Psalm 51: Create in Me a Clean Heart

Psalm 51 is to me one of the most beautiful of Psalms, and is another one from which a chorus was written.

This Psalm was written by David after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba was exposed by the prophet Nathan.  His words are ones of sorrow for his sin, and brokenness before the Lord God.

V1-4 "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."

This is surely a contrite heart,  one which acknowledges his sin, and one which seeks restored fellowship with his Lord.  Even though David's sin was first against Bathsheba (for he saw her and sent his men to bring her to him) and secondly to her husband Uriah (whom he had placed in the front of a battle so he would be killed)  David's true sin was against God whose commandments David had broken.

Different Meanings of a Rainbow

 

What does a rainbow bring to your mind?   My first thought is of Genesis 9:13-16, where the LORD God establishes his covenant between God and “every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth”  and what is this covenant?  V13-16 “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.  And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”


In this passage, the rainbow is the sign of God’s covenant that no more would the earth be destroyed by a flood as it was in the days of Noah and the ark.  How many of us since then have looked upon the rainbow and marveled at its beauty.

Then there is the old Sunday School song, Mr. Noah Built An Ark.  I wonder if children still sing this song in these days?  The latter part of the song says “whenever you see a rainbow, remember God is love.”  But of course, God is so much more than love.  When I shared this song with my granddaughter when she was little,  we used to sing “whenever you see a rainbow, remember God loves you.”  So the rainbow  had special meaning for me because my granddaughter still remembers that God loves her when she sees a rainbow.  Here is a rainbow as I like to think of it, the rainbow in the clouds, the sign of God’s covenant and his love.

But now there is a new meaning for the rainbow, and this saddens me.  The rainbow has become a symbol of the gay community.   I have no clue why they chose a rainbow and I wonder, as time passes, how many people will remember that the rainbow was originally a sign of the covenant God made, or may have heard the Sunday School song and remembered that God is love?  or will they more remember what it is a symbol for now?
It’s not my purpose in writing this piece to say anything more regarding the gay community,  except to say that  I am saddened that this beautiful rainbow has become a symbol of something which God does not approve of, enough said.

I would just like to quote the final verse from the song Mr. Noah Built an Ark..

Jesus died upon a tree
Jesus died for you and me
Go into the ark and you will be
Safe for all eternity.
Whenever you see a rainbow, whenever you see a rainbow, whenever you see a rainbow, remember God is love.

And what do these words mean?  The Lord Jesus was crucified upon a cross, shedding his precious blood and taking upon himself the punishment for sin, dying on the cross, being buried and then rising from the grave.  He is the one and only risen Saviour, the Son of God.  Go into the ark means this:  all have sinned, and you know in your heart that this means you too.  Believe that the Lord Jesus was crucified, that he shed his precious blood and took the punishment for your sins upon himself.  Trust in Jesus to save you, and you will be saved for all eternity.

So if you have followed the tag “gay community” and planned on berating me for making this post about the rainbow, I hope that instead, you have realized your need of the Saviour, and that you have trusted in him.

vcg/June 2016

But God Made You Alive

Christian, how were you saved?  God Made You Alive

Ephesians 2:1-5

Before our conversion there was nothing in us to commend us to God, we were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.  Not only that but we were worldly.  Our life was governed by the plan or the mold of this world.  This is humanity without God.  We were also disobedient, we were willfully disobedient to the word of God.  We were lost creatures.  This manifested itself in physical and intellectual desires.  By nature, by physical birth we were also damned, we were under God's wrath.  But that was in time past.  It was before we were saved that we were like that.  But Christians are no longer dead (in sin), or worldly, or disobedient, or under wrath.  You were that before conversion but it is all finished now. 

But (you might say) "what about so and so, they profess Christ but they disobey Christ all the time.  They don't have any spiritual hunger."  There is one answer, that person was not truly converted.  Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."  Note the important words "in time past"  A past completed action is now over and finished permanently, it doesn't happen anymore.   If these things are not past then you are not converted.  You can't be. 

Christians before their conversion were in a terrible state and could do nothing to change it.  Was there any hope?  Is there any hope?  If there is any hope it is not in you or me.  There is not one shred of hope in humanity, not one.  But there is hope and there was hope and we are going to find out about it.
But God: V4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,"  the little word But means nevertheless, you were dead, you had no hope and you were much more, But God, nevertheless God, in spite of what you were, God.  This the But of difference and the But of hope.  But God.  

Please note the verse does not say that you were dead, you were damned, "but human free will" does it?  It doesn't say you were bound in sin "but a wee bit of religion" It doesn't say "but good works"  It doesn't say "but human free will" because your will was a slave and a servant of sin before you were saved. Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."     Your will was not free.   It doesn't say "but religion" because religion doesn't make any difference.  It doesn't say "but good works" because before you were saved you didn't have any saving good works..  there is no good saving works before God.  It doesn't say any of those things because it was nothing in us.  It says that we were all those wretched things in V3 "Among whom also we all.....in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."  But God.  In spite of what you were, God did something.  But God.  Those two words are the difference between biblical Christianity and every other religion in the world. 

The Significance of the Insignificant

This is a wonderful sermon of encouragement for the Christian, and hope for the lost.

2 Kings 5:1-19

This chapter starts by saying that Syria had been delivered by God through Naaman. V1 "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper."  the word delivered means a great victory.  Quite profound..  God the LORD, Yahweh, Jehovah is in control of international politics.  It is God who grants success.  Yahweh or Jehovah is the God of the whole earth, not just Israel.  Yahweh draws near to his people but the whole earth is under God. God controls the nations.  God is involved in national events.  God is also involved in people's lives, even in little circumstances.  In this passage are several things regarding bigness, smallness and cleanness before God.

The great man with a big problem:  V1  "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper."    The verse tells us of the greatness of Naaman, he was more than a captain, he is the top man in the army of Syria.. a "great man" a man of renown, he is honourable, exalted and lifted up.  He is a powerful warrior, mighty, and by him Syria had been given victories.  A national hero. But he was a leper.  Naaman was a great man but he had a big problem.  The teaching is that fame and bigness does not mean that all is well with you, that all is right and happy in your life.  

The little maid with the big answer:  V2-3  "And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife.  And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord (Naaman) were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy."  The verse emphasizes her littleness, she is the complete opposite of the greatness of Naaman.  A little girl  captive from her home, a servant girl but the rest of this chapter hinges upon her.  She is not even named.  

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

James 4:4-7 “….know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?  Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace.  Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Submit yourselves therefore to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you.  The context is that of the natural human nature that leads to wars and fightings that comes from lusts within your own body.  Worldly mindedness, natural spirit in the natural man desires to envy, lust and pride but God giveth grace to the humble.  What are the three symptoms?  Lust, envy, pride.  Satanic, straight from the devil.  What are the two symptoms that are not natural to us by birth?  grace and humility.  Godly, like God.  You are either like Satan or like God.

For a child of God that has God's spirit and shows grace and humility, be warned:  we have the remnants of our old nature still alive in us, and that is why we are told to keep killing it each day. Keep mortifying the flesh.  It is still our natural temptation to lust, envy and pride.  These things, thank the Lord, do not rule anymore as they did before we were saved, they are against our natural inclination but these things are still real temptations or why else have we this exhortation to submit yourselves, therefore, to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you.  In other words, the Christian life is a continual spiritual battle against this former nature.  The great temptation within us is to lust, envy and pride and the great tempter, the devil, will attack us in these very areas to fulfill our natural spirit's tendency.  We as believers must not submit to that.. we are given two battle orders from God.  Two things that a believer must do in spiritual battle.

1.  Submit to God

2.  Resist the Devil

Without Spot: Forgiveness and Cleansing

Forgiveness and Cleansing

What is the difference between forgiveness and cleansing?  We know that initially our sins are forgiven on that wonderful day when we have heard the gospel, when we believed the truth that we are sinners, separated from God and bound for a lost eternity.  But we have repented, and believed the gospel, that the Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood, and taken upon himself the penalty for sin. That he became the perfect sacrifice for us..  We trust in Him as our Saviour, and by this trusting, we are saved by faith, "not by works that any man should boast." 

But what after this?  Romans 6 and 7 tell us that we are no longer slaves to sin, in bondage to sin, and because of the Spirit within, we have the power to overcome sin.  Yet, because we are still in this body, Paul says in Romans 7 "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which would not, that I do...  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin"..   not that we willfully sin as we did before we were saved, but because we are not yet in our resurrection bodies, and perfected we still do sin.

So then cleansing comes in..  though we are forgiven and heaven bound,  we still need cleansing..  not for salvation, but for close fellowship with the Lord.  David is our example..  and Psalm 51 was written after his sin with Bathsheba. 

Lamentations: the Church's Funeral Lament

Lamentations 1

How, says Jeremiah, has it come to this..

Lamentations, a lament or wailing, the occasion was the destruction of Jerusalem in 588BC, the dissolution of the Jewish state, both civil and ecclesiastical.  The judgment and chastisement of the old testament church. Jeremiah warned of the destruction that was coming for 40 years. The predictions of ruin were mocked by false prophets and not believed and scorned by God's people.  Everyone mocked Jeremiah's message.

Church historians say that the fires that destroyed Jerusalem burned for 3 days.

To properly understand the message of Lamentations we must sit in the smoking ruins of the old covenant church.  We must smell the stench of the thousands upon thousands of rotting corpses. And then we may say, How has it come to this. Even though Jeremiah knew the answer even before he commenced his ministry because God told him that the old covenant church would not listen to him.  When the judgment comes, Jeremiah still weeps for the church because he cares for the church, one of the very few people that does care.

The Sins of Feminism, Stubborness and Flattery

Feminism, Stubbornness and Flattery

Isaiah 3:12 "as for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead they cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths."

God expects his people to obey him.. he promises blessings for obedience and chastisements for disobedience. 

1.  Feminism and child rule
2.  Stubbornness: The sin of "I will do it my way"
3.  Flattery: The sin of tell us what we want to hear

Feminism: God's people were oppressed by children and ruled by women.. they were causing error and causing God's people to stray.  Feminism is always displeasing to God.  Women ruling is always displeasing to God especially in God's church.  Feminism is a sin among God's people.  Christians are conditioned by world's media to allow feminism into churches.  If churches were obeying the bible, feminism would not be in the church if the new testament Epistles were taught.