Deception

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~Jeremiah 5:26-27a For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit:

How can a Christian prevent himself from getting into a situation where he is trapped by wicked men? A believer who reads the Bible and communes with the Lord will be led by His Holy Spirit along life’s path.

~Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Christ tried to warn His disciples that they would be dealing with wolves. He also exhorted them to be wise in their dealings. The Scripture says that one who is saved and has a good understanding of the word of God will have wisdom.

~Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

We will be able to spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We will be able to discern deceitful men. If you struggle in being a good judge of character, get in the Word and ask the Lord to fill you with its wisdom! However, today, people are more interested in listening to “feel good” preachers than to search the Scriptures for themselves. They are truly “sheeple”! We must be careful to whom we lend our ears.

“When a man gives himself up to a deceitful heart he gets to be a destroyer of others. Not content with being lost themselves, they become the servants of Satan to destroy others. A man catcher sets traps to catch men, aiming to pervert, to corrupt, to mislead, to be guile. Such fiends in human form have surely reached the last stage of corruption when they not only sin themselves, but are the creators of sin in others.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Searching

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~Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

What are you living by? Are you following someone’s teachings? Are you making up your own mind? Are you leaving spiritual matters to others? God tells us to live by His Word, therefore, we must have His Word in existence today or He would be asking us to do the impossible.

Religions of today would have you believe that if you follow them, they will provide joy. So is that working for you? Are you at peace? Do you have joy? I won’t preach to you. I merely ask you to read the Bible. This is where truth, joy and peace can be found. Don’t you want that right now? Where should you start? Start in the Book of John. I challenge you to read it through three times. In the mean time, I will be praying that you will find what I have found.

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~Psalm 94:8-9 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

Do you truly believe that God does pay attention to the little things we do in life and hear the words spoken in secret?  The same God who created us is the same one who hears everything and sees everything.  There is nothing hidden from the Lord.

This is an encouragement to the born-again believer to live righteously.  This is an exhortation to the unbeliever to seek after God and not be foolish. Don’t delay!  No one knows when his last day on this earth will be.  Seek the truth in the Bible – read the Gospel of John through three times.  All the answers of life are contained in its pages.

~Proverb 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Tear Your Heart!

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~Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

This is a popular verse to show God’s patience with mankind.  Yes, He surely is patient for if He weren’t, I would surely be dead today.  But there is so much more to this verse, my friends.  The first part of the verse is the actual meat of this verse.  God instructs us to do something and then He will do something in return.

The Jews would tear their clothing as a sign of great grieving, distress and sorrow.  I read Joel 2:13 and I see that God wants us to go to this drastic measure with our hearts.  How convicting is this?  How truly sorrowful are we when we sin?  Do we grieve with intensity over hurting our Heavenly Father?  Are we distressed at what we have done?  Do we have honest sorrow in our hearts for our wickedness?  Yes, the born-again believer is blood bought and is saved from eternal damnation because of Jesus Christ’s work on the cross.  But when we sin after salvation, our conviction should be intense!  This is what I believe the Lord is trying to tell us today.

As we glean from this verse in Joel today, let’s present our sins to God in the same manner.  Let’s look at sin the way our Heavenly Father looks at it – vile and despicable.

~Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Isaiah brought this out.  Our sinfulness is so unclean that even the “good” things we do are looked upon as filthy rags in God’s eyes.  Strong’s defines the Hebrew word for “filthy” in this verse as:

H5708
עד
‛êd
ayd
From an unused root meaning to set a period (compare H5710 and H5749); the menstrual flux (as periodical); by implication (in plural) soiling: – filthy.

When a filthy rag is compared to this definition, it puts our sin into perspective and gives us a glimpse of God’s view of it.

As of today, let’s look at our sinfulness in a new light.  When we see sin as God sees sin, it helps us to glean from Joel’s words.  We must figuratively rend our hearts (tear our hearts) and be truly sorrowful for sinning against God.  When we prepare our hearts in this manner, we become truly repentant and are able to draw nigh to our God!  It is then that we see that He is:

…gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Growth

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~Psalm 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Life’s lessons can be tough ones. To the believer, these lessons can be viewed in two ways:

  1. We accept the trial and learn what God intends for us to learn from it.
  2. We refuse to accept what God wants us to learn.

Either way, there is a lesson to be learned from the Master with each trial. Even if God’s instruction is not specific, He has taught us to depend on Him! All lessons from the Father dealing with character building are for your benefit. These lessons are all to lead you down a righteous path. Never would God lead you down a path of destruction. It is your own sinful flesh that leads us the wrong way.

If you are the type of believer who accepts your trial and looks to God for answers, you are admitting we need His help. That’s the foundation of spiritual growth. Being willing to accept God’s changes for you is the first step spiritual growth. Refusing His help is the sin of pride – you believe you can do it ourselves. There’s no peace in that.

If things are falling apart in your life, then why continue down that path? How is that going for you? Is your way bringing you total peace? Chances are, no! But God promises to restore our souls. This is not talking about losing one’s salvation and regaining it. According to Noah Webster, it means:

To revive; to resuscitate; to bring back to life.

God desires to revive us. God desires to resuscitate us. God desires to bring our beaten lives back to life. It is up to us to submit to His will and direction for us. When we allow God to restore, the end result is being led down a path of righteousness, which is always good for us!

There is no growth of character when life is fun and easy. Growth occurs during the hard and difficult times. Vegetation is sparse on the mountain top, but in the valley growth is plentiful. Remember: All sunshine all the time makes a desert.
~Anonymous

Why, Lord?

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~Psalm 145:14 The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

I heard a similar story on the movie, “Love Comes Softly” and it was such a blessing. I searched for the story on-line but couldn’t find a similar one. So I tried to do it justice with my own pen (or blog, if you will).

A father is walking along the forest with his little girl. Even though he was holding her hand, her ankle twisted as they crossed over fallen trees along the pathway. She fell onto the fallen tree and scraped her knee. The father immediately picked up his crying child and held her in his arms until she was calmed. He then took out his little first aid kit from his backpack and cleaned the scrape. The medication he applied stung but his little girl was brave and did not cry.

 

“Daddy,” asked the little girl, “why did you let me slip?”

Her father responded, “Oh sweetheart, I didn’t let you trip. I was holding your hand. It just happened! The important thing is that I was there to pick you up, comfort you and apply ointment on your wound. I will always be there to do that, no matter what kind of falls you have in your life time!”

You may think that God is cruel at times for allowing you to go through some pretty difficult trials.  Inspite of your “falls,” God is right there and promises to hold you, comfort you and apply ointment to your wounds.  All you have to do is allow Him to do so!

If God sees it good to strike with one hand, He will support with the other (Watson, Gleanings , 63).”
Thomas Watson

Salvation by Works

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~Jonah 2:9b … Salvation is of the LORD.

Although many religions teach that one must do good deeds in order to be saved, salvation is given by God, not achieved by anything we can do for ourselves. IF we could do anything to gain entrance to Heaven, then we take away from Jesus Christ’s work on the cross.

What more can the devil do than to take away from Christ’s death, burial and resurrection? The devil can sidetrack man and distract him from the truth which God’s Word teaches.

The Bible says that IF Abraham were justified by his works, the works would bring only Abraham glory before mankind, but not before God.

~Romans 4:2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

But it was Abraham’s faith that counted him righteous! He believed that God would do what He said He would do and Abraham rested on this faith.

~Romans 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Quickly, Paul made sure to mention that the Scriptures were clear and the Scriptures are an excellent teacher.

Paul also made certain to point out that salvation is A GIFT from God given to us because of His endless grace and love for mankind. Again, that word faith is mentioned – just as Abraham’s faith counted as righteousness, so does faith in Christ, the Father’s gift to us, count as our righteousness.

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

Our own works cannot buy righteousness. Anyone who has given a large sum of money to the church can attest to this. You feel “good” for that moment but you’re right back to your sinful ways soon thereafter. None of our actions can earn us entrance into Heaven because then we could boast of our actions! How many “good” people have been in the limelight yet not one of their actions can pave the way to Heaven? If this were possible, then Paul would not have said that Abraham’s works were not justified before God. If anyone should have had his works justified, it would be Abraham – but God does not see it that way.

~Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we receive at the moment of salvation. It is HIS His shed blood, and ONLY His shed blood, that paid for sin’s debt. NOTHING else can pay for sin’s debt. N-O-T-H-I-N-G! That is the only righteousness that will gain us entrance into Heaven. It is Jesus’ blood that covers our sin and, therefore, we are no longer have that burden. It has all been placed on Jesus!

~Romans 4:6-8 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Our sins are forgiven and covered because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. Our perfect sacrifice happened 2000 years ago and Christ’s death, burial and resurrection are the only works we can count as righteous before a Holy God.

“If your faith is not fixed in Jesus, your best works will be but splendid sins. All the performance of duties will not affect your salvation.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Eternal Security

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The eternal security of the believer is a much debated topic these days. Some say that believing in such gives one a license to sin. I can understand why they say that – there are many who profess salvation but live like the world. That is not the case, however, for one who is truly born again.

If salvation were based upon what man had to do to earn it, then it would have to also be based upon what man had to do to keep it. The Bible is clear as to what salvation is based upon, and none of them mention man’s works or lack of them as the foundation. So let’s take a look at what the Word says salvation is all about.

It is all about God’s grace, and not at all involving works:

Ephesians 2:8-9  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Titus 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

 

One sacrifice for sins for all and for eternity:

Hebrews 6:4-6  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,   If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Hebrews 9:22-28  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.    For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:    Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:    So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 10:12-14  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

 

A promise from God:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 6:37  All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 

Not based on our ability to keep it:

2 Timothy 1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Philippians 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

2 Timothy 4:18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Corinthians 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

Never spoken as earthly or temporal in God’s Word:

John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 6:40  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:47  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

Hebrews 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

God’s Word is truth and He cannot lie.  God gave man the promise of eternal salvation based on His grace and based on His Word, which He keeps for all eternity.  Critics of eternal salvation base their beliefs on man’s ability.  But the one thing we are certain of with man is his ability to  continue in sin no matter how many laws there are to keep man moral.  Our Country and State laws ought to be full proof of that statement! The more laws that are made, the more that are broken.

But what critics don’t “get” is that Christ died while we were yet sinners – He knew it was hopeless for us to keep the law.  It is hopeless for us to be “good enough” or to do so many good things that in the end they will outweigh the sins!  That is why salvation is all about what Christ did and nothing about what we have done or need to do.  It is a gift from God.  We cannot give ourselves this gift.

Only God can give us the gift – all we have to do is sincerely accept it and repent from our wicked ways!  That is why there are so many critics of eternal security today.  Too many have said they are born again but their lives do not show it.  Their lives don’t show it because they have not repented of their sins.  The Gospel has landed on rocky ground and thorns instead of a fruitful heart.

“Once in Christ and ever in Christ. A star may sooner fall out of its orb than a true believer be plucked away from God (Watson, Religion Our True Interest, 96).”
Thomas Watson

Teach Me

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~Psalm 25:4-5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Many have told me to find a good preacher and follow him. This is only good if the preacher is following after God’s Word. How’s one to know?

~2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

God’s Word is important and should be a part of our everyday lives. Christ said that those who love Him will keep His sayings. What sayings? The words that He spoke while on earth would be brought to the disciples minds by the Holy Spirit so they could write it down for us to have throughout the years.

~John 14:24-26 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

~2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Don’t let the words of men deceive you. The Word is Truth and will never deceive you.

How He Cares!

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~Psalm 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

The Word of God is filled with “shall nots,” both in a negative way and in a positive way. The Ten Commandments are the most popular of the “shall nots.” But what about those that speak of God’s provisions?

This verse tells us that the one who seeks the Lord shall not lack any good thing. God’s hand of provision is upon those who seek Him. Just as He cares for the sparrow (Luke 12:6), so much more will He care for us! The times we live in are turbulent and the Word promises it will get much worse. But the Christian has the comfort that God will take care of him!

Our Shepherd, Jehovah-Raah, loves us and cares for us. Nothing shall happen to us that He has not allowed!

~1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.