Our Most Pressing Need - Mark 1:40-41

    
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” - Mark 1:40-41

    If we were ill with a terminal disease, is there anything we wouldn’t do to be cured? This question assumes that we are ill and that we are aware of our illness. But what of those who are both sick and dying but do not know it? This, of course, brings us to the truth that we must recognize our great need for restoration to begin with. Our blindness as sinners often keeps us from admitting both our sins and our need for the cure.
    There are many who know they are sinners and simply don’t care. They don’t have the least concern about offending God. They see no great requirement of repentance or contrition because they don’t see that they have done anything wrong. There are the very people who claim that they are basically good people. They are wrong.  “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
    Of course, there will always be a dying soul who asks about all the fine things he or she has done in their lives. “Do they count for nothing?” They ask. Again, the Scriptures are clear - “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” - Isaiah 64:6. The KJV refers to our ‘righteous deeds’ as ‘filthy rags.’ So we clearly have not recognized our need for forgiveness. As long as we go about our lives believing God grades us all on a curve after we die, He will not forgive or redeem us from an eternity in hell. But there are many who complain and say “That’s not fair!” Unfortunately, we have all become like the culture we live in. We no longer believe in the equality of opportunity. We demand equality of outcome. Hint: God makes the rules, not us, and complain as we might, until we recognize our need for forgiveness, we are all headed for hell. We must know our salvation is not accessible by anything we can possibly do. We must rely on God’s grace to find our redemption. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9.
    We must put away our human pride and recognize that our greatest need cannot be emphasized enough. We first have to come to conclude that we are sinners. On our own, we will never come to that understanding. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. With His illumination of our thoughts, words, and deeds, He convicts us of our sins. If His conviction of our sins does not lead us to regeneration and faith, we are left in a world without truth, without promise, without hope! “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” - 1 Corinthians 2:14.  
    What all of us must do if we don’t want to end up in hell is listen to and heed the words of Jesus Christ. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” - Matthew 7:21-23.
    No valiant human virtue will accomplish for us what only God can do. Neither all the charitable works, nor all the generosity, nor all the mercy we show to others will do what only God can do. Only He can save us in eternity.
     Each of us is running out of time. Acknowledging our sinful natures and being regenerated by the Holy Spirit is our only hope of being washed clean in the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This is our most pressing need!

Our God, A Consuming Fire - Hebrews 12:28-29

 

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29

The writer of Hebrews draws a conclusion based on the previous texts. And that text provides a theology that is exclusive to Christianity alone. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” - Hebrews 12:22-24.

According to Holy Scripture, first we are called to be grateful for this ‘heavenly Jerusalem,’ this kingdom, that we have been granted access to, through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Because it is through Christ it cannot now or ever be shaken. It is rock solid for those who believe. We have been assured of this by Christ himself. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” - John 5:24. Our guaranteed salvation awaits us all in the shadow of the Cross.

Gratitude should be of paramount importance to the Christian. Our gratitude should be observable in our worship to God. Thus, we are called to offer Him ‘acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.’ Those three criteria should be apparent in the way we worship God. Starting with acceptable worship we are instructed, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” - Romans 12:1. We cannot come before God with flippant attitudes and casual convenience. We are WORSHIPING GOD!

We must show our Lord both reverence and awe. Reverence should be obvious in the very way we approach our worship. “You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.” - Leviticus 26:2. We can define reverence as ‘deep respect’ tendered in solemnity and severity. I fear most people today lost the ability to respect very much. It shows in both their attitudes and behavior. God has said He will not accept such profane worship. “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” - Hosea 6:6. All the worldly things that we might do to please God injure our worship rather than enhance it. We must revere God in our hearts, our minds, and our actions. A proper heart toward God is not a mere suggestion. It is a command.

Next, we must worship with awe. The King James version, as well as many other versions, replaces awe with fear. It is most appropriate when one considers that awe is simply a synonym of the word ‘amazement.’ It does not mean the type of fear that requires recoiling in stark terror, although it could be so. Awe in this usage means wonder or astonishment. Both words often lead to fear. When we refuse to comply with God’s edicts, we should be filled with reverential fear.

Finally, we recognize that ‘our God is a consuming fire.’ If we cannot perceive this or recognize it as an offshoot of God’s holy wrath, we don’t know God. And Holy Scripture reminds frequently “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” - Psalm 111:10.

The knowledge of God is reserved for those who ‘offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe’. After all, our God IS a consuming fire.

Hardened Hearts

 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. - Exodus 7:3-4

    One of the first objections ‘non-biblicals’ (a person unfamiliar with the Bible) make concerning God’s treatment of Pharaoh in Exodus is that God told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. He would ordain it so Pharaoh would reject the request to let the people of Israel ‘go.’ So how could it possibly be Pharaoh’s fault if God made him do so?
    People also often incorrectly blame God for Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. They surmise that since Judas was one of Christ’s twelve Apostles why would God allow him to betray His Son? Once again it is either stark disbelief in the Lord’s Word or ignorance of it entirely that leads to their error. Because we are clearly told in Paul’s letter to the Romans -“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” - Romans 1:28.
    Could God also have prevented Adam and Eve from disobeying His command? Could God have prevented Joseph’s brothers from selling him into slavery? Could God also have prevented the Gerasene demoniac from becoming possessed in the first place? The answer to these questions and thousands more like them is an unequivocal ‘YES!’ God can do as He pleases with anyone, anytime and anyplace. So why does God allow such unpredictable irregularities to happen?
    Let me start by saying that the things that people do are neither unpredictable nor irregular. A person’s character is often betrayed by his or her behavior. Did it come as a surprise to anyone that the imbalanced mind in a megalomaniac like Adolf Hitler would lead to atrocities beyond belief?
    When personal choices, both good or bad, lead to habitual behavior in a person, it most often leads to the development of that individual’s character. The formula isn’t rocket science. Consistently good behavior leads to good character building. The inverse is also true.
    Why then does God allow us to make bad choices? The answer shouldn’t come as any surprise - free will. We are not God’s robots. That is why God ‘gives us up’ to our constant inclinations and proclivities. If we choose to shoot heroin on a consistent basis, it is not God’s fault that we become addicts! If we consistently berate, belittle, and abuse our spouses, it is not God’s fault that we become abusers, both domestic and in general. The things we fill our minds and hearts with are good indicators of what kind of people we have become or will become. And quite possibly the very worst thing that can happen to us is that despite warnings, opportunities to change, and even signs from God Almighty, our necks can become hardened against any kind of repentance because we have deliberately chosen to ‘be this way.’ “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” - Romans 1:29-32.
    We should all heed the words of the Apostle Paul when he tells us - “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” - Philippians 4:8-9. The choice really is up to us.

Our Deliverance -Matthew 23:37

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” - Matthew 23:37

    As poignant as Jesus’ words were, we still to this day refuse to be gathered to Him. In this 21st Century, we are now nearing the greatest time of apostasy among many professing Christians as well as the hateful and deliberate rejection of faith in Christ, His forgiveness, and His perfect atonement for our sins. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” - Hebrews 11:6.
    Taking great liberties with the word ‘prophets,’ we can infer the term ‘teachers.’ These teachers in many lands are routinely persecuted, tortured, and executed. So yes, in a sense today’s prophets are still being killed. Using the term persecute in place of the word ‘stones,’ we can easily see quite a bit of stone-throwing in America and other Western nations today by many governments, media sources, and people of notoriety. True Biblical Christianity is frequently lambasted as intolerable and narrow-minded, even among many professing evangelicals. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” - 2 Timothy 3:12-13.
    Our tribulations grow worse by the day as faith in God and His righteousness are scrutinized for not being inclusive enough. For Christians to be received with open arms by the world, the flesh, and the devil we must cave in and genuflect at the altars they have erected in the place of God. Be it abortion, homosexuality, gender politics, or atheism, to name but a few, we must accept them, encourage them, and endorse such sinful behavior and abandon God’s laws which have stood for His righteousness since Moses walked down from Mt. Sinai. But God will neither be ignored nor mocked. “Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.” - Jeremiah 6:19.
    As our cities begin to crumble and our infrastructure collapses around us be mindful that it is only a reflection of how we have disintegrated morally. Food prices increase as it becomes scarce, Potable water is disappearing at an ever-increasing rate. Be sure that the god of technology will not save us. It cannot save us. Pestilence and famine creep across our land as thousands die with not enough hospital beds to go around. Hunger slithers through many of our largest cities like a snake coiling around its victims. Murder sweeps through our land without compunction as we, like rabid animals, kill for the sheer thrill of it. And we cry out and wonder, “Where is God in all this?” The very ones demanding to know where God is don’t even believe in Him. There is only One who can save us and we have turned our backs on Him! AS we have done, so will He. “But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33'
    There is no hope for our nation nor for our world short of returning to our beliefs in the one true God. And if we never had such belief it is time we believe now! God promises a new life, an eternal life for those who come to Him in faith but we must return to Him. “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. “ - Deuteronomy 30:1-3. The words of Moses continue to offer the promise of God’s deliverance to this day. We have but to return to the Lord to see our deliverance.