A Hellish Distraction - Matthew 6:21

  
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:21

    We can all tell what the important things in life are for people we know and meet. How many times have we heard someone say, “His heart is in his (fill in the blank).” And that blank word may be music, art, writing, or in any of an untold number of endeavors or other vocations; sometimes it can even be people. Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:21 describe the issue in no uncertain terms. To rephrase it we could say, “You can tell what is important to someone by seeing what they hold dear." "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” - Proverbs 4:23.
    How often have we been with someone who is an avid NASCAR or football or music fanatic? How often have we wondered if they just couldn’t talk about something else for a change? From their logo-inscribed caps, mugs, tee shirts, and other paraphernalia, they seem to ooze with their preoccupations. One look and we know what they hold dear.
    It’s not that these diversions and distractions are evil in themselves What makes them sinful is the human predilection toward making them our ‘all in all’ that becomes a slippery slope towards idolatry. And that is what becomes dangerous to our hearts: when we allow such idolatry to distract us from our real purposes here as children of God. “Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man? Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” - Westminster Larger Catechism (1648). We are to worship the one true God of the Holy Scriptures and it is sinful if we do not. This is no hidden command that needs to be revealed through divination or prophecy. This is the command of God. “You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:3.
    The distraction from what we know is our duty is a fruit of the Satanic itch: to make anything but the proper worship of God our chief and highest end.  Satan litters the road ahead of us with his tricks and trinkets to draw us off. With the pretty and the desirable, he fools us into believing we may take any road, even the road to perdition. Anything to distract us from the proper worship of God. “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 11:3.
    For many or most, I would contend, the path to those things we desire most, those things we consider to be the greatest importance in our lives do not matter much. When we consider how significant things like hobbies and ‘free time’ are to most people it’s a wonder that our considerations about our souls and God get any play time at all. We pontificate about what we hold to be of value in our lives, all the time completely ignoring the gravity of attending to our spiritual needs. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33.
    We must remember that inevitably we will listen to one of two masters: Jesus or the devil. There’s no third alternative. It’s Christ or Satan. Period! Our Sundays (and any other day) can be spent in meditation and the things of God or we can spend them at the beach or a sporting event. It doesn’t matter if we fail to discern the difference; God knows the difference and God will judge. “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” - Matthew 16:27.
    At that time how many of us will cry out, “have we been judged because we were distracted from Your glory?” Yes, a hellish distraction has brought God’s perfect judgment down upon those whose hearts have no thoughts about their eternal souls.

If You Love Me - John 14:15

 

 

 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” - John 14:15

    The greatest mischaracterization of Jesus Christ is the erroneous belief that He is all love and nothing but love. Such a belief reduces Christ to a one-dimensional being who is happy to overlook any sin, loves you ‘just the way you are,’ and would never punish anyone by sending them to hell. This is a god of their own design made in direct violation of the second and third Commandments - “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” - Exodus 20:3-4.  Again, the ‘Jesus’ prayed to by most unbelievers is a figment of their imagination or a downright designer god made in the image of their desires. Either way, he is not the Jesus of the Bible. He is a fantasy figure of their own making, based upon the attributes they find most appealing. After all, if he is not the Jesus of the Bible then who is he and where did they get their beliefs?
    Mind you, this imaginary Jesus will never be the subject of their worship or praise. He is only thought about in their pagan prayers when they are left without recourse or when they are without hope. They toss out their anchors, hoping they’ll grab in the winds of expectation only to find that in the end, they have no real hope. “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.
    Oftentimes, these unbelievers will try to shame Bible-believing Christians by claiming that Jesus loves everyone and doesn’t judge anyone in stark contrast to what Scripture says. This is one of the oldest tactics ever devised by the Accuser - ‘make every attempt to turn their own weapons against them.’ Sadly for these unbelievers, the ploy will never work against a true Christian who has a handle on the Bible and what it says in its context. It’s actually just a pathetic bid to use our faith in God against us. For we know what our sovereign Lord expects from us. True love of God and neighbor is exhibited in our thought, words, and deeds - “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” - 2 John 1:6. Notice, we are called to walk ‘according to  His commandments,’ not just the ones we prefer or find easiest to comply with.
    Just because we acknowledge the schemes of the devil we shouldn’t assume he and his minions will change them anytime too soon. We need to remember the wiles of the devil- he knows Scripture and exactly how to twist it to serve his malevolent purposes. Because we live in a fallen world, he never lacks the stooges to charge us with failure to live up to our calling. As Christians, we will always be called to face off with subversives who contort the Word of God in their feeble attempts to make us back away from our faith. They will make every effort to become the stumbling blocks in our walk with God. Let us always remember the warning Christ gave. “. . . but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” - Matthew 18:6.
    As we pursue our faith, we keep in mind the truth of love as described in God’s holy Word - “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” - 1 Corinthians 16:13. Standing firm in the faith, we will never be subject to the chicanery of unbelief.

Blessings Through Humility - 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

    Humility commonly gets a bad rap. Too often it is incorrectly defined as weak, indecisive,
uncertain, and powerless. Humility is much greater than those paltry descriptions. True humility brings with it rewards that cannot be imagined, let alone be obtained, by any other method. “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” - Proverbs 22:4. But we must not misconstrue what ‘riches’ means. We are not promised prosperity by the proverb or anywhere else in the Bible. Its meaning manifests itself in a more spiritually reverent life.
    Imagine the honor we would show our parents if we were humble toward them. We would respect humanity showing no strife, or anger, or violence. We would never engage in adultery or sexual sin. We would respect what belongs to our neighbor, never stealing what is rightfully theirs. We would never suffer the consequences of untruthfulness. And we would never show envy or jealousy. We would truly be living according to the second greatest commandment - “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” - Philippians 2:3. Would this not be treating others as we want to be treated? Can we even imagine a world where all mankind displayed such humility?
    We know that we live in a fallen world simply by introspection in our own lives, dealing with other humans, watching the news, or simply considering the history of this world. Paul speaks to us in Galatians - “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” - Galatians 5:19-21. To each of the fallen behaviors that Paul lists, all could be avoided by practicing humility because these are all sins of pride and true humility conquers pride!
    We are fooling no one, least of all, God, when we imply that we have no moral compass for our worldly behavior. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8. God truly loves a humble heart. There is almost no better definition of a Godless person than one who is ruled by his pride.“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” - Proverbs 16:5. God abhors pride in the strongest sense.
    The world we live in demands that we respond to every slight with a slap, every slap with a punch, and every punch with a kick but is that really how we are to show wisdom, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness? We know how Christ told us to respond to insult. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:38-39.
    Humility is the pathway to peace and tranquility. We show our knowledge and understanding through our humility And without it, all we will ever experience is hostility, friction, and discord. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” - Proverbs 11:2.
    The blessings associated with humility will only come to us if we are indeed truly humble and never while we are consumed with our worldly pride.

Doctrine Must Divide - Romans 16:17-18

    
 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. - Romans 16:17-18

    Truth, for it to actually be the truth, must divide itself from the lie. Commingling the truth with error will always end up in more error. The chasm between the two should be as apparent as day is to night. The difference between truth and error should not be obscured by clever articulation, emotion, or falsehood of any kind. This is why doctrine must divide. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” - 1 John 4:1-3
    The current state of Christianity in the 21st Century is rife with distortion, leading the faithful into misjudgment and confusion. Every conceivable lie is perpetrated. From the health-wealth gospels to the one-dimensional Jesus who preaches nothing but love for all men, even in their sin. These ever-present heresies ignore the perspicuity and evidence of God’s justice, wrath, and judgment. “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine . . .” - 1 Timothy 1:8-10. Those who preach a doctrine different from that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (the Bible) are preaching heresy.
    Holy Scripture has never promised to be comfortable by the world’s standards. Those who promise comfort, health, and prosperity are not preaching from the Word of God! “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” - 1 Timothy 6:3-5. These are the heretics who preach all manner of ungodliness as ‘the truth,’ against the very Word of God. We have long been warned of such people “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.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4. And we have been given certain instructions regarding them. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” - 1 John 10-11.
    There is only one way. As we have been taught, we must be like the faithful Bereans. It is our Christian duty to test the veracity of the Word thru Scripture. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” - Acts 17:11. The Word of God is our litmus test. No church tradition, no Roman papacy, no Apocryphal writing, and no ‘emotional experience’ can or will ever replace the holy doctrines found within God’s revealed Word.
 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Holy Scripture must be the division of God’s true Word from all others so that we may be complete and equipped for every good work.

The ‘Why And What’ Of Our Salvation - Matthew 1:20-21

    
 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:20-21

    It is Easter, to most Americans. To some, just another ‘religious holiday.’ To others, a time to hide eggs from the children in the morning and to entertain family and friends with a festive meal in the afternoon. Still, for others in their ‘Sunday best’ and their gaudy ‘Easter bonnets,’ it is often the one day of year they attend church.
    I won’t get into the details of such spiritual mediocrity. What I want to address this fine Spring morning is the reason we recognize the day - the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was, in fact, the only reason Jesus was born at all. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” - 1 Timothy 1:15.
    To understand this fact we need to know why we need saving and what we need saving ‘from.’
    First of all we need saving because in our natural state we are sinners from birth. If we were to go about our lives indifferent to salvation our lives would prove to be nothing but enmity with God. Proof? Every creature on earth fulfills it’s natural role as God has ordained. Every creature but man. Because of man’s sinful transgressions we need borders, armies, police, courts, jails, fences and doors with locks. No other animal requires such corrective stop gaps because of the transgressions we commit as humans. We must have moral laws to protect us from ourselves.  
    “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. 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.” - Romans 1:28-31. Clearly, we can see ourselves in this sinful state if we are honest with ourselves.
    What we need saving from are the wages of our sins, spiritual death - eternity in hell. But ours need not be a lost cause. Hell need not be our eternal judgement because of what Jesus Christ has provided for us. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” - John 3:18.
    There are those who believe that there are many roads to heaven. “Certainly,” they say, “Jesus can’t be the only way to heaven.” Then they rattle off the names of a dozen or so idolatrous religions. But Jesus has already told us in His own words - “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6. Only through Jesus! This is why He came into the world; for this reason and this reason alone: to die for our sins. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11. When we take a moment to reflect upon our lives we come to the realization that not only did Jesus die for our sins but He also rose for our salvation. Happy Resurrection Day!

Standing Steadfast Under Trial - Acts 4:18-20

  
 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” - Acts 4:18-20

    In the current world of ‘cancel culture’ many are being fired from their jobs, publicly excoriated for their very words (and thoughts), and figuratively being chased down like Frankenstein monsters for simply speaking the truth. This is the way of the 21st Century world. Language itself is being wrung through rigorous draconian censorship not seen since Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.
    The Apostles, Peter and John, were called before the high priestly council and told not to speak of Christ or in His name anymore or they would be facing incarceration and possibly worse - “saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.”  - Acts 5:28.
    The apostles had to make a choice: preach Jesus or cease preaching in His name. The choices were simple; the threat was real. Lesser men would have bowed their heads and quietly slipped into obscurity. But these were not lesser men; these were Christ’s chosen disciples. Rather than cower and shrink back in fear and quietude, Peter spoke for them all. “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.’” - Acts 5:29-30. Peter not only declared his responsibility to obey God rather than men but boldly leveled his indictment of the scribes and Pharisees to their faces. The courage Peter and the apostles showed was fueled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and no man was able to scare them into silence!
    Many of our pastors and preachers today are being faced with the same godless arrogance of the cancel culture crowd. There have actually been instances where they were ordered by local secular authorities to present their sermons for scrutiny before being allowed to preach. Their churches have been ordered to stop Sunday services under threat of jail, ostensibly to keep the current pandemic from spreading, yet crowds of thousands are permitted to protest in the streets and attend entertainment gatherings and fill the local Walmarts and other grocery locations without suffering any of the prohibitions reserved for Christian gatherings. Pastors have been arrested for holding services. But all this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg as the clergy has been accused of hate speech for simply preaching the Gospel!
    There is no telling where and when this satanic madness will end. In fact, reading the paper or watching the news will confirm the aggressive nature of the authorities when it comes to God’s holy word. The atheistic taunts of the secular humanists continue to accuse Christianity of hate crimes on a weekly basis when all our pastors are doing is preaching the word of God, something they have done for over 2,000 years despite the jeers, the threats, and the reality of continuing persecution and martyrdom.
    The Apostles knew what the intimidation and peril of preaching Christ to a ‘Christ-less’ world. “and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.” - Acts 5:40. The persecution continues to this very day. As Christians, we must make up our minds like God’s warrior, Joshua, did - “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:15.
    With all the anti-Christian rhetoric and hate on part of the authorities today, it won’t be easy. Even Jesus said as much - “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19. As Christians, we must stand up and preach the Word of God boldly and without fear for we have God on our side. “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” - James 1:12.

Why Prayer? - Isaiah 37:21

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria - Isaiah 37:21

There is a school of thought among the many Christian denominations that God has already decided what His decrees will be and thus prayer does not and cannot change His will; therefore; why pray? A more sobering look at why we are to pray awaits anyone with a Bible in their possession to understand that God does indeed answer prayer. Jesus Himself said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” - Matthew 7:7. Do these sound like useless and ineffective commands? Does this sound like God doesn’t answer prayer? Doe this sound like God has already made up His mind?
There are only a few reasons why God doesn’t answer prayer. One would be what the Apostle James regards as an improper request, not because our prayer is improper but because we have asked for something that is not within the will of God. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” James 4:3. We must approach God in a manner appropriate to Him as our Creator, Sustainer, and Lord.
The Apostle John reiterates this approach when he writes - “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”- 1 John 5:14. We must be certain that what we ask for fits within God’s certain will, even when His will does not placate our human desires. Our own mothers and fathers didn’t always give us what we wanted; God is no different in this small respect.
Another reason God will reject our prayers as insignificant is when we come to Him with sinful hearts. Naturally, we all come to God in such a manner because we are all sinners at heart. But approaching God with humble hearts in reverence and contrition will often loosen us from the worldly bonds that so often darken our souls with unrepentant sin. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.” - Psalm 66:18-19. Bringing our prayer requests to God while we bask in our sinfulness will always ring with the hollow and forlorn sound of ‘the weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
As regenerated children of God, we have been instructed to - “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Again, we see that this is the will of God for us. The effectiveness of our prays made according to God’s will is hardly up for debate. Among the many clear accounts of answered prayer are this one - “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” - James 5:17-18.
We may never know what God’s plans involve or are to bring about. We know what His declared will holds for us but His decretive will is another thing altogether. Why does God cure one but not another? Why does He save one from harsh persecution and not another? Why does He allow the genocide against one nation and not another? Why does God allow one child to live yet another to die? The answer to these questions we can only speculate about. Our understanding of why God does things the way He chooses to appears to us (if at all) as though through a fog. But one day - “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” - 1 Corinthians 13:12.
Our prayers are commanded by God and if for that reason alone, let us pray.