[John 5:16-23] "For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, "that all should honor the Son just as the honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

 

"For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath." In the preceding verses of scripture we are told by John what Jesus had done that so enraged the Jews. John tells us that Jesus had gone to the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day and healed a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. And when the Jews learned of the miracle Jesus did they sought to kill Him because in their minds He had broken the Sabbath Day. To a normal person the actions of the Jews in this story is an idiotic display of stupidity. Who in their right mind would accuse a man of doing evil who had just healed a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years? As we read the story we see that John is not only telling us the story, but is presenting to the reader a clear picture of how a religious system works. Religion blinds the eyes of a person to the truth, and anyone who doesn't do things the way they think they ought to do them are wrong and that person deserves to be punished as an evil doer. It didn't matter to the Jews that this man had been a burden to his family and friends for all that time. All they were concerned about was that Jesus had broken one of their rules. The picture John is presenting is that in a religious system all people must abide by their interpretation of the rules at all times, while they themselves enjoy the liberty of breaking them at will. Such as it was wrong for Jesus to heal a paralyzed man on the Sabbath, but it was okay for them to loose their animals from the stall and take them to drink. This is hypocrisy in its highest form. It's the "Do as I say, not as I do." syndrome parents use on their children. It doesn't work for the parents, and it didn't work for the Jews, but it does expose a persons hypocrisy. As John shows us; in a religious system rules are the most important thing. Not people or their problems, just the rules. In this case we see the naked truth about religion; not just the Jews system, but every religious system whether it be in the USA or India. They all operate the same way. There is no lee way for interpretation, the religious person is always right, and everyone else is always wrong. As John shows us in this story; the Jews would have rather seen this person remain in his suffering than for his healing to come on a day set aside to worship God. They did not understand that God made the Sabbath Day for man and not man for the Sabbath. If they had of understood this, they would have understood that healing, be it on the Sabbath or any other day of the week, is an act of worship to the majestic power of the Lord God. 

 

"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Jesus attempted to explain to the Jews who was really doing the work, but they would not listen. "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God." The Jews knew at some time the Messiah was coming, but they didn't have a clue how God would present Him to the world. When they heard a man telling them He was the Son of God, they went ballistic and desired to kill Him even though they were witnesses to the works He was doing among them. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

 

Here John is giving us a discourse on how God has set up His kingdom on the earth. "Jesus, the Word of God, the Son of God, can do nothing of Himself." In other words, until God speaks, nothing happens. As Jesus explained to the Jews, "the Son can do nothing of Himself." But once God has ordained a thing, God Himself is involved in the work, thus His Word and He, are co-equals in the work. As Jesus was telling the Jews, whatever the Father does, the Word does likewise, because the Father is the power behind His Word when His Word is at work, just as Jesus explained to the Jews after He had healed the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda.

 

In the statement, "For the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will."  The Father is the power of the Word to perform His desires, and the Father gives life to whom He will. The Word of God is simply the activated release of power from God the Father to accomplish His will in creation. God has so arranged it "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." Jesus tells us that we are to honor the Son, who is the Word of God, just as we honor the Father and that he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. It is impossible for a person to say they love Jesus, the Word of God without loving the Father, and we cannot say we love the Father without loving the Son. To say that we love one, but not love the other makes us a liar because God and His Word are one. They perfectly agree on everything. It is another impossibility for a God of truth and love to act differently than what He has told us He does in the Word. We know this is true because the prophets of old foretold what the Word of God would do when He was sent to earth. The Word of God fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament concerning His coming, dying, and resurrection, plus the giving of new life to all those who would believe in Him after He ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father. OTBP

[John 18:28 - 40] Then they (the chief priest and those with them) led Jesus from Caiaphas (the high priest) to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they (the priest) themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered and said to , "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus. and said to Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?" Pilate answered Him, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered , "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here." Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber...  Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away." [John 19:15-16]

 

Even though the hour was early the news that Jesus has been taken captive by the Jewish leadership and taken to the Praetorium to be judged by the Roman court had spread like wildfire through the people in Jerusalem. The story I am writing my message from makes it clear the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead. After making the accusation before Pilate, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." And only after it became clear to them that Pilate wanted to free Jesus did they state their real reason for bringing Jesus before the Roman court, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." However their reason for wanting Him dead puzzled Pilate, so when he began questioning Jesus and focused his inquiry on the Jews accusations that Jesus had made Himself a King. Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you a king then?"  Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." After making it clear to Pilate that His kingdom was not a present danger to the Roman government, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here." At this point Pilate has determined the accusations of the Jews against Jesus were groundless and sought to free Him with the proclamation, "I find no fault in Him at all." But the Jews would not hear of this. They had gone to far to turn back. If Jesus were found innocent and released by the Romans, never again would they be in a position to bring any kind of charges against Him. If He were not put to death at this time, they were fearful they would lose their power over the people and they were determined that was not going to happen.

 

Pilate convinced of the innocence of Jesus proposed a deal to the high priest, "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" But, never in a million years did Pilate expect to hear what he heard next. "Then they (the Jews) all cried again, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas! Now Barabbas was a robber..." I can just see the look of surprise on Pilate's face when he heard the Jews request for a known robber to be released into their midst instead of this righteous Man who was innocent of the charges they had brought against Him. And, the Jews weren't done. They wanted Jesus dead, and they were willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to achieve their end. "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" The Jews cried. Pilate couldn't believe what he was hearing coming from the mouths of these seemingly peaceful people. He then asks the question, "Shall I crucify your King?" And the chief priest responded with, "We have no king but Caesar!" Their last response had to make Pilate smile, but in the back of his mind he knew if they would turn on an innocent man with such ferocity in favor of a thief, they would turn on Rome in a heartbeat given the opportunity to do so.

 

 Envy is worse than a disease that robs the body of its health. Envy eats at the soul and robs a person of the will to do the right thing for the right reason. Envy is pure hatred, and when unleashed it will drive a person to do things they themselves think they are incapable of doing. And we have been shown in this story the extreme lengths envy will go to achieve an end. The Jews because of their envy did not realize the depths of their insanity when they said to Pilate, "We have no king but Caesar." They did not understand that with that statement, they had by their own words declared before all of creation that they (God's chosen people) were not subjects of God, but of Caesar, (the head of an evil state) and they did not understand that with that declaration God's justice would fall upon their heads because they had abandoned the one True God who brought them up out of Egypt centuries before. In another gospel it tells us they went one step further in their declaration before Pilate that day, "Let His blood (the blood of the Son of God) be upon our heads and the heads of our children." [Matthew 27:25] And so their blood was upon their heads for the next two thousand years. They and their children underwent unbelievable sufferings and hardships because of their act of treason that day at the Roman judgment seat. 

 

The Jewish nation who was, is, and will always be God's chosen people have never repented of their sins against God that day. And to this day they still do not understand why they have suffered the way they have. When they made the declaration before all of creation that God was no longer their King, and that they had replaced Him with an earthly man who was completely evil, they has unwittingly joined forces with Satan, the enemy of God and man, and gave him (Satan) authority to cast them out of their homeland and spread them around the world suffering mercilessly at the hands of their enemies for many many generations climaxing with the purging of their sins by the Nazi holocaust just preceding their return to their homeland in 1948. If the Jewish people had eyes that see, they would have read and understood that it was the words of Pharaoh, King of Egypt spoke that pronounced the punishment that would come upon him and his people for attempting to kill the first born of the Jews during the days of Moses when God had determined to set them free. It is sad because until this day the Jewish people continue to suffer because they do not yet understand nor accept responsibility for the actions of their fathers who rejected the God they think they serve. But God has not given up on them, and one day they will come to understand who Jesus was, is, and will always be: Jesus said in [John 3:17-18] "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, he who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." So we see this statement is not all inclusive as many think, but only includes those who make the Son of God, their Lord. OTBP 

 

Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me, and he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My Words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him - the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." [John 12:44-50]

 

Jesus begins with "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me." So Jesus who is the Word of God is clearly identifying with God the Father, the author of the Word that people accepted as being the Word of God based upon what they saw Jesus doing; or they rejected God's Word (Jesus, the fleshly body of the Word of God) because His Words were contradictory to their long standing traditions. Jesus was saying to them in this passage because a person believes the Word, they were not really believing in what they heard or even saw, but in actuality they were believing in God Almighty, the Father, and Author of His Word. This is important for us to understand because God and His Word are inseparable. God's Word paints for us a clear picture of Himself and what His will is for man. What God's Word says, is precisely the way He is, therefore we can count upon Him to perform His Word. If words reveal the character of a person, and they do; if God's Word did not work the same for every person, then that Word would reveal unto us that God's character was that of a liar. God is not a liar. Jesus then tells the people following Him, "...he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." God loved the people of Israel and because they couldn't see Him, they were having a difficult time adhering to His commands, so God the Father sent His Son, His Word, into the world, clothed in a fleshly body named Jesus, so His people could not only hear Him speak, but could see Him physically, and they could see His will for their life expressed through the works, Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, was doing for God's people. So when the people who saw the works Jesus was doing and believed in Him, Jesus told them they were not seeing Him, but they were seeing God the Father in action through the works He was doing that delivered them from their physical, mental, and spiritual problems.

 

Jesus in keeping with His normal teaching pattern began teaching the people with things they understood. In this case He is using words and actions before proceeding on to Light and Darkness.  "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." He builds on His teaching about words and actions with light and darkness. He tells them the reason God sent His Word in human form into the world was to show them the will of the Father, and if they understood what God had did, then they would understand that the things He was teaching and doing shed Light on the kingdom of heaven which would dispel the Darkness they had been living in. He is portraying for them the difference between the two kingdoms operating on the earth, the one He is from, and the one they are presently living in. God's desire was for His people to leave Darkness and enter into the Light where all things become known and are clearly seen, thus they would no longer stumble around in the darkness of this world under the power of Satan, but would have the light of life living in them so they could clearly see what the will of God was for His people.

 

Jesus knowing that people are afraid of change and only the most daring of them would leave the darkness of this world to enter into the light He brought into the world would understand the things He was teaching them. The Light of God reveals the Truth of God, of which God wanted His people to know, but many of His people rejected the Truth in favor of the darkness they were living in (their traditions) and tried to destroy the Light, but darkness can not destroy Light. All darkness can do is try to evade light until light comes and darkness gives way. Jesus continues with, "And if anyone hears My Words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him - the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."  Here is a dire warning from Jesus to God's people, "If they do not believe that Jesus is the fleshly body of the Word of God, that was sent into the world to be a perfect sacrifice for their sins, they would be judged by the Word of God on a later date because they rejected not God's Word, but God Himself, who sent His Word into the world to save the world." This warning is just as much in effect today for the people of the world as it was on the day Jesus, the Word of God gave it to the people of Israel. God's Word brings light and understanding, those who accept it as such will receive eternal life as the following statement given by Jesus illustrates as He concluded His teaching on recognizing God, " And I know that His (God the Father) command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."  The same Word of God that came into the world to save the world, will be the judge whom unsaved man will face at the end of time for their rejection of Him, not necessarily because they rejected the Word of God, but by their refusal to come to the Light of Truth of God's Word, they were rejecting God Himself. And as Jesus so aptly revealed for us in these passages of scripture those who do not believe God's Word, will be rejected themselves by the very One they rejected in this life. OTBP

The story line from which this scripture was taken began back in chapter nine, verse thirty-five, of the Gospel of John with the opening of the eyes of a man born blind. This man was later kicked out of the temple where he worshiped because of his testimony of the goodness of God. Jesus later found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  Jesus said in response to the man's desire to get to know the Son of God, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  [John 9:40-41] Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus then explains to the Pharisees that He is the True Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, and the Shepherd knows His sheep, leads up to the statement Jesus made in [John 10:38] "Though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him. Jesus had identified for them the work of the devil and the work of God back in [John 10:10] when He said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it (life) more abundantly."

 

In [John 10:10] Jesus outlines how a person can tell the difference between the works of the devil and the work of God. If anything steals, kills, or destroys, it does not come from God, but from the evil one. And if anything adds life to a person that work is of God. He couldn't have made it any simpler for a man to distinguish between who does what on this earth. In verse 38 Jesus in talking to the religious Jews who were resisting His teachings to the point they wanted to stone Him; and who represent the modern day church that does not believe that God wants His children to prosper, and be in health, even as their soul prospers, [3 John 2] said to them, "Though you do not believe me, believe the works." People may not be able to understand the scriptures, but they can certainly understand works, and according to the works performed, they should know who's behind it. If people do not believe the word or the works, it is because they choose not to believe, not because they do not see. If people are feeding and clothing the poor, the devil is not the one influencing those people to feed and clothe the poor, that work is of God. If a person takes food and clothing away from the poor, the people who are robbing them are being influenced by the devil, they are not of God. God is a good God, and He adds to a person's life, He does not take life's necessities away from them. The devil is the thief who steals, kills and destroys. According to Jesus, who is the Son of God, the Word of God, who came to earth in the flesh to show us the Father. [John 1:14] "The Word became flesh (or, The Word of God took upon Himself a flesh and blood body named Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Satan is the author of everything that steals, kills and destroys, not God.

 

The prophet Isaiah gives us a description of the work the Father sent His Son (The Word of God) to do while He was on the earth and that those who receive Him as their Savior would continue to do after He had ascended back into heaven. [Isaiah 61:1-3] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, (the Word of God) because the Lord has anointed me (The Word of God) to preach good tidings (the good news that God isn't mad at mankind) to the poor; He has sent me (The Word of God) to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes (a new life). The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He (God, the Father) may be glorified."

 

As Jesus said to the man born blind, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." As the story illustrates the man born blind received his sight and recognized Jesus as being the Son of God, and the Pharisees who were born with sight were blinded by their refusal to hear (accept) the Word of God, and take notice of the works He was doing. People who refuse to hear God's Word and accept the good works He does on earth will be judged. And it will not matter if they are in or out of the church, or what church they attend, they are blind and their blindness will cost them their eternal future.

 

The Jewish people trusted in the traditions of the their leaders and their leaders loved their traditions (which is a twisted version of the truth) to the point they served their devil inspired traditions and not the God who had delivered them out of bondage some centuries before. The tradition's the Jewish people were observing was the reason the Son of God, the Word of God came into the world. He, The Truth,  came to save them from their traditions which had led them into captivity under the hand of the Roman Empire and had separated them from the God of their fathers. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." Jesus spoke to the plainly, "I am the door." He was telling them, "There is no other way to enter into God's sheepfold (kingdom) but by Him."  He continues, "All who ever came before Him, or after Him, are thieves and robbers, and the true sheep do not hear their call." (My paraphrase.) When the Son of God made this statement, He removed forever any thought that there might be some other way into heaven. He called those people who mislead or preach there is more than one way into heaven, thieves and robbers, who rob people of their hope for salvation.

 

He told those who did not understand, to look at the works He was doing right before their very eyes, that those works would be the proof they needed to know He was, is, and will always be, the Savior of man, the doorway into the kingdom of God. No one else had ever opened blind eyes or cast out demons before He came to earth, or promised to return for those who believe in Him and take them to heaven to be with Him on a future day. The prophets of God in the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, had raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the poor and performed miracles, but the thieves and robbers Jesus is talking about preach hate and murder, war and famine, the sacrificing of their children to appease an angry god, and that they must worship everything under the sun as being a god from animals to flies.

 

John 1:14 tells us, "The Word (of God) became flesh (took upon Himself a flesh and blood body by the name of Jesus) and dwelt among men and they beheld His glory." That flesh and blood body was crucified by man, placed in a grave, and after the Word of God which indwelt the body of Jesus returned from serving our punishment in hell, returned to earth, once again took upon Himself the earthly body of Jesus with the nail holes in the hands and feet, and the spear wound in its side as evidence that the Word of God had been on the earth and walked among men. That body man killed will accompany Him when He returns for those who believe in Him and everyone will see for themselves the nail holes in His hands and feet. It would suffice us to know that not one of the bodies of the thieves and robbers who came before or after Him was raised from the dead. Their bones are still in the grave and the flesh is gone, but their lying spirits that deceived their fellow man into following them is in hell where they will remain forever, suffering torment beyond imagination. When Jesus said, "I am the door of the sheep." or "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me." [John 14:6] He meant that there is no other way into the kingdom of God except through Him. And those who do not believe He is the only way into the kingdom of God and that no one goes to the Father except through Him is just like the Pharisees that loved tradition more than God. As Jesus said, "Though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him." OTBP

 

 

 

 

Mankind wonders what the will of God is for their life and if they don't discover what His will is they walk about in a confused state of being. The good man wonders why bad things happen to them, and nothing ever seems to happen to the bad man. It would appear that what we think is right and should be normal is reversed and many times the bad seem to be rewarded for their badness and the good suffer because of their goodness. Somehow what we see happening around us doesn't seem quite fair nor logical to the mind of man. The bad man is supposed to be punished because he is bad, and the good man is supposed to be rewarded for being good. But it appears that the thief who wears a suit is rewarded for robbing mankind, while the good man dressed in jeans and boots is punished for doing the right thing. This leads a lot of people to believe that being bad is good and being good is bad. While it may appear the bad are rewarded and the good are punished, one day the scales will be balanced and every one will be rewarded for what they did in this life. The bad man will be punished and the good man will be eternally rewarded. We do not like to think that it might be God's will that we suffer in this life for doing good while the bad man prospers, but we see what appears to be an injustice to the good man happening all around the world and appears to be growing in magnitude. But the good man must remember, temporary prosperity has nothing to do with eternal rewards.

 

In [Matthew 10:27-22] Jesus sheds some light on the way things are and what man's role is in life regardless of what situation he many find himself in or where he might be. The subject Jesus uses to illustrate this line of thought is a sparrow. No one gives thought to, nor are they overly concerned with what happens to a sparrow because sparrows are small and seemingly insignificant and only play a minor role in creation. But, let's listen in to Jesus teach on the insignificant sparrow and the fear of God that man is to retain. "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will deny before my Father who is in heaven?"

 

When teaching Jesus always picked out common everyday natural things people were used to seeing to illustrate a spiritual principle. And as He often pointed out every thing God created has a role to play in creation. In this particular instance Jesus is pointing out to us since God created every thing, He has a moral obligation to meet the needs of each thing. This includes the needs of man as well as the sparrow Jesus used in this example. God creates each thing to fulfill a specific role in creation, therefore neither the sparrow or man can change God's will for the life of each. God placed one sparrow in one part of the world and another sparrow in another part of the world and He did so for a reason and many times His reason is known only to Him, but each sparrow has a particular role to play in whatever part of the world they might have been placed. Since the sparrow is of little value in God's overall plan they are are not considered to be of much value. Even though they are considered to be insignificant they still have value and are therefore needed. But their overall purpose is not as great as that of mankind.

 

So as Jesus teaches on the value of a life and God's will for that life, he outlines for man what man's role is to be, but He is also teaching us that God is concerned about the needs of both the sparrow and the man. Jesus tells us the role of man is to listen and to tell what we know about God to those who may not, or have not heard about Him. The second point he listed is that man is not to be afraid of what other people might think even if it means we have to forfeit our life for obeying God and repeating what we hear from Him. He then tells us that repeating what we have heard from Him is so important to the Father that we are to fear God or hold God in such high esteem that we do as told because God is the judge who will judge our responsiveness to His commands. His last statement tells us that God is the one who supplies our needs and places us in this world where He wants each of us to be, and that there is nothing we can do to change where we are in life, or who we are in life unless He makes the changes anymore than we can count the number of hairs that are on our head. So we are not to even dwell on the fact that the bad may seem to be doing better than we are, or that we are not doing as well as think we ought to be, but our objective is to obey God and confess Christ before men so that He will confess us before His Father in heaven on the day when the heavenly rewards are passed out.

 

There is one line in this teaching talking about the sparrow that says, "And not one of them (the sparrows) falls to the ground apart from "Your Father's will." This is one line no man wants to think about. We do not want to think that what we may be facing could possible be God's will for our life, but in reality Jesus is telling us that what happens to us in life is not in our control but in the hand of the Father, and that nothing that happens to us is unknown to Him. Therefore it just might be God's will for us to suffer and the bad man prosper just as the following line explains, "But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows..." 

 

There is another scripture that tells us, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" [Micah 6:8] This scripture tells us what the whole duty of man concerns. According to this scripture whether or not the bad man prospers and we suffer is not what we are to dwell on, but complying with His commands to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with our God, is far more important to God than what the bad man appears to be accomplishing in this life. His reward is coming just the same as ours, and when that day comes, Jesus promised to confess us before His Father and that is when the wages of sin will receive its just reward. OTBP

 

"So let it be done for you" is a line taken from [Matthew 8:13]. These words that Jesus spoke were the end to a conversation that began in verse 5 and continued through verse 13. "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard it. He marveled, and said to those (Jews) who followed. "Assuredly, I say to you. I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour." [Matthew 8:5-13]

 

This story is only eight verses of scripture long but it outlines for us how to get our needs met. Let us understand, that Jesus, the Son of God had not come to earth to minister to anyone at this time but the Jews who had a covenant right (or a working arrangement with God through Abraham, the faithful father of Issac and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Jews) to be healed and set free of their problems. The kingdom of heaven would not be fully opened to the people of the gentile nations of the world until the Holy Spirit came to earth on the Day of Pentecost.

 

The story tells us this Roman centurion who was a captain over a hundred soldiers had a servant at home who was paralyzed and tormented. By rights Jesus didn't have to do anything for this man because the Romans were heathens who worshiped many gods with their most prominent god being Caesar, and who were at this time enslaving God's people. So for a captain over a hundred roman soldiers to be pleading with a Jew for the life of his servant tells us something about the centurion and the value he placed on the life of this servant. This servant was perhaps a faithful friend, adviser, or a valuable comrade, but regardless of what position he held under the centurion, the fact that the centurion came to Jesus shows the centurion cared about people, otherwise he would not have done anything in his servants behalf, friend or otherwise.

 

The story also tells us the Roman centurion was a wise man, a deep thinker, who had come to understand that if a man developed a problem such as his servant had, and there wasn't anything man could do about it, but Jesus was setting people free from these same types of things, there was another level of authority on earth far greater than natural man possessed. Since he understood how authority works because of his position as a centurion in the Roman army, he understood the works Jesus was doing was also based upon authority. And if the centurion's servant was to be healed, the centurion would have to go to the man operating on that higher level of authority and appeal to Him to honor his request. Since the centurion understood authority, he also understood that a person of lesser authority when they come before one of higher authority, must do so humbly. So fully understanding protocol because of his position in the Roman army, the centurion knew that the higher authority has the power to have your head removed if you show disrespect for him or his office and do not humble yourself when you come into their presence. The centurion may not have fully understood exactly what authority Jesus was using to set the people free, but he understood that Jesus was a man operating on a whole other level of authority, and therefore he showed Jesus the proper respect due a person of higher authority. He went humbly to Jesus in behalf of his servant based upon his understanding of how authority works requesting Jesus do something about the condition of his servant lying at home paralyzed and tormented. Based upon the centurion's understanding of authority, he knew that when Jesus gave the order for something to be done, it would be done without hesitation just as it would be in the Roman army. Therefore he said to Jesus when Jesus offered to go to his home and heal the servant, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed." Once again, based upon authority, the centurion understood that an order given in Rome, carried the same power in Jerusalem, so even though Jesus was in Capernaum when He said his servant was healed, it didn't matter where the centurion's servant was at the time, he would be healed based upon the command that was given.

 

Dear God, help us in this modern day time to come to the understanding the centurion possessed concerning authority, and help us to understand that there is a natural authority, and there is a higher spiritual authority, and when we follow the same protocol the centurion followed, our request will not only be heard, but be granted just as his was. 

 

The centurion said to Jesus, "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." The centurions understanding of authority caused Jesus to be amazed and say, "Assuredly, I say to you. I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom (those who are supposed to understand these things) will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

Jesus was quick to point out to the Jews who followed Him and who should have understood authority based upon their relationship with the living God, why He said this man had great faith, and why their understanding was so small, and why their inability to comprehend what this centurion knew would cause them to be cast into hell's fire where Jesus described the torment as, "Weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

 

Folks, Jesus did not pound His teachings on spiritual matters into the heads of the Jewish people, and He does not pound them into our heads today. He expects us to read the Word, meditate in the Word, and do what the Word tells us to do if we want our needs met. Just as He expected the Jews to learn about His Father through the works He did, and learn from Him that they could do the same works He was doing if they would strive to understand what He was teaching them through His works. He told them they would do greater works than He was doing if they would read, and meditate on the scriptures and learn from them what God had done for them. The only possible way we will understand our authority is if we think about the works He did understanding that He was dealing with spirits who had created problems for man, and come to understand that He removed the spirit behind the problem and the person was set free. The centurion understood authority and Jesus said the man had great faith. Those that never come to the realization of that truth live in the flesh, do not know who they were created to be, thus they never follow protocol when petitioning the Lord with a request, and Jesus said they would pay the price for their lack of understanding. For the person who comes to understand authority, Jesus said, "So let it be done for you." OTBP

[Psalm 34] David, the shepherd boy turned soldier, and soon to be King of Israel, an outcast of the people he loved, wrote this Psalm during a very trying time in his life. The present king of Israel, King Saul, his father-in-law, had chased him out of Israel because he was jealous of David's popularity among the common folk; and David left the country and the people he loved to live with the enemy he had fought for years and of whom he had killed many. As he thought upon his circumstances and the possible outcome, he lifted up his voice to the Lord in worship and penned this Psalm. As you read his Psalm you will come to understand that in this particular song David is encouraging himself to remain faithful to the God he loves and to his father-in-law, King Saul. David's life has for many years been fraught with fears from friend and foe alike, and he is concerned with what is to come of him, his family and those who have followed him into this strange land. He has wives and children to look after, an army of misfits to control, and more responsibility than any young man in his late twenties should have. At the time he wrote this Psalm he is a man without a country, a man without a home, a man alone and ever aware of the danger that is only one step behind his every move. As I read this Psalm I could see in my minds eye David walking alone in a deserted place where he poured his heart out to the Lord, confessing his faith and confidence as he walked, trusting the God he loved had not abandoned him, and thinking at some point in time things were going to work out for him if he survived that long. After all, God had anointed him and promised him he would be king of Israel some years before, but as he writes this Psalm and thinks back about all the things that have happened to him over the years, those things that had been promised to him are present in his mind, but they seem so far removed from his life. David has seen God's hand at work in his life and knows that even now in this hostile place God is with him. And as he begin his song with praise you can see his faith begin to surface as he states, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears... The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them... The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry... The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles... Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." David is confessing what he knows is true about the God he loves. He knows the Lord will not disappoint him, and when the time comes God will raise him up to be king of Israel just as He said He would.

 

"Have we not all felt this same way at some time in our life?" We know the good things God has promised us in His Word, but instead of seeing those promises fulfilled, our difficulties increased, and, we, too, sometimes wonder if God has forgotten about us. I have. And as a matter of fact, I am in a place right now that there doesn't seem to be a way out, I am surrounded on every side by financial debt so large it appears I could be swallowed up by it at any given moment, but truthfully, I am not looking for a way out, I am pressing into God's Word because God is faithful to His Word, and just as David encouraged himself, I, too, encourage myself daily. I am not a gifted musician as David was, I do not have a beautiful singing voice. So instead of singing songs of worship, I write as a means of expressing my adoration to God and encouraging myself in the Lord, and hopefully as you read my writings you are encouraged as well. OTBP 

 

[Psalm 34:1-22] "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. They eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned."

 

In the opening stanza of this Psalm David gives us the key that will bring God on the scene every time trouble shows it ugly head. "I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." God inhabits heart felt praise. He is drawn to praise like a fly is to sweets. He cannot help Himself. He is worthy of all praise. We can never thank Him enough for what He has done for us. Notice, David's encouragement began with praise because he understood praise gets a person through the gates of heaven into the very presence of the almighty God, and the confession of our faith in His ability to deliver us from the hand of the enemy is music to His ears. God honors His Word, and our confession of His Word in the ability of God to deliver us from evil activates the angels that are all around us.

 

Even though David didn't leave the land of the Philistines immediately after he wrote this Psalm, it did come in God's timing. Despite the seriousness of his situation, David continued to offer up praise out of a pure heart and God met all of his needs while he was in the land of his enemy. I, too, know that God is working in my situation just as David knew He was working in his. The bible teaches us patience is a virtue, a blessing, and when we are in a difficult situation we are to keep our eyes on the great God we serve, and off the situation. Otherwise, the devil will fill our mind with doubt because he can make the problem to appear to be a lot bigger than what it actually is, and if we maintain our focus on the problem, defeat follows closely behind. I don't think most people understand that the angels of the Lord encamp around about the righteous, but God has assigned them to us for a reason. Those angels are there to protect us from the evil surrounding us. David understood praise brought the presence of God on the scene, and the protection of the angel of the Lord was activated by the words of faith in the God he served. How wise we would be if we understood the love of God for His children and applied this simple lesson to our life. OTBP

This morning about 4:45 am we had an earthquake here in east central Illinois and the epicenter of the quake was located some 20 miles southeast of where I live. The quake itself measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale and the earth shook for about ten or fifteen seconds that I recall. I was fast asleep when the quake hit, so I at first thought it was a tornado since they are more common in our area than earthquakes. But once my foggy mind cleared I realized both the earth and the building was shaking and it was not shingles being torn off the roof as I first thought. It was only after I was fully awake that it dawned on me, we don't have a shingle roof, we have a rubber roof, and the noise I was hearing was not wind blowing, but a building creaking and groaning from the stress placed upon it by the rolling shock waves passing beneath it. Then at 10:14 am we had a fairly strong aftershock which was the fifth and measured 4.5 in intensity and lasted for about twenty seconds causing the building to once again shake and roll. This time I was awake and in the office when it came. The aftershock was strong enough that it rattled the windows in my building and the drawers in the file cabinets that sit beside the computer I am writing this message on. Earthquakes and aftershocks are a rarity in our rural area but this is the second we have had in the area in the last three and a half years. The last one was in 2004 and measured 4.4 on the Richter Scale but was located farther east than this last one. By the time my feet hit the floor earlier this morning everyone in my house was awake and up walking around checking to make sure everyone else was okay. We were, so the kids went back to bed.

 

Shortly after the 4.5 aftershock hit, a man who helps me periodically, called; and after talking to him for just a couple of seconds I realized just how frightened this man was. He told me he had cancelled going to his daughters birthday party later in the day because he wanted to ride the aftershocks of the quake out at home. He said he was thinking about disconnecting the gas line that supplied the gas to his home for fear the pipes would break and his house would catch on fire or blow up while he was gone. Then it dawned on me how frightened other people must be, and how little they really know about what is going to come upon the earth in the coming days, weeks and years. I didn't tell my friend, but what we experienced today is nothing in comparison to what is coming. When a major catastrophe comes men tend to blame the results of the damage on man, just like they did with the flooding of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Man can prepare the best they can, but there is nothing man can do to prevent what is coming except deal with the aftermath of the destruction that will be left behind by the catastrophes. As we know, our national resources were stretched to the limit after Katrina and the hurricane that hit Texas and the wild fires in and around San Diego, California because our government had never dealt with so many catastrophes happening so close together. Hopefully our government learned from their mistakes and our money, time and resources are not squandered in such measures as it was during that time.  

 

The bible tells us Matthew 24 that these things are going to come and they are going to grow in number and intensity until the end of time. If we have any understanding at all, we can see that hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding, famines, wars, and many other things that are mentioned in that chapter are occurring at a rate exponentially above any other time in recorded history. Why is that? If you really want to know... time is short. Time is winding down. The end of time as we know it is drawing closer with each passing day and if you want to know what is going to happen to men as time winds down, read the book of Revelation, the last book in the bible.

 

What the earth is experiencing at this time is only the beginning of woes. [Matthew 24] These present things are only the warnings God is issuing to man to change the course of their life. How do I know this is true? I'm glad you asked. In the first half of Matthew 24 Jesus gives us a description of the events that will lead up to the real tribulation that is reserved for a time to follow shortly upon the heels of this present time. The last half of Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to the apostle John tells us of the judgments of God that will be poured out upon sinful man for a period of time for rejecting God as being God. Jesus also tells us that the beginning of the judgments of God will begin when the "abomination of desolation" stands in the holy place." And in verse 21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be." He tells us in verse 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." 

 

I was reminded of what the scriptures say in Matthew 24 when my friend called this morning because he was scared of the earthquake. Folks, this world is not going to get better in the future. We have entered into the time of the beginning of woes Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. The times are getting worse by the day and it is going to get a lot worse before it is brought to an end, but that doesn't mean you have to be one of those people who curse God and dies. You can make your eternal salvation secure today. God will hear your request and grant you salvation if you will ask Him to forgive you of your sin, turn away from your wickedness, and ask Him to come live in your heart. He will do it. Ask Him! He's not mad at you. He loves you. Make the choice to turn your life over to Him today.

 

The quake that woke me us this morning woke me up at just about the time I normally get up. So I looked at the quake as God's wake up call to me telling me it was time to roll out of bed and greet the day. I got up, put on the coffee, took a shower and started my day, but this quake did not take place at the time most people get up, though it was a reality check from God addressed to all those who experienced it. There are many people who felt the intensity of this quake who know their life is not right with God. And if this quake had been a more severe one, it is possible that you would not be here right now reading this warning message. And that is exactly what this message is; it is another warning just as surely as the quake this morning served as a warning. There were many victims in New Orleans who did not survive the wrath of Katrina whose life was not right with the Lord. There had been many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico before Katrina that missed New Orleans, but Katrina had the name of the city of New Orleans written all over it. And there is no guarantee the next catastropic event that occurs in this world won't be in the area you live.  

 

If we do not heed the warning signs when they come and a person's life is not right with God and they die, their chance to repent of their sins is gone forever and they go to hell forever because of what they didn't do, not because of what they did. Every sin man commits will be forgiven except one. That is denying the Holy Spirit's leading to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord of your life. You will not be sent to hell because you are a thief, or a murder, etc., though hell is filling up with such people, a person is sent to hell because they did not accept the finished work of Jesus Christ as the atonement for their sins and would not let Him be their Savior. So if you experienced this earthquake that was felt hundreds of miles away in every direction from the epicenter, consider yourself to have had another warning in a series of warnings, another chance to get it right. Don't continue to ignore God's warning signs that are ever increasing in frequency and intensity.

 

Somehow God is going to get the attention of all peoples. If it takes natural disasters, war, famine, or whatever. He will get our attention. The question is, "Are we smart enough to understand what is happening and is going to continue to happen until God says, enough of this, and His judgment begins in earnest?" The natural disasters we have seen taking place around the world so far are only warnings of what is to come if we don't change the course we are following. They are not God judging man. God is giving us a chance to repent and turn away from our sins. Judgment is coming, but it will come later. What we are presently seeing are warnings in much the same way as a warship fires a warning shot across the bow of another ship warning them they are treading with disaster if they continue on their present course. Real judgment would be firing barrage after barrage of shot at the other ship with the intentions of sinking it and ending its threat. What we are seeing right now are small events occurring sporadically here and there around the world as depicted in MATTHEW 24, but when God's judgment begins in earnest as seen in the BOOK OF REVELATION, it will have world wide affect affecting the lives of millions upon millions of people with whole cities and populations being destroyed in a single judgment. God's judgments of which there will be many as foretold in the BOOK OF REVELATION will increase in intensity and magnitude until man has been brought to his knees and admits that God is God and there is no other. Jesus told us, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be." [Matthew 24:21] Now is the time to think about your future, before your future catches up to you in the present, and you are not prepared to meet it face to face. OTBP 

 

 

The forgotten generation is not the one before us, but the one behind us. Every thing we do as parents, as a community, and as a country affects the generation of people behind us. If we leave them a mess to contend with, they have the chore of straightening our mess out. If we leave them in a position they cannot overcome, they will become slaves to the thing we left them to deal with. In the Old Testament there is a story of such a group of people who forgot their children, and as a result their children were taken into captivity and passed into oblivion. The story is of the ten tribes of Israelites that made up the nation of Northern Israel and the sins they committed. God warned them of what would become of them if they didn't get their lives straightened out. They didn't and the history of their failure is recorded in the Book of Hosea for our understanding. [Hosea 4:6] My (God's) people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. (Hosea is addressing the leadership, the religious leaders, and those men and women who had families, and the responsibility of educating and training their children in the things of God.) Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

 

God's warning to the people of Northern Israel stated; if they did not turn back to Him, or reacquaint themselves with Him, they would no longer be His priest or chosen people who He ordained to be a shining example of His Goodness (a light) to their neighbors, and their enemies. It wasn't as if the people didn't know what was right, they simply weren't living right. God called their rejection of His Word, "forgetting" or failing to apply what they knew. If a person does not apply what they know, that information is useless and cannot help them. In the case of these people it wasn't as if they didn't know the right thing to do, they did. They had been taught the right thing to do from birth, but they simply wasn't applying what they knew because they found other things to do in life they considered to be more important than obeying the Law of their God.

 

Instead of following and practicing God's Law because things at the time were going very well for them, they began looking for ways to circumvent His Law. To me this sounds very similar to what we in America are doing today. Instead of us continuing on with doing what is right because we know it is the right thing to do, we are rewriting God's Law thinking we can somehow circumvent His Law, believing that everything will continue the way things have in the past, not understanding that the reason we are so blessed in this country is because God has been blessing us. God sent a messenger to the people of Northern Israel by the name of Hosea (which means Salvation) to warn them of a pending disaster that was coming upon them if they didn't stop rejecting His Law. He further warned them that if they didn't stop rejecting Him, their children would be the ones to pay the consequences for their wrongdoings. To make a long story short, they didn't stop what they were doing, and their children went into captivity in Assyria (modern day Iran) and were never heard from again. We in America are at the brink of no return just as the people of Northern Israel were at that time; and once again the nation of Iran is the enemy who desires our destruction and well as that of the portion of Israel that is left. God sent Hosea, which means Salvation to the people of Northern Israel to warn them of the coming destruction. Today we have been sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which also means Salvation; and just like the people of Northern Israel, we have reached the point where we are being internally destroyed because we are rejecting the knowledge of God's Law that was sent to protect us, and bless us, and to cause us to be a light shining into the darkness welcoming to our shores those who wish to escape the darkness of their present world.

 

It was not God's idea that the children of Northern Israel go into captivity and never be heard from again. His plan was to save them from the coming destruction that was looming on the distant horizon even as He sent His warning message. I believe He is doing everything He can in America today to save us from the pending disaster that is waiting to see if we will turn back to following God's Law or not. If we fail to act and fail to repent of our selfish ways, our children will pay the price of our disobedience. Just as it was the responsibility of the Israelite parents to educate and train their children in the things of God, our responsibility today is the same. If we do not prepare our children to obey the Law of God, we will lose them, and the enemy will be only too glad to take them off our hands, and enslave them before destroying them. Northern Israel failed to act accordingly and their children suffered destruction because they would not listen to sound advice from Hosea the prophet that God had sent to warn them, and we, too, will fall by the wayside of life if we do not teach and train our children in the things of God and how to become obedient to His Law. We cannot any longer attempt to circumvent His Law. Attempting such things is foolishness on the part of man. God's will and determined purpose cannot be changed by the words we write upon paper declaring such and such things as being legal, but we, His people can be changed by His Law if we will heed the advice of the Son of God and turn away from our wickedness before our children suffer the consequences of our selfish actions. OTBP

 

 

Since the day Jesus set foot on earth He has been a controversial person. Some say He was a great prophet. Some say He was a good man, and still others try to deny He even existed and is only a myth. But try as they might they cannot deny the works He did while He was on earth nor can they erase the record of His life and death from the secular history books. If there was some way for them to disprove He existed, then they would not be guilty of their sin, but because He came and died for them, they have no excuse for their sin and therefore are only fighting against His teachings in an attempt to cover their sin with ignorance and denial. These people are not alone in their quest, even the religious leaders of His day fought against Him in an attempt to hang onto their religious customs and traditions, but the common people gladly followed after Him because He preached hope and eternal life.

 

People today are still debating who Jesus was and what role He plays in the life of men. In the first century the religious leaders thought if they could have him killed they could stamp out what He stood for, and the Words that He spoke that gave people hope. But what they thought was an end to a means was in reality a beginning of something so big it turned the known world upside down. The religious leaders in Israel found out they couldn't stop His teaching from spreading, the Roman government couldn't stop it, the Roman army couldn't stop it, and there are people today who are trying to stamp out Christianity and attempting to remove it from the memory of mankind, but the harder they try to stamp it out the faster Christianity grows. They do not understand that the hate and violence they use against Christianity to try and stop it from spreading is actually the soil God uses to grow His church. People are so slow to understand that the devil who is using them to fight against God hasn't change tactics in two thousand years, and their end will be the same as it was for the leaders of Israel, the Roman government, and the Roman army. Their attempts failed and so will the attempts of this generation and Christianity will move forward just as it always has and will continue spreading until the Lord calls His children home to live with Him for eternity and forever and ever, while the devils crowd will suffer the opposite effect of eternal damnation, pain and suffering for resisitng the living God and what He desires to do for man.

 

If people could understand that Christianity is in a good way like a cancer in the human body in that the doctor thinks they have the cancer stopped in one area only to discover it has moved to another location and is growing at an even faster pace than it had grown previously. With the advent of today's technological advances and people having the Internet and satellite television it has become impossible for the people who hate Christianity to prevent the spread of it. While they work to pass laws prohibiting speaking about God in public places and make everything the Christian says about sinful things that are contrary to the Word of God a hate crime, they do not understand it doesn't matter what they try to do to prevent God from working in the earth, they cannot nor will they ever be able to kill the Word of God.

 

The men who killed Jesus did not understand that the body they killed was only the flesh and blood human body the Word of God took up residence in. Therefore they could not kill the ONE doing the talking, but could only destroy the house the Word of God lived in. Neither did they realize that everything they did was a part of God's plan for the redemption of mankind. They body of Jesus they killed was the sacrificial lamb God had prepared before the foundation of the world for the forgiveness of the sins of His people. All who would receive that sacrificial atonement and repent of their sins would be saved. Those who fought against Him and refused to acknowledge the work God performed in their behalf would be forever lost and pay their own penalty for their crimes against Him. Today man is trying to stop the Word of God from going forth and even from being talked about, but just as the religious leaders of Jesus's day worked in vain, so is the work of the modern day disciples of the devil. Nothing can ever prevent the Word of God from accomplishing what God has sent it to do. As long as there are people on this earth that will receive the finished work of Calvary and repent of their sins, the Word of God will continue to work in the earth granting salvation to as many as will receive Him, and there is nothing anyone, not man, not the devil, not man made laws, not education, nor anything else man can come up with can prevent the Word of God from going forth and doing what God sent it to do. Their work is in vain, but their punishment will be in earnest.

 

The one mistake the religious leaders of the first century made was in not understanding that it is not the fleshly body of man that speaks, but the spirit of man that lives in the human body. The voice of the body is the emotions, and the voice of man is his spirit. The spirit of man lives in our body in much the say way we live in a house. The house is not the real man, just as the body of man is not the real person, but only the covering in which the spirit man lives. You cannot kill the human spirit because it is made in the image and likeness of God who is a Spirit. The fleshly body of man is only that portion of him that touches the natural world in which we live, just as our home is the residence that is touched by the physical elements. The body is not, nor can it ever be the real person. However, when man is judged on the Day of Judgment by the very same WORD OF GOD they rejected, the house we live in will accompany the real us to that appointment, and the spirit, soul, and body which comprises the totality of man will be praised or rejected at that time.

 

Now let's look to Jesus who is our teacher to receive a more clear picture of what I just wrote. [Matthew 16:13-19] "When Jesus  came into the region of Caesarea Phillipi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  (Here Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man. The human sacrificial flesh and blood body of the Word of God) So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Christ is the Anointed Word of God.) Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (This true and exact understanding that I AM the Christ or Anointed Word of God that was to come into the world in human form) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail (Nothing, Nada, no one shall prevail) against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, (Heavenly Power to do the Works I do and to speak in my behalf when I am gone from the earth.) and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

 

It is clear from these scriptures that Jesus first identified Himself as a human being with a flesh and blood body when He called Himself the "Son of Man", and after Peter's statement that He is the Christ, the Anointed Word or Son of the living God, Jesus praised Peter for letting His heavenly Father reveal this spiritual truth to him. Men of that day thought Jesus was the reincarnation of one of the person's the disciples listed in the scripture, they did not recognize Him as the One God had sent to save them. And because they did not recognize Him as the Son of the Living God, they killed the body in which He lived. People today are still trying to stamp out the Word of God, render it useless, and prevent it from operating in the earth by killing the human body of the Christian. But, they cannot, nor will they ever be able to kill the Word of God, but through their actions they help His cause to spread. This is vain thinking on the part of sinful man because their senses are dulled and their minds are darkened to the truth, eaten up with sin, never coming to the realization that an awful travesty is waiting for them just around the corner. Out of their line of sight stands the angel of God waiting for the command to bring justice into this world and punish unredeemed man for his impudence and ignorance of who God is and what He has done to save them from this awful hour coming upon the world because of their rejection of His righteous work. OTBP

For a miracle to take place in the lives of men man has as much to do with the miracle occurring as does God. As a matter of fact, God can't or won't do anything in our behalf until we get involved in the situation with Him. That is the power of man and the limitation God has placed on Himself. The following story is a classic example of how men deal with a problem and how God wants men to deal with them. So let's take a look at a situation in the bible where a great miracle occurred, not because of the faith of the Lord's disciples, but because a little boy decided to get involved and many people were the beneficiary of his action.

 

[John 6:1-14] "After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him. He said to Phillip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Phillip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." Therefore they gathered them up. and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

 

In the story told by John, Jesus sees a problem concerning the multitude of people who have followed Him into this desert place. He said to Phillip, "Where shall we buy bread, (food) that these may eat?" The Apostle Matthew adds more detail to the story by telling us in [Matthew 14:15] "When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." Jesus replied to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." Phillip answered Him according to John, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

 

Here we see how God views problems and how man looks at them. Jesus saw a problem and wanted His disciples to do something about it, but their response to Him is a common response by men when they don't have an answer for a problem. They attempt to pass the problem along to some one else as noted in the words, "Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." The second reason men do not believe they can do miracles is they look at what they don't have instead of what they do have as noted by the disciples Phillip and Andrew. Phillip answered Him, (Jesus) "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." Then one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" In other words we have a little food on hand, but it's only enough to meet the little boy's needs but not anyone else's. But Jesus was not daunted by their insufficiency and lack of faith. His purpose in this teaching scenario was to show them they could do miracles with what was in their possession if they understood what it took for a miracle to take place.

 

In [Matthew 14:19] we have a better picture of what Jesus did that set the miracle into motion. "Then He (Jesus) commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples distributed (From the gospel of John) to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." Therefore they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

 

Let us understand that everything Jesus did He did so that we might learn from Him how to operate in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God what we call miracles are common place and they should be in the lives of God's children as well. And this is what Jesus is teaching His disciples in this story. The first thing they had to understand was that nothing is impossible to the child of God because nothing is impossible with God. [Luke 1:37] A miracle does not depend on where we are or how little we may have at the time, but what it does depend on is our understanding that God will do whatever we ask if we follow the prescribed manner set forth in this story and give to Him whatever is necessary to perform the required miracle. For example in this story, it would not have mattered how much money they had on  hand, it would not have helped them. Their need wasn't money, so giving money to the Lord would not have supplied the needs of the people at that time. However they were hungry and tired and Jesus said some of them would have fainted had they left in search of food on their own. So when the little boy gave his five barley loaves and two fish the stage was set for a miracle to occur. There is another miracle in the bible where food would not have met the need of Jesus and Peter, but money would. On this particular day, the temple tax was due and Jesus and Peter had no money to pay the tax. Jesus told Peter to go down to the sea, cast in a hook, and remove the coin from the mouth of the fish he would catch, then come and pay their temple tax with the money. [Matthew 17:27]

 

Notice in this story Jesus accepted the bread and fish from His disciples that had been donated by the little boy and did something with it before distributing it. He look up to heaven (I believe He was thanking God for the food donated by the little boy that was going to make possible the miracle that happened next.) He blessed, broke and gave back to the disciples who in turn distributed the food to the multitudes seated on the hillside, and when they had all eaten as much as they wanted, twelve baskets of fragments were picked up and given to the little boy as a return on his donated food. This was how a miracle occurred then, and they occur the same way today. For a miracle to occur in the lives of men, God must have the cooperation of a person who is willing to give Him whatever is needed to meet the needs of another person who can't help themselves, and when there need has been met, we will receive and abundant return on our investment.

 

Let's say a person has money problems and needs a miracle from God to have their monetary needs met. Just as in the case of the above food shortage, it took a food donation to meet the needs of the hungry people in that desert place where there wasn't any food, and the persons money problem will take a monetary donation from the person to activate their miracle, a food donation will not meet their monetary needs anymore than money would have met the needs of the people in the desert who were hungry. If a person gives nothing to help God, they will not receive the miracle they need. It isn't that God could not manifest their miracle out of thin air, He could, but it doesn't work that way because we have a role to play in every miracle that occurs.

 

So when we are called upon to perform a miracle for another person or group of people, Jesus outlined the steps that we must follow for the miracle to occur. Let's look at the steps that were involved in the above miracle. (1) The little boy gave to the disciples (2) who gave to Jesus, (3) who thanked God, (4) blessed, (5) broke, (6) and returned the donated bread and fish to the disciples (7) for distribution to the hungry; (8) and all that was left over was returned to the little boy as a blessing. Notice too that Jesus did not supply enough food to last the needy in this story for a week. He met the needs they had that day. The only person who received an abundance from this miracle was the little boy with the generous heart who gave all that he had that the needs of the hungry multitude might be met.

 

Do you need a miracle? One is waiting to happen in your life if you will do your part. Whatever your need might be, give whatever you have to help someone else receive their needs met, and your need will be abundantly met. Well you say, "What if my need isn't financial or food? What if my need is an illness in my body? If what you say is true that I must give some of what I have to receive my miracle, what can I possibly give away to receive my healing?" Dear friends; Give yourself to sincere heart felt prayer for the needs of someone you know who needs a healing in their body, and God will joyfully use your heart felt prayer to meet their need and your need. The little boy gave his lunch expecting to receive something in return. Giving up his lunch was a sacrifice. And remember the multitudes were in a desert place and this little boy had been there just as long, and was just as tired as anyone else, but he gave his food joyfully. The disciples didn't have to mug him or forcefully take his food away from him. So whatever you do - do it joyfully. And when you pray for others, expect your needs to be met in that same area, and just like the little boy in this story, you, too, will receive back from the Lord an abundance of what you gave. And please remember this: God cannot work a miracle for you if you are not willing to give Him something to work with, fully trusting that you are going to receive a return on your investment. That is the long and the short of receiving and performing a miracle. Miracles don't just happen. They are planned for. You give and you trust before you receive, but when the proper procedure is followed, you will receive your miracle. OTBP

 

 

[Matthew 13:1-23] On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat: and the whole multitude stood on the shore. The He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear. let him hear!.

 

And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. "therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

 

Therefore hear the parable of the sower: "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one (Satan) comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who receives the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

 

In the above twenty-three verses of scripture Jesus explains the purpose of parables, and why He taught them to the people who came to hear Him speak. He did so because He knew there were four kinds of people living on this earth who even cared enough to hear what He has to say about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. And only one in four of those people who hear Him speak have a heart that is good soil for the Word of God to take root in and produce an abundant harvest. The other three types of people who heard what He said for one reason or another did not consider His Word important enough to change their life or to commit themselves to His rule. If those three types of people had been listening to what He was telling them they would have realized that He was telling them as far as the kingdom of God is concerned, they are good for nothing, taking up space on the earth that could be better used by those whose hearts are good soil and who will bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

 

I know people don't want to hear someone tell them, "They are good for nothing and are only taking up space that could be put to better use if they weren't here." But the sad truth is as pointed out in these scriptures by the Son of God; there are many people who hear the Word of God, but there are few who actually do something with it. Those who do something with it are fruit producers and are fulfilling the role in life they were created to fill. Those who don't do as they are instructed are useless as far as the kingdom of God goes.

 

Jesus further clarifies His first parable concerning the hearts of men by painting another word picture for His listeners by telling them, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed (WHEAT) in his field: but while men slept, his enemy (Satan) came and sowed tares (WEEDS) among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, "An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, "Do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said, "No, lest while you gather up the tares (weeds) you also uproot the wheat with them. Let us grow both together until the harvest, (Judgment Day) and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, (angels) "First gather together the tares (unfruitful people) and bind them in bundles to burn them, (in hell's fire) but gather the wheat (the fruit producing people of God) into my barn. (heaven)"

 

I don't know how Jesus could have possibly made His commentary on the hearts of man any clearer then what He painted for them in these two word pictures concerning the people who live on the earth and how they will be separated at the end of time during the harvest of souls. The people with a heart that received the Lord (the WHEAT) will be gathered together and taken to heaven to live with their Lord and Savior, while those people who heard Him speak but did nothing (the TARES) will be bundled together and burned in hell's fires because they didn't do what they were created to do. It is like Jesus is telling us in His first parable, "People can't see the beauty of the forest for the trees." He is pointing out to them, "The people with the wayward heart, the stony heart, and the thorny heart, are people who are so caught in their own little world (their affairs) they miss everything else that is going on around them." And because they can't see beyond the end of their noses they are completely unaware of what they are turning down and where the road they are following is leading them.

 

We in America have an opportunity every day to hear the good news of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, but for whatever reason most people are so concerned about their own welfare and their problems they never give a thought to the fact that there may be more to life than just them. Jesus said in the first parable, three out of four people had wayward hearts, stony hearts, and thorny hearts, and why they are listed as such. And in the second parable He called them tares or weeds that would be separated from the wheat at the end of time and burned because they were useless to the kingdom of God. You may be a weed or tare today, but you don't have to remain a worthless 'weed' or 'tare'. If you will submit to the Lord God who died that you might live and receive Him as your personal Savior, you will be instantly changed from a worthless tare into a fruit producing stalk of wheat ready for harvesting and storage in God's heavenly kingdom. Therefore I encourage you, choose life! Burning doesn't seem like a very good choice especially for a person who has already suffered as much as you have. OTBP

[Acts 2:38-47] "Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse (crooked) generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

 

The above story is the conclusion to the sermon Peter preached shortly following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost some fifty days after Jesus was crucified. The story then concludes with the changes that occurred in the hearts and lives of the men who repented and were baptized following that sermon. Peter exhorted the people of Israel to, "Be saved from this perverse (crooked) generation." Three thousand people heeded his exhortation and their names were written in the Book of Life that day. Now let's look at the description Peter was ascribing to the generation in which they lived and see if our generation is any different.

 

per·verse

–adjective

1.	willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; contrary.

2.	characterized by or proceeding from such a determination or disposition: a perverse mood.

3.	wayward or cantankerous.

4.	persistent or obstinate in what is wrong.

5.	turned away from or rejecting what is right, good, or proper; wicked or corrupt.

 

From the different on-line Webster's Dictionary meanings of the word "perverse" I am led to believe our generation is not all that different from the generation the first church lived in and whom Peter was warning to repent of their wickedness and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That warning was good for that time, and I believe it is even more pertinent that we listen and obey his warning in this day and time. In our generation people are "willfully determined to go counter to what God expects of them". We could also say our generation is "wayward or cantankerous" and have gone their own way instead of following the commandments of the Lord. I think we could also say our generation is "persistent or obstinate in doing what is wrong", and are fighting to legalize their wrongful ways, but what is wrong in God's eyes has always been wrong, and will always be wrong, and no man made law written down on a piece of paper is going to change His commandments. And I think we can see that "our generation has turned away from doing what is right, good, or proper, and are wicked and corrupt in their thinking and their ways."

 

The bible isn't really all that hard to figure out. The Old Testament up until the time of Noah is the history of man and their rejection of the God who created them. After Noah, God selected a special group of people to be His people and gave them the name Israel, and from Noah to the end of the Old Testament, we have the history of those people and God's promises to love and protect them if they would obey Him. The New Testament gospels is the introduction of the Son of God into the earth, and God's chosen people rejecting Him. Then we have the Acts of the Apostles and the letters or epistles written by them to the church encouraging God's people to obey God. And lastly, we have the Book of Revelation telling us what is going to happen when the rejection of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is complete. So the bible is sixty-six books of God pleading with man to, "Turn away from evil, repent and return unto me, and let me help you."

 

When the Lord God first spoke to Noah in Genesis chapter six [Genesis 6:5-14] "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He has made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect (blameless, or a man of integrity) in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japeth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted their ways on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch."

 

Here in just ten verses of scripture a description of the violence and corruption that filled the earth during the days of Noah is given and why God destroyed the earth the first time. As time wound down from Adam to Noah the further people withdrew from their creator; and when the thoughts and intents of man's heart was evil continually their rejection of God was complete. God destroyed the earth by a great flood and all but eight souls that dwelt on it. After the earth was rejuvenated people once again followed after God and did what was right for a time, then as time passed the heart of men once again grew cold toward God and violence filled the earth. This time God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save the world, but His people refused to acknowledge Him as the Son of God, rejected Him, had Him crucified and killed Him by the hands of the Roman army. When the rejection of God's Son was complete two thirds of the triune Godhead had been rejected by men whose hearts God said dwelt on evil continually, and God followed up the rejection of His Son with the destruction of Jerusalem and sent the Israelites into captivity for two thousand years. After the rejection of Jesus Christ by God's chosen people, God sent the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, to take up residence in man; and for a time God was welcomed by the gentile peoples of the world and a great revival of love for the things of God broke out. But as the centuries have passed the hearts of men are once again growing cold toward God the Holy Spirit, and their hearts are once again filled with violence thinking on evil continually, thus making the rejection of the triune God head consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, complete.

 

God tells us in the Book of Revelation the earth will go through a time of judgment called the Great Tribulation Period that will last for seven years and will be so fierce that earth will wobble in its orbit from the intensity of God's judgment. This time of woe is coming upon all the earth because men from all three ages have rejected God the Father, the Son of God, and God the Holy Spirit fully and completely. God destroyed the earth the first time by water after they rejected Him; He destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Israelites into captivity after the rejection of His Son, and He has told us this time when the rejection of the Holy Spirit of God is complete, the earth and all of mankind that have not recognized Him as being God will be destroyed. This time God is going to destroy the earth by fire and heat so intense that even the heavens will melt from the intensity of it and every thing that has yielded itself to evil will be forever removed from God's sight. 

 

So I exhort every one who reads this short message to Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. If you have read this far and you have eyes that see, you know time is winding down for the final time upon evil men and their rejection of the triune God head. When that time comes God has promised those who reject His offer of eternal salvation will receive their just reward and annihilation, total and complete and forever will come upon them. The pain and suffering of man will be so great during that time that men will be begging God to let them die; but they will not be able to do so because their punishment is not yet complete. And finally when evil has been erased from the face of the earth, there will be no more weeping, no more tears, no more evil. And God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth where men will live in peace with one another and evil will never be seen or heard from again. My description of the end of time does not do justice in my poor translation of God's righteous judgment upon all evil, but you can read the Book of Revelation yourself, forget the imagery written therein, and read the woes and the judgments that are coming upon mankind in the not too distant future and you will get an idea of the anger of God at men because they have rejected His love since time began. OTBP

 

 

Is this anyway for a son to talk to their mother? On the surface it would seem that Jesus was being disrespectful calling His mother, "woman." If I had called my mother, "woman" and said to her, "What does your concern have to do with me?" She would have slapped me so hard I would have woke up in the middle of the next week. My mother would not tolerate her children being disrespectful to her or to anyone else. And as a result of her firm stand on respect, I find I feel the same way and will not tolerate disrespect from my children. At first read it would appear this is a disrespectful remark made by Jesus to His mother concerning a statement she made to Him, but when we take a closer look at His reply, we will see it was actually a teaching question rather than a disrespectful remark to help His mother understand what would be taking place later in the lives of all believers after He had risen from the dead and assumed His rightful position beside His Father upon His throne.

 

Now lets look at what prompted this question by Jesus before we delve into the story as told by the Apostle John who was present when the event took place. [John 2:1-12] "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it," Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days."

 

Up until this time Jesus had not performed one miracle in front of other people, but His mother knew He was fully capable as shown by her statement to Him, "They have no wine." The statement was more of a request for a solution to the problem than an informational statement, and from the manner in which it was posed to Jesus she believed He could do something about the situation as related in her instruction to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." Not having enough wine to complete the wedding feast was an embarrassing problem for the bridegroom who was a friend of both Jesus and His mother. If it were not so, they would not have been present at the feast toasting the new bridegroom and his bride. Though the wine shortage was a problem created by the bridegroom, his error in judgment was not a problem God normally gets involved in. It is as if the mother of Jesus was embarrassed for the bridegroom and was interceding for him to Her son to do something about his problem. In His question, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?" Jesus is actually outlining for us the role God plays in the affairs of men. God is well aware of what our daily lives consists of, but He usually only gets involved in matters concerning our spiritual welfare, and doesn't interfere in the affairs of men that man should have had the foresight to have taken care of themselves. That is not to say He will not get involved in them as shown in the above story, but man has a responsibility to take care of the things in his everyday life that he can, and our Heavenly Father takes care of the things we can't. We, and God, are a partnership. He does for us the things we can't do ourselves, and we do the things for Him He can't do or has prevented Himself from doing. Here is one example of what God will not do. He will not preach His gospel to mankind as long as He has a man on the earth to do it. We are the hands, feet, and mouth of God on the earth; and we have been given the responsibility of preaching His gospel to all the world and making disciples of them. [Matthew chapter twenty-eight] If we do not preach His gospel, it will not be preached. And man will be held accountable for his failure to do as God has instructed him. Example number two: Man cannot see into the spiritual realm with our natural eyes; so we are to pray and believe that God is working in our behalf in the realm we cannot see into. Our faith is suppose to be in the Word of God that tells us He is taking care of things in the spiritual realm that safeguards the welfare of His man. For example: His Word tells us to give gifts and offerings to help the poor of this world. And if we could see into the spiritual realm we would be able to see the good our gifts and offerings are doing for the poor. Also if we could see into that realm we would see God at work manipulating events in the spiritual realm fulfilling His promises. 

 

Now back to our story of Jesus turning water into wine. The first thought that came into my mind upon the completion of my reading of this story was the ability Jesus possessed to manipulate and change His surroundings so it benefited mankind. Jesus is referred to in scripture as the second Adam or last Adam, [1 Corinthians 15:47] so if Adam had the same ability as Jesus, and he did, can you imagine the power and ability Adam possessed before he sinned and was separated from God? There wasn't anything in the earthly realm that was not under Adam's control; [Genesis 1:26-28] and he could change the consistency of anything he didn't like without lifting a finger to physically change it. Like Jesus demonstrated time and again, Adam could simply speak what he wanted to happen and it would happen just as Jesus demonstrated in this story. The servants in the story who filled the waterpots with water were only a part of the story to show us the cooperation that is needed by each party concerned for a miracle to take place. Jesus could have just as easily commanded the water to come out of the well and fill the waterpots and the water would have come out of the well and filled the waterpots. He didn't need the assistance of the servants in the story who filled the waterpots to do what He was going to do for the bridegroom, but He used the servants to illustrate that man in His fallen condition is required to fulfill a particular role in supernatural developments on earth. Jesus controlled the wind, the sea, the fish in the sea, demons, commanded Satan to depart from Him, changed water into wine, walked on the water, healed the sick, raised the dead, and did all this as a man. He did not do any of these things as God, but as man to demonstrate the power of a man who is joined to God by the Holy Spirit within man. Adam possessed this same power and ability and could have done everything that Jesus did if it would have been necessary for him to do so, but he lost this ability when his sin separated him from God. The second reason Jesus did what He did was to show men what man would be able to do in the future after they turned away from their sin, submitted themselves to the Lord, received their new regenerated spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God came once again to live in them. So it is entirely possible for every child of God to do everything Jesus did in the bible, if they know and understand that God is working with them when the need arises. This also is illustrated in the Book of Acts, where the sick are healed, the dead are raised, the deaf receive their hearing, the blind receive their sight, demons are cast out, and the cripples were made whole by the disciples of Christ after His death, burial and resurrection. Many of these same feats were also performed by the disciples of Jesus prior to His death [Matthew chapter 10] including Peter stepping out of a boat and walking on the water to go to Jesus, and walking back to the boat with Jesus after his faith failed him for a short time. [Matthew 14:28-33]

 

We should understand there are no wasted words or stories in the scriptures. Every word and every story has a spiritual revelation attached to it. We oftentimes speak things that makes sense to man in the natural realm, but those same words have spiritual significance that we do not always understand. For example; the comments the master of the feast made to the bridegroom, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" Here the master of the feast was relating to the bridegroom what he saw with his eyes and what he understood with his natural mind concerning wedding feast, but what he said to the bridegroom is also a description of three time periods in the history of mankind. The time periods are; the good wine at the beginning, the second is the inferior wine after everyone is drunk, and the third, the good wine was kept until last. The first time period, the good wine at the beginning was between the time God created Adam and breathed the breath of life into him filling him with power and glory, up until his fall. The time period of the inferior wine was after the fall of man and until the time Jesus, the Son of God, came into the earth. And the third time period of the good wine kept until last, began upon the ascension of Christ Jesus into heaven where He seated Himself at the right hand of His Father, and the power and glory of God was returned to man when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon man in the upper room filling him with power just as He had been in the beginning. When Jesus said to His mother, ""What does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." He was telling His mother what would take place at a later date after He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. At that time the request she was making would be fulfilled; and the new wine of the Lord (the Holy Ghost) would be poured out upon redeemed man and the children of God would take of that wine and share it with the world. (The wedding guest as portrayed in this story.) As evidenced in [Acts 2:13] shortly after the disciples of Jesus in the upper room were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the crowd heard them speaking with New Tongues in their own languages signifying a new thing had taken place in the lives of the disciples of the Lord. [Acts 2:13] "Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine." These men did not know how right they were. But it wasn't the wine of the vine they were talking about, but the out pouring of the Holy Spirit (The Best Wine that was saved for later.) in and upon God's children empowering them with God's ability to do the same things Adam and Jesus had the power to do. OTBP

[John 8:31-47] Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, You will be made free?" Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me, because my Word has no place in you. "I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. but now you seek to kill me. A man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father - God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. "Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my Word. "You are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. "But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. "Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? "He who is of God hears God's Words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

 

We have a conversation taking place between Jesus and those Jews who believed in Him. Jesus begins with, "If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." What an interesting beginning to a discourse by Jesus on what a believer is and isn't. Jesus explains to them "the believer" is a person who "abides" in His Word. The believer is not a person who occasionally reads the Word of God, but a person who "lives in", "continues in" and "dwells in" the Word of God and the Word of God "abides in", "lives in", "continues in" and "dwells in" them. [John 15:7] So Jesus is telling them the believer is a person who lives in the Word of God and the Word of God lives in them. Jesus goes on to complete this statement with, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The believer who lives in the Word of God, and the Word of God lives in them shall know the truth and the truth shall make them free of the things that presently has them bound. Jesus indicates that whatever that thing is they are bound with be it sickness, disease, poverty, demon possession, sexual promiscuity or whatever; if they live in the Word of God and let the Word of God live in them, the truth will make them or set them free of whatever has them bound. So if a person wants to be free of the thing that has them bound, they have to live in the Word of God until the Word of God takes up residence in them and they shall come to know the truth and the truth will in turn make them free. Jesus continues to explain to them that it is "sin" and the results of sin that has them bound, and if they are bound by sin, they are a slave to that sinful thing. If a person is not free, they are bound, and if they are bound that sin has made them a slave. Jesus is warning the people with these words, "And a slave does not abide in the house forever," meaning they will be cast off as an unworthy child of God whether they are a descendant of Abraham or not. Satan is behind the "sin" and he is a harsh taskmaster who will eventually destroy the person if they don't get free of his power. Jesus is telling the people they can be and will be loosed from the power of sin that has them bound, if they will abide in or live in the Word of God and be made free by the truth of God's Word. 

 

The argument the Jews were using is that they were Abraham's descendants and were not in slavery to anyone. Jesus had to be thinking, "Are they nuts?" The Roman Army was occupying Israel at this very time; and the Israelites were being overtaxed by the Romans to support the Roman government in Jerusalem and the Roman war effort in other parts of the world. What were these people thinking? They were so bound up they actually thought they were free. Christians today are very much like the Jews Jesus is addressing in this discourse. The Christian thinks because they accepted Christ as their Savior many years ago, they are not in slavery or bound by anything. That thought in itself is a lie, just as it was for the Jews Jesus was addressing. The Jews did not have a true understanding of the Word of God because they practiced tradition which was their own twisted interpretation of God's Word based upon works that benefited the Jewish leaders and was passed down to the common Jew. Christians today have settled for tradition and works and do not know the Word of God because they do not read their bibles long enough for the truth of God's Word to make them free. Jesus said, "If a person lived in the Word of God, the Word of God would live in them, and they would know the truth and the truth would in turn make them free."  

 

Jesus went on to explain to them that because they did not know the truth of God's Word, they did not believe Him, and because they did not believe Him, they were attempting to kill Him, or in other words they were trying to "stamp out" what He was teaching. Isn't this what we see taking place today when one denomination criticizes another denomination because they don't worship God exactly the same way they do? Jesus told them because they did not believe Him they were not the children of God, but children of the devil. Nobody wants to hear they are of the devil, and this didn't set well with the Jews either. But Jesus went on to say to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me." Now the Apostle John tells us in [John 1:14] "The Word (of God) became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." So Jesus is saying to the Jews, (my paraphrase) "If God were your Father, you would love the Word of God and let the Word of God make you free. If you will do this for God; you will be free indeed." He was also saying to them that the sin of religious tradition of whom Satan is the father caused them to believe a lie and would not let them see Him for who He is, was, and will always be. However if they would search the scriptures, (live in the Word of God) they would discover who He is, and the sin that was besetting them would be removed from them.

 

There is a valuable lesson in these passages of scripture that the modern day church would do well to study and understand. Jesus is telling us that to be a true believer and a child of God, we must love the Word of God and let the Word of God dwell in us and change our lives. (make us free) If we refuse to be made free, we do so because we are believing a lie of whom Satan is the father of all liars. When we resist the Word of God and do not do what we are instructed to do by it, we are resisting God and joining forces with Satan to fight against or "stamp out" the truth of God's Word. This is not a position man wants to find themselves in when we stand before Him to give an account of our activities while we were on the earth. There is no middle ground in this fight against evil. We are either for God or we are against Him. If we are for Him we will do as the Word of God directs us and let the Word of God live in us and follow its dictates and be made free of the sin that has us bound. If we are against God we will keep following our traditions and believing a lie to our own detriment. OTBP

[Matthew 8:31] So the demons begged Him, saying, "If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine." [Matthew 8:28-9:1] When He (Jesus) had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they (the demons) cried out, saying, "What have we to do with you, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged Him, saying, "If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine." And He said to them, "Go." So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region. So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.

 

There is much going on in this story that reveals a great deal about the spiritual kingdom we do not see with our natural eyes. (1) There are spiritual forces that operate in, around, and on this earth. (2) Spirits can indwell human and animal bodies. (3) Spiritual powers can manipulate natural forces. (4) There are both good and evil spirits. (5) The forces of good is superior to the force of evil. (6) Man has power to control these forces.

 

I do not want to delve too deeply into the spiritual kingdom, but point number one is explained by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus in [Ephesians 2:2] "In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the "Prince of the power of the air'", the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." Paul attributes the forces of evil at work in the earth to the "Prince of the power of the air" or Satan, the chief power behind the forces of evil. Number (2) is illustrated in the above story and documented by the Apostle Matthew and the Jewish historian Luke, a Gentile doctor who travelled with the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys to Europe and Asia and wrote the Book of Acts. (3) In the preceding story which was a part of this trip to the country of the Gergesenes the twelve disciples are with Jesus in a small boat and a very violent storm comes upon them. Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves and calmed them demonstrating the power of man to control spiritual manipulation of the natural forces of earth. (4) If all of the spirits in the story were of God, Jesus would not have commanded them to leave the man, nor would the demons have asked Jesus if He had come to torment them before the time, which means the time all evil will be cast into the Lake of Fire never to be seen or heard from again. (5) The power Jesus demonstrated clearly shows the power behind the forces of evil is vastly inferior to the power operating through the child of God. (6) The works Jesus did on earth He did as a man. He did not do these works as God, thus showing the Child of God the power available to them if they will learn to use it for the benefit of the kingdom of God and the betterment of their fellow man.

 

There is so much in this story that is not dwelt upon by Matthew, but cries out to the reader to be understood. His story is short and concise relating only the events that took place. For the reader to understand, the who, what, when, where and why principle has to be applied if we are to understand everything that went on in that short period of time that day in the grave yard on the other side of the sea. The points I have listed are just a smidgen of what all is taking place in this story. For example; there is the effects of the power Jesus demonstrated upon the two men from whom the demons were cast out. There is the fearful reaction of the people tending the pigs. There is the reaction of the people who lived in the area; and there is the effect the demons had upon the pigs in the story. I haven't mentioned why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the herd of swine, or why Jesus left the area shortly thereafter rather than staying and ministering to the needs of the people who came to ask Him to leave. But, I will say that even though a miracle had taken place in the lives of these two men, other people would have found a way to explain away the change in their life had it not been for the fact they witnessed the demons speaking to Jesus begging not to be thrown into the "Lake of Fire" before their time, and Jesus allowing the demons to enter a herd of peaceful swine feeding on the shores of the lake, who when the demons entered them ran violently down a steep slope into the sea where the whole herd drowned. These events could not be explained away and were included in this story to show that demons powers can indwell humans and animals and can act violently through them.

 

We in America attribute everything that happens to man as natural occurrences and try to treat them with chemical medicines. If these two men had been living in our society today they would have been diagnosed as being schizophrenic with a chemical imbalance of some sort. When in fact they were demon-possessed and were only reacting to the spiritual power indwelling them. Spiritual powers that indwell men and spirits of infirmities that afflict man can never be treated by natural means. Man can treat the symptoms of a disease but treating the symptoms does not remove the power behind the symptoms. We can treat the pain, but the pain is only a symptom of a much deeper problem. We can remove the results of a disease, but we cannot cut deep enough to remove the cause of the disease. We can drug the human body, but we cannot remove the cause behind the actions of a person. What man treats and tries to cure with natural medicines is only the part of us that is trying to tell us we have a spiritual problem. When a person came to Jesus with an ailment in their body, He took control over the spirit behind the problem and the person's body was healed. As in the story of the two demon possessed men above, He didn't drug their minds and bodies to control them, He took charge over the root cause of their problem and set the two men free. He knew and was teaching His disciples that what we see in the natural realm has a root cause in the spiritual realm, and if we are to deal with our problems effectively, we will have to get rid of the root cause of them if we are to see a change in the natural realm in which we live.

 

What makes one man a man of peace and another man a murderer? Neither of these people was born a man of peace or a murderer. These are traits picked up from the influences in their lives. The murderer could have submitted himself to the spirit of peace had he wanted to and have become a man of peace, and the man of peace could have submitted himself to the spirit of murder and became a murderer. Both of these spiritual powers operate in our world and influence the minds and actions of men. Man is not a zombie without a will of their own, and neither are they forced to do things against their will. The man of peace wills to be a man of peace, and the murderer wills to take the life of another human being. They were not born what they became, they became what they are in life according to the choices they made beforehand.

 

The two men in the above story did something that opened a door into their life that allowed the demons to come in and possess them. The demons could not have entered into the two men without first deceiving the men into giving them permission to enter them, and once the demons were inside them, the two men could not control them nor could they dislodge them on their own. All demons are terrorist in nature who comes to steal, kill and to destroy every thing they gain possession of. [John 10:10] Not only did the demons terrorize and try to kill the men they possessed, they terrorized the people in the nearby communities as well. Once they gain possession of something their power is released. In this story no man could bind them and all men were afraid to go near the cemetery where they stayed. Jesus came to their country to set these men free because all men have a special place in the heart of God because they are made in His image and no demon has the right to set foot on anything that belongs to Him. That is not to say demons are not on and in God's property as this story proves, but they are there illegally and man has the right to remove them as the story also proves. If these demons had a legal right to indwell the two men, Jesus would not have cast them out. The demons certainly understood they did not have the right to be where they were and that is why they begged Jesus not to cast them into the Lake of Fire before their time. The good news is that their time is growing shorter with each passing day and they know they cannot avoid the punishment that is to come; so they are doing everything within their power to destroy every one and every thing they can before that time comes. It will be a glorious day when Satan and his demons are finally put in the place reserved for them, so much so that there will be a shout of hallelujah, Glory to God, heard throughout all of creation because all things are going to be renewed, sin free, forevermore. OTBP

 

"Who wants to go to hell?" This is a question you don't hear asked very often. The reason you don't hear it asked is that not many people think they are going. The truth is "No one in their right mind REALLY wants to go to hell." And no one in their right mind REALLY wants to be locked up in prison for the rest of their life. But the sad truth is there REALLY are people who go to both places. How they get to these places is by disobeying the will of the society in which they live, and because they don't obey the will of God. The will of our society is that no one break the laws of the land and for everyone to be law abiding citizens, and the will of God is that no one break His law and go to heaven when they die. Why people break the law is known only to the law breaker and why a person broke the law is not important to the law. The law is only concerned with the fact the person broke the law. And since the law is impartial there is a punishment that must be issued because the law was broken. The law itself doesn't care if the man was rich or poor, black, white or yellow. The law's only concern is that a law was broken, and there is a penalty to be imposed upon the lawbreaker for the violation of it. The lawbreaker can cry foul to the judge when the sentence is handed out if they want to, but the judge isn't the one who sets the punishment, he is just the person who passes out the sentence in accordance to the penalty stipulated by the law. The law itself is defined by the society in which we live, and is present only to warn people what will happen to them if they disobey the will of our society. If people of that society obey the law, they have nothing to fear, but if they break the law, they can expect to be punished according to the punishment set forth in the law.  

 

People have many differing views of God and all but one of them is incorrect. Some think He is all loving and will overlook every thing we do, others think He is an angry God and ready to slap us down for the least little thing one does, and still others think he is made of wood, stone, metal, or maybe even the wind. None of these views are correct. God is Love, but He is also just and fair and treats everyone the same. He doesn't have one set of laws for one person and another set for others. He has one set of laws for all people regardless of color, nationality, or whatever they might be. God loves all people the same, therefore He is not a respecter of persons. He doesn't love the rich man more than the beggar, nor does He love the Christian more than the sinner. His love is the same for all people and He requires all people to abide by His Word which is His will and His law. But one of the major problems people have in understanding God's love is that they think He is a pushover, a sugar daddy, a nice God, and whatever we want to do will be fine with Him. That line of thinking is pure unadulterated selfishness and nothing could be further from the truth. Love desires for people to better themselves, to come up to its level, and people cannot better themselves or rise above their selfish nature if they are allowed to always get their way. God is a good God, but He isn't necessarily a nice God. Let use the example of a person who can't say no even when it to their own hurt. That person will get used over and over again by people in need, but who wouldn't lift a finger to help him if he was in their shoes. Now the good man wants to help the other person, but he is not going to shoulder all their responsibility himself and let them slide by and do nothing to help solve their problem. The good man asks, "What can I do to help you? And what steps have you taken to help yourself?" If a person has done nothing to help themselves, they will do nothing to help you solve their problem. People who continually want their way, grow worse in their selfishness, they don't improve. Therefore God's love is constant and unchanging and demands that all people conform to His Will. God's will is His Word and His Word is His Law. If we obey His Word, we are obeying His will and His law, and we will be rewarded for our obedience. If we break His Word, we are punished by it. He isn't the one who decides who does what. We are! He gave us the ability to decide what we want to do in life. And what we do with the life He gave us will be the determining factor in where we spend eternity. Did we obey God's Word and do what it tells us to do, or did we do things our way? Only we can answer that question. God already knows whether we were obedient to Him or not, but He will not judge us, we will be judged by the Word we obeyed or disobeyed.

 

Another thing people don't understand about God is that our eternal future isn't based upon good deeds, or bad deeds. Our eternal future is based upon our doing God's will. When His Word says, "Don't steal, murder, lie, cheat your neighbor etc, that is what it means." When we violate God's laws we can expect to receive a just punishment for the violation of them. It isn't that God doesn't love us that we are punished. We are punished because He love us and desires that we do things His Way. Jesus said in  [Matthew 7:21-29] "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and when the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teachings, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

 

Even though Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven." He proceeds to give us two examples of people who did and who didn't obey God's Will. The one was rewarded, the other suffered destruction. Many think what God demands doesn't apply to them because they consider themselves to be a good person. But, being a good person in our eyes has nothing to do with the Word of God. If the Word of God tells us something is wrong, it is wrong, has always been wrong, and will always be wrong. And if we think anything differently we are fools. A person will not be judged by what they think is right because what we think is right is always changing. They will be judged by what the Word of God (that never changes) tells us is right. Not one person who lives on this earth is guiltless. We are all guilty of breaking God's Law; and if we don't ask Him to pardon us for our crimes; we call violating God's law "sin", but in reality we are committing crimes, and we will be judged for that crime. Most people don't think in these terms because we think our petty sin filled crime of lying is not as great as the sin filled crime of murder some other people commit. In the kingdom of God the violation of God's Word carries an eternal death penalty. And it doesn't matter if it's for murder, or lying; they are both wrongful crimes and separate us from a God who wants all people to be law abiding citizens and go to heaven when they die.

 

Even though God wants all people to go to heaven and spend eternity with Him, Jesus said there will be people who will not go to heaven. But if you were to take a survey of all your friends and asked them the question, "How many of you think you are going to heaven when you die?" I bet most of them would tell you they are heaven bound. And if you were to ask them, "What makes them think so?" They would tell you a just and loving God wouldn't send anyone to hell. The point these people are missing is that God isn't the one who makes the decision on who goes where when we die. We make the decision according to the life we live here on earth. Anyone who does not obey the Word of God is a lawbreaker, and lawbreakers are not rewarded for their crimes; they are punished. The judge who sits behind the bench in the court room isn't the person who decides who goes to jail and who doesn't. The person who makes the decision to break the law is the one who chooses punishment over obedience. The law describes for us what is right conduct and what isn't. And every criminal knows when they break the law what to expect when they are caught. They don't expect the society in which they live to reward them for being a lawbreaker; they expect to be punished for their crimes. If, we, as lawbreakers, are guilty of disobeying God's Word which is His will and His law, why do we think He is going to reward us for being a criminal? But God has not left us without hope. Even though we might break His law, He has made a way for us to still go to heaven if we so desire. That is everyone must make a personal decision to seek His forgiveness for the crimes we commit against Him. If we repent and change our hearts towards Him and take an oath to live according to His Will, we are forgiven and our punishment pardoned. If we never seek for forgiveness and never live according to His Law; His Law will judge us and hell will be our eternal home.

 

Heaven is the reward for living life in obedience to God's Word, and Hell is the place of confinement for those who don't. We know from what we read in the newspapers and what we hear from the media that prison is not a place where good people want to go. The bible has much to say about "hell" and the awful conditions and sufferings its inhabitants endure who are there. I know people who think it is a place where they will carry on with the party they began on earth, but this kind of thinking is just as foolish as thinking they can live life as they please and be rewarded for their disobedience when they die. On earth a criminal may get a year or two for their crimes, but everyone who lives a life of disobedience to God's will and doesn't seek His forgiveness for that crime goes to hell for eternity with no chance of parole. The will of God is that all men would seek forgiveness and be pardoned for their crimes. But we know from what Jesus taught in Matthew that not all people are going to do God's will; so there has been a place set aside for them to serve their punishment. Not because God wants to send them there, but because they themselves choose to go there. If they really understood what was waiting for them on the other side of death's door, they would choose to live as law abiding citizens here, but since they don't know what to expect and don't obey, one day they will discover that hell is not a vacation spot, but a place to shun. OTBP