Category Archives: Wednesday Bible Study

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 39 to 42:

Q39. What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A39. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to His revealed will.

Q40. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
A40. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the Moral Law.

Q41. Where is the Moral Law summarily comprehended?
A41. The Moral Law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.

Q42. What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?
A42. The sum of the Ten Commandments is, “to love the Lord our God” with all our heart, all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

Today we will go through John 1 verses 35 to 42. John the Baptist is just about to complete his task as defined by God and spoken by the prophets so long ago (Isaiah 40:3). This chapter is also where Jesus begins his ministry and starts to gather his disciples.

35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples,

36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
Charles Spurgeon, known as The Prince of Pastors and also known to be able to speak, without microphones (this was the late 1800’s) to large auditoriums and everybody could hear him. Here is a charming story that relates to verse 36. “Spurgeon once tested an auditorium in which he was to speak that evening. Stepping into the pulpit, Spurgeon loudly proclaimed, “Behold the lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” Satisfied with the acoustics, he left and went his way. Unknown to him, there were two men working in the rafters of that large auditorium, neither one a Christian. One of the men was pricked in his conscience by the verse Spurgeon quoted and became a believer later that day!”

It is very interesting how God uses us in our everyday lives. Our job is not to deliver salvation, but to bring the True Word (John 17:17) to an unbelieving world. As believers, it should show, by our actions and our words. We have the ability, through the Grace of the Lord, to say or do something that will cause an unbeliever to wonder at where this example of faith or good works is coming from. You really need to think about this and how it relates to your life. John the Baptist understood his role as herald to the Lamb of God. His example, his life, was used by God to show people their sin and repent, for that is the first act of a believer. Repent and forsake your sin, and then pursue Christ like your life depends on it.

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
The implication may be that they went after Jesus to examine Him more closely because of John’s testimony. These guys knew the scriptures and when they heard “Lamb of God”, that was good enough for them to follow this Jesus to see for themselves. They eventually dedicated their lives to Him as true disciples and apostles when Jesus called them to permanent service after these events. At this point in the narrative, John the Baptist fades from the scene and the attention focuses upon the ministry of Christ.

38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”

The strongest and most prevailing argument with an awakened soul to follow Christ, is, that it is he only who takes away sin. Whatever communion there is between our souls and Christ, it is he who begins the discourse. He asked, What do you seek? The question Jesus put to them, we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Him, What do we design and desire?

39 He *said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Come and see. They think of a visit later, it may be, on the following day. He bids them come at once. Then, as now, he was willing that they should come at once and enjoy the full opportunity which they desired of his conversation. Jesus is ever ready to admit those who seek him to his presence and favor.

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

From MacLaren’s Expositions:
There are many ways by which souls are brought to their Saviour. Sometimes, like the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, men seek Him earnestly and find Him. Sometimes, by the intervention of another, the knowledge of Him is kindled in dark hearts. Sometimes He Himself takes the initiative, and finds those that seek Him not. We have illustrations of all these various ways in these simple records of the gathering in of the first disciples. Andrew and his friend, with whom we were occupied in our last sermon, looked for Christ and found Him. Peter, with whom we have to do now, was brought to Christ by his brother; and the third of the group, consisting of Philip, was sought by Christ while he was not thinking of Him, and found an unsought treasure; and then Philip again, like Andrew, finds a friend, and brings him to Christ.

41 He *found first his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).

From Gill’s Exposition
He first findeth his own brother Simon,…. Either before the other disciple, or before he found any other person: after he and the other disciple departed from Christ, being affected with the grace bestowed upon him, and his heart warm with the conversation he had had with him, and transported with joy at finding the Messiah, goes in all haste in search of his relations, friends, and acquaintance, to communicate what he had seen and heard, in order to bring them to the knowledge of the same; for such is the nature of grace.

42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Cephas – This is a Syriac word, meaning the same as the Greek word Peter, a stone. The stone, or rock, is a symbol of firmness and steadiness of character – a trait in Peter’s character after the ascension of Jesus that was very remarkable. Before the death of Jesus he was rash, headlong, variable. Yet when Christ had ascended, Peter became what Christ had wanted in him:
Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Let the Grace of the Lord flow through you and take pleasure in the fruit of the spirit that has been your allotment. Your life truly does depend upon it.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 35 to 38:

Q35: What is sanctification?
A35: Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Q36: What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A36: The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. 

Q37: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A37: The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. 

Q38: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A38: At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgement, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. 

Last week’s bible study concerned John the Baptist’s declaration of he being unworthy to untie the sandal of the One who is coming. I also introduced you to the Bereans who were known to hear what was said and go search the scriptures to see if the word that was spoken was true. True in as much as scripture is concerned. Not the truth as we know it today; we are seeing displayed before our very eyes on whichever media you choose. People, sometimes church people declaring statements of this or that, obviously not true, but since they say it is “their truth”, we must accept it as such. The very thing the Judaizers did to those who Paul was teaching the True Word to. 

A Judaizer taught that, in order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he must conform to the Mosaic Law. Circumcision, especially, was promoted as necessary for salvation. Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first, and then they could come to Christ. The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). This false doctrine was dealt with in Acts 15 and strongly condemned in the book of Galatians.

We find this in our day as such. They say abortion is Women’s Healthcare and so vital that Planned Parenthood was allowed to remain open, but churches were closed due to COVID.

They say that Black Lives Matter, but when you add “all” to that statement, they become incensed that you have changed “their” truth and will condemn you and call you a racist.

Truly nothing is new under the sun and that is very true in this supposed postmodern world. Which really means a post truth world. So it is very important to be like the Bereans and search through the scriptures to find out what is really true. An interesting side note; Monday morning, when going through my usual reading of Grace Community Church’s devotionals, the first thing I encountered was mention of the Bereans. And I have had this happen many times. I will have something that I am compelled to research and then up it pops in these devotionals from John MacArthur’s church. Now, you may nod your head internally and say to yourself, “sure that happens to you, but that never happens to me.” And if this is the case, I would ask yourself why that is? Maybe you just consider it a coincidence. This would happen when you have drunk in the world to such an extent that you believe in this thing that was brought to us by satan. It is a cousin to luck. Also an invention of satan. Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. Or maybe you have eyes to see but cannot see the beauty of Providence. You need to pursue the scriptures to remove the scales from your eyes and notice the beauty of God working in your life. Obey God and you are blessed, disobey God and you are cursed. It’s a binary choice and a free one too.

So we will pursue John 1 verses 29 to 34. 

29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

Let’s look at what John said. Where did his reference of “the Lamb of God” come from?: We know of the sacrificial lamb that was killed, and the blood sprinkled over the door in the time of Moses to save the firstborn of all the Hebrews when God destroyed the first born of Egypt.

We know that the lamb is the Passover animal sacrificed once a year in memory of that night when death passed over the Hebrew homes because of the blood of the lamb. This is saying then “This is your Passover sacrifice” speaking of Jesus. The blood of the animal could do nothing but cover the sin. 

The precious blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, does away with sin. In fact, not for just that occasion, but for all of eternity. “Taketh”, means to continually take away. It is so interesting how every little word is so important in Scripture.

John the Baptist used the expression “the Lamb of God” as a reference to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to atone for the sin of the world.  This “sin” spoken of is in the singular form. The use of the singular “sin” in conjunction with “of the world” indicates that Jesus’ sacrifice for sin potentially reaches all human beings without distinction. John makes clear however, that its efficacious effect is only for those who receive Christ.

Jesus took on sin on the cross, and sin (for the believer), died on the cross. Not just covered, but done away with. Animal’s or man’s blood could never do away with sin.

Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” The blood had to be pure from God, Himself.

30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 

“John is saying this is the one I was talking about. That is the Messiah, He is greater than I am”.

31 I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”

John knew that Jesus was a relative of his in the flesh, because John’s mother and Jesus’ mother were cousins. Although John was Jesus’ cousin, he did not know Jesus as the “Coming One” or “Messiah” (verse 33).

In the Spirit, John knew that Jesus was the promised Christ (the Messiah). Manifest means, in this instance, to render apparent (to be made visible). John’s job is to make the coming of Messiah apparent to His people, Israel.

To prepare them for meeting their Messiah, John is baptizing them, cleansing them from their sins. You cannot walk in the Light without confessing your sins. And where is that truth found?

I mostly use the NASB for bible reading and research, but this version of the text in New King James I think says it best: 

John 1: 7-10
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 cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 

At the baptism that John is speaking of, a voice from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:16-17). The thing John would have us see here is the Spirit remaining.

We can see here the Father (voice from heaven), Son of God (Word), and Holy Spirit (dove), present at the baptism of Jesus. They are all in agreement.

God had previously communicated to John that this sign was to indicate the promised Messiah, (verse 33), so when John witnessed this act, he was able to identify the Messiah as Jesus.

33 I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 

Note that Matthew chapter 3 tells a little more about this baptism of the Holy Spirit.

“But Jesus answering said to him “Permit it now; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The “He” permitted Him.

Christ was here identifying Himself with sinners. He will ultimately bear their sins; His perfect righteousness will be imputed to them (2 Cor. 5:21). This act of baptism was a necessary part of the righteousness He secured for sinners. This first public event of His ministry is also rich in meaning.

1. It pictured His death and resurrection, Luke 12:50;
2. It therefore prefigured the significance of Christian baptism;
3. It marked His first public identification with those whose sins He would bear, Isaiah 53:1-12;
4. It was a public affirmation of His Messiahship by testimony directly from heaven.

The baptism of Jesus is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Not just because of the Holy Spirit descending, or the voice from heaven, but on all knowledge of Jesus and on what God had told him, John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God.

Although, in a limited sense, believers can be called “sons of God ( Matt. 5:9; Rom. 8:14). John uses this phrase with the full force as a title that points to the unique oneness and intimacy that Jesus sustains to the Father as “Son.” The term carries the idea of the deity of Jesus as Messiah. 

That is our primary lesson of today. The last thing I will share with you is a carry over from my conversation with Delroy from last week. I said that I believe that God is at work with all believers’ lives. Those that God has given up to their sins I don’t know. And that is a mystery that none can know with certainty. We become two lumps of clay yammering of supposed inside knowledge of the Master Potter’s thinking. Anyway, this story, found by my wife on FaceBook is delightful and confirming:

My grandfather was Harry T. Shepard.  He was a trick rope and horse back rider in the Will Bill Cody “Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World Show” and known as “Handsome Harry.”  He was a horse riding, trick rope entertainer.  He had an accident and fell off of his horse one day and broke his leg.  He was recuperating in Lyndon, Kansas where he saw a picture of my grandmother in the window of the photo shop.  He said in his heart, “I am going to marry that girl.”  The town was having a box supper, where eligible girls secretly prepared a supper and put it in a box to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the buyer not knowing who prepared each box.  Then each buyer got to have dinner with whoever prepared the box.  Grandpa bought my grandmother’s box, and the rest is history.  They married in April, 1917 and were happily married until my grandfather passed away in July, 1975, 58 years.  They were a wonderful Christian example for our family to follow.  Every single person in their lineage are Christians down to their great, great grandchildren.  There are no “accidents that just happen” and my grandfather didn’t  just fall off of that horse for “no reason”.  God had a plan and He made it happen just like He planned.  Praise God!

Isaiah 55:11

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Go forth and do the Will of the Lord and love one another as He commanded us. Amen.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 31 to 34

Q31: What is effectual calling?
A31: Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. 

Q32: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A32: They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which, in this life, do either accompany or flow from them. 

Q33: What is justification?
A33: Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. 

Q34: What is adoption?
A34: Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the Sons of God. 

Today we will be going through verse 27. We are still dealing with John the Baptist and him stating for the record who he is and who he is not.

John 1:27
It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. The Pharisees were convinced of their righteousness and I think a bit puzzled as to why they would need to repent. Our present day, it is the same. I meet people all the time who are convinced they are a good person and repentance is not something they need to worry about. After all, they say that their sins have been forgiven. If you are true of heart and believe that Christ has risen from the dead and is Lord of all, that is true. However, it is incumbent upon us to repent of our daily sins. Yes, they are forgiven, but we must acknowledge the sin and forsake it, lest our blessings be withheld.

Acts 17: 11
Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Now let’s play the part of the Bereans and look at what was said. 

We’ve talked about who is good several times during various bible studies and I’ve gotten the impression of “there he goes again” from this group. Do any of us here really think of ourselves as good people? And why would you think that? We are told all through our lives that we’re a good boy or girl. Or you’ve done a good job and this reinforces the “I must be a good person” idea. And if you’ve not read the bible, you would persist in thinking this. This is the work of satan. Does that shock you? It should. Luke 18:19 has Jesus saying there are none good but God alone. The great deceiver would like you to think differently. God is Holy and does not take any sin lightly. If He alone is good, when we think we are good, we are sinning against God. I want to make this as simple as possible to let you understand something so small but so important.

So let’s figure out what I said. I used “you are true of heart” as a qualifier to the rest of what I said. To review: “If you are true of heart and believe that Christ has risen from the dead and is Lord of all, that is true. However, it is incumbent upon us to repent of our daily sins. Yes, they are forgiven, but we must acknowledge the sin and forsake it, lest our blessings be withheld.” 

 So what am I talking about? There is head knowledge of scripture and God and there is heart knowledge. You may know certain things about the bible, but if you have not taken them into your heart, it will do you no good. Your blessings will be of those that all get as general Grace. God’s grace abounds to all the earth. Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

So examine yourselves to know if your heart is true. 

2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test?

We’ve got that covered, now on to Christ has risen from the dead. You’ve heard this countless times I’m sure. But how do you know this? This is an important idea. Where did you get this knowledge? Did you read it or just hear it in Sunday School? This can be for many people, head knowledge. If you have not taken it into your heart and truly believe, it is of little value. Just another one of those things you know, that you can say to one another, but that’s about it. We find proof of it in the scripture.

Mark 16:14
Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

So the scripture tells us so and we know the bible is good from 2 Timothy 3:16 and here we have Jesus coming to the disciples, those that were told He would be raised from the dead, but that apparently was just head knowledge. 

Now why is Easter and Him who was crucified and now raised important? Laughably simple questions to those whose hearts have been examined and found true, but not all know this.

The Good News is if you are still breathing, you can still repent and accept the Lord as your savior. Now onto proof. 

John 3:16-18
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Romans 1:9
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

What I am doing here is breaking down everything I had said, and proving up on it with the scriptures. Yes there is context involved, but I don’t want to muddy the water up with that just yet. 

Let us finish out parsing my statement. The last part was to repent your sins daily or you’ll not be blessed by our Father as He would like to bless you. The simple of it is, obey God and you’ll be blessed, disobey God and you’ll be cursed. Deuteronomy 28 where Moses spells this out to those stiff necked Jews quite clearly. 

1 John 1:8
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 JOHN 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

Hebrews 10:26-27
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Revelation 3:3
Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

That covers everything I said. Now what I want you to do is think about what you know, really think about it and think about how you came to know that. Were you just told it or did you read it somewhere? Is this head knowledge or do you hold it in your heart? And now follow up on that. The internet is very good for this task but your very own bible is all you need. Sit down in a quiet place with the bible in your lap and ask God to help you find what you are looking for. None of you here can tell me you don’t have time for that. How will you know God and what he wants from you if you don’t read what he wrote? Take an interest in your salvation, for none of us knows the span of our days.

Just like John the Baptist when he said that he was not worthy of untying the sandal of Him who was crucified so that we might have eternal life. We are not worthy of God’s love, but God loves us anyway. Glorify Him in all that you do.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 27 to 30

Q27: Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A27: Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. 

Q28: Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?
A28: Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day. 

Q29: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A29: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit. 

Q30: How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A30: The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 

We will be going back to John chapter 1 today. From past bible studies, we learned about John the Baptist. He was related to Jesus through Mary, his mother. He was also prophesied to come in several places in the Old Testament:

Deuteronomy 18:15
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

Isaiah 40:3
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Malachi 3:1
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

God was letting His people know that this prophet was coming to “prepare the way” for the Messiah. And throughout the expanse of time, from Deuteronomy to just before John’s first baptism, those that followed the scripture, whose hearts aligned with the will of their Creator, they knew of this event and looked forward to it. The Pharisees probably did know, but it was head knowledge, not heart knowledge. They thought of themselves more righteous than their fellow Jews, but John’s message to them was no you are not. 

We will pick this up in John chapter 1 verse 24:

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

25 They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 

They had read the scrolls and knew that Elijah had been brought up to heaven in a flaming chariot. 2 Kings 2:11 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.

Elijah, one of two men said to have not died but gone right to heaven. Enoch was the other. Enoch, if you recall, walked with God and God so enjoyed this man’s heart that He took Enoch to heaven with Him (Genesis 5:21-24). 

Getting back to Elijah, we find in Malachi something that would cause the Pharisees to think that Elijah would be coming back.

Malachi 4:5-6
Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse

So when this hairy guy that eats bugs is baptising people in the Jordan and saying things like REPENT, the smart among them would conclude that this could possibly be Elijah. 

Kings 1:8 They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

While there were, I am sure, many hairy unkempt men walking about in those days, what really perked up their ears was John’s baptisms and message. So they sent out their minions, junior pharisees, to see just what was going on in the river Jordan.

26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 

While the Pharisees were very good at some details, they kinda missed the crucial detail of who the Messiah was. Because of their pride and supposed righteousness, they could see but not see.

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Seeing the entire vineyard but missing the essential vine, as it were. I want you to focus on verse 2 of the above passage. Gird your loins, as this now is the stern rod portion of the program.

We talk about God and Jesus all the time in these sessions. And while we hear this, do we really hear this? Or are our ears like the Pharisees? They heard what Jesus said, but didn’t hear with their hearts only their heads and were damned for what they did. 

All of us have the law written upon our hearts. This is found in many places of the bible, but I’ll use this: Psalm 40:8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

So if we know the right and wrong of things, what causes us to be casual or laid back in how we obey God? Think of it as little white lies. They are neither little nor white in God’s estimation. There is a lot of self deception built into us. We think we are doing the Lord’s will by being a good person and going to church most of the time. We tend to have our pet peeves, I mean who does not with election season being blared into our faces day and night. And that one person, man I just can’t stand to look at them, they are so… well I just can’t stand them.

I get it, I really do. I was a pet peever with the best of them. I could hold a grudge over something so small, for years. It helps with a splash of Scottish blood you know. They were good at grudges. 

Calm yourselves, I am not going to talk about politics. I am going to talk about things that result from our day to day interaction with people and our culture. What does God say about judgement? Matthew 7:1 “Judge not lest ye be judged” 

As simple as that. But what does it mean to judge? 

To judge means: to separate, to pick out, select, choose. By implication, it means to condemn, punish—avenge, conclude. It also carries the idea of having discernment. The passage where Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” 

Be clear here, I am not pointing my finger at any one person here, because I would also have to point at myself. I am guilty of judging people. Because I am a miserable sinner. We all are. When we say we can’t stand a person, can’t even listen to them, because you don’t like them that much, that is judgment. Who are you, without any sin, to pass judgement on any person?

Remember the log eye comment from Jesus? 

Matthew 7:3-5
3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

And just how does one take the log from thine own eye? Asking for a friend. The short answer is Obey God. All things are possible through Him. I hear quite often, from people who say they “just can’t”, whether it be getting over worrying or fear of something they should not have fear of. My answer is “Of course you can’t. But God can, just let Him. I could not bare ALS on my own. But God can and does for me because were I am weak, He is strong.

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So yes we are sinners prone to sin. From MacArthur’s Devotionals: Sin is a serious issue and you should never take it lightly. But when you do sin, remember that as a believer you’re immediately cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7). So always confess your sins and turn from them, but never doubt God’s power or willingness to keep you saved. Trust in His grace, not in your ability to perform.

We see how the Pharisees passed judgement on Christ. And we know what God has said about judgement. Most of this could be nipped in the bud by following what Jesus said: 

Matthew 22:37-38 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

How can you judge someone when you love them? And that is only possible with God in you. I am asking you to be aware of what’s in your heart and read the bible. How else are you going to know what God wants us to do? Take that head knowledge and apply it to your heart. You will be surprised what difference it will make in your life. And while you’re at it, I encourage you keep going through the rest of His book. It will open your eyes.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 23 to 26
Q23: What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A23: Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Q24: How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A24: Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

Q25: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A25: Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. 

Q26: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A26: Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. 

This last Sunday, I was asked by Aaron, the pastor of First Baptist Church, to give my testimony and the subject was to be Fear of Death.  The video above is that testimony.
My Sister in Law and Mother in Law were in attendance and asked me to use that for our bible study at South Grove. As to why we will now have bible study in person at South Grove versus waiting for our Governor to release his  COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency, it has become clear to me that this COVID-19 is being used by the government and they, those that rule us, have no intention to remove this Peacetime Emergency anytime soon. In fact I have read recently of a “Doubling Down” of conditions imposed on us when the flu season starts amping up. I don’t deny that COVID-19 can be lethal to certain age groups and health conditions. It is much more selective than the flu but at a death rate of .02% – as such it cannot be considered pandemic. A nasty flu year is more than this and they never cared before. All the same, if you are health compromised or nervous about this virus, take precautions. Biblically, the only people asked to take precautions were those in the house of those affected by whatever calamity or village of an outbreak. Never the whole population. 

Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

So once again we see, nothing new under the sun.

Fear of Death. I would consider that to be a prevalent idea among people. It was for me, I tried to eat right, keep my weight down and paid attention to various health sciences. I still took risks, according to my wife. I was a man after all. With the exception of risk taking, this was an effort on my part to prolong my life.

That all changed when God gave notice to me that it was time to stop fooling around. I of course resisted at first, but I have found that God is patient and has an ironic sense of humor when it comes to justice. My strength and skills were of great pride to me. And here I can use the bible to illustrate the key to this story, I will draw from Judges 7 verse 2. Gideon was told by God to raise any army to fight the Midians.

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’

It was “Too Much” and that is exactly what would have happened with me. If God had selected me as I was, my pride would have taken control and then we would move into the parable of the soils:

Luke 8:5-8 “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

I am betting with my strength and skill intact, I would not have ears to hear, metaphorically speaking. But God knows this and when you are elected to His saving Grace, you are transformed and your previous objects fall away. 

I gave in, and repented when I could not fight this or fix it, I could only submit. And I started reading the scripture. An interesting thing when your heart is transformed from a dry branch to the Living Water you do things you said you would never do. 

So here we are. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. We’ve all heard that. We have also heard that heaven is a boring place. You get a robe, a harp and a cloud and that’s pretty much how your days go. Where did those little jewels of wisdom come from? (said in my ironic voice) Not the bible, that’s for sure. The only other logical way you would have an irrational fear of death or boredom with going to heaven would be satan. He is the lion the prowls around, roaring. Have you been listening? 

There is a solution to all that you fear. Read the scripture. Now I know not all of us here have read the bible. Some of you have trouble reading due to dyslexia or never learned to read properly or eyesight is bad. Some of you are just not interested. Those of you that have trouble reading, know that there are audio versions of the complete bible and you can let me know if you’re interested in that. Those of you that can read well and read for enjoyment, but just aren’t interested, what’s the deal? Know that anyone interested in God, God is interested in you.

This from John MacArthur’s devotionals “If you’re not committed to righteousness, you not only make yourself spiritually vulnerable, but also forfeit some of God’s wonderful blessings. David prayed, “Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation” (Ps. 51:13). His sin had robbed him of his joy and assurance. That’s true of us as well because joy is directly proportional to obedience. If you’re pursuing greater righteousness, you’ll know greater joy.”

Isaiah 65:1
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. There is no good reason you could not read a chapter or 2 of the bible every day. Consider it mandatory maintenance for your soul. Just going to church or bible study is not going to cut it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
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 competent, equipped for every good work.

So read your bible or come talk to me later about why you think you can’t. I truly understand, as I was the same way once.

Back to the subject at hand, my fear of death vanished after reading the scriptures.  

James 4:7
Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Obey God and the devil will flee from you. Sure you might hear him prowling around, roaring, but that will recede as you grow in faith. Sanctification is a process, not an event. You may be of small faith but trying to obey God and satan’s roars are loud. As you walk in faith, you learn from the scriptures that you can put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:13 which is needed because when you get stronger in faith, satan will become more insistent in turning you away.

But if you obey God, satan cannot tear you away. 

But still there is fear of death. Is it the unknown that bothers you? We know what happens when we die. Sure it’s uncomfortable, but none of us will be nailed to a cross and have God’s wrath poured out upon us for our sins. Jesus did that, for us, for those that would believe. And there’s more. 

John 14:1-3
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

We have a place in heaven, with our Savior. Dying, while uncomfortable is worth standing before our Lord and Savior, basking in His glory. All tears are wiped away, along with all your worries and troubles. How can you fear death when this awaits you? Obey God, put on his full armor and stop paying attention to your fears, which means stop listening to satan.

Our primary duty to God is to give honor and glory to Him. This is the purpose of Man, why we were created. When you are obeying God, and satan is fleeing, concerns of death recede. They may not disappear but concerns should be given to Christ, who is holding you in his firm grasp.

John 10:27-30
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

You were selected by the Father, as a gift of love, to the Son. It was a transfer from one firm hand to another. There is no safer place to be. This is why it is so important to read the scripture, study it. You will be drawn to it if you are obeying God. And when you have read the scripture, your understanding will increase and soon you will have the tools you need to serve your Lord, Savior and King so that you may be raised up on that last day. Death has been conquered by Christ and there is no need to fear. Go forth, having faith in God and acting on that faith. Know that even though the world has changed, God is as He has always been. Unchanging and with His Law still valid to this day. That should give you confidence enough to act as a believer. Go forth and do so.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 19 to 22:

Q19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A19: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Q20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A20. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Q21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A21: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.

Q22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A22: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.

I am still thinking about verse 14 and the import that it has in our understanding of Christ. God came to this world, to interact with His creation. He who is without end, walked among us. Our Creator’s love is shown to us in Christ.

From MacArthur’s Devotionals:
John 1:14 is the most concise biblical statement of the Incarnation. The first four words, “the Word became flesh,” express the reality that in the incarnation God took on humanity; the infinite became finite; eternity entered time; the invisible became visible (cf. Col. 1:15); the Creator entered His creation. God revealed Himself to man in the creation (Rom. 1:18–21), in the Old Testament Scriptures (1 Cor. 2:7–14), and, supremely and most clearly, in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2).
Jesus Christ, God’s final “Word” to mankind (Heb. 1:1–2), “became flesh.”
That He actually “became” flesh affirms Jesus’ full humanity.
When John says He became flesh, this does not mean Christ ceased being the eternal Word when He became a man. In the Incarnation the unchangeable (Heb. 13:8) God did become fully man, yet remained fully God. Think of it—He entered the realm of creatures who are limited by time and space, and experienced life as it is for those He created.
No wonder Paul wrote of the Incarnation, “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).

And yet, their eyes could not see nor their ears hear, as foretold to us by Isaiah 600 years before:
Isaiah 6:9-13
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”

In general, people seem rather uninterested with talk of scripture. Like the world has worn them down. You did know that our sole purpose in this world is to glorify God, this being from God’s point of view. What is your point of view? Are your eyes veiled, your ears dulled? And if so, why is that? We have His word, His promise to us, is it not enough, we who are His clay? (Jeremiah 18) We have what no other people have had, the whole bible, the complete story.

The next verse in this chapter is this: 15 John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”

God does not send us prophets anymore, at least it does not seem that way and that’s probably a good thing considering how they had been treated. (Luke 13:34) But we have His Word, and that Word is Holy and True. And we have it in book form, audio form and on the internet in video format. Lots of prophets in any content style you prefer. So you don’t need a hairy man who is rumored to eat bugs to tell you the Good News.

What the book tells us next is: 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

I would call receiving our daily bread from a God who loves us “grace upon grace.” And I have read of the Law given to Moses and accepted the Truth of Jesus Christ in this book that God has breathed out. All this is in this Book. And it is a fascinating story, one that I love.

A strange thing though, I have talked to people, church people, that have told me they don’t like to read. There is an emphasis on READ, and the inference is “read the bible.” Ok, how about listening,” I say. “Well”, they pause, “I’m kinda busy most of the time and…” Oh, I get it. You want your religion on your terms. Light and non-intruding into your busy life. I did too. Quite often looked at my imaginary watch when the preacher strayed from his allotted time. We called ourselves Christians too. Funny that. If you read in the “Book” you find out that in reality we would be called dry branches, to be cut off and thrown in the fire.

John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

My point is this, while we were dry branches, pagans, idol worshipers, we had no desire to read the Word, listen to the Word, or have time to hang around people of the Word. We were in darkness. We liked the darkness. Would tolerate sitting in a pew once a week and spending an hour listening to things that did not make sense or were uninteresting. That’s what “Good” people did. And then we went home and lived our lives like the pagans that we were.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Clue alert, righteous is good in this case. Jesus is saying there is no one good, only God. How, in this sin drenched world do you call yourself good? Have you stopped sinning? Are you even able to acknowledge that you sin or have your sins been forgiven and you are good to go from now on? Sanctification is a process, not an event.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Because our sins have been forgiven and not remembered (Hebrews 8:12), this does not keep us from sinning daily. What about those sins? A free pass or do we atone? Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

When you are drawn to the Word, by the Father, all of those excuses you once had vanish. I speak as one who said I would not go to bible study, I would not read the bible. Once convicted by the Holy Spirit, and you will know when it happens as it is a realization of every one of your sins played out in your mind in living color, now you know that you are held accountable for every one of them.

Eph 5:11,13 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose [YLT: convict] them… Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16
15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

That is called being converted from darkness to the Light. Your branch has been plucked from the fire and infused with the Living Water.

John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’

So now tell again of your hesitancy to read the Bible, or listen to it. With the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, those excuses don’t hold.

John 16:13 “Yet when that one I have spoken to you about comes–the Spirit of truth–he will guide you into everything that is true.”

I know, because where I once said I would not go to bible study, now I teach it. Not because I have to, because I want to. And those nights when I cannot sleep, I tune into the Grace Stream and listen to 50 years of John MacArthur expounding the scripture in a most forthright manner, and drift off into sleep with a smile on my face. Not for everyone I admit, but, choose your shepherds wisely.

These are troubling times. Look at Romans 1 verse 18 and beyond. Tell me, after reading this, that God has not removed his Blessing upon the land. Have we had a sexual revolution? A homesexual revolution? A depravity of the mind? Do you suppose God will overlook any of these things? Did you know Sodom and Gomorrah where destroyed for homosexual activity? Read Genesis 19. It is very instructive.

What then did God do when these things accrued? He gave them over to it. Minneapolis, New York, Portland, Austin, Seattle… Seeing a trend?

There is Good News in all this and no I am not joking. Jesus Christ, God, died on the cross for our sins, for the sins of those who would believe. John 8:14 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

God the Father has drawn us and handed us over to Christ, our Lord, King and Savior.

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

I call that Good News. Go spread it around and serve your King!

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 15 to 18:

Q15: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
A15: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

Q16: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A16: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.

Q17: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A17: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

Q18: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
A18: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

Today we will be going through verse 14 of the first chapter of John. His gospel starts out: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John is introducing Jesus with a word or a term that both his Jewish and Gentile readers would have been familiar with. The Greek word translated “Word” in this passage is Logos, and it was common in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought of that day.

Having studied the scriptures and also hearing these same scriptures translated directly from the Greek, I have often thought that the English language is a poor means of conveying what the scripture actually said to people back in the day, that spoke the language. The definition of Logos: (Greek: “word,” “reason,” or “plan”) plural logoi, in ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.

As an example, in the Old Testament the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will (Psalm 33:6; 107:20; 119:89; 147:15-18).
For his Jewish readers, by introducing Jesus as the “Word,” John is pointing them back to the Old Testament where the Logos or “Word” of God is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. In the Greek worldview, the Logos was thought of as a bridge between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world.

So, essentially, what John is doing by introducing Jesus as the Logos is drawing upon a familiar word and concept that both Jews and Gentiles of his day would have been familiar with and using that as the starting point from which he introduces them to Jesus Christ.

In reading the scriptures, context is very important. To them 2000 years ago and to us today, reading something that was translated from Greek and Hebrew to Latin and then English. So John was giving the Greeks, which, for all intents and purposes are considered Gentiles, the Apostle was giving them the context to understand what Christ was.

John, Chapter 1 verse 14: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christ became flesh and lived among us as a man. Think about this, which comes from John MacArthur Devotionals: God’s Son learning through His experiences on earth. Before taking on a body, God had no personal experience of physical pain or of the effect of rubbing against needy persons. But God dwelt among us and touched us, and His time spent here allows Him to more fully identify with our pain.

And we saw his Glory. The raising of the widow’s son, the feeding of the 5,000, the healing of a paralysed man, the stilling of the storm, the resurrection. John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

John 5:19
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

“Begotten from the Father” Jesus proclaimed that God was his father 54 times. He used the term “Son of Man 102 times, and the term “Son of God” was used 76 times (65 times by Jesus).

John 8:19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

“Full of Grace and Truth”
1 Timothy 1:13-14
even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:7
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

1 Corinthians 1:4-6
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

And to finish out, John 8:12-20
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. 16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. 17 Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” 19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” 20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

I’d like you to think about how God has provided Grace to you in your life. Truly ponder on that and then give thanks to Him who has done such a wonderful thing to we who are weighed down by sin. Once you have pondered that, you will now have the context to understand what John chapter 1 verse 14 is saying.

May the love of the Father,
the tenderness of the Son,
and the presence of the Spirit,
gladden your heart
and bring peace to your soul,
this day and all days, Amen.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 11 through 14:

Q11: What are God’s works of providence?
A11: God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Q12: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
A12: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.

Q13: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
A13: Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.

Q14: What is sin?
A14: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Most of the time, when it comes to our day-to-day lives, we experience this in the form of Providence. But what is Providence, you might ask. In a dictionary, it is described as “The foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth.” Pretty much as the scripture reads in Romans 8:28 minus the mention of nature. Nature, God’s created realm, not Mother Nature, which does not exist, is mentioned in Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
Like what we saw in Iowa, straight line winds of over 100 miles an hour, that stretched for about 700 miles, through the midwest cropland. That is the groaning of nature, waiting for the return of Christ.

But we were speaking of Providence, which has become a fascinating subject for me. It should be for all of us as it is the hand of God at work in our lives. To see it and really recognize what is going on, you need to read the scripture. How else would you come to know God and what He wants us to do with our lives? I have used this MacArthur quote more than once: “A Spirit filled life is a scripture saturated life.” Those of us creatures that do not spend time reading the bible, tend to call Providence good luck. We all have been habituated to saying “good luck” to people when they are about to do something. In fact it is a hard habit to break, especially when you have come to learn that there is no such thing as luck, but only God at work in our lives.

From Scott Henry, written in 2014 
One of the most profound and wondrous doctrines taught in Holy Writ is the Providence of God. It is a theological doctrine that is clearly taught on every page of the Bible, yet it is a teaching that is rejected by many church members, along with the multitudes outside of the church. We constantly hear people in the market place talking about “luck,” “coincidence,” “fate,” or things happening “by chance.” It is not uncommon to hear that sort of speech by those who profess faith in Jesus Christ.

What you hopefully learned and unlearned so far: There is no Mother Nature, fate, chance, coincidence or luck. If you still want to hold on to those beliefs, I would ask that you would examine your faith in Christ. You can’t believe in Christ and luck, it does not work that way.

1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

I do understand that it is hard to change our ingrained speech patterns, but if you truly believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit is within you and what you thought so hard to change, is not so hard. Work yes, but as an example of speech patterns that were ingrained in a person’s life, I will give you one. I come from a blue collar world and spoke as a man among men who also spoke a similar way. We swore in the course of speaking in a way that most people breathe, we did it without thinking. Then, when I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, repented my sins to the Lord and I believe the saying goes, I came to Jesus. My speech cleaned up virtually overnight. I didn’t even notice at first, but bam, something I thought would take a very long time to accomplish was now a done deal. I would call that Providence.

Another example so that you might learn to see it in your own lives.
I used to be a flooring contractor, and as such, had tools that helped me in my job. I was given a Clark Edger because it had stopped working reliably for the company I was contracting through. Now these Edgers are fairly expensive machines, even old used ones. It is a heavy and powerful hand held sander that you used to sand flooring in preparation for putting in vinyl flooring and such. It had stopped working because it was probably 30 years old at the time and something in the off/on switch had failed. I took it when asked if I wanted it, because I needed a machine like that and I had a Father in Law that I was pretty sure could fix it. I brought it to him and he had it apart and fixed it about a half hour. Keep in mind, I was at this time not a true believer, oh sure, I called myself a Christian and went to church but I had not really “Come to Jesus” yet. All the same, I look back at this time and call what happened Providence, Part 1.

God works in all of our lives whether we are true believers or not. That is called Common Grace.
Psalm 145:9 “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”

That happened around 26 years ago, and many things have changed in my life. I quit the flooring business around 1998 and started working in technology and the internet. I still had most of my flooring tools but had not used them in quite a while. Come 2018, God decided it was time for me to quit fooling around and I believe it was an Almighty 2X4 upside my head that got my attention, I found out I had ALS and to add shine to that particular apple, we also found out my wife had a brain tumor and seizures.

We come to the present and I can no longer use any of my tools, as my hands have lost much of their feeling and all of their strength. Less of me, more of Him. But, I have a house that needs some attention. Our dining room has a beautiful maple wood floor. However, this house was a rental and had fallen on hard times and somebody had glued foam backed carpet to everything but the Kitchen. I had managed to sand off the living room floor before my hands got bad, but now, I got the tools, but ain’t got the ability to get the rest of the job done.

Darin, one of the guys from church, is a teacher, but restores hardwood floors in the summer. He had been using his Clark Edger up until this year when it went pining for the fjords, it died and now he was looking for another Edger and these things, even old ones are pricey. Through my Brother in Law, who got me going to First Baptist Church and had a lot to do with my “Coming to Jesus”, he got Darin in touch with me. Darin was delighted to find out I had an Edger I was not using and wanted to know if he could borrow it for a couple of jobs. He came over to our house and we talked about restoring our dining room floor. I then told him no, he could not borrow my Edger, paused a bit for drama and to watch his face, then said here’s the deal. The Edger was his, even before he had walked into our house. Would he be willing to sand my floor whenever he had time and he was welcome to get that heavy dusty tool out of my life and into his. Yup, he said with a smile

He came on a Friday, spent a good part of the day here and our floor looks brand new. Providence Part 2. Working in my life and Darin’s.

Now, you may be thinking that this was a long, not very interesting story of a somewhat lucky happenstance between 2 guys. Happens all the time. And if you are happy living in that world where luck and coincidence abound, Ma Nature throws a tantrum once in a while and men of science will soon develop a vaccine for COVID…

Matthew 6:25-34
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My point is this, I truly believe in Providence, in my life, your life, all believers’ lives. Even non-believers benefit from Common Grace. We have a loving and merciful God. One that uses His sovereignty to work to His Glory and our greater good. Where His hand is working in our lives, so smoothly and almost unnoticeable that we are prone to say it is luck. Would you rely on getting to Heaven by just being lucky? These words that roll off our tongue so easily have been brought to us by satan. He is not called the great deceiver for nothing. I want you to look at your life and see where God is at work. Look for it, expect it, and thank the Lord for His Love, Mercy and Forgiveness. If your prayers are not being answered, are you asking things not of his will? Have you done something, a sin, and just left it at that? Not repented, not brought to God and say you are sorry, this kind of thing will get your prayers less listened to. We all still sin, that is what it is be of the line of Adam. Our sanctification is a process and continues until the day we go to Heaven to be with our Savior. Repent your daily sins and expect your daily bread and look for Providence in your life.

I was planning to cover more of the gospel of John this week, but with Providence rolling around in my mind, when I went to get the Westminster Shorter Catechism questions, Providence was again there, smiling at me, with questions of Providence. He was knocking at the door, all I had to do was answer it.

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 6 through 10:

Q. 6. How many persons are there in the godhead?
A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Q. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?
A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

When I was around 14, having grown up in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, we had confirmation classes every Saturday morning that I practically had to be dragged to. We did not use the Westminster Shorter Catechism, thankfully to my young and carnal mind, but something the Lutherans had created to bend our young and resistant teenage brains into loving Christ. The default standing of Man is to run from Christ. To count the bible as foolishness. We love our sin and want to hold on to it. Interestingly, John 1 verses 9 through 13 deals with this. Well frankly, the whole bible deals with this, but we will narrow our focus just a bit to keep our eye on the ball, as it were.

John 1: 9
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

With the Incarnation of Christ, and through the Sovereign power of God, every man has enough light to be responsible. God has planted his knowledge in man through general revelation of creation and conscience. This blessing of general revelation does not however produce salvation, but either leads to the complete Light of Jesus Christ or produces condemnation in those who reject such light. Condemnation that you see played out in many of our big cities just about every night this summer. The condemnation that you see in California where churches are are told they cannot meet, indefinitely, yet Planned Parenthood and abortions continue unabated.
It is quite striking that demons have a better understanding of scripture than most people do. We find Jesus casting out demons in Matthew 8 verse 29: And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

They know who the Son of God is and that they are doomed to eternal torment. The coming of Jesus Christ was the fulfilment and embodiment of the light that God had placed in the heart of man.

John 1: 10
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

We go back to the creation and know that the world was made through Him. I try to remember if this was ever made known to me in my small town Lutheran Church and while I have a pretty good memory, I don’t think so. I could be wrong, but verse by verse teaching was not in vogue back then in our part of the world. It doesn’t really matter as that was then and I was not a believer and this is now and I am. Christ was the agent of Creation (John 1:3) and we did not know Him (John 1:10). Even though we have a bit of Light installed in us, we do not know him. The Jews, brought out of Egypt, saw miracle after miracle, saw a burning cloud go before them (Exodus 40:34-38), water from a rock (Exodus 17:1-7), food on the ground every day (Exodus 16:4-5) and yet they did not know him. God in His Mercy sent His Son to save the world (John 3:16) and yet they did not know him. Consider us, with access to all the information that we have today, where we can look back into history and see how this story plays out, we for the most part do not know Christ.

Why is that? When we were young, we drank milk, as we grew older, our liking for milk lessened as a drink of choice, but not in our churches. What am I talking about?

Hebrews 5:13-14
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Do you like your church sermons light, full of good news and short? No uncomfortable pieces of scripture that deal with our sin, talk of hell and damnation, tell us we are accountable once we accept Christ and can no longer live as we once did? I know I did. Squirmed a bit in the pew when the preacher went a little long. I am not saying that you have to attend a church that goes on for 2 hours, but it does have to preach to the whole counsel of God. See this video by Grace to You Church and John MacArthur for what Essential Doctrines a church should have.

The trouble is that would we even know if we are still a milk drinker at church? This is where scripture comes into play. When you start to read it, it may not all make sense. But, little by little, the more you read, the more you know. This is the Holy Spirit at work in you. You have less desire to sin. Yes, you have to work at this, put away those things that you know are causing you to sin. And pray to a Loving Father in Jesus’s name. He wants to hear from you. The Holy Spirit helps in this too.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

John 1: 11
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

Who were His own? Mankind in general and the Jewish nation in specific. We are His creation. He owns us. Is that a shocking and uncomfortable thought to you? Put away your milk. So Christ came into His own, and they did not receive Him.

Matthew 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

And because the Jews were by and large unwilling to recognize Him as the Christ, the Gentiles were included. We, the Gentiles have always been included, from the time of Abraham.

Genesis 22:15-18
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

God’s plan all along was one of blessing for all nations. Because of Israel’s witness to God’s power and love, Gentiles throughout the Old Testament were drawn to the God of Israel. They came to know God by the testimony of his people and the Word he revealed. Paul’s mission was to bring the Light to the Gentiles. He always started in a Jewish synagogue, and if and when they rejected him, he sought out the Gentiles. We all are creatures of God and those of us that have repented their sins and acknowledged Christ as their Savior, we are children of God. A free gift that costs everything is how I like to look at it.

John 1: 12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

Children of God. I hope you can fathom how awesome that is. Once you have received Him, believe His birth, death and resurrection, repent your sins and follow Christ, you are no longer just a creature made in God’s image, but now a child of God.

John 1: 13
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

This verse says right here that our salvation comes from God. Think about that. Do you hold to the idea that you have some part to play in becoming a child of God? How? You, the clay, how do you affect or control the Potter (Jeremiah 18:1-12). Yes we have free will, right up to the point where God says “You are Mine.” And be thankful for that, because if we had a part to play in our salvation, we’d probably screw it up.

If you have questions about any of this, please let me know, or better yet, seek the answers in your bible. Also look into the scriptural references provided in this bible study.

Rom. 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

In my pursuit of scripture, I ran across The Westminster Shorter Catechism. You may have heard about this or it may be something brand new to you. It’s been around long enough that even the oldest of us had access to it if need be. Written in 1646 and 1647 by the Westminster Divines, a group of English and Scottish theologians and laymen, intended to bring the Church of England into greater conformity with the Church of Scotland. When you start looking at church history, there is lots of politics and unfortunately bloodshed. The great deceiver is very prevalent in pushing government into Christ’s Church. We see this today with various state Governors trying to prevent us from going to church, using this supposed pandemic for an excuse. It is also a very good example of why there is nothing new under the sun, which we find in Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Getting back to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the word catechism is defined thusly: An elementary book containing a summary of the principles of the Christian religion, especially as maintained by a particular church, in the form of questions and answers.

This shorter Westminster Catechism was used in a practice of teaching the Christian faith. New converts to Christianity were taught through lectures during the first four centuries of the Church’s existence, but this practice was largely abandoned with the rise of Christian humanists; as I said, satan is very busy here.

Now that we know a little something about this I thought I would drop in the first 4 or 5 questions and answers of this shorter catechism which has a total of 107 questions. Keep in mind, this was taught to children and the longer form was used for adults. My little 4 year old niece Rachel sat on my lap and was quizzed by her father with random questions on this shorter catechism and she spit those correct answers back to him as fast as she could get them out of her mouth.

Questions and answers of Westminster Shorter Catechism 1 through 5:
Q1: What is the chief end of man?
A1: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

Q2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?
A2: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

Q3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A3: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

Q4: What is God?
A4: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Q5: Are there more Gods than one?
A5: There is but one only, the living and true God.

The intent was for the parishioner to know this, from memory, all 107 questions. And you thought that sitting in a pew for about an hour once a week was keeping you in good stead. I picked this up from one of John MacArthur’s writings: ”A Spirit filled life is a Scripture saturated life.” God expects us to study His book. Imagine that you’ve cashed in your chips, as it were, and are standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter is quizzing you on some of this stuff, things you really should know from studying the scripture, and a failing grade denies you entry to heaven. You really have no time to waste.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism/

We last left our boys, Paul and his friends, on the curb of the temple. The doors had just been slammed shut and the expectation of the crowd was they were going to stone these guys to death. We are at Acts 21 verse 30:
Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

At this point, it looked like the crowd was going to get their wish. Jesus Himself had been in similar situations. He was teaching in the temple in Nazareth, this was at the beginning of His Ministry. He had sat down, was handed a scroll, it was from the book of Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2. He read this:
1 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And then He closed the book: Luke 4:21: And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

But there was a problem, you see this was their boy Jesus, Joseph’s son. They knew him to be a simple carpenter and now he is talking crazy, like He was anointed by God, but He’s just a bumpkin carpenter. They drove Him out of the temple:
Luke 4:29: and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

And here’s the part where Joseph’s son does what only our King and Savior can do:
Luke 4:30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

My point here is this, Paul and his friends are in a tough spot. Through the Lord’s Will, I might add. Many times it looks as if things are not going to turn out well for Paul and his friends, maybe for us or members of our family or friends. The Glory of the Lord is brought out in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9), in adversity of our situation. When it looks as if all is lost, bam, water comes out of a rock (Ex 17:6), food is found on the ground (Ex 16), people are healed when they were counted as almost dead (Luke 7:1-10). They could even be dead and now they are not (John 11). There are so many examples in the bible that we can learn from. And how will you know these things if you never open the Book outside of this bible study?

Let us finish Acts 21. The Lord had a different plan than those of the Jews who had grabbed Paul and his friends. A plan that would frustrate the people and bring Glory to Himself.
Acts 21:31 to the end:
31 While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Roman soldiers are brought in to thwart the will of the people. This is called Providence. How God, through His divine Will, can arrange things to happen without getting all splashy with a miracle. The kind of thing that happens to us every day, you may not even notice it. You should, and when you do, thank God for it. Thank God that He loves you so much that He would bless you with this or disciple you over that. A loving Father disciplines his children. We see in this world fatherless children, with little or no discipline. Look at any big city today and see what is happening. If you wonder at any of this, look at Romans 1 verse 18 and beyond. The Apostle Paul spells it out, even tells you the order of events. All foretold some 2000 years ago.

33 Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. 34 But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob; 36 for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”

37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he *said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

So the Romans show up, calm things down. God arranged that. God used these godless Romans to come in and calm things down throughout all of the Land so that this very same Paul could spread the good news throughout all of Roman territory.
That could not have happened in a land wracked with war as it quite often was.

What is God arranging now in our land of many godless people? How is He using what is going on in our country to His Glory? All of this and more is in His book. Read it, study it and give thanks to Him that we live in the most glorious time of information and availability. You’ve got some work to do, we all do. Let’s get busy. Go serve your King!