Sunday, June 12, 2011

Shalom,


Proverbs 12:17-19:


17 He who breathes out truth shows forth righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), but a false witness utters deceit. 18 There are those who speak rashly, like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. 19 Truthful lips shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is [credited] but for a moment.


This is all about the words that we speak! Remember that Jesus said this in Mark 11:23 (NKJV):


23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 


Our words are VITAL because the Word of God says that we can have whatever we say! Let's make sure that we are saying the correct things, according to the Word of God, because what we say, we WILL receive! 


In Galatians Paul is scolding them for adding to the great foundation that they had received of the Word of God something that was NOT the true Gospel! Verses 6-8 in Galatians 1:


6 I am surprised and astonished that you are so quickly turning renegade and deserting Him Who invited and called you by the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ (the Messiah) [and that you are transferring your allegiance] to a different [even an opposition] gospel. 7 Not that there is [or could be] any other [genuine Gospel], but there are [obviously] some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering you [with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel] and want to pervert and distort the Gospel of Christ (the Messiah) [into something which it absolutely is not]. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!


Verse 8 is so very important that Jesus repeated it in the next verse! Verse 9:


9 As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!


What is the "gospel"? It is the Good News that God isn't holding anything against anyone! The price for every sin ever committed has been paid for by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth! The ONLY sin NOT covered by His blood is the sin of rejecting Him! Now WHY would ANYONE do that? Acts 4:12 tells us this:


12 And there is salvation in and through no on else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.


THAT is the gospel! No other name! Not Mohammed, not Buddha, not Krishna, not Allah, not ANY OTHER NAME! The religion of the muslims came into being over 700 years after Jesus was raised from the dead! That qualifies as "another gospel" of a very different kind! It is NOT the TRUE gospel!  Don't be led away by any teaching that does not declare Jesus of Nazareth as the Saviour of the world and takes away from or adds anything to the simple qualification of trusting in His sacrifice for eternal salvation! AMEN! Here is a poster I found with the Names of Jesus. No other Name is necessary to know!




In 2 Samuel 11-12 we see David's sin with Bathsheba. I like what the Bible Exposition Dictionary: Old Testament says about this:


Unlike the average campaign biography or press release, the Bible always tells the truth about people. It should encourage us to know that even the best men and women in the biblical record had their faults and failures, just as we do, and yet the Lord in His sovereign grace was able to use them to accomplish His purposes. Noah was a man of faith and obedience, and yet he got drunk. Twice Abraham lied about his wife, and Jacob lied to both his father, Isaac, and to his brother Esau. Moses lost his temper when he struck the rock, and Peter lost his courage and denied Christ three times.



Here we see David, the man after God's own heart, who committed adultery and then murdered a man in a last-ditch effort to cover his own sin. For at least nine months, David refused to confess his sins, but then God spoke to Him and he sought the face of the Lord and made a new beginning.


David DID make a new beginning, but everything that Nathan the Prophet declared would happen as a result of his sin did happen to David. One very important lesson that we, as born again believers, need to remember is that though our sin committed after the New Birth will NOT keep us from Heaven, the natural consequences can cause us to experience hell right here on earth! Don't mess around with sin! 1 John 1:9 was given to the Church of Jesus Christ to keep us in constant fellowship with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! Live there! AMEN!


Shalom in Him!