“If we confess our sins (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. Having your (conduct) honest among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
At the close of all four gospel accounts, Jesus gave a command that we witness to the world. You have probably read what we call “The Great Commission” from Matthew 28, which tells us to go into all of the world and make disciples. In John 20, Jesus breathed on His disciples and told them, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” These are two examples of what I wrote above. It is clear that Jesus wants us to be witnesses to the world. That means to be witnesses where we are and to support others who go to other parts of the world. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Over the last two thousand years we have devised all sorts of methods of missions and evangelism. Each denomination has its program of missions and evangelism. Some of these methods are better than others, but not a one of them is the best method. Peter gave us the best method. He did not write this to be a method of missions and evangelism, but it is nevertheless the best method that will be revealed as we take a closer look at what Peter wrote. The first thing that Peter wrote was that those to whom he wrote were “strangers and pilgrims.” Notice that he wrote: “As strangers and pilgrims.” He did not suggest that they act like strangers and pilgrims, but that they were strangers and pilgrims. I think that it is understood that as Christians we are to be in the world but not of the world. This does not mean that we are not to be, for example, good citizens. It means that our lives are not to reflect the world’s negative values but the values of Christ. We cannot become totally immersed in the world and be good witnesses of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 12:2a : “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” If we want to be good witnesses for Jesus, we will be in the world but not of the world. We can do this by “abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” The second thing that Peter wrote was that our conduct be “honest among the Gentiles.” The reference to “Gentiles” here is a reference to the pagans that surrounded early churches. Of course we should be honest in the sense that we do not cheat and steal, but we should also be honest in the sense that we live the gospel that we say we believe. We have all heard the accusation: “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.” As the old saying goes, “We need to walk the walk if we are going to talk the talk.” None of us will “walk the walk” perfectly, but we do need to walk it by how we live. One good example is that we need to be careful how we treat the people who serve us. Waiters and waitresses say that the most difficult people to wait on, and the poorest tippers, are the people who come to eat after church on Sunday. Space does not allow me to go on with a lot of other illustrations that I could give of how we need to improve our witness, but suffice it to say that we need to be careful how we live before the world. Living the Christian life genuinely is the best method of missions and evangelism. This doesn’t mean that we are excused from verbal witness. What it means is that people will not listen to our verbal witness if it is not backed up with a sincere and genuine Christian life. Don’t we agree? Bro. Joe “For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake; because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. 23. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. 24. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things He has done for you. 25. But if you shall do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both you and your king.”
The context of this passage is Samuel’s sermon to Israel after they had chosen a king to lead them instead of God. God allowed them a king, but Samuel knew that this would not solve the moral and military problems of Israel. Though Israel had chosen a king to rule over them, Samuel was still God’s man to influence them to do what was right. Because of Samuel’s influence and godliness, the closing of the period of Judges was more positive. This text shows why Samuel was an important influence on his people, and how we can influence the people in our lives. Though Samuel was disappointed in the people for their choice of having a king “like all other nations,” he vowed to continue to pray for them. Here is specifically what he said: “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” He said that it would be a sin if he ceased to pray for these recalcitrant people. Samuel influenced them through prayer, for he knew the power of prayer. This is where we come in. No matter how bad things may seem in our world, our families, our jobs, our churches, etc. we need to continue to pray for the people in our lives. Many mothers have lived to see their sons our daughters saved because they did not cease to pray for them. Take Samuel’s advice and do not cease to pray for those who seem to be defying your prayers. Just believe that God is at work in their lives, as He is still at work in our wayward world. Don’t sin by refusing to pray. Though it seemed an impossible task for Samuel, he promised: “But I will teach you the good and the right way.” Samuel continued to teach what was right in spite of the fact that the people seemed to be ignoring everything he taught. Perhaps we need to be reminded here that God has called us to be faithful, even if we do not seem to be successful. I would have quit preaching a long time ago if I had quit doing what God called me to do because people seemed to ignore what I was preaching and teaching. (I have also had to deal with myself in practicing what I preach.) We can’t stop being a voice for righteousness and sanity in a world that has gone sin crazy. I think that Samuel first taught the people the “good and right way” by living in that way himself. We can’t stop living God’s truth or telling His truth. In verse 24, Samuel gave a hint about what he was teaching the people: “Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He has done for you.” He called on the people to fear and reverence God and to serve Him with all of their hearts. This message has not changed and is surely needed from God’s people today. Samuel also called upon the people to remember all that God had done for them. We need to do the same in our lives and to remind others about the same thing in their lives. If we are not careful, we will forget God’s blessings on our lives. While we need to continue to pray, teach and serve, we need to also warn people as Samuel did in verse 25: “But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both you and your king.” The judgement of God is as sure as His love. We need to teach people that God loves them, but we also need to teach people that judgment day is coming – as it did with Israel. In these trying times, we need to remember the influence that one person can have and we can use Samuel as an example. Bro. Joe "He (she) that covers his (her) sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy." (I added the parentheses.)
We find it easy to justify ourselves when it comes to our sins. Our sins do not look as bad to us as the sins of others. The first thing that a person has to realize before they can be saved is that they have “sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This includes all of us. Not one person has ever been able to say, “I have never sinned.” 1 John 1:10 tell us, “If we say we have not sinned, we make (God) a liar, and His word is not in us.” ESV This was, perhaps, the main sin of the Pharisees. They felt that they themselves were righteous, and would not own up to their sins. A good example of this is found in the Pharisees prayer in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:11: “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” ESV On the other hand, the aforementioned tax collector prayed: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Verse 13) ESV Jesus declared that the tax collector went away from the prayer session justified because he did not exalt himself. We need to remember this example when we try to excuse our sins. This proverb reminds us that to cover our sins is to keep us from spiritual prosperity. As long as our pet sins come between God and us, we cannot draw closer to Him. We also cannot grow spiritually. We know that we are wrong, but we just do not believe that our sins are that bad. Like our title above we say, "Who me? A sinner?" “We tend to view our sins “as through a glass darkly…” (to misquote Paul) Sins that look so plainly wrong and destructive in other people do not look as bad to us as we view our sins “through a glass darkly.” When David was confronted by Nathan because of his sin with Bathsheba, he did not seem to recognize that he had done anything really wrong. When Nathan told him a story about a rich man, who owned many sheep, took the one ewe lamb that belonged to a poor man, David was furious at the rich man. David was brought to reality when Nathan said, “Thou art the man.” The result was shown in David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51. The Bible teaches that we are all sinners and need to be forgiven. We never grow beyond the need to be forgiven. The wonderful thing is that God has provided a simple way for us to be forgiven for our sins. 1 John 1:8-9: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Instead of covering our sins, we need to confess our sins. The old saying: "Honest confession is good for the soul" is certainly true when it comes to confession of sin. Look at the promise. If we will confess our sins, He (Jesus) will forgive us. He will always be faithful to forgive us. If God has made it this simple to be forgiven, why would we not take advantage of it? Jesus shed His blood to make it Possible. 1 John 1:7: "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." The plan of forgiveness was simple, but it surely wasn't cheap. Jesus takes our forgiveness seriously. So should we. The next thing that we need to do when we have repented of our sins and sought forgiveness from Jesus, is to accept His forgiveness and forgive ourselves. Maintaining guilt from forgiven is as much a lack of faith in the power of Jesus to forgive as not asking for forgiveness at all. Anything that Jesus, in His great holiness, can forgive us for can certainly be forgiven by us. Accept that fact that you sin, and when you have asked forgiveness and received it, accept and go on with your life. Bro. Joe "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice."
What was Paul thinking when he wrote: "Rejoice in the Lord always"? Didn't he know that there are times when we just do not feel like rejoicing? If anybody knew that, Paul did. He truly suffered to declare the Gospel to the world. But, he wrote, "rejoice always." And to reiterate he wrote, "Again I say rejoice." He wanted to emphasize that Christians should rejoice. Understand that Paul did not mean that Christians will always be happy, for happiness is circumstantial. Joy, however, has been given to us by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus promised us His joy in John 15:11: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Even in hard times we can rejoice, because we have Jesus in our lives, and He has given us abundant life here and life in heaven forever. I know that there have been times in my own life when I was experiencing difficult times but experienced a joy that was beyond my understanding. If you do not feel like rejoicing, that is only more reason why you should. The question that I want to pose in this article, is why should Christians rejoice? The first answer is because the Bible tells us to. Look up "joy" and "rejoice" in your condordance, and you will be amazed at how many times these two words are used in the Bible. But rejoicing should not just be legalistic. It should come from a heart that is so filled with the joy of the Lord that it cannot be eradicated. Second, we should rejoice because it makes us feel better. The only way that I can know this, is that I know I feel better when I am rejoicing than when I am complaining. When you are out of sorts with life, think about Jesus and what He has done in your life and it should help turn you from complaining to rejoicing. (Reminder: I am not writing this to make you feel guilty, but to make you feel better. Guilt will not lead you to rejoice. ) Third, rejoicing will make us live better lives. It will make a difference in how we treat people. If we approach life with a spirit of rejoicing, we will look more kindly at people, even people who are difficult to get along with. Rejoicing makes us want to do good things for people. It also makes us want to say good things to people. Let me confess that there are times when I want to be harsh with people, particularly people with whom I disagree. But I have discovered that a harsh reply only produces a harsh reply in return. This turns into an argument, which never, or seldom, accomplishes anything. Fourth, we should rejoice because rejoicing makes us better witnesses for Jesus. It is a fact that churches that have a spirit of rejoicing appeal to more people than those where people just go through the motions of worship. If rejoicing is genuine, it draws people to the "rejoicer." There are other reasons for us to rejoice, but these should suffice to help us to become more joyful in our lives and service to the Lord. You have a choice today. You can rejoice or you can complain. If you want to feel better, live better, and become a better witness, obey the Bible and rejoice. Bro. Joe ”The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Moses was preparing the Israelite people for the conquest of Canaan. They needed all of the encouragement that they could get. We get aggravated with them for their reticence, but we need to realize that from the human perspective, it would be a daunting task. Moses knew that they would need encouragement if they were to do it. He made some great promises to them to get them ready and to keep them from getting discouraged. These promises are ours as well, for the same God who was at work with Moses and Israel is the same God who is at work in our lives through Jesus. The fact that we have a loving God working with and in us should keep us from being afraid of defeat and from being discouraged by life. First, Moses assured them that the Lord would go before them. This is important. When we face moments that might discourage us, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit has gone before us to prepare the way for us. Another exciting aspect of this truth is that God knows what we will face when we get there, because He knows what is in our future. Second, Moses promised them that God would be with them. This is one of the Bible’s most consistent promises. There is never a moment that we who believe in Jesus are without His presence. Before He ascended, Jesus said that He would be with us until the end of the ages. Anytime we feel discouraged, we should remember that we are not alone. There is an old hymn that I have not heard in years that made the promise: “No never alone, no never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” This is a great promise from the Bible as well, and it is a reality in the lives of Christian people. Whatever you are going through right now, the Lord is with you – as He promised. He will never leave you alone. Third, Moses promised that: “He will not leave you or forsake you.” Jesus is not only with us, He will stay with us. When we go through tough or challenging times, we need to realize that Jesus will not “bug out” on us. If you ever feel that the Lord has forsaken you, you need to remember that He did not move. It means that you have forsaken Him, for He has promised to never forsake you. We have all had friends who forsook us for some reason or other, but in Jesus we have a friend “who is closer than a brother.” He has what I have heard called “stickability.” If you feel forsaken of God, you are the one who came “unstuck.” There is no valley too deep, too wide or too dangerous that Jesus will not go through with you. Sometimes He will be with you as He leads you around the valley of discouragement, but, more often than not, He will go with you through the valley. Fourth, Moses promised that because of these great promises listed here that we do not need to be “afraid or discouraged.” Fear and discouragement are bad companions in our lives. But because our God goes before us, is with us and will not leave or forsake us, we do not have to experience these things. If you are a Christian, and have the presence of Christ in your life, discouragement is, as our text suggests, a waste of time. If you are discouraged at the present time, do not feel guilty and get more discouraged. Read this text, and search your Bible for other texts that will speak to your heart. Spend some time in prayer with God. He will hear you and help you through whatever it is that is discouraging you. Believe it! Bro. Joe "And after these things He (Jesus) went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He said unto him, Follow me. 28. And he left all, rose up and followed Him."
I do not know how much time Levi, or Matthew, spent with Jesus before this incident, but however long he had known Jesus, his response here was remarkable. Since he was a tax collector, Levi would have been a wealthy man. I'm sure that he had a lot to leave, but he left all of it to follow Jesus. This made me wonder about myself. How much have I given up to follow Jesus? Better yet, how much would I be willing to give up to follow Jesus? How much would you be willing to give up to follow Jesus? We also need to ask ourselves how much we have actually given up to follow Jesus. To many people in churches, serving Jesus is a matter of convenience. If it is inconvenient, then they go on about their own business. Think about it for a moment. Levi's life would change drastically. Following Jesus brings a drastic change in life. No doubt, Levi pretty well did what he pleased before meeting Jesus, and probably had a lot of "stuff" that he had accumulated over the years. Think of the "stuff" that we have accumulated over the years. How much of it are we willing to give up for Jesus? Our "stuff" comes to mean a lot to us for some reason or other. (I won't take the time or space to psychoanalyze this.) To part with some of it would be like losing a part of ourselves. This is illustrated by one of my favorite TV shows, American Pickers. The two "pickers" go into people's barns and houses, where they have accumulated years of "junk." They will literally be surrounded by all kinds of things, but the person who accumulated these things sometimes does not want to part with any of it. There are times when the “pickers” find an article that has been buried under a pile of junk for thirty years, but they still don’t want to let it go. It is amazing to me how attached we can become to what we own. It's almost as if what we own now owns us. Keep in mind that Levi "left it all and followed (Jesus)." It seems that he left all of the money sitting on the table and walked off and left it. This would mean that he walked off and left whatever else he owned to follow Jesus, because following Jesus was a full-time job for His disciples. We need to think of our accumulation of money and "stuff" and ask if we are willing to do the same - if following Jesus demands it of us. Let’s look at other disciples who had to leave all to follow Jesus. For example, Peter, Andrew, James and John gave up a lucrative fishing business to follow Jesus. This was probably all that they had ever done in their lives. But they left it to follow Jesus. Think of the apostle Paul. When he was converted on the Damascus Road and became a follower of Jesus, he gave up all of his education in Jewish law, all of his well-being with the Jewish community, and all of the negative opinions that he had about Jesus and His followers. If we will put ourselves in the place of these men, we will understand the faith and dedication that it takes to leave all and follow Jesus. At least think about it today. I think you will agree that this is a challenging thought. Bro. Joe “The Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ” 2 Corinthians 1:2 “Only let your conduct be as it becomes the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.’
In Philippians 1:27 Paul encouraged the Philippian Church to live a life “worthy of the gospel.” He approached this theme from the standpoint of their relationship as ecclesia – gathering of God’s people – church, not just their individual behavior. Of course it is reasonable to assume that the church’s relationship depends upon the individual behavior of its members. As the representatives of Jesus in this world a church is to conduct itself so that the gospel will be promoted instead of shamed. How can we do this? We can “stand fast in one spirit.” This means that we are to take a stand for what is right and do it together – in one spirit. We can take a stand on every moral issue, but if we do not do it in one spirit, we will get nowhere with our witness. We need to ask ourselves if we are thinking in one spirit with fellow members of the churches of which we are members. Why would we deem some issues important and disagree about everything else. For example, why would we take a strong stand on a moral issue and then get into a feud over what color to paint the fellowship hall. No kidding! Churches have split over such issues as this. I heard of one church that split over whether to have metal offering plates or wooden ones. These decisions are made by individuals who divide into parties and commence to feud. The problem is that the wider community hears the feud so loudly that our stand on the greater issue is muted. We need to make up our minds that we will stand together on the large and small things in one spirit. We can be of “one mind.” Does this mean that we will walk in lockstep and never disagree about anything? As long as there is more than one person involved there will be disagreements of some kind. I have discovered that if there is never disagreement in a church some powerful person is calling all of the shots. Disagreements are inevitable in all human affairs, including the church. We just need to learn to disagree like Christians. What, then, does Paul mean by being of “one mind”? In Philippians 2:5 Paul wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” The “one mind” is the mind of Christ. We are to be guided by the mind of Christ and to make our decisions based on what He wants. This is not always easy, but it is always necessary if we are to act like Christians in making decisions. In the verses following verse 5, Paul related how Jesus humbled Himself and did what He came to earth to do, i.e., die on the cross. If we are thinking like Christ, humbly, we will learn to disagree like Christians, and pray ourselves to “one mind.” Each of us will do and say what needs to be done to make it so. Before we “speak our minds” churches, we need to ask ourselves if we are thinking with the mind of Christ. We need to ask, “Would what I am about to say promote the gospel and enhance the welfare of the church?" We can “stand together for the faith of the gospel.” In one spirit and in one mind we are to strive to promote Christ and His gospel, and not our own opinions. Getting our way at any cost does not promote striving for “the faith of the gospel.” What is your church striving together for? What is the purpose and aim of your church? Is it about the “faith of the gospel” and growth of the kingdom of God? Think seriously about these things and for your part let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. Bro. Joe “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4. The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men.”
David had the same concern that we who believe in God and in the values that are intrinsic to that belief have. We look around and see that the foundations of our country are being destroyed. The “foundations” that are not of God need to be destroyed. We just need to be sure that the foundations that we lament are those that pertain to God and His values. Foundations are always being destroyed, but there are some foundations that we destroy at our own peril. You know, of course, that I am thinking of Christian values, those values that honor God and make people better. It is for sure that atheism does not make people better. It is for sure that the “anything goes” philosophy does not make people better. At any rate, we look around and we see foundations being destroyed, the question is what can the righteous, those who believe in love and live for the Lord, do? The answer to the question does not lie in our righteousness. The answer does not lie in our fretting and worrying about the situation. In ourselves we have no power to change anything. The answer does not lie in our ceasing to love the people for whom Christ died. We need to put away any thought of our own goodness and our own power. This does not mean that there is nothing that we can do, because we can live lives that will advertise the virtues of the moral foundations of the Bible. But the answer does not lie on our actions alone. David gave us the answer in verse 4. He reminded us that “God is in His holy temple.” What does this mean since we do not have a temple? In the Old Testament the temple, or the tabernacle, was where God came to be among His people in the holy of holies. What David means here is that God is present among His people. (Today, through the Holy Spirit, He is in us.) This is a teaching that we see throughout the Bible. When David fought Goliath, he believed that God was right there with him. We, too, need to be reminded that when our foundations are crumbling God is not absent. He is present and He knows what is going on. This is a great comfort to me and I hope that it is a comfort for you as well. God is not unaware of what is going on, and He will be with us as we live in the darkness of the world as His lights. He does not want us to throw up our hands and give up because things aren’t going our way. He wants us to remember that He is with us and, because of that, the situation is not hopeless. David also reminds us that “God’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men.” This means that God is watching all that is going on, and that He is aware of all of it. The history of mankind shows us that there are always those to whom biblical foundations mean nothing. But this does not mean that the foundations are not real, nor that they will ultimately be destroyed. We do not keep the foundation firm; rather, the foundation keeps us firm. We cannot let those who would destroy all that is holy and good make us judgmental and keep us from realizing that God is ultimately in control. We are alive at a certain time in history because God wills it so, and our task is to witness and minister to the world in which we live. We need to hold firmly to our faith in God, who is present with us, and seek to do His will for our lives. If we want to change society, we can live by the values that we preach and teach and depend on God to make the changes that need to be made. In other words, we do not blandly accept the destruction of the foundations, but we hold to the tenets and precepts of those foundations and trust that God will straighten it all out in His good time. Rejoice! God is alive and well and He will be with you and guide you through it all! Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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