Grace in the Morning

Ever feel like this world is against you?  Read Psalm 90 (here @ BibleGateway).  Focus for a second on verses 14 – 15 (here @ BibleGateway).  It looks like it pretty much is against us.  Now consider Genesis 3:16 – 19 (here @ BibleGateway) and compare that to Genesis 1:28 – 31 (here @ BibleGateway).

Notice that the curses in 3 are in direct contrast with assignments Adam and Eve are given in 1.  They were to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over it.  Instead, because of their disobedience, Adam now had to deal with a cursed ground that would now resist his efforts to live to say nothing of the assignment to subdue.  

Eve was to be a helper and the mother of all living.  Rather than be a helper she now would want to dominate Adam.  Further, the fruitful and multiply assignment was going to be accompanied by greatly multiplied pain.

So the deck was now stacked against them, and by extension us.  Life moved from a lush garden to a harsh cursed and fallen world into which we have arrived.

Moses reminds us in his prayer that to navigate this cursed world we must cling to the grace of God each morning.  That would seem like a strong recommendation to start each day in His Word and asking for the grace we need to make it through that day.

Slow Learner

Since last September some men I have known for about 40 years, and I have been studying 1 Corinthians.  We meet each week online and compare notes.  It is a good time.  There is no pretense.  In the early part of last October, during my quiet time I was reflecting on part of 1 Corinthians 13.  Specifically, verses 5 and 7 (here @ BibleGateway).

The notion that love, “does not seek it’s own,” caught my attention.  It made me think of Philippians 2:3 (here @ BibleGateway).  The idea that we are to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than” ourselves, seemed to echo Paul’s thought in 1 Corinthians.  

That thought – the “nothing” – took me to Philippians 4:6 – 7 (here @ BibleGateway), we are to “be anxious for nothing”.

As I pondered these three passages, I concluded that these instructions are impossible for me to do.  I am not sure I have ever had an unselfish thought, if so, it was probably by mistake, in a moment of weakness.  The truth is that in my own strength I can’t.  Without Christ in me, without His strength, without His enabling grace, and without the leading and transformation of the Holy Spirit – there is no way.

I am grateful that He is patient with the process of moving me in these directions.

Joy and Perseverance

You know the story of David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11 – 12:15 (here @ BibleGateway)).  There is no need to rehash the particulars here.  Among other things that resulted from this incident was David’s response to Nathan’s rebuke, Psalm 51 (here @ BibleGateway).

I want to focus on Psalm 51:12, 17 (here @ BibleGateway).  It is apparent based on 2 Samuel that David truly repented of his actions.  Is response to Nathan was immediate and complete.  One of the things that David had to face was the death of the child that was a result of his and Bathsheba’s affair.  David humbled himself before the Lord on the child’s behalf.  However, the Lord took the child as He promised David that He would.

David was dealing with real and deep sorrow.  He had sinned against His Lord and he had lost a child that he loved, that loss also would have pained his now wife, Bathsheba, greatly.  He was not in a joyful place in his life and relationship with God.  He could have become bitter and angry with what had transpired, many in his circumstances do.  But he did not.

There was nothing that he could do to restore the joy he had with the Lord.  Look at his request in 51:12 (here @ BibleGateway), “restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me wit a willing spirit…”  David knew that the joy of his salvation, his relationship with God, was not something which he could manufacture, it was a gift, grace if you will.  He knew that he was completely dependent on the Lord for the joy that he knew in their relationship.  Thus, his prayer.  Further, and this raises an interesting question, David then prays to be sustained with a willing spirit.  The question is did he learn that he needed that sustaining because of this failure?

Regardless, what was true for David is for us as well.  We are dependent on Him, completely dependent on Him, both for the joy we have in our relationship with Him as well as our perseverance in a willing spirit to follow Him. 

Perhaps, like David, that reality should inform our prayer.

The Illogic of Sin

In Numbers 14 (here @ Bible Gateway), we read about the nation rejecting the land the Lord has promised them because they felt they were unable to take it militarily.  In fact they were right.

In Deuteronomy 7 (here @ Bible Gateway), 40 years later, the Lord tells the children of those who rejected that land that the nations they are about to dispossess are greater than they are.  But we read there that it doesn’t matter that the nations are stronger, because as Joshua and Caleb said in Numbers 14 (here @ Bible Gateway), the Lord is the one that will cause Israel to be victorious.

That is the context.  I was reading through Numbers 16 (here @ Bible Gateway), two chapters later.  Look at Numbers 16:14 (here @ Bible Gateway).  Dathan and Abiram, complain that Moses and by extension, the Lord, had not followed through on the promise to lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey.  What?  They just rejected that land as unconquerable not two chapters ago?

Isn’t this the normal reaction we have?  We make decisions that have difficult or dire consequences and then we blame God for the result of our choice.

Doesn’t seem logical, does it.  What is true is that we go to great lengths to explain away our sin.  Including blaming others and blaming God.

For Your Sake

Have you ever done something really good in order to get noticed?  Or have you ever wanted to know how you performed as you shared something you found in the Word?  Wondered if you made an impact?  Wondered if anyone noticed?  Probably not, but you may know people who have.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 (here @ Bible Gateway) is the last three clauses in one of Paul’s famously long sentences.  This one runs from 1 Thessalonians 1:2 – 5 (here @ Bible Gateway).  Three words riveted my attention this time through.  The last three in the NASB translation:

“…for your sake.”

That prepositional phrase modifies – well, I have been mentally diagraming the sentence for the past several minutes…  It either modifies “proved” or further modifies the phrase “to be among you”.  Not sure without spending a lot of time working on the structure.

The point is, Paul was not there for accolades.  He wasn’t interested in recognition for his service.  He wasn’t looking to gain brownie points from the Lord.  He was in Thessalonica for the sake of the Thessalonian people.

They figured that out.

They figured out that they should have the same attitude as the one who brought them the good news of the gospel.  So, following Paul’s example, they became an example to the surrounding areas, Macedonia and Achaia.

It wasn’t about Paul when he was engaged in equipping the Thessalonian believers.  It wasn’t about them as they shared with their neighbors.

The truth of the gospel, the incredible offer of the absolution, forgiveness of our intentional, consistent rebellion against a holy and loving God; is too valuable to tarnish with a misplaced hunger for recognition for sharing that lifeline to one who is condemned.

Yet it seems there are some who are engaged for their own credit.

Truth be known.  I have fought that internal struggle myself.  Still do.

Abram’s Folly

Shortly after last night’s post was published, my wife suggested that I needed to point out that Abram was also engaged in folly…she was right.

It could be argued that Abram’s folly was worse because he did it twice.  Look at:

• Genesis 12:9 – 20 (here @ Bible Gateway)
• Genesis 20:1 – 18 (here @ Bible Gateway)

In both cases Abram in the first case and Abraham in the second, rather than trusting the Lord for protection, schemed to preserve his life at the expense of his wife.  He was willing to put her into a situation where she could have been violated in order to preserve his life.

The first time he did this was just after God had called him and Abram had responded.  The second time was after the Lord had promised Abraham that Sarah would have a son.  It was after Abram had believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6 (here @ Bible Gateway).

Think of that for a bit.  Abram, Abraham, had followed God, believed in His promises, and yet in the matter of Sarai, Sarah, did not trust God to protect them.

It leads me to think that no matter the closeness of our relationship to God, the fidelity of our obedience to Him, that there will always be those areas of our lives we hold back from Him.  That may be why we read David’s oft repeated cry for the Lord to revive, teach, lead, and instruct him in Psalm 119 (here @ Bible Gateway).

Regardless of how close we are to Him, we are completely dependent on Him to trust and follow.  Not to recognize this and proactively pray against this type of behavior, leaves us open to duplicating Abraham’s folly.

Sarai’s Folly

It is often hard to trust God.  Especially, if we are associated with one whom God is leading and we are charged with following.  Abram’s wife, Sarai, faced this reality.  Read Genesis 16:2 (here @ Bible Gateway).

Sarai knew what God had promised Abraham.  She came up with a scheme to help the promise along.

Here are some observations about this situation:

• The promise was to Abram
• Sarai was a part of that promise
• Sarai was not the primary recipient of the promise
• Sarai could not see how the promise could be fulfilled
• Sarai came up with her own solution
• Sarai thought her solution was in line with the promise
• Sarai convinced Abram to follow her plan
• She did not trust God, she trusted her scheme

Sarai’s actions parallel Eve’s actions in the garden (the enemy’s hand is all over this)

• Question the Word (Promise) of God
• What He said will not happen
• Take matters into her own hand
• Create a mess

If we are honest with ourselves, that pattern has repeated itself multiple times in our lives.

Sarai’s folly becomes ours.

Quickly Fickle

There have been times in my life when I wanted to be recognized, wanted people to notice what I had done, what I had accomplished.  Not proud of that, but it is the case.

Acts 14:18 – 19 (here @ Bible Gateway) reminds me of one of the reasons that it is not a very good idea to desire recognition.

One sentence after Paul and Barnabas have a hard time restraining people from sacrificing to them as gods, the Jews turn the crowd against them and they attempt to stone Paul to death.

It is a quick, short distance from praise to hatred.  Seeking praise then would seem to invite that quick hate.

Responding to Sin

Look at Ezra 10:6 (here @ Bible Gateway) and Nehemiah 1:4 (here @ Bible Gateway).  .

The response of the Ezra and Nehemiah over the sin or circumstances of others was to mourn and pray.

To be honest, that is not my first response.  My first response may be something like, “They should have known better.”

That’s certainly helpful.  It’s a thought with such eternal significance and effectiveness.

Truth is, when I catch myself in sin or difficult circumstances, my first response is not to mourn and pray either.  Probably, it is to justify.  Claim special circumstances, blame shift, or try to figure a way to solve the problem.  (We come by blame shifting genetically – check out Genesis 3:12 – 13) (here @ Bible Gateway).

It occurs to me that Ezra and Nehemiah had it right, I have it wrong

Despicable Me…

There are times when the Word of God is stunning to me.  Two days ago reading 2 Samuel 12:9, the Word of God not only stunned but filleted me.

The writer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit describes disobedience as despising the Word of God.  It occurs to me that to despise God’s Word is to despise Him.

Concurrent to my devotional and Bible study I have been working through How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil, by D. A. Carson.  When I read 2 Samuel 12:9 this passage came to mind:

The ultimate measure of evil is the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18ff.), and that wrath is so resolute that it issues in the cross. We are all “by nature deserving of wrath” (Eph. 2:3): apart from the cross, there is no hope for any of us.
In this primal sense, then, evil is evil because it is rebellion against God. Evil is the failure to do what God demands or the performance of what God forbids. Not to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength is a great evil, for God has demanded it; not to love our neighbor as ourself is a great evil, for the same reason. To covet someone’s house or car or wife is a great evil, for God has forbidden covetousness; to nurture bitterness and self-pity is evil, for a similar reason. The dimensions of evil are thus established by the dimensions of God; the ugliness of evil is established by the beauty of God; the filth of evil is established by the purity of God; the selfishness of evil is established by the love of God.
(D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 42.)

For me to disobey, lust, covet, not to love, is sin, despising God’s Word, and by extension, God.

James 4:17 reinforces this.  In Psalm 51:4, David declares that his disobedience is against God, he despised God and His Word.

This is hard.  It is especially hard when someone sins against or betrays me.  I have to respond to them in God’s grace or I become engaged in despising Him and His Word.

I am in dire need of His grace to live like this.

Know any Liars

Take a look at these passages:

• 1 John 1:10
• 1 John 2:4
• 1 John 2:22
• 1 John 4:20
• 1 John 5:10

What is repeated?  Right, “liar”.
John tells us that a liar is one who:

• Says he has come to know Christ but doesn’t keep Christ’s commandments.
• Denies Jesus is the Christ
• Says, “I love God!”  Yet hates his brother.
• Does not believe God (the passage says that we make God a liar, which is, a lie).
• Says he has not sinned.

That is a large, fine meshed net.  At one time or other, I have said or thought at least one of those.  My suspicion is that I am not alone in that reality.

The good news is that God is in the business and habit of redeeming liars.  All I have to do to wipe the slate clean is ask (1 John 1:9).

Certainty of Forgiveness

Take a look at 2 Chronicles 6:36 – 39, note the requirements for forgiveness.

Now look at 1 John 1:8 – 10.  What is similar?  What is different?

The contrast is stark.  Under the law there are more requirements.  Under grace we acknowledge our sin and are forgiven.

Why?

The Law demands a sacrifice for sin.  Christ paid that sacrifice.  Once for all.  Earlier this week I was talking to one of my friends and he shared his amazement with the atonement.  On the cross and in the tomb Christ suffered hell for all of us.  Think of that, he suffered as all of the people that have been born such that they will not have to spend eternity in hell.  Billions of eternities of suffering in three days.

Thus, we can acknowledge our sin and He can righteously forgive.

Last week one of my Uber drivers was Muslim.  We got into a long conversation about forgiveness.  He shared that he had to pray over and over and over and over etc., and hope that god would hear.  He will not know until he dies whether he has been forgiven or not.

I shared with him the completed work of Christ for his forgiveness, which he summarily rejected.  Perhaps the seeds will sprout.

The grace given to us, bought with a horrendously high price by Christ, gives us the unimaginable access to our Lord personally and a certainty of forgiveness before him that no religious system offers.

Be thankful.

Grace in the Midst

Exodus 9:14 – 16 is just after the sixth plague that God sends on Egypt.  It wasn’t a good time to be an Egyptian.  Reading through this section at some level it was like reading Revelation 6 – 11 and 16.  God is raining significant difficulty down on His creation.

Why?

In the midst of Exodus 9:14 – 16 there is purpose given that is stunning:

“…in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.”

One purpose of the plagues, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls is to reveal God.  It is to draw people to Him, to demonstrate His power and nature.

Man is stubborn.  Committed to disobedience.  In Genesis 7, God wiped out the world and started over.  He promises in Genesis 8:21 He will never do that again until He creates the new heaven and the new earth, 2 Peter 3:10 – 16.

In the meantime, when He sends difficulty, the purpose is to demonstrate to us, this stubborn people, that it is He who is in control.  It is, as Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:15, a call to us to accept His grace.  To acknowledge our rebellion and come to Him and have our relationship restored.

Death with Dignity?

Getting his first chemo treatment

Yesterday I shared that my dad passed away on the 21st of last month.  There are many who talk about death with dignity.  My dad was dignified.  More times than I can count the week after his passing he was described to us as a southern gentleman.  He was always concerned about whether he was dressed properly.  It was not an issue of pride but more a conviction that he had to continually put his best foot forward.

He was a hero especially to his unit in WWII.  For a better picture of this you can read what I said at the funeral here.

His death though was anything but dignified.  For the last several weeks of his life he was increasingly unable to care for himself.  He needed help to bathe.  He needed help to go to the bathroom.  He was an incredibly modest and proper man.  In those weeks he was helped by some really gracious people.  All of them were women.  While he never complained, I know he was embarrassed.

When I got to his room the morning of the 21st there were four medical personnel working on him.  They had the hospital bed sitting up and he was leaning to his left with his head tilted forward and his mouth open as if he was gasping for air.  He was unresponsive.  There was some black matter on the front of his gown.  It seemed that it had finally come out of his lungs.

A few minutes later he was gone.

This hero, this man who had been described as a southern gentleman, who was always concerned about making sure that his external presentation matched his commitment to excellence in all that he did, in his final moments had been exposed, had expelled matter from his lungs, and had lost control of his body.

Dignity.  No.

We were not created to physically die.  Physical death is the consequence of rebellion against God, Romans 6:23.  We were created in the image of an infinite God.  We were meant to live with Him forever.  Our choice of sin resulted in our eventual physical death.  However, our soul continues to live on.  In dad’s case, he had trusted Christ.  He had accepted that he needed Christ’s death as a substitution and payment for his sin.  So as he took his last breath, he entered into the presence of His savior.

There is dignity in that.

Not in the consequence of our sin.

Since dad has passed away many people have told us they were sorry for our loss.  I want to share some thoughts on that tomorrow.

Journey Through Incredible Pain

For the past six years I have written here most days.  This month has been the exception.  There are a number of reasons for that.  I have been traveling.  Members of my family and I are struggling with various forms of cancer as well as other significant health issues.  One such situation has consumed most of my emotional and spiritual reserves in the past few days.  Another has also been challenging requiring some of the travel.  Frankly, I just haven’t felt like writing.

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon in prayer about one of these cases.  There are two lives at stake.  Multiple difficult issues – such that when I have shared the details with close friends it renders them speechless.

I am not all that good at prayer.  Especially, protracted prayer.  However, I was impressed that I needed to try.  It was hard work.  Really hard work.

This morning was the Monday study, we were in 1 Samuel 3.  I shared what was happening with the men there with the same result, speechless.

I got home and started my time with the Lord.  I had passages I was supposed to read, but it was if the Lord was not through with me from yesterday afternoon.  Matthew 5:6 and Psalm 42:1 came to mind.  As I prayed and processed those passages several things came to mind.

The question was when have I invested that much time and emotion in just seeking His righteousness?  When have I hungered for Him as I hungered for this healing?  When have I wept over my sin as I have wept over this cancer?  I want what His sovereign power can provide, am I satisfied with Him?

Tomorrow morning five of us are looking at 1 Samuel 3 & 4.  This afternoon I was finishing up my prep for that study.  I observed that Israel did the same thing.  They used the ark as a talisman in battle.  They wanted victory over their enemy, not so much did they want Him.  They did not even bother to ask.  They just brought the ark into battle.  The Philistines response to them in 1 Samuel 4:7 – 8 was the appropriate response.  They recognized the latent idolatry of Israel’s action.  They were afraid of the mighty gods.

I am cut to the quick by this.  He is enough, but I find myself longing for more… hopeless.

The Lord Loved

We read in Acts13:22 and 1 Samuel 13:14 that David was a man after God’s own heart.  We have already seen that he was a man of prayer.  But he was far from perfect.

Read the Psalms that David wrote (David is specifically noted as the author of Psalms 3 to 9, 11 to 32, 34 to 41, 68 to 70, 51 to 65, 101, 86, 103, 108 to 110, 124, 122, 133, 131 and 138 to 145.  He is also credited with Psalms for which he is not specifically noted as the author, chief among these is Psalm 119).  You will note that in many cases David seems angry with God and tells Him so.  But then halfway through the psalm David begins to praise God.  There is a lesson there.

But David was a man.  He took more wives than he should have.  He murdered Uriah to cover up his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.  You may have done some stuff of which you are ashamed but I would bet David has you beat in the sin department.  The result of the affair with Bathsheba was a son whom the Lord took.

But then we read one of the more amazing passages in the Word of God, 2 Samuel 12:21.  David and Bathsheba have another son, and the Lord loved him.  Think of all of the mess that David made.  Based on what Christ said in Matthew 5:31 – 32, this is technically still an adulterous relationship, but God loved the son that was born out of this sin.  So much that He had Nathan tell David to name the boy, Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord.

David, the man who is described as one after the heart of God, a flawed human.  God, one who loves those who are flawed.  This is a great story in which we get to participate.

Appeasing the World

A few days ago Ezekiel 13:2 – 3 was in my reading project.  Thinking through that passage led me to four others:

• Ezekiel 22:25
• Ezekiel 22:28
• Lamentations 2:14
• Jeremiah 23:28 – 32

Reading that you get a clear picture of the state of leadership for the nation.  They told the people what they wanted to hear.  They shared their own ideas.  They did not hold fast to God’s Word.

This seems like a commentary on what is happening now.

I reviewed two academic catalogs today.  I get them because I am a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.  Among the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Ethiopic texts were a number, great number of works that were essentially dealing with issues that the world is attempting to force on the Church.  Unfortunately, some seemed to be aimed at portraying the Body as tolerant and responsive.

The issues that those works addressed are covering behavior that the Word says is sin.  There is no Biblical way to say that behavior is not sin and remain true to what the Bible says without redefining words or critically removing passages from the discussion.

We are living under constant pressure to conform to the world, Romans 12:1 – 2.  We are under constant attack by the enemy to remove the influence of the Word of God on our communities, Mark 4:13 – 20; 1 Peter 5:8.

We are in danger of doing what the Pharisees did with the Law; redefine to align with our image, our thinking, our ability to obey.  The problem with that is clearly outlined in Matthew 5:3 – 7:27, with the kicker coming in Matthew 5:28.  The standard, the standard that we cannot escape is the nature and character of God.  If we are not like Him, and the world some are attempting to appease is not even in the ball park, we are not in the kingdom.  We will never see it.

As a pastor friend of mine said recently, we have to hold up and exalt God’s Word.  We have to heed what is says, we have to obey its author.

Hostile Questions

I have spent a lot of time in 2 Peter.  I have lost count on the number of times I have read, analyzed, outlined, seen new things, etc.  The reason?  It is the book I use in my workshops to equip men with several Bible study tools.  When they read it, I do.

One of the themes in the Book is the reliability of the Word of God.  The theme is subtle.  Peter refers to the Word tangentially but refer he does.  In contrast to the reliability of God’s Word, Peter warns of the certainty of false teachers, people who will twist the Scripture to make it say what they want it to say.  Some of those are in our churches.  Paul warns us of this.  In Acts 20:30 he tells the Ephesian elders that false teachers will come from among them.

One of Peter’s warnings struck me a few days ago.  Look at 2 Peter 3:4.  Peter describes those who are questioning the promises of God.  Now remember in 2 Peter 1:3 – 4 he has declared that the promises are based on God’s glory and excellence, and that by them we can partake of God’s nature.  But because they are not fulfilled in what someone thinks is a timely manner they are questioned.

Essentially, what is happening is one who questions the promise of God is questioning the Word of God.  The start of any heresy, false religion, or sin for that matter, begins with questioning God’s Word; think Genesis 3.

But there is another challenge.

As I was working through this, it occurs to me that one of the things that is happening in the Church is that not only are those from among the Church questioning, but also those outside the Church with cultural agendas that do not align with what the text says.  The challenge is that some in the Church have embraced those questions and have worked hard to accommodate those who are challenging the Word.

James 4:4 seems to speak to this.  If I allow the world to dictate or change my theology or understanding of the Word.  Or if I modify my theology in order to coexist more effectively with the world.  Or if I work really hard to force the Bible to not mean what it says.  It seems, based on James 4:4 that I am engaging in open hostility toward God.

That may not be the best plan in which anyone has ever engaged.

How Safe Is Your Faith from…

I struggled with how to finish that title.  While I do not want to paint all pastors with a broad brush, there are real problems that need to be addressed.

I have met each week online with a man who wants to find out how he can best use the gifts God has given him.  One major problem.  He is not walking with God.  Each week we start with my questioning him about what the Lord is teaching him in the Word.  Each week he tells me that he has not touched his Bible.

This last time I told him that when I had asked some of my friends to pray for him, one of them commented that he really did not want to know God.  As we processed that together he began to share why he no longer trusted the Bible.

He has listened to a number of messages on line.  Much of what he has listened to falls in the category of prosperity theology.  He has also listened to pastors – I could name names but I won’t – whose message consists of feel good, you can be the best you type messages.  Further, he has been told by people he respects that the Bible we have cannot be trusted because it has been created by men.

Here is a young man who is in dire need of the grace of God.  Teachers, some false, some well-meaning but Biblically ignorant, and some people simply ignorant, have essentially taken the Bible out of his hands.

Ezekiel 34:1 – 10 promises that those people will – well let’s just say I really do not want to be them when they meet the Lord.  However…

My friend is not off the hook.  We are warned in multiple places in the Scripture that false teachers will abound.  Perhaps one of the best examples is 2 Peter 1:16 – 2:3 (by the way this is one of the many places where the chapter and verse divisions that were added for the convenience of finding our place actually breaks up the point of the author.  Remember they were added more than 1500 years after they were written you do not need to, nor should you be bound by them in your Bible study – that was free).  There on the heels of Peter telling us we can trust the Scripture, he tells us that just as false prophets arose in Israel there will be false teachers among the Church.  He repeats the warning tacitly in 2 Peter 3:14 – 16.

Paul goes the other direction.  In 2 Timothy 4:3 – 5, he warns us that there will be a time when people will clamor for false teaching.  I sometimes wonder when I hear what people are excited about in the “Christian” press if that time has not arrived.

In Acts 17:11 we read that the Bereans did not accept what they heard from Paul.  They went to the synagogue and pulled the scrolls out of the cabinet (YouVersion was not yet available for their iPhones), unrolled those scrolls and checked to see if the passages that Paul was using to tell them about Christ really said and meant what he said they did.

So there are two realities working here.  There are two levels of accountability.  Those who are proclaiming lies as the truth to my online friend will have to answer to God – I do not want to be in their shoes then.  But, my friend is going to have to answer for why he refused to question what he was taught.

By the way, we are in the same boat.  We are accountable both for what we proclaim and for whether we validate what we hear by the Word of God.

Burnt

This morning I was in Leviticus 6.  In most of my reading programs Leviticus does me in.  This time through I am looking with a different set of eyes.  I am looking for the why of things.  As always in my study or reading I am constantly looking for repetition.  This morning was no exception.  I found some.

Look at Leviticus 6:12 – 13, note that the phrase, “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out,” at the first of verse 12 is repeated, somewhat more strongly, in verse 13.  Only the last few words change in my version from “It shall not go out,” in verse 12 to “it is not to go out,” in 13.

That intrigued me.  Why was that fire not to go out?

First I looked at the Hebrew.  I noted first that the changes in the language from 12 to 13 was a decision of the translators and did not reflect the original.  The phrase is essentially identical in the Hebrew text.  The Lord does not want that fire to go out.

The purpose of the sacrifice is atonement.  Atonement for the nation and individuals.  Atonement for the sin of the nation or an individual.  As I thought through that it perhaps the reason for the fire never to be allowed to go out, is the need for continual atonement for both the nation and individuals.

The sin of the nation remains.  The sin of the individual remains.  Even after a sacrifice for sin, the essential nature of the nation and the individual remains the same.  So to atone for that state, the fire could not go out.

Think of it.  On the cross Jesus declared, “It is finished,” John 19:30.  The atonement was complete.  There was no longer a need for a continual sacrifice, a fire that was never to be allowed to go out.  Why?  2 Corinthians 5:17, gives us a clue.  We are made new in Christ.  Our sin nature is crucified with Him, Romans 6:1 – 7.

That is very good news.