The Terrible Justice of God   Psalm 76:11-12.

Text: “Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: let all that be round about Him bring presents unto Him that ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to the kings of the earth.”

Psalm 76:11-12.

Good morning, fair-minded Christian!  Since the day of your Eternal Salvation in Christ Jesus, that wonderful day when the Spirit of God brought us to our knees in full repentance from our sins, to follow hard after the Lord Jesus; that life-imparting day, when God the Spirit breathed upon you and I as we lay in the dry-bone valley of our vile sins, and opened our eyes to the Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for to pay our just penalty – we have been given an entirely new perspective on true justice, fair-play, and equality of discernment.  Hallelujah!  (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

While once we saw things from a selfish, self-centred perspective, we now seek to evaluate all things in a just and unselfish manner.  Only Christ’s Salvation could ever change that selfishness to a sense of real justice.  That sense of fair-mindedness is mirrored on the justice of Almighty Lord God Jehovah, a trait of the Divine nature of the Lord Who has elected us to partake in the Body of Christ, the true and genuine, Spiritually regenerated church. Praise God for His wonderful grace to us!

Dictionary Definition: Justice – (noun) the quality of being just; integrity; impartiality; rightness; the awarding of what is due; the administration of law; a judge; a magistrate. (The Chambers Dictionary, page 873)

Divine Justice: Divine justice is the sole prerogative of Almighty God, Who alone, is righteous, Holy, and infinitely just in all His attributes – He is, in fact, the “…Judge of  all the earth…” which He alone Created; and “…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25)

“The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.  But if the wicked will turn (repent) from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statues, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die (Eternal death, not mortal death).” (Ezekiel 18:20-21) “Ye MUST be born again!” (John 3:3-8)

“…I will publish the Name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.  He is the Rock (capital R), His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.”  (Deuteronomy 32:3-4)   Amen, we worship Thee, O Lord!

God’s Divine justice was enough to banish you and I and every unregenerate soul born of woman since Adam/Eve’s fall from grace in Eden, to a sinner’s Hell. Biblical fact!

God’s Divine and Sovereign grace is applied to every sinner to whom God grants repentance from sin and faith in the finished work of Atonement made by Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Fact.

“For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

Only a Lord God of pure and righteous justice could offer sinners Eternal life in Christ.

Look for a moment at how the great Puritan, Thomas Watson, views God’s justice:

“I. What is God’s justice?

‘Justice is to give everyone his due.’ God’s justice is the rectitude of his nature, whereby he is carried to the doing of that which is righteous and equal. Proverbs 24:12. Shall not he render to every man according to his works?’ God is an impartial judge. He judgeth the cause. Men often judge the person, but not the cause; which is not justice, but malice. Genesis 18:21. ‘I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry which is come up unto me.’ When the Lord is upon a punitive act, he weighs things in the balance, he does not punish rashly; he does not go in the way of a riot, but a circuit, against offenders.

“Concerning God’s justice, I shall lay down these six positions: –

[1] God cannot but be just. His holiness is the cause of his justice. Holiness will not suffer him to do anything but what is righteous. He can no more be unjust than he can be unholy.

[2] God’s will is the supreme rule of justice; it is the standard of equity. His will is wise and good. God wills nothing but what is just; and therefore, it is just because he wills it.

[3] God does justice voluntarily. Justice flows from his nature. Men may act unjustly, because they are bribed or forced: God will not be bribed, because of his justice; he cannot be forced, because of his power. He does justice out of love to justice. Psalm 45:7. ‘Thou lovest righteousness.’

[4] Justice is the perfection of the divine nature. Aristotle says, ‘Justice comprehends in it all virtues.’ To say God is just, is to say, he is all that is excellent: perfections meet in Him, as lines in a centre. He is not only just, but justice itself.

[5] God never did nor can do the least wrong to his creatures. God’s justice has been wronged, but never did any wrong. God does not go according to the summum jus, or rigour of the law; he abates something of his severity. He might inflict heavier penalties than he does. Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve.’ Ezra 9:13. Our mercies are more than we deserve, and our punishments less.

[6] God’s justice is such that it is not fit for any man or angel to expostulate with Him, or demand a reason of his actions. God has not only authority on his side, but equity. ‘He lays judgement to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.’ Isaiah 28:17. It is below him to give an account to us of his proceedings. Which of these two is more fit to take place, God’s justice or man’s reason? Romans 9:20. ‘Who art thou, O man, that replies against God?’ The plumb line of our reason is too short to fathom the depth of God’s justice. Romans 11:33. ‘How unsearchable are his judgements!’ We are to adore God’s justice, where we cannot see a reason of it.” (A Body of Divinity, by Thomas Watson, 1620-1686)

Thought: Verse 12. “He is terrible to the kings of the earth. While they are terrible to others, He is terrible to them. If they oppose themselves to His people, He will make short work of them; they shall perish before the terror of His arm, “…for the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His Name.”  Rejoice before Him, all ye who adore the God of Jacob.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 327) God’s justification from sin is grace indeed. Amen!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Drinking from God’s Cup  Psalm 75:7-10

Text: “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and He poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.  But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  All the horns (pride, authority) of the wicked (Christ-rejecters) also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”

Psalm 75:8-10.

Good morning, praising Christian!  Why are you found praising?  Who are you praising?  What Eternal reason would you have to be praising – even when you are at your wit’s end, why have you still this vital something for which to praise God?  Glory to the Lamb, Christ Jesus!  Bless the Lord, O my soul!  We praise our Sovereign Lord God Jehovah continually because we KNOW from His own inspired, God-breathed, Word that we have a great cup to drink from His hand that shall be our refreshment FOREVER.  Hallelujah!  Dear and Sovereign Lord God, we praise and thank Thee!

Verse 7. “But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another. Our Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God, “…Our God is in the Heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” (Psalm 115:3)

Matthew Henry Comments:

“In these verses we have two great doctrines laid down and two good inferences drawn from them, for the confirmation of what he had before said.

Here are two great truths laid down concerning God’s government of the world, which we ought to mix faith with, both pertinent to the occasion: —

1. That from God alone kings receive their power (v. 6, 7), and therefore to God alone David would give the praise of his advancement; having his power from God he would use it for him, and therefore those were fools that lifted up the horn against him. We see strange revolutions in states and kingdoms, and are surprised at the sudden disgrace of some and elevation of others; we are all full of such changes, when they happen; but here we are directed to look at the author of them, and are taught where the original of power is, and whence promotion comes. Whence comes preferment to kingdoms, to the sovereignty of them? And whence come preferments in kingdoms, to places of power and trust in them?

“The former depends not upon the will of the people, nor the latter on the will of the prince, but both on the will of God, who has all hearts in his hands; to him therefore those must look who are in pursuit of preferment, and then they begin aright. We are here told, (1.) Negatively, which way we are not to look for the fountain of power: Promotion comes not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert, that is, neither from the desert on the north of Jerusalem nor from that on the south; so that the fair gale of preferment is not to be expected to blow from any point of the compass, but only from above, directly thence.

“Men cannot gain promotion either by the wisdom or wealth of the children of the east, nor by the numerous forces of the isles of the Gentiles, that lay westward, nor those of Egypt or Arabia, that lay south; no concurring smiles of second causes will raise men to preferment without the first Cause.

“The learned bishop Lloyd (Sermon. in loc.) gives this gloss upon it: “All men took the original of power to be from heaven, but from whom there many knew not; the eastern nations, who were generally given to astrology, took it to come from their stars, especially the sun, their god. No, says David, it comes neither from the east nor from the west, neither from the rising nor from the setting of such a planet, or such a constellation, nor from the south, nor from the exaltation of the sun or any star in the mid-heaven.”

“He mentions not the north, because none supposed it to come thence; or because the same word that signifies the north signifies the secret place, and from the secret of God’s counsel it does come, or from the oracle in Zion, which lay on the north side of Jerusalem. Note, no wind is so good as to blow promotion, but as He directs who has the winds in his fists.

“(2.) Positively: God is the judge, the governor or umpire. When parties contend for the prize, he puts down one and sets up another as he sees fit, so as to serve his own purposes and bring to pass his own counsels. Herein he acts by prerogative, and is not accountable to us for any of these matters; nor is it any damage, danger, or disgrace that he, who is infinitely wise, holy, and good, has an arbitrary and despotic power to set up and put down whom, and when, and how he pleases. This is a good reason why magistrates should rule for God as those that must give account to him, because it is by him that kings reign.”  (Matthew Henry (1662-1714) Commentary on the Bible)

Verse 8. “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup…full of mixture. Note, first, that the cup of the Lord is a cup full of mixture: Eternally sweet red wine for His Blood-bought children; the Eternal vile dregs of the cup for the wicked. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye MUST be born again.”  (John 3:3-8)

“The judgments of God upon sinners are the cup of the Lord’s right hand, (Habakkuk 2: 16.) The wine is red, denoting the wrath of God, which is infused into the judgments executed on sinners, and is the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. It is red as fire, red as blood, for it burns, it kills. It is full of mixture, prepared in wisdom, so as to answer the end. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction when it is put into the hands of God’s own people, mixtures of the curse when it is put into the hands of the wicked; it is wine mingled with gall. These vials, (1.) Are poured out upon all; (see Revelation 15 7; 16 1); where we read of the angels pouring out the vials of God’s wrath upon the earth. Some drops of this wrath may light on good people; when God’s judgments are abroad, they have their share in common calamities; but, (2.) The dregs of the cup are reserved for the wicked. The calamity itself is but the vehicle into which the wrath and curse is infused, the top of which has little of the infusion; but the sediment is pure wrath, and that shall fall to the share of sinners; they have the dregs of the cup now in the terrors of conscience, and hereafter in the torments of hell. They shall wring them out, that not a drop of the wrath may be left behind, and they shall drink them, for the curse shall enter into their bowels like water and like oil into their bones. The cup of the Lord’s indignation will be to them a cup of trembling, everlasting trembling, (Revelation 14:10). The wicked man’s cup, while he prospers in the world, is full of mixture, but the worst is at the bottom. The wicked are reserved unto the day of judgment.” (Matthew Henry (1662-1714) Commentary on the Whole Bible)

Thought: God’s Cup for the Wicked: “They have not only the cup, but the dregs of the cup, that is, the worst of the cup; for as in a good cup, the deeper the sweeter; so, in an evil cup, the deeper the worse: the dregs are the worst, the bottom is the bitterest of a bitter cup.” (Joseph Caryl 1602-1673) God’s cup of wrath is on its way – wicked unbelievers, beware!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

 Of Fools, The Proud & Humanists  Psalm 75:4-6

Text: “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn.  Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.”

Psalm 75:4-5.

Good morning, God-fearing Christian!  When you come before God’s throne of Holy grace, you make sure you come in a penitent spirit of true reverence and worshipful praise to the One Who has redeemed our souls by the price of His own precious and sinless Blood.  We seek to, at all times, revere our God’s absolute Holiness and wrath against all sin; and to give true worship and thanksgiving for His amazing grace and infinite mercy towards us, ‘His people’.  This is what it is to be a ‘God-fearing Christian’.  Glory to His Name.

Biblically Defined ‘Fools’: The Bible, God’s inspired Word, defines ‘fools’ according to their own obvious and Eternal foolishness.  “By their fruits ye shall know them…”

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  (Matthew 7:16-20)

Verse 4. Fools. “The ungodly are Spiritual fools.  If one had a child very beautiful, yet if he were a fool, the parent would have little joy in him. The Scripture hath dressed the sinner in a fool’s coat: and let me tell you, better a fool void of reason that a fool void of grace: this is the Devil’s fool. (Proverbs 14:9)” (Thomas Watson 1620-1686)

“I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn.”   (Psalm 74:4)

It is a very foolish person, who sits and hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s Salvation, and goes out and ignores the message, and fails to receive Christ’s offer of Eternal Salvation.

Verse 4. Fools. “Is not he a fool who refuseth a rich portion?  God offers Christ and Salvation, but the sinner refuseth his portion: “Israel would none of Me” (Psalm 88:11).  Is not he a fool who preferreth an annuity before an inheritance?  Is not he a fool who tends his mortal part and neglects his angelical part?  As if one should paint the walls of his house and let the timber rot.  Is not he a fool who will feed the Devil with his soul?

“As that emperor who fed his lions with a pheasant, is not he a fool who lays a snare for himself? (Proverbs 1:18) Who consults his own shame? (Habakkuk 2:10) Who loves death? (Proverbs 8:36).” (Thomas Watson, 1620-1686)

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God (or, No, God!). They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”  (Psalm 14:1)

Verse 5. The Proud: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. The ‘horn’ in KJV Scriptures is symbolic of man’s authority, man’s strength, man’s pride in his own abilities, and in his ability to manage his own affairs; choose his own direction in life; decide upon vital matters which pertain to his well-being and vital needs.  Stiff-necked people are people who are too proud to bow to the will or direction of God, or other wiser people.

“In Scripture, the horn is a symbol of strength or power. The horn of Moab is cut off. Jeremiah 48. Horn is also an emblem of glory, honor, dignity. My horn is exalted in the Lord. 1 Samuel 2. In Daniel, horn represents a kingdom or state.”  (KJV Bible Dictionary, online)

“The horn of Moab (a type of the flesh, pride) is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the Lord: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.”  (Jeremiah 48:25)

Hell shall be filled with proud people, people that were too proud to yield to Christ, and receive His Eternal Salvation; too proud to humble themselves before Almighty Lord God, that they might receive His matchless grace.  Some proud men would literally starve to death before asking another for bread!  Pride will take millions down into a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.  What a tragedy!

“The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but He will establish the border of the widow. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words” (Proverbs 15:25

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, that to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19)

Verses 6 & 7. Humanists: “But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Definition: “Humanist – (adjective) relating to people who believe in humanism: the idea that people do not need a God or religion to satisfy their Spiritual and emotional needs.”  (Cambridge English Dictionary)

Our Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God.  He is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present Lord God and Creator of all things.  There is no other like Him.  He is Supreme and perfect in all His manifestations, and Holy in all His Triune (three Persons) Being.  Our God reigns Supreme and Sovereign over all the works of His hands.  There is no other God but Jehovah Lord God. Amen.

Humanists do not believe this is so, and by doing so, manifest the terrible curse of reprobation; souls that are rejected by God in Salvation grace; souls who never receive the quickening (making alive) of the Holy Ghost; who wallow in their own pride, and confidence in their own fallen nature and what human effort can do to promote themselves and prosper in this sinful world.  Poor souls.  Their cries can be heard in unison with those who have cried down through the ages: “We will not have this man (Christ Jesus) to reign over us!”

“But His citizens hated Him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luke 19:12-27)

“But those Mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me.”  (Luke 19:27)

We who are God-fearing Christians, who are given faith from the Lord God to believe His inspired Word on all matters, must seek to pray more earnestly for the precious and immortal souls of such ‘Fools, The Proud, and Humanists’ – in the hope that among their numbers there might yet be some elect souls, preordained to receive God’s quickening power (made Spiritually alive) and receive His gift of faith to enable them to believe and receive the Living Christ as both Saviour and Lord.

“The Lord shall reign forever and ever” (Exodus 15:18)

Thought: “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the Heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all.”  (1 Chronicles 29:11-13)

Dr C.K. McClinton 

Ulster Christians Ministry 

www.ulsterchristians.org

 ‘Lord God, Lift up Thy Feet!’ Psalm 74:3-7

Text: “Lift up Thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.  Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.”                                                                                                                       Psalm 74:3-4.

Good morning, increasingly oppressed, Christian!  You and I who are, by God’s Sovereign grace, Spiritually regenerate, Bible-believing Christians, have been most aware of, first, the introduction of a Politically-Correct spirit throughout once solid Christian societies; then, an increase in anti-Christian belief systems; followed by a steep and gradual decline in the moral standards of all things we see and hear in the news media world and public advertising. 

Like a dry rot that creeps slowly, but so very surely, into a good strong piece of timber, the world in which we Christians live today, in this 21^st semi-apostate Century, has become increasingly more crass, lewd, and irreligious.  Even church congregations have begun to bring all sorts of worldly rubbish into the confines of church-meetings – so much so that many have begun to separate ourselves from even attending such circuses of humanistic celebration.

“Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  Purge out therefore the old leaven (sin, and doctrinal error), that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us: therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7)

“For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”   (1 Peter 4:17-18)

It is against such increased apostasy, open and blatant disobedience; anti-Christian hindrances and militant oppositions to faith in God, that the Psalmist is crying out for the immediate ‘lifting up’ of God’s feet in response.  But, what exactly does this ‘lifting up of God’s feet’ signify today?

Verse 3. “Lift up Thy feet. Abu Walid renders it, Tread hard upon Thine enemies.  The Jewish Arab, Show forth Thy punishment, adding in a note that the lifting up the feet implies punishment, the bringing under by force being usually expressed by treading under the feet.” (Henry Hammond 1605-1660)

“Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.”  (Psalm 94:17)

Verse 4. “Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.” 

Historical Context:

Verses 4-7. “(The Persecution under Antiochus, BC 168) Athenaeus proceeded to Jerusalem, where with the assistance of the garrison, he prohibited and suppressed every observance of the Jewish religion, forced the people to profane the Sabbath, to eat swine’s flesh and other unclean food, and expressly forbade the national rite of circumcision.  The Temple was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius: the statue of that deity was erected on part of the altar of burnt-offerings, and sacrifice duly performed… As a last insult, the feasts of Bacchanalia, the licence of which, as they were celebrated in the later ages of Greece, shocked the severe virtue of the older Romans, were substituted for the national Festival of Tabernacles.

“The reluctant Jews were forced to join in these riotous orgies, and to carry the ivy, the insignia of the god.  So near was the Jewish nation, and the worship of Jehovah, to total extermination.”  (Henry Hart Milman, in ‘A History of the Jews’, 1791-1868)

These are the historical records of how God’s chosen people were tested to the utmost, by the world, the flesh, and that old Serpent, the Devil, down through the ages of Biblical history.  Little has changed today.  The onslaught is certainly more subtle, but the intent of Satan to obliterate the worship of the One True God, Jehovah, remains exactly the same.  Oh, that the Living Lord God would ‘…lift up His feet…’ and tread down the enemies of Christian faith throughout this wicked world!

Verse 5. “A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.  Once men were renowned for felling the cedars and preparing them for building the Temple, but now the axe finds other work, and men are as proud of destroying as their fathers were of erection.

“Thus, in the olden times our sires dealt sturdy blows against the forests of error and laboured hard to lay the axe at the root of the trees; but alas! Their sons appear to be quite as diligent to destroy the truth and to overthrow all that their fathers built up.  Oh, for the good old times again!  Oh, for an hour of Luther’s hatchet, or Calvin’s mighty axe!”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 321)

Dictionary Definition: Apostasy – (noun) abandonment of one’s religion, principles or party; a revolt from ecclesiastical obedience, from a religious profession, or from holy orders; defection.  Apostate: (noun) a person who has abandoned their religion, principles, etc; a renegade, deserter from any allegiance…  (The Chambers Dictionary, page 71)

The widespread apostasy we have been witnessing now for many years is, basically, a departure from true KJV Bible belief and purity of Christian doctrine.  What is now deemed as ‘politically correct’ has been spued from pulpits, often by mere ‘hirelings’, who are in pulpits as a means of being in full employment, as opposed to a calling from the Lord God.  Never has the old adage, ‘Good living, for a living’ been a more appropriate accusation from the world.  Preaching Christ, and Him Crucified for our sins, has become an unpopular ministry to perform.  Praise God there are still some ‘out there’ who are faithful to the Word!

Verse 7. “They have cast fire into Thy sanctuary. Those who hate God are never sparing of the most cruel weapons.  To this day, the enmity of the human heart is quite as great as ever; and, if Providence did not restrain, the saints would still be as fuel for the flames.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 321)

“I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on earth?”  (Luke 18:8)

Thought: It is time for Christians to pray, “Lord, lift up Thy feet”; help us, Thy people.

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Text: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.  Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?  But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates (rejected of God).”

2 Corinthians 13:5-6.

Good morning, often weary, but self-honest Christian!  Show me the professing Christian who NEVER feels totally weary, utterly discouraged, and sometimes almost in deep despair – and I will show you someone who has never really been engaged in the privilege of Spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  No pain, no gain!

Living a genuine Christian life is described in Scriptures as a profound and continual warfare, and this is the reason that the Living Lord God grants us a full set of Spiritual armour which we must place upon ourselves daily – if we are to war a good warfare in Christ’s service.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil…Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.  Stand therefore…loins girt about with truth…the breastplate of righteousness; feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace…the shield of faith…the helmet of Salvation…the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; continual fervent prayer…”  (Ephesians 6:10-20)

But who would ever want to live such a life of constant warfare, constantly being on guard, perpetual watching, and seeking God’s face, and serving a Saviour/Lord Who has suffered on a cruel Roman Cross, died, rose again from the dead three days later, and, after showing Himself alive to a chosen group of His disciples and followers, gone back Home again to Heaven, with the instruction that we, ‘His people’ must now wait patiently for His return, and contend for faith in Him, in a most hostile world, while we do so?  It seems an almost impossible task!  (Luke 1:37)

However, the Lord God does not leave us without His Spirit; His Presence; and His protection and peace.  Praise His Name!  This is why “…many be called, but few chosen…” to be Christ’s followers; and for that same Scriptural reason, “…narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it…” (Matthew7:14)  (Matthew 20:16)

Without the Living Lord’s Divine empowerment, we could not dare to be ‘the children of God’ in a world so steeped in anti-Christianity, disobedience to God, and gross sin.

“But as many received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His Name.”  (John 1:12)

Is it, therefore, any wonder that the genuine Christian sometimes falls into the fault of looking all around us, and beginning to subtly ‘envy’ the ‘prosperity of the wicked’, unsaved?  God’s Word teaches us that we must always lay aside such envious practice.

“Wherefore (a conclusion) laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby: if so that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”  (1 Peter 2:1-3)

Self-honesty is always the best policy for true, Spiritually regenerate, Christians – for we can never adjust a personal fault, if we refuse to honestly accept that we have it.

We Christians do often become quite envious of non-Christians.  They don’t seem to have the same level of stresses daily; they seem quite content to watch the world and all around them deteriorate into a quagmire of sin, and lust, and perverted filth.  It gives them little offence, because deep down where it matters in their hearts, this is the kind of sinful world they really desire to live in. 

Heaven would be Hell for those not Spiritually enlightened and saved by the precious Blood of Christ Jesus!  Sinners must be made fit to dwell in a Holy Heaven, wherein no sin dwells.  Christ Creates us ‘new creatures’ fit to dwell Eternally with Him in Heaven.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he/she is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold (Look, and fully understand), all things are become new.  And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (the glorious Gospel of Christ, and Him Crucified for sinners).”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

Verse 3. “For I was envious at the foolish. It is a pitiful thing that an heir of Heaven should have to confess, ‘I was envious,’ but worse still that he should have to put it, ‘I was envious at the foolish.’ Yet this acknowledgement is, we fear, due from most of us.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 313)

Furthermore, I would humbly add, that we Christians should never be envious at the foolish, unsaved, world all around us – for their foolishness in not receiving Christ as Saviour and Lord is, for them, an Eternal foolishness; a foolishness that will haunt their every thought as they languish, forever tormented, in the Lake of Fire.

There are no unbelievers in Hell, dear Reader.  They all now believe there, but also know it is Eternally hopeless for them to do anything about it, once death escorts them to their Eternal habitation.  Oh that men/women would cry out to the Lord NOW for Salvation!

“Who would envy a malefactor’s going up a high ladder and being mounted above the rest of the people when it is only for a little and in order to his being turned over and hanged?  That is just the case of wicked men who are mounted up high in prosperity; for it is so only that they may be cast down deeper into destruction.” (John Willison 1680-1750)

Verse 4. “For there are no bands in their death. The notion is still prevalent that a quiet death means a happy hereafter. The Psalmist had observed that the very reverse is true.  Careless persons become case-hardened and continue presumptuously secure, even to the last.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 314)

 “Men may die like lambs and yet have their places forever with the goats.” (Matthew Henry, 1662-1714)

Thought: “We suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together.” (Romans 8:17-18)

“On What Authority?”   Mark 11:27-33

Text: “…From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”

2 Timothy 3:15-16.

Good morning, Christian speaker!  You speak well, but on what authority does your utterances and preaching, teaching; or simple witnessing stand?  This is the real question to be asked in the ministry of any mere mortal who had been saved by God’s free grace.

Your personal opinions on Eternal matters, like mine, might be quite interesting to hear – but they have no Spiritual authority whatsoever.  Thus, a look at true Spiritual authority is crucial to any lesson on Christian doctrine, principle; practice; or ministry unto others.  It is not in any light manner that the Lord God commands us to, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”  (2 Timothy 2:15)

My humble dictionary defines the concept of authority as follows: Power to compel obedience; person or group of persons having such power; power of influence; book or document giving trustworthy information and reliable opinions.

Therefore, to have authority means one has the power to compel obedience to that authority; the blueprint from which one can authoritatively direct how things are to be done.

To work outside the blueprint of authority is thus to err from the truth, and in the Spiritual realm this is, of course, fatal – Eternally fatal!  (John 8:31-47) (Revelation 21:8)

For Christians, our Eternal blueprint of absolute authority is the Bible – God’s own Word of authority, given to mankind by God the Holy Ghost. 

We KNOW how we should seek to live our lives, establish our thoughts; and worship God in the manner He demands, because we have His instructions written in His Book.  (2 Peter 1:21)

Stealing:  Christians know authoritatively that they must not steal.  How?  Because God’s Word forbids it.  Thus, we forbid stealing by God’s own authority and power.   (Exodus 20:15) (Leviticus 19:11)

Murdering:  How do we KNOW it is wrong to murder another human being?  Why, Gods Word clearly teaches us that this is so.  We therefore forbid murder on the authority of God’s Word. Simple, is it not? (Exodus 20:13) (Romans 13:9)

Homosexuality:  How do we KNOW homosexuality is unnatural and a perversion of God’s will for the human species?  God’s Word clearly teaches us that it is indeed so.  We must therefore condemn it and flee from such a sinful practice.  (Romans 1:18-27) (Jude 7-13)

Mariolatry: How do we KNOW that praying to, worshipping and exulting Mary, the mother of Jesus, is forbidden? Because the Bible teaches us that it is forbidden.  We can’t be Christians and refute the teachings of Christ! (Exodus 20:3-6) (Jeremiah 44:2-8; 17-19; 25-27)

God’s Word, contained in the 66 books of KJV Canonical Scripture is our only true Authority for believing, receiving Christ’s Salvation, practicing and teaching, genuine Christianity to our hearers.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“The first lesson here is the uselessness of a mere outward profession of Christianity. Not everyone that saith “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Not all that profess and call themselves Christians shall be saved.

“Let us take notice of this. It requires far more than most people seem to think necessary, to save a soul. We may be baptized in the name of Christ, and boast confidently of our ecclesiastical privileges; we may possess head knowledge, and be quite satisfied with our own state; we may even be preachers, and teachers of others, and do “many wonderful works” in connection with our Church: but all this time are we practically doing the will of our Father in heaven? Do we truly repent, truly believe on Christ, and live holy and humble lives? If not, in spite of all our privileges and profession, we shall miss heaven at last, and be for ever cast away. We shall hear those awful words, “I never knew you: depart from Me,”

“The day of judgment will reveal strange things. The hopes of many, who were thought great Christians while they lived, will be utterly confounded. The rottenness of their religion will be exposed and put to shame before the whole world. It will then be proved that to be saved means something more than “making a profession.” We must make a “practice” of our Christianity as well as a “profession.” Let us often think of that great day: let us often “judge ourselves, that we be not judged,” and condemned by the Lord. Whatever else we are, let us aim at being real, true, and sincere.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition on Matthew’s Gospel.)

From our study today, therefore, we learn that God’s Word is our ONLY final authority for speaking and teaching on these and all other Spiritual matters.  Either we believe and obey God’s instructions or we run on headlong into gross error, perversion, and even idolatry.  Mankind’s wisdom and all the human reasoning in the world is foolishness when compared to the authoritative wisdom of God, as found in our KJV Bibles. (1 Corinthians 1:17-20)

Speak on then, faithful Christian, teach on in that faithful way; witness at every God-given opportunity – but speak ONLY by the final authority of the infallible written Word.

Thought:  If you seek to do what’s right by God – read and obey God’s righteous Instructions for doing so.  We speak, live, and teach in the authority of God’s Word.    

The Lord is No Man’s Debtor!  Mark 10:28-31

Text: “Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For (a Spiritual conclusion) with the same measure that ye mete (weigh out, measure out) withal shall it be measured to you again.”

Luke 6:38.

Good morning, unselfish Christian!  Having being given all the wealth of God’s Eternal Salvation – in Christ Jesus, and through His Sacrifice at Calvary’s Cross – you have been blessed with a generous and giving heart, and a deep compassion for the needs of other fellow sinners.  Praise God it is so!  The new nature you and I have been granted through Spiritual regeneration, has lifted us up out of the ‘valley of dried bones’; out of the world of DEAD SPIRITS; and made us to stand as generous-spirited followers of Christ Jesus – ‘…an ‘exceeding great army’ indeed. (See the Doctrine of Regeneration on the Basic Christian Doctrines button www.ulsterchristians.org)

“Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.  So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, and exceeding great army.”  (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

In Ezekiel chapter 37:1-10, we find a wonderful TYPE illustration of Spiritual Regeneration, being ‘born again’ of the God the Spirit.  The Lord God showed the prophet Ezekiel a valley of dried bones, bones that were, of course, obviously not only completely dead, but very dry also; brittle bones, ready to disintegrate into the dust from which they came, and blow away into nothingness.

The Lord then asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?”  Ezekiel had no clue as what to answer, it was just all too deep a question for his mortal mind to contemplate.  Such is the Lord’s generous gift of Eternal Salvation to dead, dry bone sinners such as thee and me.

“Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live…and ye shall KNOW that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6)

Take heed to what happened next, dear Reader, and comprehend the miraculous process of God’s Eternal Salvation: “So I prophesied (preached the Gospel) as I was commanded: and as I prophesied (preached), there was a noise, and behold (look, and fully understand) a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.  And when I beheld lo sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.”  (Ezekiel 37:7-8)

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

The Lord God is the Divine Giver of Eternal life – God the Holy Spirit breathes life into us, ‘His people’, and the elect of God receive His gift of saving faith when we are caused to hear the Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for our sins, and arisen to justify us in the sight of our Holy and Heavenly Father God. 

“And you hath He quickened (made Spiritually alive), who were dead (as the dried bones) in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead (as the dried bones) in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath raise us up together and made us to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”           (Ephesians 2:1-6)

God’s generous gift to us ‘His people’, grants us the ability to believe (trust) in Christ and Him Crucified for our sins – we can never be saved, or decide ourselves to be saved, without God’s gift of saving faith.  God only grants that Salvation gift to those He, as Sovereign Lord God, chooses. (John 15:16)

Having received God’s generous gift of Eternal life, we become unselfish Christians.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“THE first thing which demands our attention in these verses, is the glorious promise which they contain.The Lord Jesus says to His apostles, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or, brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel’s; but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with perse­cutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

“There are few wider promises than this in the word of God. There is none certainly in the New Testament which holds out such encouragement for the life that now is. Let everyone that is fearful and faint-hearted in Christ’s service look at this promise. Let all who are enduring hardness and tribulation for Christ’s sake, study this promise well, and drink out of it comfort.

“To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises “an hundred-fold now in this time.” They shall have not only pardon and glory in the world to come. They shall have even here upon earth, hopes, and joys, and sensible comforts sufficient to make up for all that they lose. They shall find in the communion of saints, new friends, new relations, new companions, more loving, faithful, and valuable than any they had before their conversion. Their introduction into the family of God shall be an abundant recompense for exclusion from the society of this world. This may sound startling and incredible to many ears. But thousands have found by experience that it is true.

“To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises “eternal life in the world to come.” As soon as they put off their earthly tabernacle, they shall enter upon a glorious existence, and in the morning of the resurrection shall receive such honour and joy as pass man’s understanding. Their light affliction for a few years shall end in an everlasting reward. Their fights and sorrows while in the body, shall be exchanged for perfect rest and a conqueror’s crown. They shall dwell in a world where there is no death, no sin, no devil, no cares, no weeping, no parting, for the former things will have passed away. God has said it, and it shall all be found true” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark.)

Thought: Having received such Divine generosity – let us be kind to one another.