He forgives without ignoring sin

...The LORD proclaimed the name of the LORD... and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  Exodus 34:5-7

Do not miss the goodness and the grace of God when He proclaimed His Name.  He is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth.”  If it were not so the human race would have been erased when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.  And how many times since?  But He is “merciful to thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”  I trust we are all grateful that we too have been the recipients of His forgiveness!

What about the words in (v.7) “by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation"?  Is this a contradiction?  Not at all.  God does forgive, but not by failing to notice and punish iniquity.  God cannot pretend our sin does not exist and remain holy and righteous.  Instead of castigating all sinners, however, He diverts His wrath.  And the ultimate example is God redirecting His just wrath on Jesus instead of on those Jesus came to save.

He truly does remember mercy, even in His justice

Winning our battles by...

And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Exodus 17:11 

The Israelites were being attacked by the Amalekites.  Joshua was down in the valley leading the troops in military combat.  Moses, flanked by Aaron and Hur, was atop a nearby hill where the battle could be observed.  Moses prayed, symbolized by lifting his hands.  When Moses prayed, the Israelites gained victory.  When Moses’ arms tired and he stopped praying, the Israelites slumped toward defeat.

Joshua and the fighting men were important, but clearly the decisive factor was prayer.

The decisive factor is always prayer.

When Moses grew weary in prayer symbolized by dropping his hands, two men, Aaron and Hur stood by and held up his arms, symbolizing that they joined him in the all-important prayer meeting. 

There are times to be alone for prayer.  There are also times for group prayer.  I pray not that you would merely pray and participate in prayer meetings.  I pray that you would sense the desperate need for prayer—both individual and group prayer—and that awareness would move you to pray—alone, and in prayer meetings.

Who knows what battles we may be losing in the spiritual realm because of a lack of prayer?

On being a blessing to this mixed up world

So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
Genesis 47:10

In Hebrews 7:7 we read:  “Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.”

Consider who was greater in the eyes of whom when Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  Jacob was a shepherd, which was an abomination to Egyptians (Genesis 46:34).  Jacob was in Egypt because had he remained in Canaan his family would have starved, while in Egypt there was food.

Humanly speaking, Pharaoh was the better, yet Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  How is that?

The people of God, no matter how lowly we appear to be in the eyes of the world are in a unique position to bless those who appear to have it all.  We have Christ and the gospel.  They need Him.

We can and must bless this evil and foolish world by praying for people to come to faith in Christ as we speak of Christ and the gospel.  This is the world’s ONLY hope!  If we trust in ANYTHING else to straighten out this crazy world, we trust in vain!

No matter how much this world thinks the Good Shepherd and His sheep are an abomination, we are called to bless this world that needs Christ.  Love, not hate.  Prayer, not politics.  With the gospel, not debates about lesser things.  These are how we bless this world.

Who you marry matters

“…swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites…” Genesis 24:3

“When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” Genesis 26:34-35

Clear back in Genesis, God’s Word instructs us about the sin of a believer marrying a non-believer.  This was not about ethnicity, it was a spiritual matter.  Throughout the rest of scripture the same message is repeated in seventy-five percent of the books of the Bible, either by direct teaching, or through narratives that record the disasters that befall those who disregard God’s revealed will in this matter.

This brevity of this column disallows citing more instances, or explaining the sad and disastrous fallout that is the result of disobeying this clear teaching of the Bible.

Why does this pastor frequently bring this matter up?  Because God’s people frequently insist that they know better so that God’s Word does not apply to them—as though God speaks so often about this, but somehow didn’t realize that these people’s circumstances were unique and therefore gained them exemption.

Although this is a marriage issue, more fundamentally, it is an “authority of scripture” issue.

Let us enter into marriages as an act of worship by obeying God’s Word about who we marry.

BTW:  Once a person falls in love, reason usually evaporates, so wisdom says do not allow yourself to enter a relationship that could even hypothetically lead to marriage—because once one falls in love, it is usually too late.

The key to understating nine of forty-two chapters of the book of Job

And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Job 42:7 

This verse is the key to understating nine of forty-two chapters of the book of Job.  In these nine chapters, Job’s friends seek to “counsel” their hurting comrade.  One of the great mistakes people make when reading Job is to figure, “Since it’s in the Bible, it must be true, right?”  Kind of, but not precisely!  What is recorded in the Bible is recorded accurately.  In that sense it is true.  But that doesn’t mean that everyone quoted or written about in the Bible does or say what is right!.  The devil is written about and quoted—and he certainly is not right!

God warns us in Job 42:7 (albeit at the end of the book) that Job’s three friends did not speak what was right.

To make it more challenging, though some (certainly not all) of their observations were correct, they routinely arrived at false conclusions.  Their conclusions are the conclusions of those who reason from a human “tit-for-tat” perspective.  They say certain results always follow certain actions.  They say the good will prosper and the bad will suffer.  While that is ideally true, and sometimes is true, it certainly is not always true.  The wicked often do prosper and the righteous often do suffer.

Their counsel, therefore, was basically that because Job was suffering, it had to be because of sin in his life.  This of course was not true.  (Read the first two chapters!)

When you read the parts of Job in which his friends are speaking—be discerning!

Now here is some great counsel regarding offering counsel: Do not make blanket statements telling people why things are the way they are, because you and I do not know.  Are there exceptions?  Yes, but they are exceptions, not the rule!

Melchizedek is a biblical mystery man

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed [Abram]… Genesis 14:18-19

Melchizedek is a biblical mystery man.  He appears only three times in the Bible.  Historically, he appears only once, in Genesis 14, where he is called a king and a priest of the Most High God.  In that passage, Melchizedek “brings out bread and wine,” he pronounces a blessing on Abram (Abraham’s name had not yet been changed), and Abram honors him by giving him a tenth of the spoil from the spoils of the war in which Abram liberated Lot.  That is it.

And by the way: (1) Bread and wine had no religious significance at that time like we now know because of the Lord’s Supper.  And (2) The tenth was not necessarily a “tithe” as we know it since the law of tithing had not yet been established.

Melchizedek is referred to in Psalm 110, and in chapters 5-7 of Hebrews; and in each case he is presented messianicly, as a type of Christ.  The emphasis is on the Jesus the Messiah, not on one who merely foreshadowed Him.

I do not point these things out to speak ill of Melchizedek.  He had a measure of important—but only because he was a “type” of Christ.

Sadly, some who do not know how to read the Bible, make much of Melchizedek, in a way that diminishes Christ.  The Mormons have a “priesthood of Melchizedek” completely made up!  The Roman Catholic church views Melchizedek, not only as a prefigurement of Jesus, but also of Roman Catholic priests who offer the sacrifice of bread and wine in their “Eucharist” (which is similar, but very different from Christian Communion).

Can you see that in both cases, the importance of Melchizedek is inflated, and Christ’s importance is deflated?  Let us insist that Christ is ALL!

So you think you can predict the future?

Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1

The phrase, “Do not boast” isn’t referring to “bragging about the day after today.”  The boasting the Proverbs is referring to is an indirect boasting in oneself.  The one who boasts about tomorrow, is pridefully boasting about what he or she will do tomorrow, or that he or she knows what tomorrow will bring.

The proverb warns against [forbids!] doing either.  Why?  For [or because] you do not know what a day may bring forth.  In other words, since you do not know the future, do not pretend or insist that you do.

This injunction does not forbid planning for the future.  Many Proverbs speak of the fool as one who does not  plan for tomorrow by acting responsibly today.  Planning is not bad.  Having a savings account is not sinful.  Purchasing a reasonable amount of insurance is not a lack of faith.  All three are examples of acting responsibly today “For [or because] you do not know what tomorrow may bring forth”!

Make plans, but write them in pencil—preferably a pencil with a good eraser on the other end.  Why?  To be responsible without boasting that you know the future.

By the way, though we do not know the future, praise God that as Christians, we know and are loved by the One who not only does know the future—He ordains and controls it!

Separation not division

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called... endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians  4:1 & 3

Christians are one, spiritually.  We are one because we are all united with Christ and therefore with each other.  We do not need to create unity, we need to “endeavor to keep [maintain] the unity of the Spirit.”

We do this by selflessly rejecting any and everything that would unnecessarily cause division among us.  I say “unnecessarily,” because true believers and churches must separate from false doctrine.  But then we are not united with false doctrine in the Spirit in the first place.

In these days of the COVID virus, we are living in days of physical separation.  We must not allow physical separation to cause division.  Though we are physically separated from one another (some more than others due to health concerns), let us do all we can in 2021 to “keep the unity of the Spirit.”  How?

• Be together as much as we can, safely, and cautiously.

• Resist the temptation to accept virtual worship as a replacement for in-person corporate worship and group prayer together.

• For those who cannot gather, treat the live stream as seriously and reverently as if we were in person.

• Maintain contact with each other and pray for one another even when we cannot be together.

• And long for and pray that these days of separation will come to an end, sooner rather than later!

Fourth Sunday in Advent, Dec. 20, 2020

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" Luke 2:13-14

Angels are messengers of God.  They play a recurring role in the Christmas story.  An angel spoke to Zacharias about the birth of his son, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ before it occurred.  An angel told Mary and Joseph about the birth of Jesus before it occurred.  And angels appeared and spoke to the shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus.

Every one of their messages were about Jesus.

The greatest message God ever delivered was not given by angels, however.  The greatest message from God was given by His Son, Jesus.  And this greatest of all messages from God that was given by Jesus is about Jesus because Jesus IS God’s greatest message to the world.  That’s right, Jesus not only proclaims the good news of the gospel, He IS the good news.

As we think about the role angels played in the unfolding Christmas story, let us not miss that the angelic messengers are not anywhere near as important as their message.  Their message was about Christ, who not only delivers the greatest message of all, He IS the message of God. 

Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 13, 2020

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Luke 2:8-10

I love how each of the Advent candles remind us of different aspects of Christmas:  Prophesy: That Christ’s nativity was foretold long before it happened.  God wasn’t making it up as it happened.  Bethlehem: That Christ’s nativity took place in a real place.  This is no fairytale.  But I especially love the Shepherd’s candle!  Here is why:

God told the good news of Christ’s nativity first to people who were not only not great, they were lowly.  Socially, shepherds were looked down upon, if they were noticed at all.  And the Lord saved me!  A person of no particular distinction.

God told the shepherds while they were at work—“keeping watch over their flocks at night.”  The Lord saved me through the witness of a Christian with whom I was working.

God told the shepherds “good news that causes great joy.” And they responded by going to Jesus, and then by telling others about their encounter with Jesus.  I can vividly remember: 

• How Christ and the gospel, thrilled me. 

• How I was drawn to the Lord and to His Church. 

• And how, excited I was to tell others about Jesus.

Though the details of our individual salvation experiences are not identical in every detail, I pray that our reactions to coming to faith in Christ bear these similarities.

To God be the glory!

Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 6, 2020

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.”   Isaiah 9:6

When through Isaiah, God reiterated His promise concerning a Deliverer, He gave some rather pertinent info about Him and about His own character as well. Note the following:

The Messiah came for us—”us” being the people God purposed to save [Matt.1:21].  He did not come for the purpose of establishing a new religion, or to issue a new code of law.  He did all that He did for God’s glory, but in so doing, He came for us.  [Think on that for a moment!]

The Messiah came as a child.  Other great world leaders all began as children, but of which of them was their birth significant?  The birth of Christ is easily as important as His teachings or even His passion and resurrection.

God’s chosen Deliverer is none other than His only begotten Son.  While Jesus was fully human, it was imperative that He be fully God as well, or else He would not be sinless, and therefore unworthy to die for our sins.

The Messiah was given.  God gives.  Why?  Because He loves the world so [John 3:16].  And God’s giving did not end at the Messiah’s birth.  Jesus gave in life when He taught and healed, and He gave in death when He offered Himself as the atoning sacrifice for the payment of our debt of sin.  What do we have that God has not given?

As we celebrate this Advent this year, let us endeavor to keep thoughts of Christ resident on our memory.

First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29, 2020

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:   'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.' "
Matthew 2:4-6 

Jesus is by far the most predicted man of all time.  There are many prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament.  Some say as many as three-hundred and fifty!  One of those prophecies was about the place of His birth in Micah 5:2. 

Micah is a small book known as one of the Minor Prophets (called minor because of size, not because of its message).  700 years before Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem, Micah named Bethlehem as the future birthplace of the promised Messiah. 

In Matthew 2:1-6 when the wise men went to Jerusalem seeking Christ’s birthplace, the scribes and chief priests knew that Bethlehem was where Christ was to be born.  But they stubbornly did not go to see Him there.  They did not act on the knowledge they had.  How tragic if we know of God’s Word and Christ’s salvation and do not act on these things.  Knowing about Christ is not nearly so important as, “going to Bethlehem to worship Him.”  How can we worship the Lord today?  Let us be “doers of the Word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22-25) by worshiping and serving Him.

Why this warning?

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
2 John 1:10-11 

What does this mean, and what does this not mean?  Context is oh, so important.  John was writing to warn us about false teachers  in the Church.  He was warning us about those who purport to be teachers (not just confused individuals) in the Church (not false teachers or lost individuals outside the Church.)  And by in the Church, he does not mean just in our church.  He is speaking of those who claim to be a part of Christ’s Church.  We must not even receive such people into our homes—unless of course there is genuine repentance.

This is not referring to teachers who represent ideas that differ from ours regarding secondary doctrines about which true Christians may differ.

Why this warning?  So that (a) uninformed sheep not be led astray, and (b) we do not encourage or embolden false teachers or their false doctrines.  So unless we are looking into what we know is false doctrine for the purpose of understanding it so that we may refute it—we must not have fellowship with those who claim to be Christians who teach false doctrine.

That is how important purity in doctrine is!

Are we stupid?

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
Proverbs 12:1

Does the Bible really use the word “stupid?  Yes it does.  That word is found in this verse in the each of the following translations: New King James, New American Standard, English Standard Version, and the New International Version. 

It is only found 5 times in 5 verses of the Old Testament, all in Psalms and Proverbs.  It is a strong term that means senseless, or—well, stupid. 

In the verse before us, who is called stupid?  The one “who hates correction.”

It is interesting that when corrected, virtually everyone of responds first defensively.  That is not good, but the greater problem arises if we do not get over our initial defensiveness, but rather persist in being unteachable.

Someone once said God is only looking for two abilities in those He blesses: Availability and teachability.  Other abilities may be helpful in some circumstances, but those two certainly are essential.

If we would be used by God, and indeed blessed by God, let us be teachable.  Otherwise, according to God’s Word, we are stupid.

We do not have to understand everything

Without faith it is impossible to please God…”
Hebrews 11:6

When we demand to know and understand everything, we arrogantly declare: “I will NOT live by faith!”  Faith, you see, requires that we believe what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1), or understand.  Faith means that when we have done our best to understand (which we should humbly do), when we reach the end of our rope of knowledge and understanding, we simply trust God. 

We trust that He is Sovereign over all things.  That He knows all things.  That He only always does what is good and right.  And then as the bonus encouragement: that He loves us!

“What then shall we say to these things?” [What things?  The person and work of Christ and the glorious gospel of grace.]  “If God is for us [and He most certainly is!] Who can be against us [successful in opposing God concerning us]?  He [God] who did not spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all, how shall He [God] not also freely give us all [other and lesser] things?  (Romans 8:31-32)

We do not have to know and understand everything, but we must trust God in everything.

Are you offering any sacrifice to the Lord?

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Hebrews 13:15

Therefore:  Because of what has been said throughout the book of Hebrews, namely: Jesus, our great High Priest, is superior to all!

By Him:  We are about to be told to worship.  Worship comes from us to Him, but we can only worship acceptably “by Him,” our Great High Priest.

Let us continually offer:  Worship is not something believers do only when we are at church on the Lord’s day.  Our entire lives are to be marked and characterized by worshipful attitudes toward our Great High Priest.

The sacrifice of praise:  Jesus gave Himself as the once-for-all, never-to-be-repeated sacrifice for our sins.  Though we offer no more sacrifices for sin, we offer the “sacrifice of praise,” to our Great High priest.

To God:  To God our Heavenly Father for accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  To God the Son, Jesus, our Great High Priest, for offering Himself as our sacrifice.  To God the Holy Spirit for regenerating us so that we would trust in Christ.

That is, the fruit of our lips:  No more animal sacrifices!  Rather, “the sacrifice of praise” in word and in song.

Giving thanks to His name:  Considering our Great High Priest, what can we do but give thanks!?

A literal spiritual temple in Heaven?

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;  25 not that He should offer Himself often… 26 but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 9:24-26

Because Jesus was not a member of the priestly tribe of Levi or the priesthood of Aaron, He never entered the Holy of Holies in the earthly temple.  As a member of the kingly tribe of Judah, he was forbidden to do so.  But as our Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16), Jesus did offer a sacrifice for the sins of His people.  Did He enter into a literal spiritual temple in Heavenly to offer the sacrifice?  The text says, “Yes,” although we do not know exactly what that means.

What we do know is that our Great High Priest didn’t offer the blood of animals in a temple made with human hands that could never atone for sin (Hebrews 10:4).  And we know that those sacrifices were offered continually as a reminder that they could not fully atone for sin.  Instead, Jesus offered His own sinless blood—the blood of the Lamb of God that completely atones for, and takes away the since of all His people, from everywhere in the world, for all of time.  And we know that when that sacrifice was offered by Jesus, and accepted by our Heavenly Father, there are no more sacrifices.  At all.  Ever again.  Why? Because the sacrificial death of Jesus is all-sufficient.

Footnote:  Any who attempt to offer any other, or any additional sacrifice, thereby declare Jesus and His sacrifice are insufficient.  Be advised, you do not want to do that!

Here is what this passage is NOT about

…knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20-21 

Here is what this passage is NOT about:

Some, who do not want the common people to read the Bible, cite this passage to validate their position.  The position is false and this passage isn’t talking about that.

There are some, however, who do misinterpret the Bible, which we are not free to do.  We must interpret the Bible in light of the rest of the Bible, as understood correctly by the majority of the Church.  While that is true, this passage isn’t speaking about that either.

Here is what the passage IS about:

The Bible was not written by mere men according to their own desires and purposes.  Rather, “all scripture was given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). God spoke through human writers, using their vocabularies and styles, in such a way that the words written are the very words of God.  That the Bible is inspired by God literally means it was “breathed out” by God—again emphasizing that the very words of scripture came from God, not men.

What difference does this make?  When we read or hear the Bible, we are reading or hearing the very words of God.  Let us receive them as such.

The Jewish religion fulfilled in Christ and His Church

“…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 2:5 

The Jewish religion as God ordained it is based on three components:  Sacrifices, offered by priests, in a specially designated temple.  All three of those aspects of the Jewish religion pointed to Jesus, were fulfilled by Jesus, and have therefore been changed by Jesus.

All the sacrifices pointed to Jesus who would be the final sacrifice for sins.  The priesthood—and especially the High Priesthood, all pointed to Jesus who as the one and only Great High Priest, would not only offer the final sacrifice for sins—He offered Himself as the final sacrifice for sin.  The temple, which was a symbolic dwelling place for God, pointed to the People of God who would be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.

The Jewish religion (as ordained by God) continued for a short time after Jesus fulfilled everything the religion pointed to. But in 70 AD under the hand of God, the Roman empire destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  Without the temple, there were no more sacrifices and the priesthood ceased to exist.

This is not, as critics insist, “replacement theology.”  It is “fulfillment theology.”  The Jewish religion was fulfilled by Jesus.  How blessed we are to know Jesus as Savior, Lord, and King!

True prosperity is experienced when two attitudes collide

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
1 Timothy 6:6-8

True prosperity  (here referred to as “great gain), is experienced when two attitudes collide: they are “godliness with contentment.”  The fact is, while all content people are not necessarily godly, when one is godly, his/her life will be marked by contentment.

Prosperity is not found in having everything one wants, but in wanting only what one has.”

This is important, especially when we remember that when death comes, all the things we have accumulated will be left behind.

Would we be content to have nothing beyond food and clothing?  I pray that you are never reduced to having nothing but food and clothing, but let us aspire to that level of contentment.*  If and when we do, we will be enormously grateful that the Lord has given us so much more than we need.

*Possessing more things than we need is not bad.  What is bad is being possessed by the things we have!