The Good Thief - Luke 23:43

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” - Luke 23:43

Despite Catholic tradition suggesting that his name was “Dismas,” the man known as “The Good Thief” was a man without a name. There is a certain aura surrounding this criminal that we need to understand in relation to our own salvation. He is nameless, indicating that, like all of God’s elect, we come to Christ in our own anonymity. We aren’t stellar celebrities with name recognition among our fellow sinners. Yes, we are sinners, but all of us are sinners. “ . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .” - Romans 3:23. We come to God smeared in our own sin, not the sins of others. Like the Good Thief we start off our journey with our own form of impenitence and disbelief, but thanks be to God  - we are regenerated before our physical deaths. The Holy Spirit indwells us and we recognize Jesus Christ as our one way to salvation. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” - John 14:6. And like both thieves, we all have our own crosses to bear. “There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.” - Luke 23:32. Put to death we all shall be, but we can rise from death through saving faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’” - Luke 23:42. Which thief will we follow into eternity?

This Cup - Luke 22:20

 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” - John 18:11

In each of the four accounts of Christ’s arrest in the garden we see Peter’s angst, short temper, and devotion come into play as he swipes his sword at one of those involved. “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.” John 18:10. Perhaps the most revealing words spoken by Jesus to Peter on the occasion were not His admonition to put away the sword, but His question regarding the cup which God the Father had given to Him.
In both Mark’s and Luke’s account of the Agony In the Garden, the writers recount Christ’s words regarding the cup He was to drink from. “And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.’”- Mark 14:36. “And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’” - Luke 22:41-42.
In his words “this cup” Christ referred to His crucifixion - His horrendous death at the hands of the religious establishment of Judea and a very misguided and jubilant crowd. But despite the enmity of the world there was a purpose - The love of God for us sinners. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.  Christ wasn’t rebuking Peter for using his sword. He was rebuking Peter’s timing! He was correcting Peter as He had done so on many previous occasions. Peter still did not understand the need for Jesus to die. Reconciliation, was Christ’s purpose in “this cup.” Man’s reconciliation with God, despite Peter’s and mankind’s stubbornness. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” - Romans 5:10.  Christ’s death reconciled us to God; Christ’s life of perfect obedience to God was then imputed to us for our salvation.
This cup was offered up for us by Jesus Christ. His precious blood was shed so that we could find forgiveness for our sins  and salvation in no other Name. May we praise our Lord and Savior forever!

Haters? - Proverbs 6:16-19

These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. - Proverbs 6:16-19

It is an all too common accusation used today by pop-cultural elitists. It’s generally the first smear used by them to besmirch a person who holds tightly to Christian values and ethics. The word suggests a vileness reserved for only the worst bigots, racists, and narrow-minded fools. Yes, by now we have all heard the word, “hater,” used in some context to anyone who doesn’t go along with the current multicultural diversity mind set. Don’t approve of homosexuality? Hater! Don’t give in to the latest politically correct buffoonery? Hater! Don’t believe in same-sex marriage? Hater! Don’t believe in paying for the able-bodied who will not work? Hater!
It seems that all one has to do to earn the badge of dishonor these days is to raise the voice of reason from the Christian perspective. But it seems apparent that the hate these godless minions accuse others of is the very hate they practice themselves. But we need not worry. Jesus predicted as much. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” - John 15:18.
We know from what God has spoken that these abominable people are proud lying murderers, who are wicked in heart, quick to sin and quick to cause trouble. As one of my Father’s children, I must plead guilty as charged to their accusations of hatred. For as God hates, so do I. “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.” - Psalm 139:21-22. Perfect hatred - that’s a hatred based on sound reason and concrete evidence, not simple personal dislike or culturally contrived propaganda. While it is true that we should pray for those who practice criminal, civil, social and cultural evil, we should also pray, as we have been told, to be delivered from the evil one and his minions. “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:13.
Haters? We would be worse than haters were we to refuse our Christian duty to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Ours is a true compassion based upon Christian love for our neighbors and our enemies. When we see someone descending into hell it is our duty to try to reach down and pull them out! That is love, not hatred! May we always and under every circumstance love what God loves and hate what God hates

What Would Lazarus Have Said? - Luke 16:30-31

And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” - Luke 16:30

    What if Lazarus had returned from the dead? What would he have told the rich man’s brothers?
    Despite our best intentions sometimes we are forced to seriously consider the loss of a friend or member of our family who was, for lack of a more delicate term, “unsaved.” Platitudes are routinely expressed by one and all and far more often than not by well-meaning folks who simply wish to express their sympathy, having had no real knowledge of the deceased’s character or reputation. But here we find ourselves, having known the individual intimately or at least to the degree that we’re certain that the man or woman being eulogized is nothing like the man or woman being described. There is a Latin phrase - “de mortuis nil nisi bonum,”  of the dead say nothing but good. It is in fact so ingrained in our culture that even the most mean-spirited and hateful professional journalists seldom break the rule.
If we, as Christians are asked to say something at the wake or memorial we may be forced to say a few words to the grieving party. We would be perfectly right to express our sympathy for their loss; however, we must never, never repeat the nonsense that their loved one is in “a better place!” That could very well be a bold faced lie. “A better place?” Where? What is it about this “place” that makes it better? Is there more leg room? Do the seats recline? Is there free WIFI? Then, of course, there’s the sage who pronounces that the deceased is “no longer in pain.” My impulse when I hear such a ridiculous statement is to ask, “What makes you so sure that they are in no pain now?”   
    Certainly we cannot know the heart of man. Only God can know what is in a person’s heart. But when the gathering begins to share what a wonderful person so-and so was we may remember a different person; one not as ingratiating as the mythological being they are all describing. That doesn’t mean we are required to correct the record but we must be careful not to feed revisionist history. And any prayers we have must be for the surviving family and friends of the deceased. What kind of prayers should they be?
    Perhaps if Lazarus could return from heaven to speak to the rich man’s brothers we would know exactly what to pray for. Perhaps if Lazarus spoke, he would have declared  “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” - John 14:6. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4:12. And I would add, “ . . . Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2nd Corinthians 6:2. He would plead with them that if they chose Christ, now, that the offer of eternal life would be extended to them, today! He would cry out to them, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:10-11.  He would tell them “that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It may certainly be too late for the deceased but it is not too late for the living! Blessed be the name of Jesus Christ forever. That is what I believe he would say.

Preliminary To Armageddon - 2nd Timothy 4:3-4

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. - 2nd Timothy 4:3-4

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” - Opening Lines of the Declaration of Independence

    No where in the Declaration of Independence does it even mention or allude to the unalienable RIGHT to abortion, homosexual acts, or euthanasia. The word “Life”  itself, precludes even the notion of murder, whether it be of the innocent unborn or the aged of our nation. And the vile crassness of any kind of sex outside the bonds of holy matrimony as Biblically defined, one man and one woman, represents a death of its own sordid variety. Certainly, according to the Declaration, God Almighty never endowed anyone with any such “rights!” The very idea that a holy God would present mankind with such a depraved set of individual “options” is obscene in itself. These sinful notions are indeed the stuff that un-Godly myths are made of.
    As Christians we are daily faced with repugnant ideas, “laws,” and positions that we simply cannot agree with or kowtow to. And while it is true that our enemy, Satan, the Accuser, is a spirit of darkness, he often uses his minions in the physical world to wreak havoc upon our sensibilities and our lives. Just as our Heavenly Father used human agents to do His bidding throughout Holy Scripture it is not beyond the scope of consideration to believe that He still does so. Ask any Bible-believing Christian; no, ask anyone who has even the slightest knowledge of Scripture to name a person in the Bible. Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Esther, Mary, Joseph will be among those noted and the list goes on of the “human agents” that God has used to achieve His holy will. Are we to assume that God no longer uses human agents in the 21st Century? Even in our recent past we know that prayer alone did not, could not, stop the Nazi Holocaust. Human agents had to be employed and empowered by God almighty to end the horrendous slaughter of the European Jewish communities. There are thousands of nameless martyrs who can no longer spread the Gospel . . . because they are dead! And while I am not suggesting that there is new revelation from God, could the authority to physically defend life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (within the Scriptural definition) already exist in the Bible along side of our spiritual weapons of warfare? After all, was it not Jesus Christ Himself, who on the eve of His crucifixion commanded His disciples, “ . . .“But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword let him, sell his garment and buy one.” - Luke 22:36. Liberal Christian theology would love to redact this verse from Luke because a Christ-centered command to self-defense flies in the face of their “easy going, all love and mercy Jesus.”
From the beginning God has demanded physical justice in response to physical evil. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” - Genesis 9:6. We are called to “provide” for our own, our households, and our faith or be considered “worse” than unbelievers. Doesn’t providing for our own include the act of physically defending them in the face of violence? “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” - 1 Timothy 5:8. Didn’t David declare, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle-” - Psalm 144:1. Even the wisdom of the Proverbs indicates that “A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well.” Proverbs 25:26.
The time is no longer coming . . . the time is here! We simply cannot continue to ignore or refuse to train ourselves to protect our faith, our families, our nation, and our lives any longer. The writing IS on the wall - “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” - 1 Peter 5:8.
May we all wake up before the impending persecutions that will indeed become common place if we refuse to be engaged physically as well as spiritually and may the hand of God guide us in our defense of the faith.

The Elephant And The Ant- Titus 1:16

They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work - Titus 1:16

I used to play a game with my children when they were small. I’d draw a picture of an animal and then write the wrong name of it underneath. If I drew, say, an ant, I would write “elephant” underneath it. They would then laugh and correct me. We had fun with the ridiculous names I would write under different animals. I see much the same deliberate misnomers at work today when people deny the true nature of God. They describe God as the see Him . . . on their terms rather than the way he describes Himself in holy Scripture. But there’s nothing funny at play when people deny the true attributes of God. This should be as sobering as a splash of cold water in one’s face. - “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” - 2 Timothy 2:12.
When we describe God on our own terms we essentially deny both His holiness and His sovereignty. We deliberately exhibit our sinful pride as we attribute to God those traits and qualities they we find most appealing to our human desires. Rather than exhibiting the reverent fear of the Lord as Isaiah did we exhibit the arrogance of the Pharisees. As for such people, God often hardens the hearts rather then sending the Holy Spirit to indwell it. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting . . . .” - Romans 1:28. The reason for God’s holy wrath is also clear from scripture - “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” - Romans 1:18-19. God has manifested His attributes to us all. To deny them and ascribe to Him our own subjective traits is a direct assault on His character and will not go unpunished. .  “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 10:33.  Let us never attempt to redefine the standards of our holy and sovereign of God.

Endless Possibilities - Luke 18:26

“And those who heard it said, ‘Who then can be saved?’” - Luke 18:26

How often I have heard unbelievers respond negatively to the outward call of God. It seems they object to the possibility of their own salvation on two fronts: (1) They don’t know “how” to achieve it, and (2) they simply cannot fathom the power of grace. In a word, most feel it would require some works related scenario for them to “find God.” This is perhaps one of the most perplexing issues facing us as evangelists - we have a group of unbelievers who can’t understand what must be done to be saved and when we tell them that it is by the grace of God through the atonement of Jesus Christ they look at us as though we had two heads! So how do we solve the conundrum? We could use some template for salvation similar to “the Graham Formula”: ( Sermon+Counseling+Follow Up = Decision = Born Again Decision), but that would be disingenuous and a lie. I believe that Dr. Sinclair Ferguson said best -  “The remedy for a culture that will not listen to the preaching of the word is to preach the word.” And it is in that preaching of the word that our audience will find the true road to salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9.  God will open the hearts of those whom He has deemed to be saved, not because of anything they have done but because of His own pleasure. In their inability to understand the grace and love of God they need to be given God’s own words on the subject of “how” they can be saved - “But He said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.’” - Luke 18:27
Think of someone who we wouldn’t necessarily consider “saved.” Is he or she any worse than we were before the grace of God overwhelmed us in our sin and regenerated our lives? When we think of salvation, wasn’t the thief on the cross next to Christ saved? “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” - Luke 23: 42-43. And what of the likes of Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of Christians. Through the grace of God he too was saved. As for myself I know if He saved me; he can save anyone. There is no one above the grace of God.