"Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death. The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin" (Proverbs 11:2-5).
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"I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you..." (Hebrews 13:5b, NASB). The word "forsake" is a compound word in Greek, which can be translated literally as "down and forsaking." The Greek word means, "to abandon," "to desert or forsake," "to leave destitute and helpless," or simply "to let down." This statement is preceded by three double negatives. "I will not, I will not, I will not let you down, leave you helpless and destitute." As a result we can boldly say; "The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6b). Jesus is with you! What more could you ever need? Think about some of the things Jesus did throughout His ministry and how they show the provision you have in your loving Savior: He multiplied the bread – daily needs He calmed the storm – peace He raised the dead – life He healed the sick – healing He answered the tough questions – answers And now He gives me His promise! (Commentary Mark Martin) "People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray. Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool. Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless. The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense" (Proverbs 10:17-21).
Isaiah 59:17-19
For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. Two sorts of armor are mentioned: a breast-plate and a helmet, to bring righteousness and salvation to those who fear him; and the garments of vengeance and the cloak of zeal for the destruction of all those who finally oppose him, and reject his Gospel. Most people don't pick up the connection between Isaiah 59:17-18 and Paul's comments on our spiritual armor in Ephesians 5:10-17. In that passage, Paul calls that armor the whole armor of God, and it is God's armor in the sense that it belongs to Him - after all, He uses it here in Isaiah 59:17-18 - and He allows us to use it to fight for Him. We may see a connection. If we don't put on the armor of God and fight for Him, then eventually God will put it on Himself and fight for His glory. But God's preference is to work in and through us, with us using His armor. The end result will be wonderful: So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. In His ultimate victory - which He wants us to share in, but will accomplish with or without us - the glory of the LORD will be known and respected from east to west. Black Lives Matter! Police Lives Matter! All Lives Matter! And so goes the chanting, the memes, the blog posts, the Facebook arguments. And in the midst of it all, something fundamental is being missed. Sure, there is a great deal of emotion right now. The thin skin of civilization has been punctured and we are all aware (even if we don’t want to think about it) that things could fall apart quite easily around us. Evil men and women are tearing at the very fabric of civilization, and anarchy could descend upon us speedily. Then many lives would be lost, to be sure. But in the midst of the emotion, and hopefully before thinking ceases and a raw fight for survival plunges us back into the dark ages, I for one would like to leave a monument to the fact that some of us tried to warn, tried to dissuade, tried to reason. Let’s take the [Fill in the blank] Lives Matter chant. What is it supposed to mean, no matter who is using it? Two words. Lives. Matter. What is a life? And, matter—to whom, and why? See, in the old world view, the one that had a created universe, a Creator, and man as a creature made by God and defined by God and hence given transcendent meaning (and responsibility), both words had meaning, and a grounding upon which to rest and to remain relevant from generation to generation. So the first word made sense and communicated something to others. Lives, life—gift from God, precious, to be protected and nurtured and celebrated. Life, of tremendous value, of tremendous worth, because it is invested with that meaning and worth by the infinite and unchanging God. Human life, definitionally different than animal life. Human life, defined in its expression and in its intended fulfillment and joy by its Creator. Man and woman, both made in the image of God Himself. Matters. Has meaning beyond that merely assigned by current culture or conception. Matters because God made it to matter. Matters because God is accomplishing His purpose which includes mankind as His image bearer and object of His redeeming grace. Matters because God as lawgiver defines the weight and importance of human life. Matters to God, hence must matter to the image bearer. Because all human lives matter, in this worldview, law and ethics and morality is to be defined and enacted on the basis of its protection and nurturing. Law is to be obeyed because it reflects God’s truth. There is a real “right” and a real “wrong” because God has spoken and man, His creature, hears and responds. But this is the old world view, the one now reviled, indeed, hated by the elite of Western culture. The new world view, this “brave new world,” this, shall we say, AmSoc (instead of IngSoc?), has taken over in the hearts and minds of not only the elite, but is now reaching “street level,” and the result is, as should be expected, chaos. The chaos is seen in bathroom signs at the local retailer. It is seen in the destruction of the institution of marriage and the family. And now it is seen on the street as lawlessness becomes ever more present, ever more the reality of this decaying society. How can the new world view say any “lives matter” at all? The new world view has set up as its highest good the autonomy of the creature, man. There is no Creator, there is no objective truth, there is no objective morality. Reality is as man defines it to be. Have male genitalia but think you are a woman? Fine and punish the person who does not bow to your whim. Want to marry your horse? Where have you registered for the wedding (Target, undoubtedly)? The greatest example of the great idol of HA (Human Autonomy) is to be found in the Temple of Molech, aka, the headquarters of Planned Parenthood, where the “woman’s right to choose” is the euphemism for the most cold-hearted murder of the pre-born child. No one is allowed to question Molech! This is heresy of the highest order to even consider any other view in this brave new world. Since “lives” are just the random result of impersonal forces acting upon nature, there is no way to speak of human life as sacred, or valuable outside of the value assigned by the currently popular governmental system. Without that infinite reference point provided by the Creator, “life” becomes a mere construct, capable of changing definition, and worth, on the whim of the majority. And this is why they can’t say lives, or anything else, really “matters,” because what might matter to the randomly firing cells in my cranium today might well not matter tomorrow. Accidents of impersonal nature are just that way. So what we are seeing is the inevitable result of the new world view—the disaster of secularism taking deeper and deeper hold as the corpse of Western civilization finally begins to decay. The old world view, or, to be more specific, the Christian world view, if it is allowed to be fully biblical and radically Christian, shines a bright light upon the problem. Secularism destroys man because it makes him a mere animal. It dehumanizes, and as a result, destroys purpose, morality, meaning, and law. It is much easier to kill another human being when you believe at the root that you are both animals fighting for the same pile of goodies. And there is no judgment day coming—once you are gone, you are gone. Space dust once again. When Christians say the answer is “the gospel,” we need to be able to explain why. The gospel is the answer because the gospel changes hearts and minds, brings peace between men and women and God, and thereby brings peace between those who likewise bow before their Creator in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. All very true. But the gospel is the answer because the gospel is not addressed to space dust. The fundamental power of the gospel is that it is addressed to responsible, worthwhile, image bearers of God. The gospel affirms the value of all human life, and renders the melanin content of the skin, or one’s genealogy or history or culture utterly irrelevant. There is not one gospel for Jews, another for Gentiles. Not one gospel for the Asian, another for the African, another for the Native American. No, just one gospel, and this destroys not only the secularist insistence that we are all just animals, but it destroys the power of racism and says, “No!” to those who would try to clothe racism in Christian garb. Only a great move of the Spirit of God in our nations can stop the slide into either chaos or, more likely, totalitarian police states. Only the gospel that is biblical and whole and consistent can be the answer. (By Pastor James R. White)
And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:15
Philippians 2:12
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
2 Peter 3:3-4
"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” Luke 21:28 "Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” There's a love that will never fail you! There's a love that is so unique, so unlike any other kind of love you have known, that the ancient Bible writers had to coin a new term for it; it's called "agape" love! This is an alien kind of love; that's the way John describes it: "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him" (1 John 3:1, NASB). It's been variously translated: "What marvelous love" (MSG). "See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us…" (AMP). The concept is that God's love is not a love that originated in this world. It's not from this world. It is a love that is alien to this world, which would've never been known and experienced if it hadn't been delivered to us by God alone. (Commentary Mark Martin) "Tomorrow" is not in God's time zone. It's the adversary's way of keeping time. "For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.' Indeed, the 'right time' is now. Today is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). "That is why the Holy Spirit says, 'Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness...'" (Hebrews 3:7-8). "You must warn each other every day, while it is still 'today,' so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God" (Hebrews 3:13). "Remember what it says: 'Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled'" (Hebrews 3:15). "So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: 'Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts'" (Hebrews 4:7). Today is the day to turn your life over to the Lord. Maybe this is a message calling you to recommit your life to the Lord Jesus, or you know that it's time to stop running from Him. His promise is that today; if you hear His voice, and stop hardening your heart to His work in your life, He will give you rest. I've found that the road marked "tomorrow" leads to a place called "never." "Lord, it's time for me to stop running from you and waiting for another day to make things right with you. Please forgive me for putting you off and thank you for giving me one more day, today, to make you Lord of my life." (Commentary Mark Martin) |
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