There are few warnings in Scripture more solemn than that which heads this page. The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He is speaking of His own second coming to judge the world; He is describing the dreadful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on His mind when He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we think of the person who gives it. The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy and compassion; He is one who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He could weep over unbelieving Jerusalem and pray for the men that crucified Him; yet even He thinks it good to remind us of lost souls. Even He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we think of the people to whom it was first given. The Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples; He was not addressing the scribes and Pharisees, who hated Him, but Peter, James and John and many others who loved Him; yet even to them He thinks it good to address a caution. Even to them He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Read the rest of this terrific post (over at DefendingContending)….click HERE!
Google is watching your searches, and so is AOL, and so is God. What do you search for on the internet? Do you think your searches are just between you and your browser? Think again! Click HERE for a disturbing, eye-opening and convicting little article about the use of search engines on the internet. The article is disturbing, but the real question is this: Why does it bother you if people know what you are viewing? Do you really think that the Lord doesn’t know? Examine yourself, and your browsing!
We all still sin. What should our response be when we fall? Here is an absolutely terrific sermon by Voddie Baucham on the appropriate response of a believer to sin in his life. The video is in 6 parts and all can be viewed on Vodpod (or on YouTube). Don’t let the fact it is in 6 parts fool you, it isn’t that long, but it is worth every minute!
Do you love other Christians? How about you, Pastor? Do you truly love those you shepherd? Read this short challenge (1 minute to read) over at Berean Wife to find out if you love others the way you think you do….click HERE.
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
Exodus 20:18-19 (ESV)
Is this what we do with our computers and web surfing? Is this what I do with my book reading and you do in listening to online sermons? Do we have the very Word of God next to us, the Spirit of Christ inside of us, and the confidence to approach boldly before the Throne, and yet listen more to the teachings of others? Are we saying, “You draw close to the God that is a consuming fire, and then tell us what you see” rather than drawing close to Him ourselves? Do we do this because we want some wiggle room? Knowing that if we hear the very words of God, we must choose to rebel or obey, and we will have to acknowledge that the choice is of great consequence. Whereas hearing His words second-hand, we can debate and converse about the finer points, arguing their accuracy and relevance. Or maybe we want others to draw close to Him for us because we feel as though we are not educated or sharp enough to grasp His teachings on our own. Did not the same God that made the seminary professor make you and I? Is He not capable of opening your mind and spirit in the same manner as He does for others? Maybe the avoidance of direct contact is due to a sense of unworthiness. But Jesus Christ has atoned for our sins on the same Cross as those of committed by the great heroes of the faith, and it was the Cross that made them worthy, not their actions. Learning from sound teachers is a good thing, and should be done as a regular part of your spiritual diet. However, it should never outweigh the time spent in prayer and study of the Word. The internet, books and sermons should never take time away from your participation in the Body of Christ, the Church. So, now that you came to this website and read this little article, please turn off the computer, get on your knees, and seek His face or open His Word. Go spend time directly with the God that shakes mountains, created the universe, and yet died for you.
Throughout your day, why do you obey God? Are obeying Him because that is what He expects out of you, and you know you had better keep it straight if you are going to avoid His wrath when it is all over? If this is the case, you are in trouble! That means you are still trying to earn salvation and you are rejecting the work Jesus did on the Cross in redeeming you. If you are obeying God out of love for Him, so you don’t disappoint the one you love, great! It means you understand grace and the Father’s love. Sometimes a Christian will suddenly realize that it is difficult to explain the motivation behind obedience, they just know they don’t like to disobey Him. That’s ok, too. When we are made new creatures our desires are slowly changed by the one who is purifying us (see Philippians 2:13). The more our Lord changes our desires, the more obedience feels “natural”. It can be difficult to pin down your motivations, and often there are multiple and mixed motivations, but may I submit to you that it would be a wise thing to examine them. An honest evaluation of the motivations behind obedience can tells us a LOT about where we stand with our King.
Communion with God is so wonderful that many pretend to have it when they do not even know what it is. It is like the man who brags about knowing the King but never has seen his face nor met him. God’s Spirit calls it a lie when a man says he knows the Lord but entertains unrighteousness, too: “If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie” (1 John 1:6). Communion is rooted in union, and union in likeness. “Can any two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) – William Gurnall
(This article also posted on the Blog page of WhatIfTexas.com)
Please consider for a moment the trouble a King named Abimelech (King of the nation Gerar) got himself into while behaving in a genuinely upright and moral fashion. And not just trouble, but trouble and condemnation from the Lord, to the point that he almost lost his life. The incident takes place as Abraham is traveling through Gerar, and King Abimelech notices not only Abraham, but also his wife Sarah. Let us read:
Genesis 20:2-7; 17; 18 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”.…. 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Usually this passage is read with the actions of Abraham being the focus. Today, let us take a long hard look at the exchange between the Lord and the king. By all accepted standards, King Abimelech was doing nothing wrong! He did not realize Sarah was a married woman. Abimelech was of the understanding that Sarah was a beautiful, young, available woman, and the sister of Abraham. When he took her to be his wife, he conducted himself with all morality and kept his conscience clean. But what was the result? The Lord told him that he was as good as dead! The Lord knew of Abraham’s lie, He knew of Abimelech’s morality, and yet still he held Abimelech accountable. This is an extremely important truth that must be realized. It is quite possible to sin against God while behaving in a moral fashion and being completely unaware that your actions are wrong. Abimelech had taken another man’s wife, and this was wrong. Period. His good intentions and self declared innocence meant nothing. According to verse 18, the king and his household were already suffering the effects of his sin.
So of what value was King Abimelech’s morality? It kept his conscience clean and I am sure this allowed him to sleep well at night, but sound sleep was its’ only value. Indeed, those nights of restful slumber were nothing to be envied, for the Lord of Hosts had judged him to be worthy of death and the King had no clue. The trust he placed in his morality actually hindered his reconciling with God, until the Lord confronted him directly.
Let us now turn our eye to local areas and the present day, keeping this lesson in mind…. (more…)
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Ezekiel 36:25-27 (ESV) This Scripture is talking about what happens at salvation. The Spirit of Christ lives within a person who has been truly converted. They receive a new heart, “a heart of flesh” which indicates a tender, feeling heart in place of the unfeeling stone heart before salvation. They are careful to obey God because that is what they want to do. Their desires have been changed. Have you ever felt as though to go to heaven you need to stop doing what you like and start doing what you hate? Well, then this verse is telling you you don’t understand salvation, and probably aren’t saved yourself. This verse also explains something else. When a believer falls into sin (we all still do that from time to time) it hurts. It isn’t something we want to repeat because we hate the sin we momentarily embraced, and this Scripture tells us why. Our tender heart is now wounded when we stab it’s tender flesh with sin. This is good. It keeps us from sin and reassures us after our fall that we are indeed saved. If you hate the sin in your life because it brings pain, that is a good sign, and it should be comforting. Now stop stabbing your heart, stop betraying your savior and “Go, and sin no more!” Not because you want to go to heaven, but because you are already headed there as a citizen!
Television, and indeed all of American culture is so saturated with sensuality, that it is beyond description… but most Christians, even many good, solid, soundly saved believers, do not realize it. Why? They have grown up with it, and are numb to it. If a believer would be willing to turn off the TV for just one month, and then turn it back on, there would be no discussion as to whether or not television is OK in a Christian home. After being separated from it, the ads will jump out as sensual and almost pornographic. The language will be offensive. The plot lines and characters will be seen as so ungodly they must be silenced at once. The rest of our culture is no better. I have seen godly, passionate men who are teachers in the Church talk eagerly about spending the day watching football. A game with cheerleaders that gyrate in ways that are guaranteed to bring about lustful thoughts, with ads that glorify drunkenness and sex. And while soaking their minds in this, precious time with their wives and children are being thrown away, treated as garbage. Unfortunately, trying to convince someone of this is like trying to describe colors to a blind man. They just don’t get it. So now what? Turn off the TV! Quit going to the game! Look away from the billboard! Do this for one month, and tell me your world doesn’t completely change its’ color! However, please know I issue this challenge to those already soundly saved and following Christ. Please do not think by abstaining from these things you will earn any merit with God. For the believer, I simply point this out as a way to draw closer to the One who loves you and gave Himself for you. A way to separate yourself from those things that bring pain to Him, and to you (even if you don’t know it yet). Thinking about it? Good! I dare you!!
It seems as though a strange disease is creeping over the some of the Christian populace. I have seen Godly men, men with a sound understanding of salvation, men who have submitted their lives to Christ, and follow hard after Him with passion, sitting silent when they should be standing. Let me explain the situation. More and more Churches in the Bible Belt are drifting into false doctrine. These Churches are preaching and teaching anything and everything except the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some embrace Purpose Driven non-Biblical goals, others begin redefining the Bible through Emergent Doctrine or Nooma videos, and still others focus on topics deemed relevant to the congregation rather than the Word of our Creator. And these Godly men who are left, the remnant of true believers that haven’t fled from the encroaching heresies… do nothing. They sit quietly as their Lord is portrayed as one who winks at sin. They do not raise their voice as the same Christ who suffered for them is described to others as being no more than a wealthy Grandpa in the sky. These men who have sacrificed much in their own life stay quiet, afraid to show any passion or a godly jealousy for the one who loves them. If someone came to these same men using, not vulgar language, but well spoken eloquent terms delivered with a smile to describe the Godly man’s wife as a whore, these men would be outraged. “Just because you use eloquence and a smile,” they would yell, “do not think I will sit idly by as you spread these horrible lies!” And yet, while Pastors and small group leaders use eloquence and a smile to slander Jesus Christ (the only one that should be loved more than a wife) they do nothing. They treat the slander of Christ as nothing more than a religious discussion. “Well, they are from a liberal viewpoint” or “I am hoping they come around” they will offer as a defense. Let us call this what it is. It is fear. It is fear of men over a fear of God. It is the fear as being ostracized as a fanatic, a fear of confrontation. It is cowardice. Spineless Christian jellyfish. Revelation 21:8 states this : “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” It is bad company that the coward is listed as being among. I am not stating that cowardice will cost the salvation of a man truly redeemed, but I am stating two things. 1) Cowardice is far more serious than you think, and you will answer to a Holy God for a lack of spine. 2) A fear to stand boldly for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a strong sign that you do not fully understand what was done for you, and you do not love Him as you should. So what to do? Repent! Seek God for the strength to stand boldly for His name. He knows you are but a child, and He will lend His Spirit and His strength to those who seek Him.
If your foot has a cut on it, you can look at it, see the problem, and address it. If you have a broken arm, you can see the break and put a splint on it. But what happens if someone tells you that they think your eyes aren’t working right? You may go to the mirror and inspect your eyes, but if they look fine, are they really fine? If they aren’t working right they might not allow you to see the problem that they themselves have!
This is very similar to pride. If you have a problem with lust, you know it. If you have anger issues, they do not stay hidden. It is easy to look at the fruit in your life and see what fruit is good and from God and what fruit is rotten. But pride can be different. When you are examining yourself pride distorts your vision, and the deep roots can remain hidden from your sight.
The Law drives us to God through showing us our sins and the hopelessness of earning salvation. The Gospel is the good news that the just God who will judge us all has sent His Son to pay the penalty for our breaking of the Law. This is message at the heart of every good sermon and should also be close to the heart of every Christian parent. How do we share these truths with our children as we raise them. Obviously we teach them, but should we illustrate them through our lives and relationships as well? Absolutely! Fighting For the Faithrecently had a fine segment on using the Law and Gospel practically in parenting. We strongly encourage you to listen HERE to this audio clip, and to apply the ideas discussed. This is really good stuff!
I found myself worrying about death. I was not concerned about the soundness of my faith, where I would spend eternity, or if my sins had truly been paid for. It is clear that my Lord Jesus the Christ has already put these matters to rest, and they are accomplished. The reason I fear death is because the following thought was running through my mind, “If I am gone, who will raise my boys up to be Godly men, to lead them to Christ? And who will provide for my wife?” What a prideful fool I have become! To think that it is me and my efforts that will accomplish these things is vanity. If I am here, then God the author may choose to use me as His pen to accomplish these things, but if I am gone He is still the author and can easily use another pen to accomplish the same tasks. Pride has such an incredible ability to come into one’s life under the camouflage of good intentions!
