Our Sin and His Grace

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1).

If you and I walk in the light we have victory over sin. We are to be open, honest, sincere and the light of God shows us where we are and what we are. It is unfortunate today that churches and Bible classes have been invaded with insincere people.

To walk in the light means to be honest with God, with ourselves, and with others. When we immediately sin we are to confess it to God and claim His forgiveness. And if our sin injures another person or persons, we need to ask forgiveness too.

A congregation was singing, “For You I Am Praying” and one turned to a man and asked “For whom are you praying?” The man was stunned and answered, “Nobody, why do you ask?” The man answered and said, “Well I heard you singing ‘For You I am Praying’ and I thought you meant it.” “Oh, no, said the man. I’m just singing.”

Pious words, pious talk! A religion of words! Instead of being doers of the Word we are more talkers of the Word. We must walk what we talk. Language and life must go together.

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  • God Does Not Budge

    “Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me. My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth” (Jeremiah 15:1).

    One would think that God would hear the prayer of His servant Moses and Samuel in any circumstance. But here we learn that the people of God were resilient in their behavior unfavorably before God. They were recalcitrant and rebellious.

    Jeremiah is heavy in heart. He is running out of steam. He has prayed, prayed, and prayed some more and yet he is not seeing the God of Israel move. God doesn’t even seem to care about saving them out of their upcoming judgment and Jeremiah is also caught in the judgment.

    What do we do when America doesn’t seem to understand? What do we do when our children and grandchildren do not understand and we don’t seem to get our prayers answered? We have to be taught like Jeremiah to run with the footmen, and to contend with the horses. Don’t wear out where you are but look up to where God is.

    Our source of grace is found in the Lord. Our strength is found in Him. Things are going to get worse but we need to get better. Don’t run from your assignments because it doesn’t matter where you are God has you there to train you, to form you, and to fill you.

    Though the world loves to wander away from God, nor restrain their feet from living in pleasure, don’t you do it? Keep on the line with God. Let God toughen you! Things are going to get worse but let God make you the man or woman of God you need to be.

  • Are you Gold?

    “How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out of every street” (Lamentations 4:1).
    Gold is full of luster, very malleable, and has great value. Gold has a center of gravity and it is not easily rusted. God says of His city and her people they were like gold at one time. But now Jeremiah laments the city of Jerusalem, for she has become tarnished and dulled. Her children, the seed of God’s people, no longer shine for Jehovah God.
    There is change all around us. What was once bright now has become dull. Those that once went after the gold of God’s Word now are seeking the fool’s gold of the world. What once was the wisdom of the ages now has become a book that is hardly touched.
    Where are the fathers that have not changed?  Where are the children that shine as gold? Dads, moms, and grandparents, seem to be out of touch with God. Oh there is a touch but that is about it.
    America used to shine but now she is as brass. What once was gold now has been stolen. So to put on a good act America is borrowed brass that is shined up with fancy patriotic songs that seem to shine. But words can never do the work that only God can.
    Jeremiah is not asking a question; he is stating a fact. And because of his verbal analysis of the state of the nation, he is thrown into jail and into a deep pit left to rot. You know a nation is no longer gold when it rejects its prophets and its preachers. When the people want to get rid of that which is pure you can know that judgment is on the way.
    What once was gold is now but earthen vessels of clay. Dull, lifeless, cracked, and without real value. The gold has been stripped away. The power and presence of God has left that which was once alive and vibrant and expectant.
    Check the facts:  Are you tenderhearted toward God and others? Does the Word of God change you as you read it? Are you growing into the likeness of Jesus? Are your children living for God? Are you as regular in church attendance as beforehand? Does prayer rise in your heart as never before? Are you ready before God to easily repent of sin at every turn? How hard is it for others to get you off the gold path? And how easy is it for God to get you back on it?
    Brass will shine, but it is not like gold. We will either turn back to the gold standard or nothing. We have been robbed of the gold. A cheaper brand of Christianity is with us today. Rather than pay the price we have settled down to being just clay pitchers pottered by our own hands.

  • The Waywardness of Sheep

    “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

    Why do sheep have the desire to leave the shepherd’s side and travel to places of danger and distance?  There is an inward pull that sheep have that tend to lead them away.  They follow the tract of land that looks greener and more desirous, leaving behind that which is safe and filled with contentment by the shepherd’s care.

    Why does God give Pastors to the local congregation?  So that they may instruct and teach the little flock to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry that edifies the body of Christ.  It is God who gives the pastors and teachers so that they may equip the saints for the work and for the building up of His church.  It is God who gives the Shepherds.  It is the under shepherds who are led by the Chief Shepherd.

    As in that day, the Old Testament days and the New Testament days, shepherds were looked down upon.  Many people looked and pick out their words, mannerisms, and ways and accosted them for not being the smartest people in town.  But the Shepherds were important in the eyes of God.  Sheep can’t just get along anywhere.  There is no other class of livestock that requires more careful handling, more detailed direction, than do sheep.

    The Pastor Shepherd keeps the sheep on the move.  They are shifted from one pasture to another.  The habits sheep form and the desires that sheep have, when left to themselves, are dangerous.  So the Pastor Shepherd is always leading them to go forward.  Let us listen, not only to the voice of the Good Shepherd, but to the leadership of the kind, prayerful, life of the under shepherd.  Why?  Because he cares for your soul.

  • Why Do We Mourn? 

    “Can the sons of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast” (Matthew 9:15).

    One glad morning the Lord Jesus will return. There are many a tired preacher who will rejoice when He returns. There will be many a people whose hearts have been true to the One they love, who yearn for that day, and then it happens. The Lord Jesus will return to get His bride.

    What a day that will be! What a glorious day when we shall see Jesus. What a wonderful day when all we have lived for, yearned for, longed for – when Jesus shall return. What a great getting-up moment that will be. Loved ones will return with Jesus. Their bodies will be raised from the dead graves from all over, and the power of the resurrection will reverberate throughout all the kingdom of Satan, and the bodies will be released.

    We mourn when the Bridegroom is not here. But one day we will be joined to Him. The older I get, the more I see, and the better I feel about the coming of our Lord. The sin I see, the unfaithfulness that surrounds, with the nations becoming more and more like Sodom, God’s bride yearns for the coming again of Jesus.

    May we say today, “Even so come, Lord Jesus!” We are in the days when the bridegroom is not here with us physically; He has been taken from us, and we fast while we wait. We mourn for Him but it will not be too much longer when we shall rejoice! For He will be with us. Hallelujah! Amen!

     

     

  • God the Shelter

    “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I”

    (Psalm 61:2).

     

    Jesus is to be the center of it all. Everything.
    Today at the Good News Baptist Church on the island of St. Maarten, we sang a song that expressed this prayer. God is the star of His own movie. For so many of us we think indirectly or directly much of this thought:  It is about us.
    When we pray we are asking God to guide, to guard, and to govern. We must realize He is the One who gives breath and life. He is the only One who has the power and the prowess to do just this. And He desires to honor you as you and I honor Him. We are very insignificant when it comes to the almightiness of the God who stands apart from us.
    Today when you call upon His name remember that He loves you and He desires you with all of your warts and blemishes. He desires greatly to bring glory to His own name through your life. It is God who is pursuing Himself in you. Allow this God of glory to have His will and His pleasure in your life. It is amazing to receive and feel His love.

  • Flummoxed and Flabbergasted

     
    “They will be called oaks of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:3, ESV).

    The King of Babylon had a bad night. And because he had a bad night everyone else was going to have one as well. He was confused about the dream he had. He did not understand it.

    The King’s advisers were stunned. They were asked to give the details of the dream and the meaning of it. How could they do this? Only the gods could’ve revealed what the King dreamed.

    Daniel was neither flummoxed (confused) or flabbergasted (stunned). He had FAITH in the living God. Daniel asked for an appointment with the King. He would reveal to the King what God would reveal to him (Daniel 2:16).

    Daniel asked to meet before he knew the dream and the interpretation of it. Now that is faith. That is counterintuitive courage. I will tell you the truth, I am flummoxed and flabbergasted.  How could this young man have been so sure? Daniel wasn’t stalling for time, he was asking for a time to meet with the King!

    The fact of the faith is this: Daniel knew who his God was and what He could do. Daniel was soaked and steeped in the sovereignty of God. Faith like that was not built overnight; it began somewhere and at some place.

    Here is what I want us to take from this lesson. Maturity is a slow process and so is the development of faith. But sometimes God breaks the mold and works swiftly in a man. But for the most of us, faith comes slowly, just as slowly as to the oak tree. But growth does come. Daniel knew God and so can you. God planted His seed in you when you were born again. Allow it to grow. Trust and obey for there is no other way.