Thursday, February 27, 2025
Christ Never Needed To Repent!
Thursday, February 20, 2025
"That's My King!" In Matthew 26!
Christ Jesus Mercy-Heart Denied
The Greatest Sin You’ve Ever Eyed
By Jesus’ Closest Friend Beside
With Swearing, Cursing, Oaths He Lied
“I Do Not Know The Man!” He Cried
Three Times The Truth In Fear He’d Hide
Wept Bitterly And Ran Outside
Yet Even For This Sin Christ Died
And Bore God’s Wrath For All His Bride
Then Rose Alive And Death Defied
So Though Christ’s Warning Sure Applied
If You Deny Me Before Men Worldwide
I’ll Deny You Before My Father’s Side
Christ’s Mercy-Heart Shall Turn The Tide
He Welcomes Peter, Love Spread Wide
Restores Him To His Spotless Bride
Transforms Him, Everywhere He Cried
The Gospel News, For Christ He Died
For You Great Mercy He’ll Provide
So Trust In Christ, In Him Abide
By Him You'll Never Be Denied!
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Christ Jesus Mercy-Heart Denied!
The Greatest Sin You’ve Ever Eyed
“I Do Not Know The Man!” He Cried
Three Times The Truth In Fear He’d Hide
Wept Bitterly And Ran Outside
Yet Even For This Sin Christ Died
And Bore God’s Wrath For All His Bride
Then Rose Alive And Death Defied
So Though Christ’s Warning Sure Applied
If You Deny Me Before Men Worldwide
I’ll Deny You Before My Father’s Side
Christ’s Mercy-Heart Shall Turn The Tide
He Welcomes Peter, Love Spread Wide
Restores Him To His Spotless Bride
Transforms Him, Everywhere He Cried
The Gospel News, For Christ He Died
For You Great Mercy He’ll Provide
So Trust In Christ, In Him Abide
By Him You'll Never Be Denied!
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Christ Jesus Is The Judge Of All!
Monday, February 10, 2025
Some Sins Are More Evil In God's Sight Than Others - And Jesus Saves From Them All!
Matthew 5:21-22: You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:27-28: You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus does not teach here that murder and anger are exactly equal in their severity. He does not teach that actual physical adultery and lust are exactly equal degrees of sin. What do these passages teach?
1. The outward action and the inner desire are both sinful in God's sight.2. The outward action and the inner desire both deserve the punishment of God in hell. God will judge both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives.3. The inner desire is the beginning or seed of the outward action.4. The inner desire (anger) is a kind of murder of the heart.5. The inner desire (lust) is a kind of adultery of the heart.6. All sin, both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives from which our outward behavior flows, are very serious to God. Repent and turn from all sin.7. The Pharisees were very focused on mere outward behavior while their hearts were far from God. Jesus is teaching here that God looks at the heart and judges the heart as well as the outward behavior.
James 2:9-11: But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
What James is confronting in this verse is the self-righteous attitude that we don't depend as much on God's grace as someone who has committed more obvious and heinous kinds of sin. This kind of thinking is self-deceiving and encourages complacency. Any violation of the law is enough to keep us from being justified by the law's standards. A person who doesn't murder or commit adultery but shows partiality to the rich should not feel self-righteous. He is a lawbreaker too. The function of the law is not to justify but to bring awareness of sin (Romans 4:14-16; 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 15:56). We should be humbled and conscience-stricken by the many sins we do commit, and not feel superior to those who sin in ways we don't. (Does James 2:10 imply that God doesn’t consider some sins more serious than others?)
Sin before God, no matter what sin it is, leads to our status of guilty, polluted, and far from God (Eph. 2:1-3). On this point, James 2:10 can now be legitimately used: "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." Before God, breakage of any point of the law is to break all of it. Or, Paul can say: "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Gal. 3:10; cf. Deut. 27:26). Breaking one commandment results in our condemnation before God. (Degrees Of Sin)
Numbers 15:27-31: If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.
Exodus 21:15-17: Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.Exodus 22:1: If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Ezekiel 8:6: And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."
Luke 12:47-48: And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
Matthew 11:23-24: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.Luke 10:10-14: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
John 19:11: Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."
Matthew 12:31: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
1 John 5:16-17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life - to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
Jeremiah 7:31: And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Hebrews 10:26-27: For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:28-31: Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Proverbs 6:16-19: There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
1 Corinthians 5:1: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
Hebrews 6:4-6: For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Mark 9:42: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
Matthew 23:15: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
1 Timothy 1:15-16: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Luke 7:44-50: Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Q. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. (See also the Westminster Larger Catechism questions 150 and 151)
Q. Is the blaspheming of God's Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?A. Certainly, for no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Saturday, February 8, 2025
The Song Of Solomon: Love In Marriage And Love In Christ
That Song of Solomon is the central Book of the Bible; it is the innermost shrine of divine revelation, the holy of holies of Scripture; and if you are living in communion with God, you will love that Book, you will catch its spirit, and you will be inclined to cry with the spouse, “Make haste, my beloved.” Charles Spurgeon
For my Mercy . . .
She brought him a tender love, but it only awakened his thirst for higher joys. The devotion she poured into his heart carved out the "larger capacities" that God alone can fill. Henri Talon describing John Bunyan's wife
The greater your longing for love, the greater is your capacity to receive the love from God. Elisabeth Elliot from Passion and PurityWe have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him . . . We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16, 19
After his invitation to intimacy, she gladly accepts and offers an invitation of her own: “Awake, O north wind, and come O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow”—now is the time for love to awaken! “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits” (4:16). He quickly complies. And as he afterwards stops to celebrate their Promised Land-like lovemaking (“I came to my garden . . . I gathered my myrrh . . . I ate my honeycomb . . . I drank my wine with my milk”), their friends applaud this couple’s covenant consummation (“Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” 5:1).
Here at the very structural center of the Song (5:1), as there are 111 lines from 1:2 to 4:15 and 111 lines from 5:2 to 8:14, is its thematic focus. The Song is about sex! And it instructs through abbreviated narrative and virtuously veiled poetry that sex between a husband and wife should be an act of mutual submission that creates unity. Through lovemaking, her body as “a garden” (4:12, 15) and becomes “his garden” (4:16). As he completely and unreservedly gives himself to her, so she completely and unreservedly gives herself to him.
How Should Christians Think about Sexual Intimacy?
In a fallen world that promotes, and at times revels in, sexual expressions that are selfish and only self-satisfying, the less-than-prudish biblical Song provides an antidote for such damaging idiocy. With modesty and without crudity it invites readers to be “be drunk with love”—to slowly sip the wisdom of God joining together two people as “one flesh” (Matt 19:6). Moreover, this depiction of the unreserved but undefiled wedding bed points the reader, with all its garden imagery, to the intimacy offered in the Lord of Love in whom all desires will be satisfied. Sex is a signpost to the ultimate love between Christ and his church. Only through union with him will Christians experience Eden surpassed and the fulfillment of the promises of the Promised Land. When those united to Christ come to the city of God—a garden-like city with a river with fruit trees—to join in the wedding feast (Rev 19:7, 9; 21:6) they will then see their Savior’s “face” (Rev 22:4) and experience the ultimate ecstasy, what Augustine called totus Christus (“the whole Christ”), that is, “Christ together with his church, who together will enjoy God in the consummation.” (Song Of Solomon Commentary)
1. Prologue: Love Story: I Love You Always, Forever2. Song Of Solomon 1:1-11: Love Story: You're the One that I Want3. Song Of Solomon 1:12-2:7: Love Story: Under The Apple Tree4. Song Of Solomon 2:8-3:5: Love Story: "Me for You, and You for Me"5. Song Of Solomon 3:6-5:1: Love Story: "Epithalamion"6. Song Of Solomon 5:2-6:3: Love Story: "Love is a Battlefield"7. Song Of Solomon 6:4-8:4: Love Story: "The Duet After the Fight"8. Song Of Solomon 8:5-8:14: Love Story: "I'm Forever Yours"
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Christ Jesus, Son Of Man, Betrayed!
All Men Hate God, They’ve Disobeyed
Judas With A Kiss Displayed
The Ultimate Betrayal Played
With A Sword One Came To Aid
But That’s Not Right, Christ Would Dissuade
God’s Mighty Army Could Crusade
And Save His Christ In Power Arrayed
But Jesus Came To Die And Paid
For All Our Sins, God’s Love Conveyed
He Bore God’s Wrath, Would Not Evade
But Suffered, Crushed, He’s Killed Dismayed
Then Rose Alive, Crushed Death, And Saved
He Has Fulfilled All God Portrayed
So Trust In Him, Don’t Be Afraid
He’s Everything For Which You’ve Prayed
His Life In You Will Now Pervade
You’re New Creation He Has Made
By Him You’ll Never Be Betrayed!