The Persistence of the Ungodly    Psalm 78:17-22

Text: “And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness…Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in His Salvation.”

Psalm 78:17;22.

Good morning, Alarmed Christian!  It seems like each day you and the author open our eyes after sleep, we become alarmed at the increase in sinfulness we encounter in the lives of those all around us; it is as though Satan has caused them to fall into a deep trance from which they shall never recover until they open the eyes of their sous in a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.  Oh, that the souls of our nations would awake from their sinful sleep!  Oh, that our nation’s rebellion against all things Christian, pure, and Godly would cease!  Have mercy, Holy Lord God, and quicken these souls that lie like Spiritually dead and dry bones in this ever-growing valley of vile sin

Read Ezekiel chapter 37, verses one to ten, and catch the vision of today’s sinful nations.  Only Spiritual Regeneration can deliver ungodly nations from certain doom.

Verse 17. “And they sinned yet more against Him. It was bad enough to mistrust their God for necessities, but to revolt against Him in a greedy rage for superfluities was far worse. Ever it is the nature of the disease of sin to proceed from bad to worse; men never weary of sinning but rather increase their speed in the race of iniquity.  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 333)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon has such a wonderful way of setting forth clear truth and defining it as he goes.  This was another reason why I decided to try to reintroduce his wonderful and powerful Treasury of David to this 21^st Century church world-wide.

Note: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 –31 January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the “Prince of Preachers”. He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.)

Sin: Mankind sins naturally, because we are all born natural sinners, in Adam’s fallen image. (Genesis 5:3) (Psalm 51:5) (Romans 3:22-23) However, Scriptures warns over and over again about mankind committing ‘wilful sin’, and this is the rebellious sin here mentioned in Psalm 78.  They sinned wilfully against God.  Their disobedience was a wilful rebellion.

“He does not say that they sinned only, but that they sinned against God. And they sinned yet more against Him, namely God. Against what God?  Against Him Who had delivered them by great and unheard-of wonders out of Egypt, Who had led them as free men across the Red Sea with a dry foot, Who had continued to lead and to protect them with pillars of cloud an fire by day and night and had given them to drink abundantly of water drawn from the arid rock.  Against this God, they had added sin to sin.  Simply to sin is human, and happens to the saints even after they have received grace: but to sin against God argues a singular degree of impiety.”  (Wolfgang Musculus, 1497-1563)

Think now, alarmed Christian!  Let your alarm sound against the personal sins you and I have committed AFTER we have been saved – it will be a good remedy against the blight of self-righteousness. We should all cry out with the apostle Paul, “O wretched man that I am!”.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  (Philippians 4:8)

 Verse 18. “And they tempted God in their heart. Christ cannot die again, and yet many crucify him afresh, because such would be the legitimate result of their behaviour if its effects were not prevented by other forces.  The sinners in the wilderness would have had the Lord change His wise proceeding to humour their whims, hence they are said to tempt Him.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 334)

Sinful mankind is often defined as having eyes bigger than our bellies.  Greed is sin.

Verse 18. “…Asking meat for their lust. God had given them meat for their hunger in the manna, wholesome, pleasant food, and in abundance; He had given them meat for their faith…But all this would not serve, they must have meat ‘for their lust’; dainties and varieties to gratify a luxurious appetite.  Nothing is more provoking to God than our quarrelling with our allotment, and indulging the desires of the flesh.”  (Matthew Henry, 1662-1714)

These rebellious sinners were most persistent in their tempting of the Lord God – there would be little mercy shown them, once a God of righteous judgment chose to react. The arrogance of such vile, rebellious sinners only seems to increase, as God’s merciful hand is restrained from punishing their rebellious, and often gross, sin.  Nothing has changed today.  For example: legal rights to protect homosexuals, has only paved the way for arrogant and public parades of the gross sin of Sodomy; sin that the Living Lord God has proven He detests.  Fire and brimstone rained down upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when God’s patience was pushed to its Holy limit.  Our Lord God is unchanging, immutable, watch out!

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination (vile sin).” (Leviticus 18:22)

“And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet (a fit reward) (monkey-pox? Aids?)” (Romans 1:27)

Thought: Main reason for gross sin: “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in His Salvation.” (Psalm 78:22) Gross sin is caused today, by persistent unbelief!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Psalm 85: Sin’s Forgiven – Sin Detested!

1. Sins Forgiven.  Psalm 85:1-3

Text: “Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all Thy wrath: Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger.”

Psalm 85:1-3.

Good morning, pardoned Christian!  By God’s Sovereign grace, you and the author have been gloriously pardoned from all sin – our Adamic sin, sin inherited within our old nature from Adam/Eve; and all the sins we have ever, or shall ever commit against our Holy Lord God of just wrath against all sin.  Hallelujah!  We are pardoned from the guilt and shame of our vile, disobedient and inherited, sins; and shall never ever be punished for our committing them.   Thank you, dear and Holy Lord God!  Amen. In Christ Jesus, we are forgiven.

“And the Blood (of Christ Jesus) shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the Blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt (Egypt is always a type of the world in Scriptures).” (Exodus 12:13)

“Blessed is he/she whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (by the Blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus).” (Psalm 32:1)

Old Testament TYPES (the use of typology, earthly illustrations of Heavenly concepts) are all fully enacted in New Testament actions.  Christ came not to abolish the Law of God, He came to fulfil it, every jot and tittle.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”  (Matthew 5:17-18)

Verse 1. “Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.”  God’s favour, or it could be interpreted as His grace, has been shown in the most profound sense, by the sending forth of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take the sins of His elect upon Himself, go to that cruel Cross at Calvary, suffer, bleed and die the death that He alone could die – and all for to provide full Atonement for ‘His people’, and save us from the penalties and punishments for our sins.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour! He has come the first time to do what the Lord God told Joseph he would do.

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) (Not ALL people, but His people!)

“…Behold (look, and fully understand) the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

I hear some poor wretch say: “But, Dr McClinton, surely some of my sins are so vile and so blatantly deserving of God’s wrath, and Hell, and the Lake of Fire to follow – surely SOME of my sins will not be forgiven?”

To this sincere question I simple quote God’s written Word on the matter of forgiveness, and God’s Word puts an end to all questioning hearts. (Psalm 85:2)

Verse 2. “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered ALL their sins.”  Often and often again had He done this, pausing to pardon even when His sword was bared to punish.  Who is a pardoning God like Thee, O Jehovah? Who is so slow to anger, so ready to forgive? Every believer in Jesus enjoys the blessing of pardoned sin, and he/she should regard this priceless boon as the pledge of all other needed mercies.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 360)

Verse 3. “Thou hast taken away ALL Thy wrath: Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger. When the Lord God, in Eternity, elects a sinner to give to His Son, Jesus Christ, to save in time – He causes ALL His wrath that that sinner deserved and continues to deserve to receive, to be taken away.  The shed and sinless Blood of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, the price of the elect sinner’s ransom, is all that the loving and Holy Father sees when He looks upon us as His redeemed people.  What grace!  What love! What a Father!  What a Saviour we have, in Christ Jesus!  Hallelujah! Thanks be to God for His grace! (John 6:37)

“That in the ages to come (right now) He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works (good deeds, good living), lest any man/woman should boast.” (Ephesians 2:7-9)

“Thou hast borne, or carried away, the iniquity. An allusion (type) to the ceremony of the scape-goat.” (Adam Clarke, 1760-1832)

“Thou hast covered ALL their sin. When God is said to cover sin, He does so, not as one would cover a sore with a plaster, thereby merely hiding it only; but He covers it with a plaster that effectually cures and removes it altogether.” (Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621)

If the Living Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, Creator of all things, be likened unto an Atomic Reactor unto which no human being can approach, without burning up in an instant.  Then, the precious shed Blood of the Living Lord Jesus Christ might be likened unto the thick lead suit of protection, by which redeemed sinners might approach our Father’s throne, without utterly consuming away. Genuine saved sinners are covered by Christ’s sinless Blood.

“Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

The Lord Jesus Christ, by the offering of His own sinless Blood, has entered into the Holy Place in Heaven on your behalf and on mine – IF we are born again, Bible-believing Christians.  His once-for-all-time sin offering for us, covers ‘His people’, and pays the just penalty for our vile sins.  We are FORGIVEN in Him. He is our Eternal insurance policy!

“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.” (Hebrews 9:12)

Thought: “Therefore (an Eternal conclusion) if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed (or are continually passing) away; behold, all things are become (or are continually becoming) new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17) Glory to the Lamb!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Psalm 74: Cruel Sufferers!

1. Reasoning with God in Suffering.    Psalm 74:1

Text: “Oh God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever?  Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?

Psalm 74:1.

Good morning, suffering Christian!  When you and I suffer as Spiritually regenerate Christians, we often know we are suffering because of some failing in our obedience to our Holy Lord God – in word, in thought, or in deed.  However, we also know that the Lord in all His grace and mercy has made a way for us to repent of that failing, that sin, that straying from the path of righteousness – and therefore we can make our way, reverently, to His throne of grace, to find mercy in time of need. We Christians often suffer constantly because of our sins.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:9-10)

As natural born sinners, we have always a way back to full obedience with the Lord God, our Creator Lord God Who gave mankind His Ten Commandments for one reason only – to show us that we could never fully keep them, and therefore needed a Saviour, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from all our sins.

However, it is when this type of suffering for sin becomes prolonged that we begin to become so very weary and distressed; when it seems like the Heavens are as brass, and that our prayers of repentance and seeking forgiveness are just not being heard by God.  This seems to be where the Psalmist has arrived here at the commencement of Psalm 74.

Verse 1. “O God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever? To cast us off at all were hard, but when Thou dost for so long a time desert Thy people, it is an evil beyond all endurance – the very chief of woes and abyss of misery.  Sin is usually at the bottom of all the hidings of the Lord’s face; let us ask the Lord to reveal the special form of it to us, that we may repent of it, overcome it, and henceforth forsake it.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 320)

An Instructive Purpose: Suffering in our Christian life and experience is given to us by God in order to instruct us in the way we should walk, in the way we should live our lives for Christ.  God the Holy Spirit condescends to come and take up abode within each and every soul redeemed by the precious, sinless Blood of Christ Jesus.  We become His temple.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are.”  (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

When Christians commit sin – in any degree or form – we cause immediate grief to God the Holy Spirit living within us.  God cannot abide sin.  We must flee far from it.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  (Ephesians 4:29-32) 

We now realise that Spiritual suffering has an instructive purpose for God’s people. Sin separates us from the glow of Gods face, and we grieve the loss of His fellowship.

“Title: “Maschil of Asaph.” An instructive Psalm by Asaph.  The history of the suffering church is always edifying; when we see how the faithful trusted and wrestled with their God in times of dire distress, we are thereby taught how to behave ourselves under similar circumstances; we learn, moreover, that when the fiery trial befalls us, no strange things have happened unto us, we are following the trail of the host of God.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 320)

Suffering and Serving:  Sin is not the only reason the genuine Christian suffers.  Suffering seems to be a part and parcel of the lot of the most faithfully serving saints.  We often suffer not realising WHY we are suffering.  Such sufferings can be the Lord God’s way of testing us, as He did with the faithful Job, in order to make us even stronger in the service of Christ.

Verse 1. “Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?  Suffering in the Sovereign will of the Lord God becomes a God-ordained privilege for the Christian, when once we realise that it is sent against ‘the sheep’ of God’s pasture, and not the goats!  Such trials and sufferings only serve to assure you and I that we are indeed, ‘His sheep’.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them Eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck then out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are ONE.”  (John 10:27-30)

Verse 1. “…the sheep of Thy pasture. There is nothing more imbecile than a sheep: simple, frugal, gentle, tame, patient, prolific, timid, domesticated, stupid, useful.  Therefore, while the name of sheep is here used, it is suggested how pressing the necessity is for Divine assistance and how well-befitting the Most High it would be to make their cause His own.” (Lorinus John,1569-1634)

“Lord God? Why am I suffering at this present time, and for so long a period? Please reveal this unto me, that I may be encouraged to persevere in Thy service?” This may well be your reasoning with the Lord today, beloved Reader. (Isaiah 1:18)

The history of the suffering church of Christ Jesus, reveals unto us today, how we must endure suffering for reasons known only to the Lord God, but it is only ‘His sheep’ that suffer such times of hardness and day to day difficulties.  Knowing we are ‘His sheep’ is a very real encouraging assurance to us.  It is only Christ’s sheep that are going to Heaven.

Thought: “And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats (unsaved) on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come ye, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  (Matthew 25:33-34)

Psalm 82: God the Almighty Judge!  Psalm 82:1-8

Text: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty He judgeth (judges, and continually judges) among the gods (small g.)”

Psalm 82:1.

          “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.

Good morning, well-judged Christian! In Christ Jesus, you and I have been Spiritually awakened by the Lord God to know ourselves to be gross sinners on our way to a lost Eternity in Hell; an Eternity of perpetual torment after that, in the Lake of Fire Created to punish Satan and his fallen, disobedient angels, but which shall also house all sinful souls that knew not Christ as their own and personal Saviour from sin.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate (a state of obedience to the Lord God), but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.  Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh (homosexuality), are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire.”  (Jude 6-7)

“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever…And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:10-15)

On the other hand, having, by God’s Sovereign grace and enablement, judged ourselves to be lost; and having been blessed with God’s gift of faith to believe and trust in Christ’s Salvation – we have been born-again, regenerated by God the Spirit to be new creatures in Christ, never to be judged by God again or condemned for sins – past, present, and future sins – committed.  Hallelujah! (John 3:3-8)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

Having been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and declared ‘not guilty of sin’ by our Father in Heaven as a consequence – we are clearly instructed by God’s Word not to ever ‘…accept the persons of the wicked.’  We are not to ‘judge’ the words and actions of others according to their social or legal positions in society, but according to the laws of the Living Lord God, as written clearly in our KJV Bibles. Wrong can never ever be judged right! The Lord God grants us Holy discernment, to judge what is wrong and right.

God Judges the judges: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty He judgeth (judges, and continually judges) among the gods (small g.)”  (Psalm 82:1)

Verse 3. “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. It is said of Francis the First, of France, that when a woman kneeled to him to beg justice, he bade her stand up; for, said he, ‘Woman, it is justice that I owe thee, and justice thou shalt have; if thou beg anything of me, let it be mercy.’” (William Price,1642)

Nations which have been founded on the Ten Commandments of God, and the Divine wisdom of the King James Version Bible, have for centuries been characterized by a high sense of justice and mercy shown to their peoples, and especially to those that have become prisoners within a Sovereign territory.

“Prisoners are judged by courts and put into prison AS a punishment, not FOR punishment. Loss of liberty IS the punishment!” (C.K. McClinton 1947 -?)

Verse 4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a victim like a fly from the spider’s web, and a horrible case when magistrate and plunderer are in league.  Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance in the hand of unscrupulous men, an instrument as deadly as poison or the dagger.  It is for the judge to prevent such villainy.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 353)

The Lord God Jehovah is an absolutely Holy Lord God, Creator of all things; Sovereign in all issues pertaining to what He has Created.  All that He has Created was perfect, until Adam and Eve sinned the sin of disobedience in Eden’s Garden. 

All since then has been polluted by mankind’s sin.  All mankind since that Fall into sin, are NOT Created by God, but born of sinful man and woman, in Adam’s Fallen image and likeness, with a nature that is at all times very prone to sin.  (Genesis 5:3)

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ taught us, “Ye must be born again!”  We must be Spiritually regenerated, made Spiritually alive, and forgiven of all our sin; redeemed from sin, by the precious, sinless, shed Blood of the Saviour Lord, Jesus Christ.  Praise His Holy Name!  We are made to be Holy by the imputation (putting to our personal account) of the righteousness of Christ Jesus Himself.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!            (John 3:3-8)

“For He (God the Father) hath made Him (Jesus Christ, God the Son) to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we (God’s elect people) might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

When God, the righteous Judge of all the earth, looks upon those of us that have been, by His grace and faith, born again in Christ – all He causes Himself to see IS His Son, Jesus Christ, and thus, we are passed over for destruction, Hell, and the Lake of Fire. Wow! Glory to God.

“You hath He quickened (made Spiritually alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins…even when we were dead (Spiritually dead) in sins, hath quickened (made Spiritually alive) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)” (Ephesians 2:1-5)

In Christ Jesus we are judged to be totally innocent from all our catalogues of vile sins!

“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 cleanseth us from ALL SIN.”       (1 John 1:7)

“I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” (Isaiah 44:22)

Thought: God, the Almighty Judge declares ‘His people’, not guilty of sins! Hallelujah!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Heart of Darkness  Mark 7:15-23

Text: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?  I, the Lord, search the hearts, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”                                                                                                                                                                         Jeremiah 17:9-10.

Good morning, totally depraved Christian!  Let all self-righteousness take a timely beating this morning.  Let each of us who profess the name of Christ declare HIS righteousness, and thus let HIS light shine into our hearts of darkness.  Amen! 

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not.”  (Romans 7:18)

“As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no not one.’”  (Romans 3:10) (Psalm 14:1-3)

Essential Confession:  No person, woman or man, can ever have the full righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed unto them by God, unless she/he first admits, both to self and to others, the total and utter depravity of mankind’s heart – the consequences of the original sin of Eve and Adam in Eden’s Garden.

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death (i.e., Spiritual death!) by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”  (Romans 5:12)

Total Depravity: Total depravity, the result of our progenitor’s disobedience to God’s instruction after their Creation, is passed down to each individual heart, the essence of our being, in the same manner in which a hereditary disease is communicated from parent to child. 

“Behold (look, and fully understand), I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” (Psalm 51:5-6)

Thus, mankind became totally depraved in Adam.  We are unrighteous beings in God’s impeccably pure and Holy sight.  (Habakkuk 1:13)

“But we are ALL as an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we ALL do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) (Genesis 6:5-7)

Our total depravity is revealed by Christ in today’s Bible reading – the Lord lists just some of the vile, depraved, evil things which proceed from the essence of our beings to further defile us and to prove our natural, totally depraved, state.  (Vs.20-23)

We therefore, don’t become sinners when we commit our first sin – we commit acts of sin NATURALLY because we are natural born sinners!  (John 8:44-47)

Today’s text from the prophet Jeremiah clearly shows just how totally depraved our hearts actually are – we are so depraved inside that we can even deceive ourselves and believe a self-made lie!  We can believe we are not really that bad, and if we just do some ‘good deeds’ we will please God and enter into His Holy Heaven when we die.  What deceitful error!  This lie leads countless millions into Hell’s fires daily.   (2 Thessalonians 2:8-15)

No human heart can do a truly righteous deed, unless it is first, fully quickened and led by God the Spirit to be BORN AGAIN (Spiritually regenerated) by Christ Jesus, and then to do something from a pure motivation that will, perhaps, help others and bring greater glory to the Lord God.  (Matthew 5:16)

Deeds that outwardly APPEAR to be ‘good’ in man’s depraved eyes, are often unacceptable in the Holy eyes of a thrice Holy Lord God Almighty.  Clear recognition of this Scriptural fact is our first step towards Salvation through Christ’s righteousness ALONE.               (Acts 4:12)

“…for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”                    (1 Samuel 16:7b)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“We see, in the second place, from this passage, that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God’s sight.Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing, —touching things or not touching them, —eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, these are they that defile the man.”

“There is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural incli­nation to evil are seldom sufficiently considered. The wickedness of men is often attributed to bad examples, bad company, peculiar temptations, or the snares of the devil. It seems forgotten that every man carries within him a fountain of wickedness. We need no bad company to teach us, and no devil to tempt us, in order to run into sin. We have within us the beginning of every sin under heaven.

“We ought to remember this in the training and educa­tion of children. In all our management we must never forget, that the seeds of all mischief and wickedness are in their hearts.” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)

In conclusion, therefore, let us rejoice together.  Why?  Because in spite of the Scriptural fact that Adam’s fall from grace brought us, all mankind, Eternal death – according to those same God-breathed Scriptures, Christ Jesus, “…the last Adam…”, by His Cross, can bless us with Eternal Life. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!  Thanks be to God for true and everlasting Salvation, in Christ Jesus!  Amen.  (Romans 5:15-21)

Thought: The Gospel cries, “New hearts for old hearts!”.  (Ezekiel 36:24-29)

Psalm 85: Sins Forgiven – Sin Detested

1. Sins Forgiven  Psalm 85:1-3

Text: “Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all Thy wrath: Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger.”

Psalm 85:1-3.

Good morning, pardoned Christian!  By God’s Sovereign grace, you and the author have been gloriously pardoned from all sin – our Adamic sin, sin inherited within our old nature from Adam/Eve; and all the sins we have ever, or shall ever commit against our Holy Lord God of just wrath against all sin.  Hallelujah!  We are pardoned from the guilt and shame of our vile, disobedient and inherited, sins; and shall never ever be punished for our committing them.   Thank you, dear and Holy Lord God!  Amen. In Christ Jesus, we are forgiven.

“And the Blood (of Christ Jesus) shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the Blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt (Egypt is always a type of the world in Scriptures).” (Exodus 12:13)

“Blessed is he/she whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (by the Blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus).” (Psalm 32:1)

Old Testament TYPES (the use of typology, earthly illustrations of Heavenly concepts) are all fully enacted in New Testament actions.  Christ came not to abolish the Law of God, He came to fulfil it, every jot and tittle.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”  (Matthew 5:17-18)

Verse 1. “Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.”  God’s favour, or it could be interpreted as His grace, has been shown in the most profound sense, by the sending forth of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take the sins of His elect upon Himself, go to that cruel Cross at Calvary, suffer, bleed and die the death that He alone could die – and all for to provide full Atonement for ‘His people’, and save us from the penalties and punishments for our sins.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour! He has come the first time to do what the Lord God told Joseph he would do.

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) (Not ALL people, but His people!)

“…Behold (look, and fully understand) the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

I hear some poor wretch say: “But, Dr McClinton, surely some of my sins are so vile and so blatantly deserving of God’s wrath, and Hell, and the Lake of Fire to follow – surely SOME of my sins will not be forgiven?”

To this sincere question I simply quote God’s written Word on the matter of forgiveness, and God’s Word puts an end to all questioning hearts. (Psalm 85:2)

Verse 2. “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered ALL their sins.”  Often and often again had He done this, pausing to pardon even when His sword was bared to punish.  Who is a pardoning God like Thee, O Jehovah? Who is so slow to anger, so ready to forgive? Every believer in Jesus enjoys the blessing of pardoned sin, and he/she should regard this priceless boon as the pledge of all other needed mercies.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 360)

Verse 3. “Thou hast taken away ALL Thy wrath: Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger. When the Lord God, in Eternity, elects a sinner to give to His Son, Jesus Christ, to save in time – He causes ALL His wrath that that sinner deserved and continues to deserve to receive, to be taken away.  The shed and sinless Blood of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, the price of the elect sinner’s ransom, is all that the loving and Holy Father sees when He looks upon us as His redeemed people.  What grace!  What love! What a Father!  What a Saviour we have, in Christ Jesus!  Hallelujah! Thanks be to God for His grace! (John 6:37)

“That in the ages to come (right now) He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works (good deeds, good living), lest any man/woman should boast.” (Ephesians 2:7-9)

“Thou hast borne, or carried away, the iniquity. An allusion (type) to the ceremony of the scape-goat.” (Adam Clarke, 1760-1832)

“Thou hast covered ALL their sin. When God is said to cover sin, He does so, not as one would cover a sore with a plaster, thereby merely hiding it only; but He covers it with a plaster that effectually cures and removes it altogether.” (Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621)

If the Living Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, Creator of all things, be likened unto an Atomic Reactor unto which no human being can approach, without burning up in an instant.  Then, the precious shed Blood of the Living Lord Jesus Christ might be likened unto the thick lead suit of protection, by which redeemed sinners might approach our Father’s throne, without utterly consuming away. Genuine saved sinners are covered by Christ’s sinless Blood.

“Wherefore we, receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

The Lord Jesus Christ, by the offering of His own sinless Blood, has entered into the Holy Place in Heaven on your behalf and on mine – IF we are born again, Bible-believing Christians.  His once-for-all-time sin offering for us, covers ‘His people’, and pays the just penalty for our vile sins.  We are FORGIVEN in Him. He is our Eternal insurance policy!

“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.” (Hebrews 9:12)

Thought: “Therefore (an Eternal conclusion) if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed (or are continually passing) away; behold, all things are become (or are continually becoming) new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17) Glory to the Lamb!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org

Psalm 76: God’s Terrible Power.

1. The Power of Christ’s Name                                    Psalm 76:1-4

Text: “In Judah is God known: His Name is great in Israel”                                                                                                          Psalm 76:1.

          “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: that, at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:9-11.

Good morning, Christ-honouring Christian!  Having been Spiritually regenerated, made Spiritually alive from being a dry-bone natural sinner – you and I have learned the privilege of exalting the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, the risen Christ.  What a truly marvellous privilege this is today.  Hallelujah!  We honour and praise you, Lord Jesus!

“Again, He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.”  (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

“And you hath He quickened (made alive), who were dead (Spiritually dead) in trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).”  (Ephesians 2:1-10)

The Sovereign Lord God has blessed you and I and granted us His gift of genuine FAITH to believe His Word, the Gospel of Christ Crucified for to save natural sinners – and we have been graciously saved; redeemed by the sinless shed Blood of God the Son, Christ Jesus.  Wow!  Now, there’s a thought that should cause our redeemed souls to sing with joy!  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour we have in Christ Jesus!  Thanks be to Thee, great Lord God.

“Here faith sings of triumphs achieved. The present Psalm is a most jubilant war song a paean to the King of kings, the hymn of a theocratic nation to its Divine Ruler.  We have no need to mark divisions in a song where the unity is so well preserved.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 325)

What great theme is being song here in Psalm 76?  What is the cause of Israel’s triumphant rejoicing?  Why, it’s the fact that the nation has received God’s enlightenment and come to worship the true Creator Lord God Jehovah; and, furthermore, the acknowledgement that the Lord God has made Himself known to this nation, and hidden Himself from many others!

Verse 1. “In Judah is God known: His Name is great in Israel. Dark is the outer world, but within the favoured circle Jehovah is revealed and is the adoration of all who behold Him.  The world knows Him not, and therefore blasphemes Him, but His church is full of ardour to proclaim His fame unto the ends of the earth.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 325)

For me, this mirrors the Spiritual mystery of Christ’s Eternal Salvation: He saves some, and does not save others.  Fact! Those whom God the Spirit ‘quickens’ (makes Spiritually alive) are Eternally saved and shall go to be with Christ in Heaven.  Those to whom God the Spirit does not ‘quicken’, never get Eternally saved, and go to Hell when they die.  Fact!

Both groups are privileged to hear the glorious Gospel message of Eternal Salvation in Christ’s Atonement at Calvary’s Cross for sinners – but only a portion of those hearers get Eternally saved.  The Gospel message means EVERYTHING to those who are ordained to be saved; the Gospel message means NOTHING to those who are ordained to remain lost. This is an easily observable FACT we can see taking place day by day. God gives the Gospel message out loud and clear to all souls, but only those ordained by Him to ‘…receive power to become the sons of God’; that wonderful Divine gift of faith, ever get Eternally saved.  God’s Sovereign will is, at all times, fully done.

“But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: which were born, not of blood (human conception), nor of the will of the flesh (humanism and self-will), nor of the will of man (decisionism), but of God.” (John 1:12-13)

“For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  (Hebrews 4:2)

“But the natural man (unregenerate, unquickened) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

This is the power of Christ’s Holy Name!  His Name is GREAT indeed, in Spiritual Israel (the born again, Bible-believing Church).  Others outside Christ’s Kingdom may well seek to blaspheme His Holy Name; use it as a curse word on television dramas, movies, and worldly shows, etc.  But ‘His people’ know and fully reverence the blessed Name of Christ Jesus.  Glory and praise to Him Who sits on the right hand of our Father God!  Amen.

“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.”  (Exodus 20:7)

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shall call His Name JESUS: for He shall save HIS PEOPLE from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

Verse 2. “…His dwelling place in Zion. In God’s awesome power, He deems it fit to dwell continually in the hearts of redeemed sinners. What Divine humility!  What Divine grace!

Today’s Zion: Today’s Zion, in Spiritual Christian terms, is the hearts of ‘His people’; we who are privileged to be Spiritually regenerated Christians, are the dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit. He condescends to live within the hearts of those He has quickened, and for whom Christ shed His own sinless Blood on that cruel Calvary Cross.  We are God’s Zion.

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (capital S.), if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”            (Romans 8:8-11)

Thought:  Verse 3. “There break He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Over the past 46 years, since the Lord in His Sovereign grace saved a Hell-deserving wretch like me – there have been many ‘arrows’, ‘bows’, ‘shields’, and ‘battles’ raging within my heart.  But the Sovereign Lord God has broken every weapon, and granted me His Victory. All praise, and honour, and glory to His Holy and loving Name! (Isaiah 54:17)

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians

www.ulsterchristians.org

Psalm 82: God the Almighty Judge!  Psalm 82:1-8

Text: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty He judgeth (judges, and continually judges) among the gods (small g.)”

Psalm 82:1.

          “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.

Good morning, well-judged Christian! In Christ Jesus, you and I have been Spiritually awakened by the Lord God to know ourselves to be gross sinners on our way to a lost Eternity in Hell; an Eternity of perpetual torment after that, in the Lake of Fire Created to punish Satan and his fallen, disobedient angels, but which shall also house all sinful souls that knew not Christ as their own and personal Saviour from sin.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate (a state of obedience to the Lord God), but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.  Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh (homosexuality), are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire.”  (Jude 6-7)

“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever…And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:10-15)

On the other hand, having, by God’s Sovereign grace and enablement, judged ourselves to be lost; and having been blessed with God’s gift of faith to believe and trust in Christ’s Salvation – we have been born-again, regenerated by God the Spirit to be new creatures in Christ, never to be judged by God again or condemned for sins – past, present, and future sins – committed.  Hallelujah! (John 3:3-8)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

Having been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and declared ‘not guilty of sin’ by our Father in Heaven as a consequence – we are clearly instructed by God’s Word not to ever ‘…accept the persons of the wicked.’  We are not to ‘judge’ the words and actions of others according to their social or legal positions in society, but according to the laws of the Living Lord God, as written clearly in our KJV Bibles. Wrong can never ever be judged right! The Lord God grants us Holy discernment, to judge what is wrong and right.

God Judges the judges: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty He judgeth (judges, and continually judges) among the gods (small g.)”  (Psalm 82:1)

Verse 3. “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. It is said of Francis the First, of France, that when a woman kneeled to him to beg justice, he bade her stand up; for, said he, ‘Woman, it is justice that I owe thee, and justice thou shalt have; if thou beg anything of me, let it be mercy.’” (William Price,1642)

Nations which have been founded on the Ten Commandments of God, and the Divine wisdom of the King James Version Bible, have for centuries been characterized by a high sense of justice and mercy shown to their peoples, and especially to those that have become prisoners within a Sovereign territory.

“Prisoners are judged by courts and put into prison AS a punishment, not FOR punishment. Loss of liberty IS the punishment!” (C.K. McClinton 1947 -?)

Verse 4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a victim like a fly from the spider’s web, and a horrible case when magistrate and plunderer are in league.  Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance in the hand of unscrupulous men, an instrument as deadly as poison or the dagger.  It is for the judge to prevent such villainy.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 353)

The Lord God Jehovah is an absolutely Holy Lord God, Creator of all things; Sovereign in all issues pertaining to what He has Created.  All that He has Created was perfect, until Adam and Eve sinned the sin of disobedience in Eden’s Garden. 

All since then has been polluted by mankind’s sin.  All mankind since that Fall into sin, are NOT Created by God, but born of sinful man and woman, in Adam’s Fallen image and likeness, with a nature that is at all times very prone to sin.  (Genesis 5:3)

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ taught us, “Ye must be born again!”  We must be Spiritually regenerated, made Spiritually alive, and forgiven of all our sin; redeemed from sin, by the precious, sinless, shed Blood of the Saviour Lord, Jesus Christ.  Praise His Holy Name!  We are made to be Holy by the imputation (putting to our personal account) of the righteousness of Christ Jesus Himself.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!            (John 3:3-8)

“For He (God the Father) hath made Him (Jesus Christ, God the Son) to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we (God’s elect people) might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

When God, the righteous Judge of all the earth, looks upon those of us that have been, by His grace and faith, born again in Christ – all He causes Himself to see IS His Son, Jesus Christ, and thus, we are passed over for destruction, Hell, and the Lake of Fire. Wow! Glory to God.

“You hath He quickened (made Spiritually alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins…even when we were dead (Spiritually dead) in sins, hath quickened (made Spiritually alive) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)” (Ephesians 2:1-5)

In Christ Jesus we are judged to be totally innocent from all our catalogues of vile sins!

“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 cleanseth us from ALL SIN.”       (1 John 1:7)

“I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” (Isaiah 44:22)

Thought: God, the Almighty Judge declares ‘His people’, not guilty of sins! Hallelujah!

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians Ministry

www.ulsterchristians.org