The medicine is faith. Trust in God’s word. Don’t add to it. Do not doubt God’s promises. HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU AND ME. If you are in a state of backsliding, trying to please God by obeying rules and laws, take God’s medicine OF FAITH IN HIS WORD. His Grace is available today and tomorrow.
James 4:11-17 1. The Danger of ASSUMING A POSITION OF SUPERIORITY James 4:11-12 Numbers 12:1; Numbers 12:8 Numbers 21:5 Psalm 50:20 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 3:16 1 Corinthians 5:12-13…
Luke 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember HIS HOLY COVENANT.
People did not believe God and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. It looked like God is done with Israel. But He is 100% committed to His covenant and His covenant people.
Before God chose David to be the king of Israel, the nation was ruled by 15 judges over a period of about 450 years. Some of the most widely known names are Samson and Samuel.
During that time the enemies of Israel started to infiltrate God’s land over and over again despite the fact that under Joshua’s leadership they were defeated and chased out of the promised land.
The history of the rise and fall of the Hebrew nation are found in the history books (Genesis-Esther). The prophets appeared during the days of the fall of the Hebrew nation. At the moment of the apostasy of the 10 tribes at the close of Solomon’s reign and Israel’s golden age the ministry of the prophets began. The prophets gave a wake up call as soon as people began to forget God.
God warned Israel and Judah over and over again through the prophets. The people forsook God, worshiped idols, did injustice, and loved evil. But God was kind enough to forewarn them of coming judgments because of sin and apostasy, and he would do marvelous miracles through the prophets that would give them hope and encouragement. The prophets even revived their faith in the coming Messiah and His glorious Kingdom. Elijah and Elisha are some of the names that come to mind when talking about prophets.
The book of Joshua follows the first 5 books of Moses. In those 5 books we find a great amount of God’s promises that are the foundation of Joshua’s faith in God Almighty. Without those promises, there would have never been a Joshua. Yet, God prepared, protected and also provided for this man everything necessary to become a mighty witness of God’s faithfulness to not just the Hebrews, but also the entire world.
Joshua must first know what the law which Moses wrote down is all about. You cannot observe what you do not know. And if you don’t know what God commanded, you cannot be a witness of God’s faithfulness.
God also commanded Joshua to MEDITATE IN IT DAY AND NIGHT. This was not a weekend course. It was not “when I have time left I will look into it”. Joshua exemplified what Paul wrote later in the book of Romans.
This preparation starts at birth. It is God’s doing. Joshua’s lineage had everything to do with God’s choice. His parents were slaves, experiencing the bitterness of bondage. However, Joshua’s parents never lost faith in God’s promises. They somehow believed that God is faithful even if the circumstances for 400 years pointed into the opposite direction.
At birth, his parents named this newborn boy HOSHEA, meaning SALVATION. In other words, this young boy was nurtured in an atmosphere of HOPE. Still in bondage to the Egyptians, his parents from the tribe of Ephraim, a tribe that comes from Joseph, the very son of Jacob that was sold into slavery by his own brothers.
God prepared Joshua for future battles. How did God prepare him? By example of others who are not fighting with him in the physical, but in the spiritual realm. THE BATTLE IS THE LORDS.
Joshua was alongside Moses for 40 years. He witnessed most of what God did during Moses wilderness wandering. He was taught to KNOW GOD and by observing Israel he was taught to KNOW MAN. Also, Moses’ tent was Joshua’s college.
What can we learn from that? This truth contains the very essence of the Gospel. God’s plan of redemption is very clear throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament.
The law brings no one into God’s heritage. Was Moses could not do Joshua was prepared to accomplish. If you and I want to enter into God’s inheritance, we must turn from Moses (from the law) and look to Joshua.
Just as Joshua was prepared by God to live under the law, under the authority of Moses, so have we been prepared by God to live under the law for a season. It is this preparation that brought us eventually into the promises of God. And people who have not gone through that process cannot be witnesses of God’s faithfulness. God has prepared a way for us to experience His promises. And once we experience them, we become true witnesses of God’s faithfulness.
Last year we have studied the book of Revelation all the way up to the 16th chapter. So I will not repeat what I have shared with you then. However, to fully understand the 16th chapter before us, we need to read it in context of the previous chapter.
The question must be asked: WHY DOES GOD HIMSELF LET ALL THIS TROUBLE COME UPON THIS WORLD? What’s the purpose of all this? The Answer: Let My People Go. In other words, God’s judgment will always fall on those who tried to destroy everything God has created, especially His crown creation: THE HUMAN BEING made in God’s image.
He will come unexpectedly! The vast majority of people will still be eating and drinking, focusing on their everyday lives, unaware of the dangerous times they’re living in. Just as the people in Noah’s day, they will be ignoring the warning messages and rejecting God’s righteous ways Noah, the prophet of God, was very likely mocked and ridiculed for preaching “righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Bible reveals that in the end time, prior to Christ’s return, people will also ignore warnings to repent. As Peter notes, “Scoffers will come in the last days, … saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Noah preached for 120 years while he built the arch. Eventually only 8 people made it into the arch. THOSE WHO WERE IN THE ARCH WERE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD. This was not Noah’s idea. It was God’s master plan to destroy wickedness on this earth and to start over again. “I will destroy them with the earth”.
Egypt was the Empire that ruled the known world at this time. Egypt called the shots in this world. Without understanding what God did with Egypt, you will not understand the bowl judgments, the last 7 judgments that will come upon this whole earth, known as the wrath or judgments of God.
Like Egypt enslaved God’s covenant people, so has every world empire enslaved God’s people. The last Empire on God’s calendar was and is the Roman Empire. While today, this empire is fractured, it will COME BACK TO FULL POWER under ONE MIGHTY RULER, THE ANTICHRIST. By the time the bowl judgments will come upon this earth this REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE WILL BE IN FULL CONTROL OF ALL HUMANITY.
And Pharaoh said, “WHO IS THE LORD, THAT I SHOULD OBEY HIS VOICE TO LET ISRAEL GO? I DO NOT KNOW THE LORD, NOR WILL I LET ISRAEL GO.” Wrong thing to say to God Almighty who made the heavens and the earth and who is the owner of His own creation. But the rulers of this world have not learned anything yet. The final ruler of this world, before Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom here, will act exactly the same way. Look at the plagues God brought upon this nation Egypt. Four of the seven judgments of Revelation are copies of the plagues Egypt had to endure. They were literal plagues in Egypt and they will be literal judgments when God will pour his wrath upon this world.
LET MY PEOPLE GO. The final judgment upon this earth is carried out by God to set His people free, to set his entire creation free.
The first time he did use WATER.
The next time he will use FIRE.
The Apostle Paul is telling the church at Ephesus that as followers of Christ, we must HONOR OUR FATHER AND MOTHER, which is the first commandment with promise.
What is the promise? That it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. That does not mean that everything in life will go according to our plans. NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS BE DONE, Jesus prayed to His father. And yet, Jesus Himself HONORED HIS MOTHER ON THIS EARTH.
Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was truly blessed among women, yet God made this women the faithful mother she was. So does He with every women who is willing to respond to God as Mary did: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mother’s you are specially made by God with a very specific purpose.
When God brought you through it all, your job is not yet done. There is one more thing God will bless you with, and that is to become a TEACHER, AN EXAMPLE, TO THE YOUNGER MOTHERS WHO SO DESPERATELY WANT TO PLEASE THE LORD AND FULFILL THEIR CALLING
As we will learn this morning, this story is all about strongholds; Strongholds that hinder us to enter into God’s promises. Salvation is a gift given by God, yet many who have received the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, struggle in their Christian walk, because they fail to take down strongholds in their lives. While we claim to have liberty in Jesus Christ, we have become slaves to those strongholds.
One day, a student asked Ravi Zacharias, a Christian Apologist, the question: “Sir, can you define freedom for me?” Ravi’s answer is something we all should never forget, because it is packed with spiritual truth. “It’s not the liberty to do whatever we want, rather the strength to do what we should.”
Christians today do not know or do not want to know about their responsibility as parents. They simply believe that they have the freedom, the liberty to do whatever they want to do.
When Jesus says that He came to give us LIFE AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY, he makes a promise. Life, spiritual life is a gift from God to those who come to Him. Life more abundantly speaks of a rest, a peace, a fruitful life, belonging to those who are taking God’s Word for face value, implement God’s Word in their lives, living according to the Word of God, and believing that we are soldiers, engaged in a spiritual battle where Satan and his helpers setting up strongholds in our lives from which he will launch his attacks so we cannot find the promised rest.
Assess your situation: Be honest with yourself. What is it in your life that exalts itself against the knowledge of God? What is your stronghold, or strongholds from where Satan can keep you as a child of God incapacitated?
They made up their minds that the problem they saw was bigger than the promises God made. What was their solution? Get rid of their leader. Let’s go back to where we have been delivered from. They never recognized that Moses was bringing them the message which he received from God. Moses never promised them the land, it was God Himself.
Sometimes we are so in the grip of a stronghold, a habitual behavior that seems to keep us in bondage for the rest of our life. Instead of taking the Promise of God’s word to heart and to believe the messenger, we fear the enemy and believe the lie that we have to live with that destructive life style for the rest of our lives. That’s contrary to God’s word. Whatever your stronghold or strongholds may be, don’t fear them. TRUST GOD AND HIS WORD. Yes, we do have spiritual enemies, we do have spiritual giants opposing us to inherit God’s promises, but don’t let that fact fill you with fear.
Lesson: We cannot take on strongholds in our lives when the Lord is not in it. Our reliance has to be on the Lord, His power and His might. We have to be strong in the Lord, not strong in our own judgments. Well, that’s the way I see it. It does not matter. How does God see it? How many times have you tried to take down one of your strongholds only to find out that it did not work? The Giants, the strongholds are still there, occupying territory in your life. There is no rest, no victory without doing it God’s way, according to God’s word.
Why did John call for a water baptism?
The ritual of water baptism was applied to Gentiles, unclean people, who wanted to convert to Judaism. Ritual baptism was never administered to Jews, only to non-Jews who converted to Judaism. Why? Because Gentiles were considered unclean and needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath – in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.
However, John the Baptist primarily directed his calls for repentance to Jews. With that, he told Israel “the Messiah is about to arrive but you are not ready for Him. It is you, the people of Israel,that are unclean. That’s the reason why John called the Jews to submit to a ritual of cleansing that up to this point had been administered only to Gentiles. The typical procedure when a Gentile was going through the proselyte baptism, he was never baptized by a Levite or by a priest, who normally performed all the other purification rites in Israel. The convert was to baptize himself. No wonder the religious leaders asked themselves: Who does this man think he is, to call us, the children of Abraham, to undergo a cleansing rite?
The Lamb of God is also prefigured in the Passover, when God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of the Pharaoh (Exodus 12:3-31). Just as the blood of the lamb caused the people of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people from the penalty that was due for their sin.
The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning, not the end of God’s good news to all men. The Christian life begins with a new birth, which is great news and brings much joy. However, that is just the beginning.
Growing in grace and in faith is necessary to see the promises of God being fulfilled in our lives.
Today, we claim to believe in the saving Grace of God Almighty, but that’s about how far it goes. When confronted with biblical truth, we simply say: Well, I just have a hard time believing that God would do that for me. That’s what the Hebrew writer means when he says that God has no pleasure in those who draw back.
Spiritual strength has never come to us by OBEYING COMMANDMENTS. Those people who drop out of the race, AND who have no perseverance to the end have simply stopped trusting the promises of the living God. They are children of the living God, they have been protected by the blood of the lamb, but they are being robbed of all the promises God has given them for their future.
The Apostle Peter simply explains that it is these promises that draw the heart to God in faith. In fact, the great command of the New Covenant is TO BELIEVE. The Israelites did not have many words of God they could hang unto, but what they were given was enough to lead them out of bondage.
You and I have the written word of God, but without feeding on the promises of the Word, not faith life will be strong. Without the word we are not able to continue on and persevere.
No one will be able to enter the temple of God UNTIL THE 7 PLAGUES of the seven angels are completed. That is, at the end of the 7 year tribulation period.
We traced the appearance of God’s glory from the Garden of Eden, through Moses’ life and eventually ended up in the wilderness Tabernacle where God’s glory was manifested among the Hebrews.
Now, we pick up from there and jump to the Joshua and Judges period in the Old Testament.
After Joshua’s time came the period of Judges of which Samuel was the last ruling judge of Israel. It was Samuel that was chosen by God to eventually anoint the first King of Israel. And it was Samuel that anointed King David, the man after God’s own heart.
Just as the first King of Israel was chosen by the people, and eventually rejected by God, so will be the first world ruler, the antichrist, chosen by the people, but rejected by God. It will be the second world ruler, the man after God’s own heart, that will be God’s chosen one.
However, just as Moses prayed earlier that the visible manifestation of God’s glory would dwell in the tabernacle forever, so did Solomon here pray to God that the visible manifestation of His Shechinah Glory would dwell in the temple forever.
But God would not answer the prayer of Moses and Solomon at their time.
What happened to the glory of God? Today, people get all excited about the arch of the covenant, asking the question: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARK OF THE COVENANT? Well, that piece of furniture is just that. The real question should be. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHECHINAH GLORY?