for whosoever will come and believe.  This time of grace, however, will not last forever.  Judgment will come.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.--Revelation 5:6



John saw a Lamb as though it had been slain.  The language used speaks of a pet lamb.  God required the Jews to bring the Passover lamb into their house for four days...essentially making it a pet, before it was slain.  (Exodus 2:3,6) Jesus is the true Passover Lamb.  Isaiah 53:7 says,

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.




John saw this Lamb "as though it had been slain." The scars then are clearly visible but it is alive.  The scripture also tells us that this lamb...alive and standing but as though it had been slain, had seven horns.  Horns in Scripture symbolize  power. Seven of them signify complete or perfect power.  This Lamb is not defenseless...complete and sovereign power, understanding and knowledge.  Seven eyes...seven Spirits.

Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saint--Revelation 5:7-8


Our prayers are incense!  They are a sweet smelling aroma.  God has them all!  Our God loves when we spend time with Him and share our heart.  When we express our love and devotion in worship.  Our prayers are precious to Him.  A golden bowl full of incense!


And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." --Revelation 5:9-10

THIS IS THE SONG OF REDEMPTION...THE SONG OF THE REDEEMED.  IT IS OUR SONG...THE CHURCH'S SONG...THE ONES WHO BELIEVED FROM EVERY TRIBE AND EVERY NATION...IT IS ALSO THE SONG OF THE RAPTURED CHURCH WHO ARE TAKEN UP TO BE WITH JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBULATION BEGINS.  JESUS WILL HAVE MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS TO  OUR GOD AND WE WILL REIGN ON THE EARTH WITH HIM DURING THE MILLENNIUM!!! WOOT! WOOT!

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. --Revelation 5:11-14

As the lamb takes the scroll praise breaks throughout the universe! The long awaited judgment is about to begin!  Christ is going to return to the earth and establish His millennial kingdom.  The curse will be reversed...the believing remnant of Israel saved and the church will reign with Him. 

I love what John MacArthur says here about the harps and the bowls.  The harps held by the elders probably symbolize all of prophecy which culminates in the momentous events about to take place.  The golden bowls of incense are the prayers of believers throughout the ages...they symbolize the priestly work of intercession for the people.  Taken together, the harps and the bowls indicate that all that the prophets ever prophesied and all that God's children ever prayed for is finally to be fulfilled. 

Abram's and Sarai's Name Change...

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:   "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." --Genesis 17:1-8


Dear Girls,

The name Abram means exalted father.  From reading Chuck Smith, I discovered that when God changed his name to Abraham, He inserted the Hebrew letter " h".  The letter h is made with the sound of a breath.  I really love what Chuck Smith says here..."God just put the sound of a breath into his name or inserted Himself, you might say."

 He goes on to say that  ruwach...the word for breath is also the word for spirit.  God inserted His Spirit or His life into Abraham when He changed His name.  In this way Abraham was brought into the life after the Spirit.  The same was done for Abraham's wife Sarai....God added the same "h" and breathed the Spirit of His life into her.

Just wanted to share that with you...

Love
Mom

The Scribe that was not Far from the Kingdom...

Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:

      ‘ The LORD said to my Lord,

      “ Sit at My right hand,
      Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”


Therefore David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?” And the common people heard Him gladly. --Mark 12:35-37

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

Jesus made the Pharisees, the Herodians and the Sadducees  angry when he told them the parable of the wicked vinedressers. (See previous study in Mark)  You see, they knew that they were the wicked vinedressers that Jesus was referring to and because He had exposed their hypocrisy, they wanted to catch Jesus in His own words so they could lay hands on Him and kill Him.  They tried...they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him...they questioned Jesus about taxes, wives, and which is the first commandment of all.  Jesus answered them so well that one of the scribes said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Jesus said this in reply: "Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "you are not far from the kingdom of God."  This Scribe understood that God does not want an outward show without an inward heart that is loyal to Him.  The Scripture goes on to say that after that no one dared question Him further.

Here is what happened next and I cannot help but think that Jesus asked this particular question of the ones that had come to Him to trip Him up, for the express purpose of gently leading this one scribe closer to the kingdom.  Jesus knew this man had a teachable heart...He knew His questions and His words might be wasted on the others there, but our God is a God who cares for the individual.  This man was searcher of Scripture..Jesus was going to reward him for his diligent search and open the Scriptures up even further for him and illuminate a section of Scripture for those who had ears to hear.

Jesus then asks those who had come to catch Him in His words this question.

"How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL." 'Therefore David himself calls Him 'LORD'; how is He then his Son?"

It says next that the common people heard Him gladly.  But methinks this scribe who was not far from the kingdom did also.

Here is what Jesus was saying.  The scribes had always understood that the Messiah would be of the lineage of David.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 110 here...a Messianic psalm, where David speaks of the coming Messiah as his Lord.  The answer was clear to the common people and probably to this scribe whom Jesus described as being not far from the kingdom of God, also.  My guess is, however, that most of the others did not want to understand and were offended.   The answer is that the Messiah would be both Man and God.  Jesus was the Son of David,  the Son of Man, but also the Son of God...both David's Son and Lord. 

Jesus ends this section with a warning to the common people to beware of those who keep the outside of their cups clean but inwardly are filled with sin, wrong motives and greed.  They may make a good impression on some, but they would not fool God.

I like what Matthew Henry says here and will end with it:

"When we attend to what the Scriptures declare, as to the person and offices of Christ, we shall be led to confess him as our Lord and God; to obey him as our exalted Redeemer. If the common people hear these things gladly, while the learned and distinguished oppose, the former are happy, and the latter to be pitied. And as sin, disguised with a show of piety, is double iniquity, so its doom will be doubly heavy."




Love
Mom

Be Still and Know that He is God...

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.  So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. --Genesis 16:1-2

 To My Sweet Daughters,

Sarai, knew what God had promised but instead of looking at the situation with the eyes of faith she looked at it through the eyes of her flesh and saw the impossibility of her circumstances.  She was old...childless...Abram was old.  Without praying she took matters into her own hands, resorted to the customs of the day, and asked Abram to take her maidservant Hagar as his wife and have a child with her.  That...Sarai decided...would be how God would provide them with an heir and keep His promise.

It is never good when we take things in our own hands...when we don't ask the counsel of the Lord...when we act in our flesh to try to help God out.  Be still and know that He is God.  That word "still" there means literally "hands off."  I like that.  We forget how powerful and mighty our God is and, pathetically, think we can help him.  We often wind up making things worse and missing out on the blessings that would have occurred had we waited.  Instead, we find that we now not only have to wait, but we have to deal with the consequences of our impatience and lack of faith.  SIGH.

Much of faith is waiting and submitting to God's timing.  It is depending on God to provide the way.  When God works in our lives, He wants the glory.  He doesn't want us to be able to look at the situation and think...wow, look what I did.  He WANTS us to come to the end of ourselves...to the end of thinking we can do anything.  Hopeless and weak is a very good place to be...faith cries out then, God's grace comes down like rain and miracles occur.  There is nothing too hard for the Lord. 

Do you know what I have found in the waiting...that the reward is the Lord Himself. The more I am tried, the more I look to Him...the more I look to Him, the less I look to the world and my circumstances.  The more I look to Him, the more I see who He is and stand in awe.  The more I look to Him, the more I want to live for Him.  The world fades and His goodness and glory shines.  Truly, girls, He is not only the rewarder but is the Reward of those  who diligently seek Him.  He will give you treasures in the dark places and hidden riches of secret places.  He will go before you and make your crooked places straight. Even the night in His presence will be light about you.  When we realize, as Abram did, that the Lord is our shield and our exceedingly great reward, we are in a very good place indeed...no matter how it looks from the world's perspective.  Looking to Him, we have everything we need. Go out with joy...the Lord Himself is with you and goes before you!

Love
Mom

FAITH THAT WORKS...

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.  Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.--James 2:21-26


Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

Abraham was declared righteous when he simply believed God would do what He said He would do when He told Abraham He would make his descendants more numerable than the sand on the seashore. He believed God and it was accounted or imputed to Him as righteousness. Paul points out in Romans 4:3 that Abraham was justified by faith apart from works.  James is not disagreeing with Paul here...I like how Jon Courson explains it.

"It is not faith and works that saves a man. It is not faith or works. It is faith that works. All Abraham was doing on Mount Moriah was showing the reality of what had taken place in his life years earlier when he simply believed God."

Abraham's faith was real and it showed itself in works.  Abraham believed and because He believed..he obeyed.  Our actions will follow what our heart believes.  True belief produces obedience and what a picture Abraham's obedience gave us of Calvary when God would offer up His only Son to die for our sins on that very same mountain 2000 years later.

James uses Rahab as an example, also.  Rahab was a prostitute that lived on the city wall of Jericho.  Scripture tells us that she received the Hebrew spies in peace and sent them out another way.  Why did she not turn them in?  By not doing so, she was in effect committing treason.  Rahab had heard the stories of the great God of the Hebrews...from these stories Rahab concluded that this was the one and true God.  She identified herself with Him despite the danger.  In this her belief proved itself genuine. Rahab is listed in Hebrews Chapter 11 as a heroine in the Hall of Faith.


Again, our actions will follow what our hearts believe.   God will separate his obedient followers from pretenders and unbelievers.  Our belief will be evidenced in our lives.  Do we treat all those God places in our lives as if we were serving Jesus Himself? Just as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also.  It is empty...vacuous.  Lifeless.  It has no meaning.  It will not save.  James is a book of tests...test yourself to see if you are in the faith.  James uses Rahab and Abraham here as examples...Abraham was called to give to God that which was most precious to him.  Rahab risked her own life and that of her family's for her belief in the God of the Hebrews.  Obedience by faith despite the costs...Jesus tells us to count the costs.  I will end with a passage from Luke 14.


"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—  lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."--Luke 14:28-33


Love
Mom

A Desert Land - Deuteronomy 32:10

 by Charles Spurgeon...


Dear Believer,

If you are in trouble, the voice of that trouble is designed to draw you nearer to God.  God has favored you, favored you with an extraordinary means of growth in grace.  To use Rutherford's simile, "He has put you down in the wine cellar in the dark.  Now begin to try the well-refined wines on the lees (Isa 25:6) He has brought you to a sandy desert.  Now begin to seek the treasures that are hid in the sand."

Believe that the deepest afflictions are always neighbors to the highest joys. The greatst possible privileges lie close to the darkest trials.  The more bitter your sorrow, the louder your song at the end.  There is a reason, and that reason faith may discover and experience may live on.  Our afflictions are the highway that leads us closer to God.  Our troubles area  fiery chariot to bring us to God.  Our afflictions, wave upon wave, will drive our souls nearer heaven.  It is a blessed thing when God's judgments bring us closer to Him.

May God bless you, my tested friend.

Genesis 15 - Abraham Believed God...

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness--Genesis 15:1-6 

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

Abraham was saved by faith! The same as you and me.  Abraham was declared righteous when he simply believed God would do what He said He would do when He told Abraham He would make his descendants more numerable than the sand on the seashore. He believed God and it was accounted or imputed to Him as righteousness.  Romans 4:3 through verse 12 is below:

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.  ⁵ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:


       ⁷ “ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
      And whose sins are covered;
       ⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” 


⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised."

These words from Romans are so worth reading.  God is so merciful and kind.  When I was young and not saved I thought that the people in the Old Testament couldn't be saved because they lived before the cross and because of this, at times, I thought God ever so unfair.  When I came to the Lord I realized that my good and gracious God had provided for them the same way He provided for us.  They were saved by faith...Follow Paul's reasoning with me. 

Abraham believed God and it was accounted to Him for righteousness is one of the clearest statements in Scripture about justification.  The word justification means to be declared righteous.  It includes pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin and also the imputation of Christ's righteousness.  Jesus' perfect obedience then is accounted to us who believe, and our sin to the account of Christ, who bore our sin and the punishment for them on the cross.  


Abraham received this gift through  faith...which is a gift from God also.  Faith is the conduit through which God's grace flows.  The word accounted or imputed are financial terms...they mean to take something that belongs to someone else and credit it to another's account. These transactions are one sided.  Abraham did nothing for this credit to come to his account.  God credited his own righteousness to Abraham because Abraham believed.  


Romans 4:4 goes on to say that to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.  If salvation were on the basis of works than God would owe us it...it would no longer be a gift, it would be wages.  Faith is trusting that God has done the work...there is nothing for you to do but believe.  It must mean the end of any attempt to earn God's favor by works.  Jesus did it all.  There is nothing for you to do but believe and accept His free gift.  In thinking you must do more you are saying, in effect, that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross was not enough...that you in your arrogance can somehow make it enough through your additional works.  Only those who relinquish all claims to goodness, who know they can do nothing to earn God's favor, and who know they are ungodly, can be justified.  


Read Romans 4:6-8...the verses Paul is referring to were penned by David after his adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. It is clear from the reading that David understood that his sin...which was pretty big as far as sins go...was forgiven...it is clear he understood God's imputed righteousness.  What a blessing that is for us...what good news!


Read on and see that Abraham was justified by His faith before he was circumcised.  Paul anticipates the argument of the Jewish readers thinking that if Abraham was justified by faith why the need for circumcision by asking the question himself in verse 9 of Romans 4:

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

Paul explains that circumcision was an outward sign...a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised...Jew or Gentile.  Paul is saying that Abraham is the father not only of the circumcised Jew, but of the uncircumcised Gentile because Abraham was pronounced righteous before he was circumcised. Circumcision did not confer righteousness. It confirmed righteousness. Think on baptism...you could be baptized ten times but it won't save you if you don't believe in your heart that it has all been accomplished in Jesus. Baptism is just the outward sign..it is not what saves you...heart belief is what saves.   Racially, Abraham is the father of all the Jews (circumcised) and spiritually, he is the father of both believing Jews and uncircumcised believing Gentiles.  Circumcision is an outward demonstration of an inward belief unto righteousness.  Abraham was not justified by his circumcision or his obedience to the law...he was justified by his belief.  


You may be able to pretend righteousness before men and accumulate all the right signs of your righteousness outwardly,  but our God sees your heart...it is there where true righteousness is accounted. 


Love
Mom ...the rest of Romans 4 is below:

The Promise Granted Through Faith

  ¹³ For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

The Unpardonable Sin

One friend perhaps says, "I am afraid that I have committed the unpardonable sin."  If you come to Christ, you have not, I know; for he who comes to Him, Jesus will in no wise cast out.  He cannot, therefore, have committed the unpardonable sin.  Come along with you, man, and if you are blacker than all the rest of the sinners in the world, so much the more glorious shall be the grace of God when it shall have proved its power by washing you whiter than snow in the precious blood of Jesus.

Charles Spurgeon on the Unpardonable Sin...

The only sin that is unpardonable is unbelief.

KISS THE SON...LEST HE BE ANGRY AND YOU PERISH IN THE WAY...

Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this Scripture: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. THIS WAS THE LORD'S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?" And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.--Mark 12:1-12



Dear Girls,

The owner sent servants to collect fruit from His vineyard.  The ones sent were either beaten or killed by the servants of the tenant farmer.  The owner then sent His Son...they killed him too. What would the owner of the vineyard do? He would destroy the vinedressers and give His vineyard to others. Isaiah explains the vineyard reference...

 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.--Isaiah 5:7

The man who planted the vineyard was God and  the vineyard was Israel.  The hedge set around it was the law of Moses...which protected them and separated them from the Gentiles.  The vinedressers were the Pharisees and the religious leaders.  


Jesus speaks  prophetically in verse 10 about His rejection and death by the leaders of Israel...He was the stone which the builders of Israel rejected.  After His resurrection He was given pre-eminence, His Father made Him the chief cornerstone in the church. Read below what Peter says in chapter 4 of Acts.


 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the 'STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU BUILDERS, WHICH HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." --Acts 4:10-12

Now the Jewish leaders understood what Jesus was saying.  He was quoting Psalm 118 which speaks of the Messiah.  Jesus was applying these verses to Himself. In fact, they understood so well that they tried to lay hands on Him then but feared the people.  The very next section of Scripture shows a joining of bitter enemies...the Pharisees, the Saducees and the Herodians in a  plan to trick Jesus into saying something that could be used against Him. 

The beauty of this story is obvious...But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved...sent His Son not only to warn us but to die us.  And not for us only, but also for the very ones who nailed Him to the cross. The story also highlights the Father's love and patience with His disobedient people by sending prophet after prophet to warn them that judgment would come. Unfortunately, we usually don't appreciate God's long suffering until it is too late. We also mistake God's longsuffering and patience for either indifference or inability.  God's longsuffering is His kindness to us.  His will is that none should perish.   When judgment does come it will fall on those who did not "reverence His Son."   Psalm 2 comes to mind here...I will end with it. Pay special attention to verses 10-12.

Psalm 2

The Messiah’s Triumph and Kingdom

 ¹ Why do the nations rage,
         And the people plot a vain thing?
 ² The kings of the earth set themselves,
         And the rulers take counsel together,
         Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
 ³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
         And cast away Their cords from us.”
      
 ⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
         The Lord shall hold them in derision.
 ⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
         And distress them in His deep displeasure:
 ⁶ “Yet I have set My King
         On My holy hill of Zion.”
      
 ⁷ “I will declare the decree:
         The LORD has said to Me,
         ‘You are My Son,
         Today I have begotten You.
 ⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
         The nations for Your inheritance,
         And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
 ⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron;
         You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
      
 ¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
         Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
 ¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear,
         And rejoice with trembling.
 ¹² Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
         And you perish in the way,
         When His wrath is kindled but a little.
         Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Can you read those verses as well as the story above and not see that the Bible is a beautifully integrated message system that speaks of Jesus in one way or another on every page. Truly, it is a beautiful tapestry of His love for each of us.  Take the Psalmist advice...Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.  Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Love
Mom

Christophobia: Living and Powerful

Christophobia: Living and Powerful: "For the word of God is living and powerful , and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of ..."

Tears, Tears and More Tears...

Dear Sponsor Bill, Jean and to your family,

God is so Great.  God is so good and God is wonderful.  Uncle and Auntie and to your family you are good great and wonderful to me too because of your unfailing support that you've given to me.  I'm writing this letter to give a  lot of thanks that came from my heart because this letter is my last letter and my last giving thanks to you because I am early complete in our programme.  It is sad but we need to accept that because it is a part of our programme.  In my 13 years in our programme and in our 13 years that you have been supporting me, it is a great blessing and opportunity that God has given to me and because of all that I will give thanks.

Uncle and Auntie, Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, Mikayla and Ella you are part of my life, you are my second family.  All of you makes me happy all of the time and helping me in any financial problem.  It's big gift to me that you gave those kinds of gifts and it makes a big help for me and for my family because in that gift we build our own store and until now we are still managing it.  I am also thankful for that because my mom continues her medication and because of that mini store my sisters could continue there studies.  I also finished my vocational trainings because of all your support to me.  I learned a lot of things in the programme.  My relationship to God became closer. I really thank God for the opportunity of meeting a person like you and also to all your daughters.  I appreciate their effort and love by sending me stickers and letters. 

For Rebecca, I will gonna miss all your bible verse, thank you also for all your letters that you sent to me.  I really enjoy reading those letters.  I wish you all the best in life.  I thank God for meeting Rebecca, who is very pretty and amazing.  For Suzanne how are you my dearest older sister.  I know you have your own family, hope you are happy.  I am always praying for your two kids and husband.  And to my three prettiest sisters Anna, Mikayla and Ella, how are you all doing?  Don't forget to thank God for in every blessing you've received.  Just always remember that I love you all.  Always be obedient to your parents.  I will never forget you all.  I will miss you all...as my last letter to all of you...I love you...GOD BLESS AND FAREWELL.

Always and Forever
Love
R


If you want to sponsor a child...http://www.compassion.com/

Standing and Falling...Mark 14

Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be." Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."  But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And they all said likewise.--Mark 14:29-31

To My Sweet Daughters

I so love Jesus.  Even when we have an unrealistic view of ourselves, like Peter does here, Jesus sees and loves us anyway.  Read the verses that come before....


And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP WILL BE SCATTERED.'


It was obvious here that Peter could have imagined the other disciples stumbling, but not himself!  Beware where you think you stand the Bible tells us...lest you fall!  We know the end of the story.  As Jesus predicted, Peter denied Him three times and the word tells us that when he thought about it, he wept.

Here is what is wonderful about this story.  The Lord knows we are going to fail and He knows it ahead of time.  In fact we know from another account of this same story that Jesus prayed for Peter ahead of time...that his faith would not fail.  He knows all about us.  He knows our past, our present and future sins and loves us anyway!!  He died for us when we were ungodly and His enemy!  We can't disappoint God, girls.  He knows we are dust.  The fact that He sees our hearts, as desperately wicked as they are, is a good thing.  Peter had the right desire but his flesh was weak.  Jesus took that desire...that smoking flax...and did exceedingly abundantly in Peter's life..truly above all that Peter could ask or think.  This burly, arrogant fishermen became a pillar in the early church...strengthening others in their faith...speaking and bringing thousands to Jesus.  I am sure this incident in Peter's life taught Him much about the weakness of His flesh and the glory of God.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,  that no flesh should glory in His presence. --1Corinthians 1:27-29

Peter had such an unrealistic view of himself.  Trials show us the reality of our faith.  This is always a good thing because we see our need and cling...and isn't that what is best for us...isn't that what is needed?  My prayer today and every day for each of us is that we would not only trust Him, but would yield ourselves up to Him to receive His life and to let that life work out its results in us.  To live in Him, to Him, for Him and by Him.

Girls, without Jesus, we are withered branches, not good for anything but the fire.  There is no purpose or reason for our existence except that which we find in Him.   May each one of our lives be hidden with Christ in God!!

Love
Mom

Awakening...

Charles Spurgeon

 

Awakening

REAT NUMBERS OF PERSONS have no concern about eternal things. They care more about their cats and dogs than about their souls. It is a great mercy to be made to think about ourselves, and how we stand towards God and the eternal world. This is full often a sign that salvation is coming to us. By nature we do not like the anxiety which spiritual concern causes us, and we try, like sluggards, to sleep again. This is great foolishness; for it is at our peril that we trifle when death is so near, and judgment is so sure. If the Lord has chosen us to eternal life, he will not let us return to our slumber. If we are sensible, we shall pray that our anxiety about our souls may never come to an end till we are really and truly saved. Let us say from our hearts:

"He that suffered in my stead,
Shall my Physician be;
I will not be comforted
Till Jesus comfort me."
It would be an awful thing to go dreaming down to hell, and there to lift up our eyes with a great gulf fixed between us and heaven. It will be equally terrible to be aroused to escape from the wrath to come, and then to shake off the warning influence, and go back to our insensibility. I notice that those who overcome their convictions and continue in their sins are not so easily moved the next time: every awakening which is thrown away leaves the soul more drowsy than before, and less likely to be again stirred to holy feeling. Therefore our heart should be greatly troubled at the thought of getting rid of its trouble in any other than the right way. One who had the gout was cured of it by a quack medicine, which drove the disease within, and the patient died. To be cured of distress of mind by a false hope, would be a terrible business: the remedy would be worse than the disease. Better far that our tenderness of conscience should cause us long years of anguish, than that we should lose it, and perish in the hardness of our hearts.
Yet awakening is not a thing to rest in, or to desire to have lengthened out month after month. If I start up in a fright, and find my house on fire, I do not sit down at the edge of the bed, and say to myself, "I hope I am truly awakened! Indeed, I am deeply grateful that I am not left to sleep on!" No, I want to escape from threatened death, and so I hasten to the door or to the window, that I may get out, and may not perish where I am. It would be a questionable boon to be aroused, and yet not to escape from the danger. Remember, awakening is not salvation. A man may know that he is lost, and yet he may never be saved. He may be made thoughtful, and yet he may die in his sins. If you find out that you are a bankrupt, the consideration of your debts will not pay them. A man may examine his wounds all the year around, and they will be none the nearer being healed because he feels their smart, and notes their number. It is one trick of the devil to tempt a man to be satisfied with a sense of sin; and another trick of the same deceiver to insinuate that the sinner may not be content to trust Christ, unless he can bring a certain measure of despair to add to the Savior's finished work. Our awakenings are not to help the Savior, but to help us to the Savior. To imagine that my feeling of sin is to assist in the removal of the sin is absurd. It is as though I said that water could not cleanse my face unless I had looked longer in the glass, and had counted the smuts upon my forehead. A sense of need of salvation by grace is a very healthful sign; but one needs wisdom to use it aright, and not to make an idol of it.
Some seem as if they had fallen in love with their doubts, and fears, and distresses. You cannot get them away from their terrors—they seem wedded to them. It is said that the worst trouble with horses when their stables are on fire, is that you cannot get them to come out of their stalls. If they would but follow your lead, they might escape the flames; but they seem to be paralyzed with fear. So the fear of the fire prevents their escaping the fire. Reader, will your very fear of the wrath to come prevent your escaping from it? We hope not.
One who had been long in prison was not willing to come out. The door was open; but he pleaded even with tears to be allowed to stay where he had been so long. Fond of prison! Wedded to the iron bolts and the prison fare! Surely the prisoner must have been a little touched in the head! Are you willing to remain an awakened one, and nothing more? Are you not eager to be at once forgiven? If you would tarry in anguish and dread, surely you, too, must be a little out of your mind! If peace is to be had, have it at once! Why tarry in the darkness of the pit, wherein your feet sink in the miry clay? There is light to be had; light marvelous and heavenly; why lie in the gloom and die in anguish? You do not know how near salvation is to you. If you did, you would surely stretch out your hand and take it, for there it is; and it is to be had for the taking.
Do not think that feelings of despair would fit you for mercy. When the pilgrim, on his way to the Wicket Gate, tumbled into the Slough of Despond, do you think that, when the foul mire of that slough stuck to his garments, it was a recommendation to him, to get him easier admission at the head of the way? It is not so. The pilgrim did not think so by any means; neither may you. It is not what you feel that will save you, but what Jesus felt. Even if there were some healing value in feelings, they would have to be good ones; and the feeling which makes us doubt the power of Christ to save, and prevents our finding salvation in him, is by no means a good one, but a cruel wrong to the love of Jesus.
Our friend has come to see us, and has traveled through our crowded London by rail, or tram, or omnibus. On a sudden he turns pale. We ask him what is the matter, and he answers, "I have lost my pocket-book, and it contained all the money I have in the world." He goes over the amount to a penny, and describes the cheques, bills, notes, and coins. We tell him that it must be a great consolation to him to be so accurately acquainted with the extent of his loss. He does not seem to see the worth of our consolation. We assure him that he ought to be grateful that he has so dear a sense of his loss; for many persons might have lost their pocket-books and have been quite unable to compute their losses. Our friend is not, however, cheered in the least. "No," says he, "to know my loss does not help me to recover it. Tell me where I can find my property, and you have done me real service; but merely to know my loss is no comfort whatever." Even so, to believe that you have sinned, and that your soul is forfeited to the justice of God, is a very proper thing; but it will not save. Salvation is not by our knowing our own ruin, but by fully grasping the deliverance provided in Christ Jesus. A person who refuses to look to the Lord Jesus, but persists in dwelling upon his sin and ruin, reminds us of a boy who dropped a shilling down an open grating of a London sewer, and lingered there for hours, finding comfort in saying, "It rolled in just there! Just between those two iron bars I saw it go right down." Poor soul! Long might he remember the details of his loss before he would in this way get back a single penny into his pocket, wherewith to buy himself a piece of bread. You see the drift of the parable; profit by it.