Leviathan – sign of judgment                              verse 1

IN THAT DAY the LORD

with HIS sore and great and strong sword

shall punish leviathan – the piercing serpent

even leviathan that crooked serpent

and HE shall slay the dragon that is in the sea

Song of Israel                                                       verse 2- 6

IN THAT DAY sing you to her

A vineyard of red wine

I the LORD do keep it

I will water it every moment – lest any hurt it

I will keep it night and day

Fury is not in ME

who would set the briers

and thorns against ME in battle?

I would go through them

I would burn them together

OR let him take hold of MY strength

that he may make peace with ME

and he shall make peace with me

HE shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root

Israel shall blossom and bud

and fill the face of the world with fruit 

Purging of Israel                                                  verse 7- 11

Has he smitten him – as he smote those that smote him?

OR is he slain according to the slaughter of them

that are slain by him?

In measure – when it shoot forth – you will debate with it

he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged

and this is all the fruit to take away his sin

when he makes all the stones of the altar

as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder

the groves and images shall not stand up

Yet the defensed city shall be desolate – and the habitation forsaken

and left like a wilderness – there shall the calf feed

and there shall he lie down

and consume the branches thereof

WHEN the boughs thereof are withered – they shall be broken off

the women come – and set them on fire

for it is a people of no understanding

THEREFORE HE that made them will not have mercy on them

and HE that formed them will show them no favor 

Gathering of Israel                                              verse 12- 13

And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY

that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river

unto the stream of Egypt

            and ye shall be gathered one by one

O children of Israel

And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY

that the great trumpet shall be blown

and they shall come which were ready to perish

in the land of Assyria

and the outcasts in the land of Egypt

                        and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem

 

COMMENTARY:           

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers 

: 5        Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. (7965 “peace” [shalom] means completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, soundness, health, prosperity, contentment, or tranquility.)

DEVOTION:  One of the heart cries of our day is for a time of tranquility in our world. There are wars in almost every country whether with guns or with money. Every nation seems to be affected by the lack of money that seems to be available to the common man. Many companies are downsizing or closing their doors. When there is a job opening there are so many applications that the ones hiring have their pick of the best. Everyone would like to live a prosperous life with few worries. That is not happening now and will not happen in the near future.

God has a plan for the ages. HE is working HIS plan in Israel and in the rest of the world. Sin has caused a problem. The problem is that God wants a holy people to HIMSELF and that only comes through tribulation. People who believe in the LORD turn to HIM when all else fails. The children of Israel need tribulation to see that they have nowhere else to turn.

These last few chapters have explained the LORD’S plan to send tribulation to Israel to purge it from sin. Judgment came because of their being unwilling to follow the LORD. They would rather worship false gods instead of answering to the one true God who created them.

However, in all these chapters there are verses of hope given to the children of Israel. Here we find that if HIS people would take hold of HIS strength, they would have safety. The time period of their prosperity is still future. There is coming a day when the battle will be over and the LORD will gather those who are HIS followers to Jerusalem to worship their King. This will happen at the end of the seven year Tribulation period.

Today we can look at our world and get discouraged. The news media has so much negative things to report, it can cause us not to want to listen to the news anymore.

However, throughout the Bible we find that even though the world is discouraging, the LORD gives hope to HIS followers. We need to realize that we have hope. We need to share this hope with others. The plan is processing as the LORD before the foundation of the world planned it.

I believe that those who are followers of the LORD will hear a trumpet sound and the LORD will gather us to go with HIM to heaven. Then the time period described above will happen on this earth.  

CHALLENGE: Are we ready to listen for it? Are we living in a state of contentment? We can!!!

 

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers 

: 9        By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. (3722 “purged” [kaphar] means to be cleansed of sin or from the defilement of sin, to appease, make amends, make atonement, make good, be removed, or to be covered over)

DEVOTION:  The only sacrifice that atones for sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. HE came to die on the cross to take away the sins of those who are trusting in HIM for their personal salvation.

Even in the Old Testament the sacrifices were not enough. It was going to take the coming of Jesus in the future to take the sins away from those who willingly trusted in Jesus as their personal Savor.

Too often some teach that “good works” will save some people but that is a lie from hell. None of our good works can save us or anyone else. It is only the blood sacrifice of Jesus that gives us an opportunity to become a genuine follower of HIM.

Today we still have false worship going on even in our churches. Genuine worship is done when we trust in Christ alone to save us and we serve because we are grateful for HIS provision for us.

Our witness needs to be based on the fact that we can’t earn our salvation but we can express it in our daily life by confessing our sins and serving the LORD with the gifts HE has given us at the point of salvation.

CHALLENGE: The children of Israel had to learn to depend on God alone and we need to do the same. Our works will not save us.

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: 11      When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor. (998 “understanding” [biynah] means wisdom, knowledge, discernment, insight, or perceptive words.)

DEVOTION:  There are people in our world that you can explain things to in simple language and they still don’t get it. It is not that they don’t try but they just can’t get some simple concepts.

There are instructions that come with most of the products that we buy today. These instructions are supposed to be written so that anyone with a sixth grade education can follow them. Well, most people don’t know how to follow them.

There are people that can learn if someone shows them how to do something the first time and will remember how to do it a second time. But if they don’t write down the first instructions and it is a long time before the next time they have to use those instructions, they forget.

The children of Israel were given instructions from the LORD many times but they didn’t have the discernment to apply those instructions to their life. They had to be judged. There had to be a time period of chastening. Once the chastening was done, the LORD could restore them to a place of honor.

We find that they, as well as, us don’t have the discernment to know that we are created beings and that we are to worship our Creator only. We try to put things or others in HIS place. HE doesn’t like that and tells us so in HIS Word, the Bible.

Just like the children of Israel not being people with discernment, we don’t use our knowledge to worship the one true God. There is coming a time when everyone who was ever born will fall down before the LORD and acknowledge HIM as their Creator. However, during this time those who have not become HIS follower will be judged for eternity away from HIS presence. HE will have no mercy toward them. HE will have no favor toward them.

CHALLENGE: Pray for discernment on how to share the truth of the Word of God with others. If you don’t understand – ask a good Bible teacher for answers.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

:13       “So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).

DOVOTION: In a day that the children of Israel were anticipating as the Lord makes a promise to bring them back to their promised land. That same promise should make us anticipatory as well as we await the return of the Lord for His own. Our promise is not to a land or earthly possessions but to the presence of Christ himself. We are promised that reality of seeing and being with Him forever in His presence. John 14: 1-4 Jesus declares that he has gone to prepare a place and he will come again for His own. “I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you will be also.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 states; “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

As the Israelites were looking to worship in the holy city of Jerusalem so we anticipate being able to worship in heaven with Christ. Are you listening for the trumpet?

CHALLENGE: Christ return is closer today than ever before! Are you prepared to meet Him? (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)

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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

Spirit

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group) 

Sing                                                                             verse 2

                        Great trumpets shall be blown                                    verse 13

Worship the LORD in the holy mount                   verse 13

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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

God the Father (First person of the Godhead) 

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal)   verse 1, 3, 12, 13

Creator                                                                       verse 11 

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)    

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil) 

      Devil called a serpent and dragon                           verse 1 

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation) 

Egypt                                                                          verse 12, 13

Assyria                                                                       verse 13 

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels) 

                        Iniquity                                                                       verse 9

                        Sin                                                                               verse 9

                        Groves                                                                        verse 9

                        Images                                                                        verse 9

                        No understanding                                                     verse 11

 

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins) 

                        Strength                                                                     verse 5

                        Peace                                                                          verse 5

                        Purged                                                                       verse 9

                        Fruit                                                                           verse 9

                        Sin taken away                                                          verse 9

                        Mercy                                                                         verse 11

                        Favor                                                                          verse 11 

Israel (Old Testament people of God) 

Jacob                                                                          verse 6, 9

Israel                                                                           verse 6

            blossom and bud

            fill the face of the world with fruit

Children of Israel                                                      verse 12

Jerusalem                                                                   verse 13 

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events) 

In that day                                                                 verse 1, 2, 12, 13

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DONATIONS:

Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org.  Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method.  Thank you.

QUOTES regarding passage

27:9–11. The sin of the nation had to be atoned for. Of course atonement for all sin is through the death of Jesus Christ. But in view of Israel’s covenant relationship with God, she had to be driven out of the land because of her disobedience to the Law (Deut. 28:49–52, 64). Evidence of that atonement would be her pulverizing her altar stones dedicated to idolatrous gods, and removing the Asherah poles, wooden symbols of the Canaanite pagan goddess of fertility.

Because of Judah’s sin, her city (i.e., Jerusalem) would be destroyed and its people removed. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 b.c. and was left desolate. Isaiah said calves would graze in Jerusalem’s ruins and being hungry would strip tree branches of their bark. Women then would cut off the branches and use them for firewood. In judging His senseless people, God, their Maker and Creator, temporarily withdrew His compassion on them. (Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1076). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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In “the Day of the Lord,” God will use suffering to purge His people and prepare them for their kingdom. Verse 9 does not suggest that personal suffering can atone for sin, for only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can do that. God uses suffering as a discipline to bring us to submission so that we will seek Him and His holiness (Heb. 12:1–11). The Babylonian Captivity cured the Jews of their idolatry once and for all (Isa. 27:9).

In Isaiah’s day, the vineyard was producing wild grapes; but in the future kingdom, Israel will be fruitful and flourishing. God will guard His people and give them all that they need to bring glory to His name. The nation will “blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (v. 6). Through Israel, all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:1–3). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Comforted (p. 68). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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Ver. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, &c.] Or expiated, or atoned; not that afflictions are atonements for sin, or give satisfaction to divine justice for it; but they are the means of bringing the Lord’s people to a sense of their sins, and to repentance and humiliation for them, and confession of them, and of leading them to the blood and sacrifice of Christ, by which they are expiated and atoned, and which the spirit of God brings near, and applies unto them; whereby their sins, they are convicted of by means of afflictions, and which lay heavy upon their consciences, are purged away, and removed from them: and this is all the fruit, to take away sin; this is the design and use of afflictions, the profit and advantage of them to the saints, that, being humbled for their sins, they depart from them, leave and forsake them; as well as the guilt of them is taken away from their consciences, through the application of pardoning grace, upon their repentance; see Job 36:8, 9, 10 this shews another difference between the afflictions of God’s people and of others: namely, in the use and end of them. The sin of idolatry seems to be particularly designed by what follows; unless the sin of the present Jews, in their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, should be rather intended; which, through their long affliction, they will be convinced of in the latter day, and it will be taken away from them, and be purged and expiated through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the Saviour and Deliverer, they will embrace, Rom. 11:25, 26: when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder that is, when Jacob, or the people of the Jews, being convinced of their idolatry by their afflictions, shall pull down all their idolatrous altars; perhaps particularly referring to that which Ahaz made, 2 Kings 16:10, 11, 12 and remove the stones thereof, and break them to pieces, as chalk-stones for lime, which is easily done: the groves and the images shall not stand up; erect, to be worshipped; but shall be thrown down, demolished, and broke to pieces; and, by thus abandoning their idols and idolatrous practices, they will shew the sense they have of their sins, and the sincerity of their repentance; and it is to be observed, that the Jews, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, never practised idolatry more, not in the literal sense; perhaps some respect may be had here to the time when they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn; and when they shall renounce all their legal sacrifices, traditions of the elders, and their own righteousness, their idols, and look alone to the sacrifice of Christ, and declare against all the idolatry of the church of Rome, and all antichristian worship. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, pp. 152–153). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

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27:9 iniquity will be forgiven. Jacob atoned for his iniquity by undergoing punishment from God. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Is 27:9). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

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9. Therefore (because his chastisement was temporary and remedial in design) by this (affliction) shall Jacob’s iniquity be expiated (i.e. purged away), and this is all (its) fruit (or intended effect) to take away his sin, (as will appear) in his placing all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like limestones dashed in pieces (so that) groves and solar images (or images of Ashtoreth and Baal) shall arise no more. The contrast between Israel and Babylon is still continued. Having said that the affliction of the former was but moderate and temporary, he now adds that it was meant to produce a most beneficent effect, to wit, the purgation of the people from the foul stain of idolatry. יְכֻפַּר, though it strictly means shall be atoned for, is here metonymically used to denote the effect and not the cause, purification and not expiation. In the very same way it is applied to the cleansing of inanimate objects. There is no need of rendering לָכֵן either but or because, as the strict and usual meaning, though less obvious, is perfectly appropriate. As the punishment was moderate and temporary, it was therefore not destructive but remedial. Some understand by this, the act described in the last clause, viz., that of destroying the idolatrous altar. But the preference is always due in such constructions to an antecedent literally going before, i.e. already mentioned. Besides, the destruction of the idols could not be the cause of the purification which produced it, unless we take יכפר in the strict sense of atonement, which would be incongruous, and inconsistent with the teachings of Scripture elsewhere, not to mention that in that case the moral effect of the captivity is not described at all. The sense required by the connection is, not that the breaking of the altars, as a spontaneous act, atoned for Israel’s previous idolatry, but that the exile cured them of that vice, and thereby led to the breaking of the altars. The construction, this is all the fruit of the removal of his sin, affords an incongruous and inappropriate sense, viz., that the only effect of this great revolution was the breaking of the idol altars. The true construction is the one pointed out by the disjunctive accent under פְּרִי, which marks it as the subject of the proposition of which הָסָר is the predicate. Some refer the suffix in בְּשׂוּמו to Jehovah, or the enemy, and the whole clause to his demolition of the altar at the conquest of Jerusalem. But besides the arbitrary change of subject, this would seem to refer the moral improvement of the exiles, not to their affliction but to the destruction of their idols at Jerusalem, which, even if consistent with the fact, would be irrelevant in this connection, where the Prophet is shewing the beneficent effects of the removal of the people. That the altar is not the altar of Jehovah, is apparent from the mention of the idol in the last clause. (For the meaning of הָמָּנִים and אֲשֵׁרִים, vide supra, chap. 17:8.) Cocceius seems to understand the verse as a prediction that the Jews should no longer pay a superstitious regard to the temple at Jerusalem. By אַבְנֵי־נָר we may either understand some kind of stone commonly used in building, or the fragments of stone and mortar scattered by the demolition of an altar. לא יָקֻטוּ may either mean shall not rise again, or shall stand no more, both implying their complete destruction. The prophetic description which this Verse involves was fully and gloriously verified in history. (Alexander, J. A. (Trans.). (1870). The Prophecies of Isaiah Translated and Explained (Vol. 1, pp. 440–441). New York: Charles Scribner & Co.)

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9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and ǁimages shall not stand up.

By this, by this manner of God’s dealing with his people, therefore, that the difference between Jacob and his enemies in their several sufferings may appear, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, Heb. expiated or forgiven upon their true repentance, which shall be the happy effect of their chastisement. This is all the fruit to take away his sin; the effect hereof shall not be to destroy the sinner, as it is in other men, but only to take away the guilt and power of their sins. When he maketh; which sin of Jacob’s shall be purged and taken away, and the judgment removed, when he shall truly repent of all his sins, and especially of his idolatry, to which they were most inclined, and for which the most of God’s judgments which they had hitherto felt had been inflicted upon them. The altar; which by a usual enallage may be put for the altars, to wit, their idolatrous altars, as is evident from the following words. Possibly he may say the altar with respect to that particular altar which Ahaz had set up in the place of God’s own altar; and this prophecy might be delivered either to the prophet, or by him to the people, in Ahaz’s time, while that altar stood and was used. As chalk stones; when he shall break all those goodly altars in pieces, which God by his law had enjoined. That are beaten in sunder; which kind of stones are of themselves apt to break into small pieces, and by the artificer are broken into smaller pieces for making mortar. He seems to allude to that fact of Moses, who, to show his detestation of idolatry, took the golden calf, and burnt it, and ground it to powder; and intimates, that when their repentance should be sincere, it would discover itself by their zeal in destroying the instruments of their idolatry. The groves; which were frequently erected to the honour of idols, of which we have many instances in Scripture, which God therefore commanded his people to destroy, Deut. 7:5; 12:3. Shall not stand up; shall be thrown down with contempt and indignation. (Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 2, p. 387). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.)

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FROM MY READING: 

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)

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Today’s Scripture

Judges 13:15-24; Ruth 1:19-21; Isaiah 9:6-7 

The day dawns brightly even though there are clouds between us and the sunshine.  This is a truth we often miss as we look at the underside of the clouds in the sky.  In much the same way we struggle to understand the challenges that come into our lives as we only have access to one side of the equation.   

Manoah was the father of Samson that struggled with God’s plan for his family’s future.  An angel of the Lord had spoken to his wife an astounding promise of a son. Manoah desired a word of confirmation yet when the angel arrived and confirmed the promise, Manoah’s response was fear and unworthiness. “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” (Judges 13:22). 

Naomi was a woman who followed her husband and dark clouds filled her life as he and her two sons passed away suddenly (Ruth 1:3-5).  During this period of grief, she changed her name from Naomi (pleasant) to Mara (bitter) as all she could see was the clouds of grief and sorrow.  The sun was shining but all that could be seen was the clouds of adversity and grief.  

Isaiah was a prophet in a nation that was in darkness and about to be exiled.  The forecast was filled with adversity and suffering for him and his people.  Yet the prophet is given a message filled with hope through a Child that would be born (9:6).  The people of Israel could not see the promise through the darkness of their present time. 

Do you feel that the clouds are thick overhead and God is distant and unseen?  Does it appear your life is a tangle of broken and twisted events that only point toward disaster?  Take courage, Charlotte Murray penned these words as a prayer;“Father, my life is in a tangle, thread after thread appears, twisted and broken and knotted, viewed through the lapse of years.  I cannot straighten them, Father; Oh, it is very hard; somehow or other it seemeth, all I have done is marred.  I did not see they were getting into this tangled state; how it is happened I know not- is it too late, too late?  Is it? “Ah No!” Thou dost whisper, “Out of this life of thine yet may come wonderful beauty wrought by My power divine.” Take then, the threads, O my Father, let them Thy mind fulfill, work out in love a pattern after Thy holy will.” 

Like Manoah, Naomi, and the people of Israel, you may look at circumstances and see nothing but angry clouds and hopelessness rolling over your life.  The storm will pass, and the Sun will reappear as God affirms His love for you.  He is, “… Extraordinary Strategist, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). (The Net Bible).

With an Expectant Hope,

Pastor Miller

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Genesis 37
Jacob’s son, Joseph, is sold by his brothers.
INSIGHT
Feeling loved is one of life’s greatest needs. When we do not feel loved, we often will go to great lengths to try to earn love or retaliate against those who keep us from being loved.
Joseph’s brothers contemplated murder but instead kidnapped Joseph to get rid of him. His brothers thought of him as a threat — all because Jacob displayed his preference for Joseph
Jacob’s preferential treatment of Joseph in no way condones the actions of the brothers, but it points out to us as Christians that we should love all men as Christ would. When individuals feel that love, it makes it easier for them to love others in return. (Quiet Walk)

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THE REAL REASONS FOR REVIVAL: OUTSIDERS

For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. Exodus 33:16
The third reason Moses gives for revival is his concern about the heathen who are outside: “For wherein shall it be known here [in the wilderness, where we are] that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”
We have considered the three motives in praying for revival. For the name and the honor and glory of God and for the sake of the church that is His. Yes, and then for the sake of those people who are outside, who are scoffing, mocking, jeering, laughing, and ridiculing. “Oh, God,” say His people one after another, “arise and silence them. Do something so that we may be able to say to them, ‘Be still, keep silent, give up.’”
“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). That is the prayer of the people of God. They have their eye on those who are outside. Moses is praying for these people, that they may be stopped short and apprehended and may develop an interest in which God is leading them and is directing them. This should make us ask, therefore, whether we are concerned at all about these people who are outside. It is a terrible state for the church to be in when she merely consists of a collection of very nice and respectable people who have no concern for the world.
A Thought to Ponder: It is a terrible state for the church to be in when she has no concern for the world.  (From Revival, pp. 193-194, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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Spiritual Entropy
“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:5)
The word for “shame” in this verse is the Greek entrope, meaning “turning inward” or “inversion.” It is used only one other time, in 1 Corinthians 15:34: “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” Evidently this special variety of shame is associated with taking controversies between Christian brethren to ungodly judges and also with failing to witness to the non-Christian community. Instead of bringing the true wisdom of God to the ungodly, such “entropic Christians” were turning to worldly wisdom to resolve their own spiritual problems. This inverted behavior was nothing less than spiritual confusion!
The modern scientific term “entropy” is essentially this same Greek word. In science, entropy is a measure of disorder in any given system. The universal law of increasing entropy states that every system tends to disintegrate into disorder, or confusion, if left to itself. This tendency can only be reversed if ordering energy is applied to it effectively from a source outside the system.
This universal scientific law has a striking parallel in the spiritual realm. A person turning inward to draw on his own bank of power, or seeking power from an ineffective outside source, will inevitably deteriorate eventually into utter spiritual confusion and death. But when Christ enters the life, that person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Scriptures, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). The law of spiritual entropy is transformed into the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)

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Walking with Others

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. Romans 13:8

Billy, a loving and loyal dog, became an internet star in 2020. His owner, Russell, had broken his ankle and was using crutches to walk. Soon the dog also began to hobble when walking with his owner. Concerned, Russell took Billy to the vet, who said there was nothing wrong with him! He ran freely when he was by himself. It turned out that the dog faked a limp when he walked with his owner. That’s what you call trying to truly identify with someone’s pain!

Coming alongside others is forefront in the apostle Paul’s instructions to the church in Rome. He summed up the last five of the Ten Commandments in this way: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9). We can see the importance of walking with others in verse 8 as well: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”

Author Jenny Albers advises: “When someone is broken, don’t try to fix them. (You can’t.) When someone is hurting, don’t attempt to take away their pain. (You can’t.) Instead, love them by walking beside them in the hurt. (You can.) Because sometimes what people need is simply to know they aren’t alone.”

To become effective men of God, then, we must know and acknowledge that every grace and every virtue proceeds from God alone, and that not even a good thought can come from us except it be of HIM. (p. 139)

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Our self-trust is such a subtle thing that it still comes around whispering to us even after we are sure it is gone. (p. 139)

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When self whispers an assurance to you that you are different – look out! “You are different,” self whispers, and then adds the proof, “ You have given up enough things to make you a separated Christian. You love the old hymns, and you can’t stand the modern nonsense. You have a good standard – none of those movies and none of this modern stuff for you!”

You don’t really know what is happening to you, but you are feeling pretty good aobut everything by this time. But the good feeling is strictly from being coddled and comforted and scratched by a self that has refused to die. Self-trust is still there – and you thought it had gone! (p. 140-141, I Talk Back to the Devil by A. W. Tozer)

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THE NEW BIRTH

No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.John 10:29

If you are regenerate, you will remain regenerate. It seems to me that this is absolutely inevitable because regeneration is the work of God. Yet there are those who seem to think that people can be born again as the result of believing the truth, and then if they backslide or fall into sin or deny the truth, they lose their regeneration, but if they come back again and believe again, then they are regenerate again—as if one can be born again and die and be born again and die an endless number of times! 

How important doctrine is! How important it is that we should be clear as to what the Scripture teaches about these things! It tells us that regeneration is the work of God Himself in the depths of the soul and that He does it in such a way that it is permanent. “No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29). 
“I am persuaded,” says Paul, and let us notice this, “I am persuaded”—he is certain—“that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). And when Paul says that, he is expounding regeneration. It is not merely the relationship between us—it is because He has put this life in me that nothing can separate me from Him. And when we come to deal with the mystical union that follows directly from this, we see how still more inevitable this must be. This is a permanent work, and nothing can ever bring it to an end.
Regenerate people cannot go on sinning because they are born of God (1 John 3:9). They may backslide temporarily, but if they are born of God they will come back. It is as certain as that they have been born again. This is the way to test whether or not someone is born again.
A Thought to Ponder: Regeneration is the work of God Himself in the depths of the soul, and it is permanent. (From God the Holy Spirit, pp. 93-94, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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The Power of Spiritual Control
“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:17-18) 
Two factors need to be identified with these verses. First, the preceding context confines the primary application to behavior, just as the following context relates the behavior to the fellowship of believers. Secondly, the imagery stresses control of that behavior by the Holy Spirit, contrasting drunken behavior with filled behavior.
The filling is not synonymous with the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-14) since all twice-born are so baptized but not all are filled. Nor is it equal with or subsequent to speaking in tongues since some specifically identified as being filled with the Holy Spirit (John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Jesus) never spoke in tongues. Some individuals (Paul, Peter, Stephen) were filled on different occasions. Apparently, the filling produces a temporary effect like alcohol does. The effect of the filling of the Holy Spirit enhances or encourages a God-like behavior in contrast to the Satan-like behavior stimulated by alcohol.
Some passages equate power with this filling (Acts 1:8; Romans 15:13;1 Thessalonians 1:5), and others equate it to wisdom (Colossians 1:9-11; Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 3:15-17). However, the immediate context lists four evidences of the Holy Spirit’s control: songs of praise together, personal singing and private melody to God in our hearts, thanksgiving, and voluntary submission to one another in the Lord (Ephesians 5:19-21). Since the Holy Spirit distributes gifts to the saints (Ephesians 4:7-11) for the purpose of building the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-16), it stands to reason that the Holy Spirit’s control would be designed to enhance and stimulate the ministry of believers to each other and their personal joy and awareness of the goodness of God. (HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)

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The weatherman says, “a storm is coming” and everyone panics. The preacher says, “Jesus is coming” and no one cares.

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