August 8, 2012

They Do Not Say, "Let Us Now Fear the Lord" (8/8)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 4-6.

“But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and departed. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest’” (Jeremiah 5:23-24).

As Jeremiah warned the people of the coming judgment from God, they were uninterested and saw no need to repent. They wanted to go their own way, so they departed from the Lord. They did not fear divine punishment for their actions.
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August 7, 2012

Committing Adultery with Stones and Trees (8/7)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 1-3.

Judgment was coming against the people of Judah for their infidelity. Though they should have learned from the mistakes of their brethren in Israel, they ignored their sins and God’s punishment for them and continued along the same path.

“And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotries, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees” (Jeremiah 3:8-9).

Idolatry to God is spiritual adultery. While the people Jeremiah addressed generally served graven images, there are many different things that can be made into idols that we must guard ourselves against today (1 John 5:21). Any idol, when reduced to its most basic form, is something common and ordinary (“stones and trees“). It is something that has been created by God.
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August 6, 2012

Stagnant in Spirit (8/6)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Zephaniah 1-3.

Zephaniah warned the people of Judah that judgment was coming against them from the Lord. The riches in which they trusted would be taken away. The houses in which they lived would become uninhabited. The blessings of the good land that God had given them would be lost.

“It will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’ Moreover, their wealth will become plunder and their houses desolate; yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but not drink their wine” (Zephaniah 1:12-13).

These people had allowed their sinful state to progress to the point in which they would receive God’s wrath because they were “stagnant in spirit.” They were no longer interested in spiritual things. All that mattered to them were those things which were temporal and material. They had no desire to serve the Lord.
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August 5, 2012

A Restoration (8/5)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from 2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35.

When repairs were being made to the house of the Lord during the reign of Josiah, the book of the law was found. It was brought back to the king and read in his presence.

“When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant saying, ‘Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us’” (2 Kings 22:11-13).

Upon hearing the law – God’s divine standard for the nation of Israel – Josiah could see that they had not lived up to this standard. But rather than try to make excuses, he began a restoration. Two elements are necessary for a successful restoration, whether it was Josiah’s restoration or the Restoration Movement that began in earnest two hundred years ago in this country.
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August 4, 2012

"Behold, Your People Are Women" (8/4)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Nahum 1-3.

As the prophet Nahum announces God’s coming judgment against Nineveh, there is an interesting phrase that is used to describe the mighty city.

“Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; fire consumes your gate bars” (Nahum 3:13).

This is not meant to be a disparaging remark against women. Nor does it mean that there would be no males in the city. Rather, it is simply pointing out that in the face of God’s judgment, their soldiers would not be able to fight against Him. In those days, the warriors would be men. Even in our modern culture, this is still generally true. So the point is that the warriors would be unwilling or unable to defend against God’s judgment. Notice a few other passages that use this same type of language:
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August 3, 2012

God Will Help Us Fight Our Battles (8/3)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from 2 Chronicles 32-33.

“After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged and fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself. Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. So many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the region, saying, ‘Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?’

“And he took courage and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number. He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ‘Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (2 Chronicles 32:1-8).

Hezekiah was confident that the Lord would fight for them, allowing them to defeat the mighty Assyrian army. But with this faith in God, notice what he also does:
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August 2, 2012

Turning Grace into a License to Sin

Grace - Sin

Jude said that we must “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). There are many ways in which the faith may come under attack, requiring us to contend for it.

  • There could be officials who give “strict orders not to continue teaching,” in which case we “must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:28-29) and continue to teach anyway.
  • There may be false teachers, making it necessary to engage in “great dissension and debate with them” (Acts 15:2). Such debate is necessary “so that the truth of the gospel would remain” with those who had previously been taught it (Galatians 2:5).
  • There could be idolatry that exists all around us, and as Paul’s “spirit was…provoked within him,” leading him to speak out against the idols (Acts 17:16), we may be compelled to speak out as well.

But there is another threat to the faith that requires us to contend for it. This threat was mentioned by Jude in the next verse:

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).

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