Can faith lose its sting?

(James 2:17) “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Faith without works is dead! This is a clear instruction from the Apostle James and seeing that it is the separation from the goats and the sheep that we now look to understand, it is James that seals it for us, or should I say settles my understanding on the subject. Let me explain why!

It is clear as we have explored enough to conclude that the sheep, those on the Kings right will be blessed by the Lord’s Father, God himself prepared a kingdom for them from the foundation of the world. The goats, those on His left, will suffer a different fate, a very scary reality will set in for all of them, and they will be punished forever and ever. They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life; “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

The Lord Jesus spends a long time deliberating the difference between the two, the transformation in character and action is obvious. One is self-centred while the other puts their brethren before themselves. This in itself is how we are too invest our talent, the gift God has given us, we must look to use it wisely and by extending a hand of compassion to those in need, as it is our instruction.

The Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 25 start with five wise and five foolish virgins, it then move onto the parable of the servant with their talents and then it peaks with God’s judgment. All of the examples speak of an application to either foolishness or to wisdom. Both the wise and the foolish have their role to play in the story.

I now want to bring us back to our understanding on Ephesians; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Obviously if we look to works as a boast then we have understood very little if anything, I will even go as far as to say is all we confirm is that we side with the goats. It is clear that because of Christ’s work and His perfect plan for the believers life, it will eventually free us up to lay down our lives for each other, it must work this peaceable fruit into our lives, for if it does not then we must take James’ warnings very seriously.

However James lays a foundation to his epistle before he addresses the importance of “faith by works”, it seems to have something to do with his understanding on the power one receives in accomplishing God’s call upon one’s life. All have been saved by grace through faith and works will never justify our standing before God as we understand that it is only because of God’s grace that we may now walk in newness of life, following Christ’s example to lay down our lives for our brethren. What James teaches is that every true believer will learn to look at the trials of their lives, as helps, that will eventually strengthen them so that they will be of service to their brethren. This is undoubtedly the call God has place on His children’s lives. The Lord Jesus has paved the way and many since then have followed by example and not only with lip-service. There is an obvious different between the goat and the sheep; and this is what I see, one speaks of doing it while others get on and do it!

James puts it like this; “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works (Note; this proves true son-ship). You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:13-24) 

The complete picture of faith working together with works helps us differentiate between the goats and the sheep. And helps us examine our own hearts to see where we stand. I am found wanting, but God who is rich in mercy has opened my eyes to this lack in my life, not that I lack anything from Him, but the lack of my application in faith toward Him, forgive me Father! You have shown me what is required; help me I pray lay down my life for my brethren, whoever they may be and wherever they may be.

Lord willing tomorrow we will conclude on this subject.

Signing off

Tyrone

     

      

The coming King!

(Matthew 25:31)  "When the Son of Man comes in his glory.”

It would be good to stand back and receive some other input on our consideration on the separation and judgment of the goats and the sheep. Matthew Henry seems to be my obvious choice, let us look at his take on some of the scripture we looked at yesterday and then hopefully we can sum-up our responsibility to this topic.

I. The placing of the judge upon the judgment-seat (Mat_25:31); When the Son of man shall come. Observe here,

1. That there is a judgment to come, in which every man shall be sentenced to a state of everlasting happiness, or misery, in the world of recompence or retribution, according to what he did in this world of trial and probation, which is to be judged of by the rule of the everlasting gospel.

2. The administration of the judgment of the great day is committed to the Son of man; for by him God will judge the world (Act_17:31), and to him all judgment is committed, and therefore the judgment of that day, which is the centre of all. Here, as elsewhere, when the last judgment is spoken of, Christ is called the son of man, because he is to judge the sons of men (and, being himself of the same nature, he is the more unexceptionable); and because his wonderful condescension to take upon him our nature, and to become the son of man, will be recompensed by this exaltation in that day, and an honour put upon the human nature.

3. Christ's appearing to judge the world will be splendid and glorious. Agrippa and Bernice came to the judgment-seat with great pomp (Act_25:23); but that was (as the original word is) great fancy. Christ will come to the judgment-seat in real glory: the Sun of righteousness shall then shine in his meridian lustre, and the Prince of the kings of the earth shall show the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the honours of his excellent majesty; and all the world shall see what the saints only do now believe - that he is the brightness of his Father's glory. He shall come not only in the glory of his Father, but in his own glory, as mediator: his first coming was under a black cloud of obscurity; his second will be in a bright cloud of glory. The assurance Christ gave his disciples of his future glory, might help to take off the offence of the cross, and his approaching disgrace and suffering.

4. When Christ comes in his glory to judge the world, he will bring all his holy angels with him. This glorious person will have a glorious retinue, his holy myriads, who will be not only his attendants, but ministers of his justice; they shall come with him both for state and service. They must come to call the court (1Th_4:16), to gather the elect (Mat_24:31), to bundle the tares (Mat_13:40), to be witnesses of the saints' glory (Luk_12:8), and of sinners' misery, Rev_14:10.

5. He will then sit upon the throne of his glory. He is now set down with the Father upon his throne; and it is a throne of grace, to which we may come boldly; it is a throne of government, the throne of his father David; he is a priest upon that throne: but then he will sit upon the throne of glory, the throne of judgment. See Dan_7:9, Dan_7:10. Solomon's throne, though there was not its like in any kingdom, was but a dunghill to it. Christ, in the days of his flesh, was arraigned as a prisoner at the bar; but at his second coming, he will sit as a judge upon the bench.

II. The appearing of all the children of men before him (Mat_25:32); Before him shall be gathered all nations. Note, The judgment of the great day will be a general judgment. All must be summoned before Christ's tribunal; all of every age of the world, from the beginning to the end of time; all of every place on earth, even from the remotest corners of the world, most obscure, and distant from each other; all nations, all those nations of men that are made of one blood, to dwell on all the face of the earth.

III. The distinction that will then be made between the precious and the vile; He shall separate them one from another, as the tares and wheat are separated at the harvest, the good fish and the bad at the shore, the corn and chaff in the floor. Wicked and godly here dwell together in the same kingdoms, cities, churches, families, and are not certainly distinguishable one from another; such are the infirmities of saints, such the hypocrisies of sinners, and one event to both: but in that day they will be separated, and parted for ever; Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, Mal_3:18. They cannot separate themselves one from another in this world (1Co_5:10), nor can any one else separate them (Mat_13:29); but the Lord knows them that are his, and he can separate them. This separation will be so exact, that the most inconsiderable saints shall not be lost in the crowd of sinners, nor the most plausible sinner hid in the crowd of saints (Psa_1:5), but every one shall go to his own place. This is compared to a shepherd's dividing between the sheep and the goats; it is taken from Eze_34:17, Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle. Note, 1. Jesus Christ is the great Shepherd; he now feeds his flock like a shepherd, and will shortly distinguish between those that are his, and those that are not, as Laban divided his sheep from Jacob's, and set three days' journey between them, Gen_30:35, Gen_30:36. 2. The godly are like sheep - innocent, mild, patient, useful: the wicked are like goats, a baser kind of animal, unsavoury and unruly. The sheep and goats are here feeding all day in the same pasture, but will be coted at night in different folds. Being thus divided, he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left, Mat_25:33. Christ puts honour upon the godly, as we show respect to those we set on our right hand; but the wicked shall rise to everlasting shame, Dan_12:2. It is not said that he shall put the rich on his right hand, and the poor on his left; the learned and noble on his right hand, and unlearned and despised on his left; but the godly on his right hand, and the wicked on his left. All other divisions and subdivisions will then be abolished; but the great distinction of men into saints and sinners, sanctified and unsanctified, will remain for ever, and men's eternal state will be determined by it. The wicked took up with left-handed blessings, riches and honour, and so shall their doom be.

The acknowledging of the saints to be the blessed of the Lord; Come, ye blessed of my Father. First, He pronounces them blessed; and his saying they are blessed, makes them so. The law curses them for their many discontinuances; but Christ having redeemed them from the curse of the law, and purchased a blessing for them, commands a blessing on them. Secondly, Blessed of his Father; reproached and cursed by the world, but blessed of God. As the Spirit glorifies the Son (Joh_16:14), so the Son glorifies the Father by referring the salvation of the saints to him as the First Cause; all our blessings in heavenly things flow to us from God, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Eph_1:3. Thirdly, He calls them to come: this come is, in effect, “Welcome, ten thousand welcomes, to the blessings of my father; come to me, come to be for ever with me; you that followed me bearing the cross, now come along with me wearing the crown. The blessed of my Father are the beloved of my soul, that have been too long at a distance from me; come, now, come into my bosom, come into my arms, come into my dearest embraces!” O with what joy will this fill the hearts of the saints in that day! We now come boldly to the throne of grace, but we shall then come boldly to the throne of glory; and this word holds out the golden sceptre, with an assurance that our requests shall be granted to more than the half of the kingdom. Now the Spirit saith, Come, in the word; and the bride saith, Come, in prayer; and the result hereof is a sweet communion: but the perfection of bliss will be, when the King shall say, Come. (Matthew Henry)

This gives us some good insight cementing our understanding on the judgement which is yet to come and the separation of the goats and the sheep, but it is only the one side of our deliberation.

Until tomorrow then,

Signing off

Tyrone

The difference between the sheep and the goats!

(Matthew 25:33) “And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.”

If we continue to practice in any area of our lives, we will improve; we will become more skilled in that area. And so is it when we handle the “Word of Life”; the more we practice the better we become in application. If not we are doing something wrong. It is very hard to breakdown the bad habits in our lives. It is only when we handle the Holy Scriptures with sincerity and we lose any preconceived ideas about a certain subject that hinders our grow in Christ, we must let the Word of God speak and give God the Holy Spirit preeminence if we are to come out victors, as nothing else will suffice! This is a fundamental truth we must adopt if we are to grow in our great Saviour’s likeness.

What then is the true understanding on reconciling faith and works? Here are two portions of scripture that addresses my question with crystal clear instructions; the one speaks plainly about God’s unmerited favour, while the other basis its emphasis on works. And yet they both say the same thing, how? Let’s unpack it! I am somewhat embarrassed that in times past I seem to miss its clear instruction, but God who is rich in mercy is patient with His children, thank you Father! It is the Apostle James who brings the two together with crystal clear instruction.  

To give this deliberation any chance of clarity we will need a few posts…

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by 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 welcomed me, 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? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal 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 welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 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, 'Truly, I say to you, 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 eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."” (Matthew 25:31-46)

The common denominated, the glue, is “good works”. Everything hinges on “good works”! Good works prove unmerited favour! What then are these good works?

Look at the portion of scripture that Paul reminds us about in Ephesians; “not a result of works, so that no one may boast”, but then he goes onto say; “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – In other words all of God’s children have been summoned because of what Christ achieved on Calvary to walk in “good works”.

When was this determined by God? “Beforehand”, long ago! in fact before we were ever born. Think on it like this as an author would sit down with a pen and write a script and then a casting agent would introduce possible candidates to fill the various roles. God did this in time past and yet it plays out in the now. The brilliance of God on show, praise His name! Those who now have the Spirit of God are the candidates that have been summoned by Him to learn the script (the Bible) as we prepare to act out our roles that God Himself has called us too. There will and must be “proof in the pudding”.

We will learn to lay down our lives for our brethren with a sincere heart; we will go without so that they will not. This will be the difference between the sheep and the goats; “'Truly, I say to you, 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 eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Will we resolve and look for those brethren in need of water or will we turn a blind eye to them, it is as simple as that!

Lord willing we will look at this in a lot more depth in the next few posts.

Signing off

Tyrone  

Reflecting on the race...

(2Timothy 4:7) “I have finished the course.”

As I settled down last night, prior to switching the lights off, thoughts of the reality of Christianity kicked in. My thoughts went to the life hereafter as I asked myself, would I rather continue to live out my life here on earth or move on to the next realm of my existence? Is Christianity a fairytale that we like to believe in as we are caught up with the hope it affords us, when we think on death do we fight with every fiber in our bodies to live? Do we cling to this life here on earth, with all mite and strength? Are our lives filled with death so that we may live or is our claim “we are Christian” surreal?

So much of our lives are filled with fantasy, the stories that parents teach their children from a young age feeds this imaginary hope, fairy-tales and happy ending is where so many hang their hat. We love the thought of having a cake and also eating it. Self-preservation the order of the day! Am I any different? And yet if we embraced the hope of Christianity with all we have, we would be gladly laid down our lives for others. We would long for the life here after and I know we say we do, as part of us undoubtedly does, but I am concerned that it is no different to the fairytale hope we had as children.

Why does the writer of Hebrews tell us of so many valiant pilgrims that lost their lives as he stresses the point that the “world was not worthy” of them; “Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:35-38) – The world was not worthy! Can I make that claim about my life? Absolutely not! Can you? The retort is left up to the individual! Would I without a blink of an eye leave behind that which I have and give it to someone in need; I would fight with every fibre in my body to hang on to what I have. This was not the attitude of those mentioned in this text.

There is a test we can apply to see our hearts in the matter; if God said to us, today is the day you will breathe our last, the day of death had final arrived, would we be excited or would there be regret? Would we seek out justification not to have our lives ended, would we be quick to make comments like, what about my family or could we with an honest heart say yes Lord take me now I long to open my eyes on the other side, I long to bow before your throne as I sing praises to my God and Father.

Obviously there would be a pull to arrive in heaven as it is God’s work and not ours, but are we captivated by it? This was Paul experience; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:” (2Timothy 4:7) – Or is your experience my experience; so much time has been lost to frivolous trivia that I fear and I cannot with any assurance echo the words of Paul. Does that now mean I am without hope? Definitely not! Thankfully it is the work of the Lord Jesus that will get us home. Selfishness and our own agendas in not the call to a Christian’s life, please forgive me Father God for the lack of faith that I have so often apply to my life with all the bad choice I have made along the way.

Having said that, I long to open my eyes on the other side, I hunger to be with my God; where neither rusting nor moth can any longer taint the call upon my life. I am wearied and hard-pressed as my life is filled with failure, but there is a day coming when this will end, I will nevertheless suffer loss; for this I seek forgiveness but the thought of the New Jerusalem and the reality to always be in the presence of the only true holy God without the failures of the flesh and the absence of sin in my life is a wonderful thought. Where corruption will be swallowed up by incorruption where this body of mortality will put on immortality and all the heavenly hosts in one accord sing praises to our King.

So if today was my last as a citizen here on earth, I must conclude, it would be well with my soul. Ever so come quickly Lord Jesus!

What on earth would enable someone to live in a ditch and suffer such torturing, but this glorious hope the Christian has for the life to come. May this hope grip us like never before and with the time we have left here on earth may we learn to lay down our lives for our God and King.

Signing off

Tyrone   

Freely we have received, now freely give!

(Matthew 10:8) “Freely ye received, freely give.”

There is a vast difference to religion in a traditional form to Christianity in its actual form. One speaks about laws and regulations; it is all about the does and don’ts of life while the other produced a lifestyle outside of regulation, it is far more personal. It is a between an individual and their God. Prior to salvation, we never understood this verse; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

Christianity makes no provision for boasting as the sole dependency of the believer depends of the finished work of the cross. God started the salvage and it is God who shall complete the rescue, in and through His beloved Son the Lord Jesus. It has nothing to do with our abilities, we must understand this! Religion on the other hand is all about self; looking to be noticed by men and receive praise from them for our apparent good deeds. The one is a form of godliness, but it in fact denies the power of godliness; “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2Timothy 3:5-7) - While true Christianity has nothing to do with trumpet blowing. Paul does not address the other false faiths per say but rather the Christian faith and the weeds that are sown amongst the good seed. We are told to let then grow together, but that does not mean we should not recognise them as such, weeds they are!

We have been taught not to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing; this is in the context of good deeds. Religion looks to be praise by men but the true Christian holds it within his heart and it is between him and his God; "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-6) – Don’t you just love portions of scripture like this, directly from the mouth of the Lord Jesus? We know that it is the soundest of advice as it come directly from our God and King.

The writer of Hebrews refers to this as a dead work; “Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." (Hebrews 6:1)    

What then is the lesson for the believer? Let us not get caught up with good deeds for the sake of patting ourselves on the back, if this is our common practise then we are no different to the weeds, we have not understood the work of the cross. However this does not mean that our lives should not be filled with good works as we know we have been called to walk in His statues; “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.” (Titus 3:14) – We must always be on the lookout to be of help to those in need and especially those of the household of God. But let us remember when God places necessity upon us to help others that we keep it between Him and ourselves. If not then we are no different to the hypocrite! We must be generous and ready to share; “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” (1Timothy 6:18-19)

This world and all its trappings have taught us to look out for self, but this is just another lie, it is not the way of the true Christian, we have received clear instruction on this. May God give us a heart of generosity as we learn to give with cheerful hearts. Freely we have received now freely give! – “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” (Proverbs 11:24) 

Signing off

Tyrone    

Iron sharpens Iron!

(Proverbs 27:17) “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

It is once again an early start; I ultimately always end up enjoying these mornings, not that I am happy to lose much of my needed beauty sleep, but I am thankful that God has afforded me the opportunity and placed a concern on my heart for a brother in Christ.

My mind goes out to the times where he was always the first to throw out warnings against the bad choices throughout my life and he never pulled any punches. Yet, most of those timely warning where discarded at an obvious cost; pain and suffering the order of the day! Yet I only have myself to blame, he did his part.

Self-reflection is never a joyous event, but once we come through it, once we have been pruned and spring pushes forth, it is beautiful to witness the first bud on that branch as it springs to life. Why does it take so long for the penny to drop? We seem to always repeatedly make the same mistakes. These lessons have their specific purpose; they are there to teach us to obey our God and Father. But when we see a loved one making the same mistake over and over and falling for the same trap, it is heart-breaking. I now see him making the same mistake.

It is moment like these that I begin to understand the principle of what the Lord teachers us about being “our brother’s keeper”, just a little deeper. When we become pro-active in these areas of our lives then we walk as Christ intended us to walk, in obedience! It is nevertheless painful to watch someone dear to our hearts making the same mistakes. I just want to grab him and shake him like a rag-doll. We have a responsibility in sincerity to rebuke and warn one another where and when the need should arise, whatever that may entail. But in so doing we must first examine our hearts in the matter. Why? Just to make sure our attitude is not one of accusing our brother so that we may excuse ourselves. Once that has been dealt with we then need to speak out in love.

Did you know that many years back metal crafters would often use iron to sharpen iron? I am not sure whether this is still practiced but the writer of Proverbs hones in on this point; “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another”. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins; although we have now found life we still have rough edges in need of filing. The Lord came to do the will of His Father. He died and gave us life, so if we have life, if we have His Spirit, we have been place on God’s workbench and those rough edged in our lives need filing. We are the catalyst needed in each other’s lives to accomplish this task. We sharpen one another. But if we sit on the outside looking in, how will we ever be of use to a brother? We won’t be! We are our brothers keepers so let us act accordingly.

To be a watchman is of crucial importance; in a watchtower there is normally an around the clock guard, especially in times of war. We are at war; let no-one convince you to the contrary, and our enemy goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. His objective is to get us to snooze at our post! But that is not what God requires from us. We must sound the alarm when danger is on the horizon. Now a guard must leave his post at times to rest up, but is replaced by a new fresher sentinel. If we see our brother opening himself to error we are then the one at the post and we must sound the alarm. If not we will then be “guilty of the body and the blood of the lamb, not discerning the Lord’s body” (note the principle).

Let us travel back in time and use an illustration to prove my point but before we do this we must understand that it is the flesh that hinders, it is of no use to the spiritual man: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63) – Note, we must see it as such and we must operate from this foundation without any other frills; “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalms 127:1)  

It is all about the well-being of God’s family and not about winning any popular poll awards. God is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail, but it is crucial that the watchmen speak out if they see danger on the horizon.

“For thus the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.” (Isaiah 21:6) – We have been instructed to look out for one another. How serious should we take the tutoring?

It is imperative we heed the following warnings…

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul." (Ezekiel 3:17-21)

I hope and pray we see this crucial necessity that we are our brother’s keepers and that it is iron that sharpens iron. May God give us tongues to speak out in love, for if we remain silent, then we do the work of the devil!

Signing off

Tyrone   

           

Diversion Tactics!

(1John 2:21) “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.”

And yet we lie to ourselves so often!

Why is it that we miss the obvious, I often focus on varying considerations and overlook the more serious contemplation. I do not want to undermine the importance of the role of dreams in our lives, but these considerations should have caused a greater urgency in me to explore the purpose of what these signs are actually saying. We get caught up in the signs instead of realising what the signs are for.

Signs and wonders proved the validity of the Lord Jesus; it proved that He is the Son of God!  If we therefore believe that today we are in the “last days” what then is it teaching us? It should create such urgency in our daily living that we wouldn’t get caught up in the hype of dreams, prophesy and the like but it should spur us onto a life of selflessness as the day of the Lord draws nigh. He is coming should be our cry! But is it I wonder! Or do we look to all these supernatural claims as the solution for daily living instead of leaning on the finished work of Calvary? I would suggest that many err on the side of error.

It is obvious that “your old men shall dream dreams”, the text teachers us this will happen, it is a no brainer! God’s Word never fails as it cannot lie! – “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18)

Hang on for just a minute, I have just seen something of great importance, thank you Father God and thank you God the Holy Spirit for your enlightening revelation where and when you choose to reveal it.

I have had my eyes opened to another, if not the greatest of all the devils trickery and it revolves around the diversion in the essence of scripture.

Stay with me for just a little longer and I will explain. We see the obvious but instead of focusing on the kernel of truth, we tend to lean on a built mechanism that is triggered within our minds and we then suspiciously look to disprove something instead affirming it.

Why do I make such a statement? As I was now looking for some answers on this topic, I noticed that much attention is given to the importance of telling the truth. However, there are warnings that teach us that even when we believe we speak the truth we are liars. In other words there is a danger that we will go to such extremes when trying to make a point that we will even lie to be heard. And if we continue in this fashion even our conscience will be seared and we will become numb to the truth. Now this is quite a statement, but there is much truth to it! Look at what God did many years back; “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:18-22) 

Once again we need to look into the mirror; the Apostle John has this to say; “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1John 1:6) – If my life is filled with self and very little of my life belongs to the Lord, then I am a liar even though I believe I am not. If I continue in sin that grace may abound and lean on the hope of denial as my anchor, I am nothing but a liar. When I habitually practise the on-going destruction of sin as a daily pattern in my life, I am nothing but a liar! Therefore if no place is given to my life being led by the Spirit then I am also a liar.

Look at the strong words the Apostle Paul uses; “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:17-25)

Let me conclude by saying, instead of giving so much of our time to signs and wonder, let us rather seek holiness for our lives, let our resolve to walk in the Spirit. Do not be lured into the traps of Satan diversion tactics, as he is the master tactician. Let us be on the lookout for all those tainting lies in our lives, for if we scratch the surface we will not have to scrape deep to expose the error of it. May God help us to live godly in Him!

Signing off

Tyrone

The roles of dreams, do they still play their part?

(Act 2:17) “Your old men shall dream dreams.”

Dreams, everybody has them, in one form or another at different times throughout their lives and yet some have more impact than others. Last night was another one of those nights, my dreams where somewhat disturbing, with a reality second to none. I felt somewhat defeated as unbelief began to flood my soul. We know what robs us of our faith, it is sin and yes my dreams were full of failure, I failed certain tests when tested that in reality I had failed in the past. I was hoping that I had move beyond this mind-set, as we all need to grow up into the fullness of the statue of Christ. We all need to put off childish things!

On the one hand I was somewhat relieved to wake up and realize that it was but a dream and yet on the other the nagging question is why did I have such a dream? Where better to go looking for answers than the Holy Scriptures.

Dreams had a specific place mainly throughout the Old Testament; God used a dream to warn Abimelech (Pharaoh) that he had taken Sarah Abrahams wife, and that particular dream brought him to his senses and he gave Sarah back to Abraham. Joseph had a dream about the rest of his family bowing down and worshipping him. Although his brothers mocked his dream it nevertheless unfolded as Joseph had predicted. Then we have the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker which Joseph also interpreted correctly. Then Pharaoh’s dreams plagued him for a long time as he looked for answers in all the wrong places. Soothsayer and magicians were summoned with no success; Until God stepped in through Joseph’s interpretation. There is a fabulous lesson for us to learn; God is the answer for all our questions, not people’s opinions or horoscopes and the like. As they can be very damaging!

Prior to salvation whilst abroad in England I met a young lady who of all things foretold ones fortune from the residue of a finished cup of tea or was it coffee? She was from some Slovak country, Czechoslovakia I think! A common fashionable young woman; put it this way she did not have a broom under one arm! I was twenty-one years old at the time and now I am forty-five. Twenty four years ago and I am still influenced by what she told me, it may not be helpful, but nevertheless very real in my mind eye as what she predicted often flashes into play. I often tell myself that it is a lot of rubbish which it surely is, but that does not change the fact that it has such a hold on my reasoning at times.

I fear many are trapped by similar scenarios; they hang their hope on what some wannabe prophet tells them especially if it involves hope of some kind. Many false Christian movements lure people into these traps and normally around the traps of money. Although we are taught that this is but a form of witchcraft, the damage in a lot of cases has been done, these trapping memories remain with us, and it is these memories that I wish to explore.

We must conclude that with dreams as well as prophetic utterances God’s Word has to be the final authority, or else how will we ever be sure for the well-being of our lives?

The writer of Hebrews teachers us that; “Long ago, at many times and in many ways (note, dreams no doubt had their place), God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) – The question I now have, has their function run their course, have they ceased?

I see the in the book of Acts the Luke tells us this; "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;” (Act 2:17) – There seems to be carnage attributed to this verse as every Tom Dick and Harry make heyday with this stanza. Everyone is a prophet and all dream dreams and people see visions. But surely we must accept the fact that these need to be tested. Does the Bible instruct us to test such claims?

I would like to spend some time over the next couple of posts exploring these thoughts…

Let me leave us with Matthew Henrys take on this verse and the reason for this is that the concerns we now have may have tainted our reasoning on the subject. Back in the seventeenth century the charismatic movement had not yet taken root. So he was not influenced but what he saw and dealt with the text as he read it. I believe a fair synopsis!

“The text itself that Peter quotes, Act_2:17-21. It refers to the last days, the times of the gospel, which are called the last days because the dispensation of God's kingdom among men, which the gospel sets up, is the last dispensation of divine grace, and we are to look for no other than the continuation of this to the end of time. Or, in the last days, that is, a great while after the ceasing of prophecy in the Old Testament church. Or, in the days immediately preceding the destruction of the Jewish nation, in the last days of that people, just before that great and notable day of the Lord spoken of.

 Act_11:17. Or, upon all flesh, that is, upon some of all ranks and conditions of men. The Jewish doctors taught that the Spirit came only upon wise and rich men, and such as were of the seed of Israel; but God will not tie himself to their rules.

That the Spirit should be in them a Spirit of prophecy; by the Spirit they should be enabled to foretel things to come, and to preach the gospel to every creature. This power shall be given without distinction of sex - not only your sons, but your daughters shall prophesy; without distinction of age - both your young men and your old men shall see visions, and dream dreams, and in them receive divine revelations, to be communicated to the church; and without distinction of outward condition - even the servants and handmaids shall receive of the Spirit, and shall prophesy.” (Matthew Henry)

 Until tomorrow then,

Signing off

Tyrone  

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry!

(Psalms 2:12)  “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry”

The goodness of God is a distinctiveness I am learning to love the more I live. To think of His supremacy, there is none greater than Him, when He speaks the heavens shake and yet when I think on Him, goodness comes to mind. This morning my thoughts are with God’s goodness toward me. It may seem somewhat selfish, forgive me! Nevertheless this morning I will thank my God and Father for His goodness, His glorious mercy and grace and above all else for His glorious Son, my Splendid Saviour, the only Saviour that equips a man with a voice whereby they can cry “ABBA FATHER” – “my Father”! All praise and honour belongs to our King, the King of kings, the only One who has it in His power to present us to His Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Triune Godhead, without His sacrifice, none of us would sit with any similar thought as we ponder the goodness of God. THANK YOU FATHER FOR YOUR GOODNESS! I pen these words to say I am thankful and I love you for it! Lord Jesus words cannot describe how thankful I am for your selfless sacrifice, THANK YOU!

Be warned all you kings and rulers of the earth, what will you do with Gods goodness? What will you do with His Son’s sacrifice for sin? Do you reason like a madman and believe you will be accepted on the basis of your own efforts, etc.  If so, you will be wrong and you have been warned! - “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalms 2:10-12)

(Isaiah 51:5) “On mine arm shall they trust.”

“In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

Thank you for your goodness, great Jehovah Father God, and for “saving such a wretch like me”.

 Signing off

 Tyrone

How shall we escape!

(Hebrews 2:3) “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;”

“Typology”, what role does it play in the believers life? It has a very important function I believe but I am not sure many share my sentiment. Firstly let us look at what the word actually means and then why we should pay particular attention to its responsibility in our lives.

Typology means the study of religious texts for the purpose of identifying episodes in them that appear to prophesy later events and more importantly the study or systematic classification of types that affect our lives. In other words, how can we learn from those who have gone before us?

What can others teach us about God and what He requires from us…?

Obviously it is the Word of God that gives us instruction on how we should live, but it is also the Word that uses the examples of others, training us to learn from their mistakes where and when needed.

The writer of Hebrews pays special attention to the children of Israel in the Wilderness. Let us therefore look at some of His warnings. He has instructed us to pay even more special attention to what we have heard, least we let them slip; “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:7-13)

It would be good for us to study their journey in parallel to our journey hear on earth and to learn great lessons from them. Time will not permit us to look at this in any depth, but my encouragement would be to read through the book of Exodus and Numbers and put ourselves in their shoes with a sincere heart and then see the similarities of their lives with ours. There is much we can learn!

I look at my life and I see a nagging trait that without much effort looks to disobey God’s Word and I am fearful for it. But I am convinced that God’s Word will stand, regardless of people’s opinions. Maybe it is time to fast and pray or like Jacob to wrestle with the angel of the Lord until these truths sink into souls and they become like second nature in our lives. For if we chose to ignore these warnings we will suffer loss; “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:14-19)

What fascinates me is this is not the first time I have considered these warning and yet I find myself just like they found themselves walking in circles. May our great God and Father continue to have compassion on all His struggling children! Not all struggle but many do! I am however convinced that He who has begun a good work in us, although at times on reflection it seems somewhat distant, He will nevertheless complete His quest and all of God’s children will eventually arrive safely in the New Jerusalem. But we must pay careful attention to His instruction.

Let us not look to the left or the right, let us not look for justification as we excuse ourselves and accuse others; this is not the purpose behind this text. It is no different in type to the instruction that the Apostle Paul gives us in Corinthians prior to taking communion; “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” (1Corinthians 11:28) – Note we must examine ourselves and not one another. Sure we are to learn from the mistakes of others, this is the purpose of this text, however these warnings are to teach us to fear by learning from their mistakes and not to look for self-justification.

This then is our daily prayer; "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:9-15)

The day is coming when the love of many will wax cold, let us therefore guard our hearts in and through our great Saviours sacrifice; praise His name!

Signing off

Tyrone

   

The trappings of unbelief!

(Numbers 14:11) “How long will it be ere they believe me?”

Over the years as a Christian, how often have I forgotten the basic Christian fundamentals of life as a believer? The proof of that answer would be as they say in the pudding. If and when my life was as is full of peace, I then, by the grace of God walk by His Spirit and live according to the call of God upon my life, if not, then I walked as I once walked, a dead man groping in the dark. I did not say it would be a life without suffering, we have been called to suffer as Christians and if anyone tells you otherwise they are liars; “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” (1Peter 4:16) – Think on it like this; an athlete trains hard for a prize, in fact their training is so intense that their whole life revolves around winning that prize. Their life orbits around their training and so too should our lives gyrate around God’s call and His Word, but unfortunately, this is often not the case. Which in itself does not change our standing in the Lord Jesus; we are sanctified by His shed blood and not our own works as we often look to them for justification. However, we are nevertheless children, if we have His Spirit; we cannot one day be a child of God and the next day no longer be part of God’s family. That is a misconception that even some believers like to believe, they are wrong!

Having said that we also know that God requires obedience; our life goal then must be to obey our heavenly Father. How then is this done? It is very simply, we must learn to obey His Word, the Holy Scriptures; the Bible! Our instruction is not vague but rather concise, where we then struggle is when we walk in unbelief. We tend at times to doubt God’s Word as we either overthink it or we believe we know better. Without exceptions when I look back on my life, all of my scars are a reminder of my unwillingness to obey the simple instruction found in the Bible. I thought I knew better! But thankfully God is greater than our folly, praise His name! He is patient and slow to anger and for this I will be eternally thankful. When God corrects us for our wrong-doing it is an act of love and it must be view as such.

Father God I am thankful for your correction throughout my life, without it I would be lost, but now I have life. My scars now help me to remember the lies and trapping of all that oppose your Word and will. The Word of God is a safe-guard to protect us from ourselves, may God help us to except this truth, as it will be a lot less painful. Suffer we must, but the Apostle Peter reminds us that we are not to suffer as evil-doers; “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” (1Peter 4:15-16) 

Our downfall is our minds, we do not want to believe the Word of God, but believe it we must. All we need remember is that our God knows what is best for us, even if we think the worst; our minds are no match for Him. May we learn to trust and obey!

Look at our belated brother’s struggle over a hundred years ago, the same struggles we have today.

“Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonours Christ, that he will withdraw his visible presence if we insult him by indulging it. It is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we can never entirely extract from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it is exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it is most wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in doubting him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, he may well cry out, “Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.” This is crowning his head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust all-sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies from him, and not one of them has murmured at the scantiness of his resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour. Bunyan tells us that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat:” if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

This then must be our resolve to the Word of God and nothing in our lives must come before its instruction, May God help us to learn and appropriate this truth to our lives! May we remember that it is a daily walk; “just one day at a time sweet Jesus is all I ask of you.”

Signing off

Tyrone