Revenge and Love – Matt 5: 38-48

A. Revenge – Matt 5:38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away

1. Retribution
- The Old Testament (Exo 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21) allows for physical retribution for injury. But note that the proportion is equal, an eye for an eye, etc; not more and not less. Revenge inevitably requires more than needed, that is our sinful nature
- Retribution is to seek compensation for a loss that someone has done to us or we have done to someone else
- Note that this is an act that is void of love, meekness and mercy

2. Love
- To love God is the first and greatest commandment; the second is to love our neighbor. To love unconditionally is the choice that we make; it is a commandment of the Lord that requires our obedience
- Jesus came in obedience to the Father (John 3:16) and He died while we were still enemies (Rom 5:10). He didn’t save us when we love Him, the converse if true
Rom 13:8, 10 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

3. Meekness and mercy
- Jesus explicit stated two antithetical beatitudes of the blessed
- The meek not only inherit the earth but also will be saved in Day of the Lord and His judgment
Zep 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger.
- We want God’s mercy to answer our prayer in our desperation (Psa 4:1), for strength and healing (Psa 6:2), help from our enemies (Psa 9:13), for forgiveness (Psa 25:7), etc. The blessed ones are those who first show mercy to receive more mercy. If we cease to show mercy to those who wronged us, then we will stop receiving God’s mercy

4. Don’t resist an evil person
- This is where we have to decide if we are concern with self preservation or with obedience
- This commandment (Jesus tells us plainly which doesn’t warrant explanation) reminds us that we have no rights, if indeed we belong to him
- Instead we are reminded to submit to God and resist evil and the Devil. Godly humility brings victory, while retaliation or revenge doesn’t
Jam 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
- Vengeance is God’s responsibility. Waiting for God is to totally trusting Him for the outcome; we don’t determine the next course of action nor the judgment to be meted out. Trusting Him entirely is a journey in our spiritual pilgrimage that we are privileged to learn as sons of God. Ultimately it is our salvation that God is more concerned about
Prov 20:22 Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

5. Three things we are asked to bear patiently
- ‘Turn the other cheek’: be ready for the next one. This is about forgiveness, if we can’t forgive the first time, we won’t be able forgive at all
Matt 6:14,15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matt 18:21,22 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
- ‘Let him have your cloak also’: A tunic is an undergarment or inner garment, but Jesus asked us to let go of the outer garment as well. Jesus is telling us the antithetical life is a costly one. We must learn to willingly count all things as dung for a greater Treasure. Have we found the pearl of great price (Matt 13:46)? It is costly to be Christ’s disciple.
Php 3:8 (KJV) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- ‘Go the second mile’: Unfortunately people use this to indicate one’s initiative. Rather this speaks to us about willing to go further in meekness. The blessing of the meek is inheriting the inheritance of what Christ has for us.
Rev 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Matt 19:28, 29 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

6. Give generously
The paradox of the Kingdom of Heaven is give cheerfully in order to abound. The reason why people are not generous because there is a fear that they won’t have enough, however this ‘fear’ can and will replace our dependency on our Father.
2 Cor 9:6-8 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Godly generosity is having beatitude of mercy, and God will provide in His mercy to those who show it, abundantly!
Psa 37:25, 26 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.

B. Love your enemies – Matt 5:43-47
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

1. Love your enemies
- Here again the emphasis is love, but now love is to shown to those outside the boundary of brotherhood
- We will be hard press to find anything in the Old Testament that tells us implicitly to hate our enemy; Jesus was destroying a manmade law concocted by those who don’t know the extent of carrying our crosses daily. The truth of the matter is the law teaches us to do good to our enemy and to those who hates us
Exo 23: 4,5 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
- This part of the sermon is an extension of being a peacemaker. It not peacekeeping that God wants His children to do, but turning situations that isn’t peaceful to one of peace.
Matt 5: 9 Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
- To love our enemies is the power to uproot any bitterness. Bitterness is a bondage which can only be set free through love and forgiveness
Acts 8: 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

2. Three actions we must take
- ‘Bless those who curse us’: we are not to respond in reviling (to assail with our mouth) but to bless that we in return will inherit God’s blessing
1 Pet 3: 8,9 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
- ‘Do good to those who hate us’: This is as commanded in Exo 23: 4,5. Not merely a suggestion.
- ‘Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us’: Being persecuted shouldn’t be a strange to us because we are who are in the world and not of the world, we have God’s glory which awaits us. True Christ-likeness in our life should culminate to the moment on the cross where the fullness of God’s love opened like floodgates to pray for those who don’t understand their actions (Luke 23:34)
Phil 1: 29, 30 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
1 Pet 4: 12-14 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
Rom 8: 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
- Jesus had every reason to react negatively to those who nailed Him to the cross; likewise as the Son of God died, we too have to grasp this life of taking up our crosses and following Him daily. The Father didn’t spare His son; neither will He spare us (Psa 44:22, Rom 8:36 , if indeed we are considered His sons.
- God’s mercy avails to all by causing His Son of Righteousness to shine on all and sends rain His Word and Gospel. It is not our duty to determine otherwise.

Tax collectors
- ‘Do not they also do the same’ is the message that Jesus wants us to note, are we living the antithetical life that is beyond the ordinary?
- The tax collectors are that who live in the natural, with more concern with self, earthly life that is doesn’t carry any connotation of an extraordinary life or supernatural life that is fit to live a life in the Spirit. We don’t live for ourselves but live for the Greater (Gal 2:20)
Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
- This is where the goats and sheep divide, the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Scribe and Pharisees. This is determining factor whether we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven or not!

Jesus calls us to spiritual maturity
God wants to bring us to completeness in Christ. He wants to build into us the beatitudes of His Son (conform to His image, Rom 8:29) to His Children who will be eventually glorified to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
Matt 5:48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Victory Over Lust

Matt 5:27-30 (NKJV) “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Introduction
- The second point of the Sermon on the Mount has to do with another part of ourselves that can go beyond our personal control. The first one being anger and the other is lust.
- Jesus is again stressing beyond the external but the condition of the heart. Have we wondered why our prayers remain unanswered?
Psa 66: 18 (NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
To regard is to think highly of, in this Psalm it means that if we esteem iniquity our prayers will be unanswered
- The key heart matter of adultery is basically dealing with the issues of faithfulness and uncleanness
- The root Jesus was preaching is with regard to lust. Lust is an uncontrollable desire (mostly with regard to sexual desire, but can encompass things with regard to fulfillment of the flesh in any form). The respond to failing to have control over lust is to take action to fulfill the desire
James 1: 13-16 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
- Lust is being drawn away and succumbing to our desires. It becomes a trap or being enticed
- The entrapment brings life to sin and full-grown sin leads to death
- People trapped in lust may not see the issue or even be in denial, same with any form of addiction. The Apostle warns against self-deception

Feeding the eye
- Feeding is of the eye: Joseph's mistress (Gen_39:7 – casting her eyes. Like fishing casting a bait to entrap), Samson (Judges 16:1 – saw a harlot and went – action was taken to fulfill the desire), David, 2Sam 11:2 (saw Bathsheba washing herself)
- We can feed our eyes many ways through going to wrong/unhealthy places, window shopping, magazines, internet, etc
- Unstable souls fall prey to what they see. Unstable souls are people who can’t control their emotions, mind and will but easily yielding to desires uncontrollably by taking action
2 Pet 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls…..
- Controlling our wandering eyes. It is not that Jesus don’t want us to see but our focus must be right
Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
- We need a strong spirit to control the soul. Beyond looking at the opposite sex, there can be other objects of desire like food, fashion, cars, etc.
- Lust has to do with fulfillment of self without consideration of others, especially Jesus Christ

The remedy
1. Changing our focus to Christ, right focus take us out of our short term fulfillment
- Having a single focus on Christ will give light to us and we don’t walk in darkness
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2. Cutting off
- Jesus remedy is to simply ‘cut off’ which is profitable to us in the long run with regard to our destination: heaven or hell. This is not literal because He knows that wrong desires have to be dealt with at the root. Cutting off requires that we bring all the flesh into subjection of the spirit
Gal 5: 16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

3. Changing our desire
- Desire for righteousness
Prov 11: 23 The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Matt 6: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matt 5: 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
- Know that the Kingdom of God is more than the essentials of the flesh
Rom 14: 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Changing our desire shows our trust in Him to be our fulfillment. Fulfilling our wrong desires or lusts shows on mistrust in Him to fulfill us
Psa 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Faithfulness
- Adultery is about the question of our faithfulness. God if faithful and He requires us to respond in similar faithfulness
Duet 7:9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
- He looks upon the faithful with favor, in fact He looks through out the whole earth to look for the faithful
Psa 101: 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.
2 Chron 16: 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…..

Holy and unholy, clean and unclean
- Distinguishing has to be done soberly, God is looking beyond clean. It is holiness (separated unto Him), proof of our faithfulness to Him.
Lev 10: 8-10 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean
- Clean is to be free from blemish or irregularities. There are those who say they are good, normally mean they are clean. That is why there are many good people who aren't Christians, Christians on the other hand has to be beyond good
- God is looking for beyond clean, which is holy or to be special, separated and belong to Him alone. Are are lives lived exclusively for Him and do our actions reflect that?
Exo 19: 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ …..

Purpose of our body
- Glorify God in Body and Spirit. Our God given bodies serve a Godly purpose and part of Christ Body. If we have the revelation that we belong to Christ's body, we will have a clear perspective on holy living
1 Cor 6: 12-20 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- There is fruit to show of the death of the flesh. Dead to the flesh but alive to the Spirit
Gal 5: 22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- No condemnation to those who live according to the Spirit! We need a strong spirit to overcome the unstable soul
Rom 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Our true satisfaction and eternal destiny
- Taking lust into our own hands by satisfying our own desire is not trusting God to satisfy us. We take matters into our own hands.
Psa 16: 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- God will personally show us or help us attain to abundant life. Jesus promised life in abundance and He doesn't mean after He returns, it can be realized now, but it is a life He will reveal to us by living in obedience with a knowledge that we are Holy unto the Lord
- Know our final eternal destiny
Col 3: 1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Cause and Cost of Anger

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: ………….
(Mat 5:22)

The natural reaction when rights are violated upon, whether it is for themselves or others is to retaliate. Inevitably anger will be involved because the emotional part of our soul (mind, will and emotion) will be stirred demanding corrective action to make right what we deem as necessary. For example today we have many who form causes to fight world hunger, animal cruelty, global warming, political injustices, etc. Some of these causes have recently erupted in violence stemmed from anger and people get hurt, some mortally.

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, .....
(Rom 2:29)

The ‘but’ in Jesus statement in the Sermon on the Mount seeks to beckon us to see matters from His Divine perspective. The teachers of the Law in His time were zealous forceful guardians of it, unfortunately focusing on the external more than the root of problem… the heart. We can fall into the same trap that Samuel did (1 Sam 16:7), to measure a man or a woman from the outward. So our righteousness or moral right-ness has to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees to consider what God looks at. Anything short of that will cause us to miss entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why Jesus did said that we cannot be angry without a cause? Surely anger is aroused for a cause? I believe Jesus meant that we can’t afford to be angry for the matters that He is unconcerned for. When we start evaluating the things we get angry over, how much of it concerns the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness? If it doesn’t, Jesus means that our anger is causeless having no basis to take the next retaliatory step.

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
(Eph 4:26-27)

Our anger if it doesn’t concern God’s cause can lead to the devil’s advantage. In Mark 3 is an account of Jesus being judged for righteousness sake and anger rose within Him leading to grieving for the hypocritical hardness of hearts and went on to heal the man with the withered arm. Righteous anger leads to grieving for what is sorely missed, mercy did prevail and the man was healed. Conversely the Pharisees sought to kill, clearly the devil already had his foothold on them (John 10:10).

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
(Act 8:23)

The outcome of anger is usually bitterness which then imprisons us until the ‘last penny’ is paid (Matt 5:26). In other words, it will be very costly for us when we end up bitter. To avoid being a prisoner of bitterness Paul ask us to put away bitterness and forgive even as Christ as forgiven us (Eph 4:31, 32). The paradox of the Kingdom of God is first take the action to forgive and God will forgive us in return, just as mercy is experienced only by the merciful (Matt 5:7). We can’t afford to let causeless anger control our life.

Preparedness

But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
(Mat 24:37)

We were warned by our Lord to learn the parable of the fig tree (Matt 24:32). Israel is being referenced here as the fig tree which was decreed to be a nation on 29th Nov 1947. He continues to say that generation will not pass till all that He has stated in Matt 24 are fulfilled. Psa 90:10 says the years of our days are 70 years and by virtue of strength 80. I won’t conclude what year or date of our Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13), but the time is very near. Are we prepared?

Noah’s name (rest from weariness) was given by his father as a comfort to our work and to the toils of a cursed land because of sin (Gen 5:29). His birth was like a relief for his father, Lamech, entering into rest from toils of labor. Heb 4 talks about entering into rest, ceasing from our own labor as God did (Heb 4:10). Man was created on the sixth day and his first full day was the seventh day of the Sabbath. Jesus also said that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around (Mark 2:27). We know the history about man’s disobedience that instead of the blessing of the Sabbath, curse was brought about.

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
(Gen 6:22)

Noah was preacher of righteous (2 Pet 2:5) as he was building the ark for hundred odd years. He was also obedient in what God commanded him; similarly we see the same obedience in Moses in adhering to every detail pertaining to the making of various holy things for the tabernacle, the priesthood, etc including the Ark of the Covenant. Also interesting to note that Moses life was saved in an ark.

Heb 9 tells us that in the Ark of the Covenant were 3 items; the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the 10 commandments. We know that the Ark represent the Presence of God and Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit; therefore the proof of our salvation is in the contents.

The pot of manna
Jesus quoted Deut 8:3 in the face of temptation, and moving on further to declare that He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35) and the beginning of the Gospel of John says that Jesus is the Word Himself. This shows the oneness of Christ with the Word of God so much so that He was the fulfillment of the Word of God. God will write His law in our heart, and we must be diligent to hide and engraft His Word in our heart. Our life must carry the oneness with His Word as did our Savior.

Aaron’s rod
It was a resurrected shepherd’s rod used by a priest. This tells us that there must be the rule and reign of the Great Shepherd who is at the right of God, Who makes intercession for us day and night. Christ has to have complete rule and reign. To just reign means He would be like a figure head, but to also rule means He takes control, direct and govern every area of our lives.

The 10 commandments
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(Rom 13:10)

These are the Moral laws which Jesus taught the spirit of it in Matt 5. For many the challenge is not to love God but the true test is to love our enemies, our haters, those who curse us, those who spitefully use us and even our persecutors. John exposes our hypocrisy by saying how can we love God whom we have not seen, yet not loving our brother – such hypocrisy amounts to being a liar (1 John 4:20). Dare we ask Christ who is our neighbor and brother (Luke 10:29).

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
(Heb 11:7)

We have heard the warning with regard to the parable of the fig tree, how prepared are we? After Matt 24 Jesus talks about the 10 virgins, all waiting for the bridegroom but only half were prepared. I don’t think Jesus was talking about unbelievers, but Christians who are suppose to anticipate His coming. Only half made it into His Kingdom at His coming. Similarly two are in the field and two grinding at the wheel, only half were taken. The statistics is staggering.

Are we prepared? Are we building into our lives the Word, the rule and reign of our Shepherd-Priest and fulfilling the Law by loving the un-loveable? We don’t have to be caught unprepared by being watchful over our lives by walking the light.

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
(1Th 5:1-8)

Our Completion in Christ

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
(Mat 5:17)

To fulfill is to bring to completion or full realization, for Jesus it encompassed the Law (we must think of it as a whole, not just as laws, for if we break one, it’s as good as breaking all, Jas 2:10) and all prophecy. What Jesus fulfilled was in fact the will of the Father with reference to the Old Testament. In fact the fulfillment was so complete that there was an oneness that Jesus had with the will of the Father and it was as important as the sustenance of food (John 4:34). As Jesus continued He began to unfurl the spirit of the Moral Law…. About murder, adultery, etc.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jer 31:33)

Antinomian teaching try to nullify the law, but here Jesus is further affirming it. If we see that the moral Law as coming from the mouth of Christ, and thus we know the oneness with the Law as also our oneness with Him. Hebrews also mentions twice (Heb 8:10, 10:16) about writing them in our hearts. In Deuteronomy 17 and 27, the king and elders are to write a copy of the law, but now God has gone another step further to write it in our hearts.

Why the heart? Because there is the seat of our emotions, for example Jesus spoke of anger being as good as murder. So if we are one with Christ and His Law, anger and any other emotions can be brought into subjection. Secondly, our mouth reveals the content of our hearts (Matt 12:34). Also from the intent of our hearts comes forth actions as with good trees producing good fruits and bad trees producing bad fruits (Matt 7:16). So the law and the spirit of it are for Christ disciples, the others who are not disciple will deem the law as legalistic. To us who are disciples it is a freedom from sin and fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life (Rom 6:22).

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:20)

What does it mean to exceed their righteousness? In Matt 5:19, Jesus did not just say that we must not just break (to annul or make invalid) any of His commandments but also to teach them. Jesus pronounces woes unto them that sit at Moses (representing the Law) seat (Matt 23:1), who impose high standards unto others but themselves are not doers. To exceed their righteousness means to obey and to teach, Jesus abhors hypocrisy. He wants us not just to fulfill, but to be fulfillment of the Law as He was. We become one with the Law that it becomes an unforced obedient life, not one that is legalistic. Secondly, we are taught to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6), meaning to be void of any other forms of righteousness save that which comes from God as even righteousness was accounted to Abraham by God. The danger of self righteousness is legalism which the scribes and Pharisees subscribe to.

As our Lord fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law, so let Him do a work in us so we are made complete by Him writing His Law into our hearts that He be God to us and we be His people.

Mercy Because Someone Else Died

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
(2Sa 12:13)

The mercy of God is something we must never take for granted. David knew the fullest extend of God’s mercy after his sin was exposed by Nathan the prophet. Some of us could be wondering how this man could live for at least 9 months (a child was conceived in this illegitimate relationship with Bathsheba) being so numb to sin, but we must not judge this man without first considering the beam in our own eye (Matt 7:3). We need to be truthful before God lest we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:9). The Moral Laws of not murdering, not coveting, not bearing false witness were bundled into this affair that cost a faithful servant (Uriah) his life and wife. Interestingly David still had a sense of justice because he could even say ‘As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die’ (2 Sam 12:5), dare to even stand in judgment on behalf of Jehovah. The beam must be dealt with first prior to judging others.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
(Exo 25:21-22)

Physically the covering of the Moral Law is the mercy seat, here is a beautiful picture that mercy triumphs over judgment and God says He will commune with Moses from above the mercy seat, meaning from the place of mercy, we will come to a place of revelation in our deepest relationship with God. From that place of mercy, His commandments are not burdensome to us and we will begin to delight in them (Psa 112:1).

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
(Gen 3:21)

A very important Levitical practice is the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat (Lev 16:14), so mercy and blood has to go hand in hand. When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden but God provided clothing for them as they departed. They lost the covering of God’s glory and needed a substitute covering lest they succumb to the environment; an animal had to die to provide for them. Someone else had to die in their stead (Gen 2:17) for disobedience that they will be covered both physically and spiritually.

How do we respond to God’s mercy?
It is to ‘be merciful’ to those i) who don’t deserve mercy, ii) who can’t by any means repay back our love, and iii) willingness to bear others’ burdens.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
(1John 3:17)

Being merciful is love in action, even as God’s love in sending His own Son to save us (John 3:16). The interesting thing is that we will not know God’s mercy unless we know how to first show it…. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful…….(Psa 18:25)

Psa 41: 1 Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

Have you ever wondered why there seems to be always trouble in your life and all the prayers uttered didn’t seem to matter? Perhaps it is because we have not given any thought towards the poor. Providing for the poor has always been the natural behavior in the early church. Especially in these hard financial times, are we ‘fearful’ to release our resources to those in dire needs? Jesus is very clear about the requirement of entering into Heaven in Matt 25:31-40, it wasn’t about great miraculous exploits but it is about providing for desperate needs.

In Psa 51 David wrote so wonderfully for us to that forgiveness is on the basis of God’s mercy and knew that he will not be cast away from His Presence (Psa 51:11), having the revelation that some else had to die in place of his sin. God’s Presence must be very precious to us, because it came with cost of the life of the Son of God.

The Son who Serve

…. Let my son go, that he may serve me……
(Exo 4:23)

This was the message to Pharaoh which Moses brought. No other complications, just to be set free from our sinful past and bondage to the devil to serve the Father. The danger for Christians is to think that there is a need to serve people because that is the ‘natural’ response to meeting the needs of people around us. Here we see our primary call to fulfill God’s need to serve Him as a son, which is ‘to the Lord, and not unto men ‘(Col 3:23). He saved us that we might serve Him in love and in deep gratitude for our salvation. If the intent is responding purely to human needs than we are in danger of missing the point for our salvation and because in our human weakness people may see the servant clearer than the Father, if people are in the light of our well doing they will glorify our Father in Heaven (Matt 5:16). There is a fine line between serving Father and serving men. Our service has to be light to others not mere fulfilling human needs. Not able to see is the absence of light, there is only one seeing, that seeing is toward the Father.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
(Exo 19:4-6)

The Israelites were saved from their bondage from one king to the King of kings thus living in the Kingdom of God. Our service to our King is basically two fold. Firstly is to obey and secondly in our ‘being’. As the Israelites were saved than given the laws, so we are saved by grace (Rom 3:20, 24) to able to fulfill the spirit of the law because we live not by the flesh but by the Spirit (Rom 8:4). The sequence of the Israelites salvation by grace and the giving of the law to live in the Kingdom is the same, save first then presented with the law. Jesus went further to give the spirit of the law in Matt 5 (‘ye have heard that it was said by them of old time…..’), so the Old and the New Covenants don’t contradict each other.

Secondly, our being is seated with Christ (Eph 2:6), our spiritual position. Our spiritual being is heavenly but our purpose on earth is salt and light (Matt 5:13-16). We can’t afford just to be heavenly but of no earthly use. The call of Israel to serve the Father is to be a declaration not isolation. Peter adds to ‘show forth the praises of Him’ who called us (1 Pet 2:9). Declaring the virtues and excellencies of His glory. If we don’t live in obedience to the laws of the Kingdom, how then can we be citizens thereof? What rights have we to declare God’s praises if the vessels don’t reflect the call to be a holy nation.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: …….
(Luke 15:29)

In our call to serve the Father we must continually take heed that we serve with meekness and love for the Father. We have nothing to boast about in our service (‘these many years do I serve thee’), but we in the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14), that the life we live, we live by ‘the’ faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20), the redemption that led to our calling to serve the Father. May we long to wait for our Savior’s welcome into His Heavenly Kingdom after our task on earth is done…. ‘Well done my good and faithful servant’.

As a Weaned Child

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. (Psa 131:2)

In the light of the world’s economy spiraling down, it is a good time for us to check where our heart is. Jesus spoke very plainly in Matt 6:19-21 where to lay up our treasure and He warns us about the dwelling place of our heart. Interesting that He put it this way, ‘where our treasure is, that is where our heart will be also’, indicating that our heart can leave its rightful place.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Php 1:23)

Luther said ‘What a man loves, that is his God’. The Apostle Paul knew where his heart is. He again said the same thing earlier in 2 Cor 5:8 to be present with the Lord. It is then possible to attain to this attitude that our citizenship or being is heavenly and this life that we live is a faithful race we are running looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1,2). May we have the revelation as our spiritual forefathers’ had, desiring ‘a better country, that is, an heavenly’ (Heb 11:16).

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Psa 84:10)

The Psalmist echoed the same thing as Paul. Let us not deceive ourselves, can we sincere say that to be in His Presence we have experienced fullness of joy (Psa 16:11), unless we have not been there ourselves but only read or heard about such a thing. This is a test if we have been truly been weaned from carnality and living the Kingdom of God. David declared that he is as a weaned child. David goes to say that a weaned child is one that is knows how to behave and is quieted, two characteristics of being weaned.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (Rom 6:15)

We will know that we have been weaned of the world and carnality if we know how to behave because our minds are no longer controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:4) and this Spirit led life is evident in the fruit unto holiness (Rom 6:22). Are we still struggling with moral misbehaviors or at least started on the journey of yielding ourselves to God that He might work in us according to His good pleasure (Php 2:12)? Remember it is God's work to save us and translate us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, ours is just having faith that He will do so.

The second thing about the weaned child is there is a quieting of the spirit for ‘to be spiritually minded is life and peace’. In Matt 24 Jesus warns us that economic downturn is the least of our concerns. Worrying won't add a single hour to our life. There will be pestilences, political upheaval and natural disasters unheard of. Worst of all is deception, because Rev 20:10 warns us that the deceived will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Therefore consider the latter of greater importance that losing things.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matt 24:32-34)

In May 14, 1948 Israel became a nation. We have been reminded recently at our small community of believers that we are the generation that have witnessed of the budding of the fig tree (the Israeli nation) and we are the generation that will live through the fulfillment of all Jesus said in Matt 24. May we not be ignorant of the second coming of the Lord and may we be found with established hearts that are blameless before God (1 Thess 3:13).

Let us then be encouraged not to be lofty in our earthly pursuits, neither aiming for anything high or great, but allowing God to wean us of carnality. As it is the mother who weans the child, so God will wean us in order that we will be prepared for the Day of Jesus Christ, therefore yield ourselves totally to Him for His working in our lives.

The gulf of discipleship

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:1-3)

Jesus responded differently to multitudes at various occasions, sometimes in compassion (Matt 9:36), in healing the sick (Luke 5:15, Matt 19:2), taught in parables, fed them but there had been times when He sent them away that He might be in prayerful fellowship with the Father. In this incident in Matt 5-7 He saw the multitudes and went up a mountain and those who were willing would have to follow Him. Up the mountain reminds us of the Psalms of Ascents or Degrees (Chap 120-134) when the people would go up to Jerusalem (literally, for it was a city built on a hill) with gladness (Psa 122:1) to the House of the Lord both to bless and receive blessings from Him.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
(Isa 2:3)

From the mount (place of authority) is where God will teach us His ways, our respond in obedience is to be careful to observe to do all that is taught (Josh 1:8) by walking in them. So similarly Jesus went up to the mount and delivered this powerful message of the normal and glorious Kingdom life. It has been said by some quarters that teaching of Matt 5-7 are too lofty to walk in. Isa 49:2 tells us that Jesus mouth is like a sharp sword; dividing the disciples from the multitudes. There will always be a gulf between the multitudes and the disciples.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
(Act 1:15)

Of the thousands that tasted miracles of food and healing, and the five hundred that saw Him after the resurrection (1 Cor 15:6) only 120 waited in obedience for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Indeed many are called but few are chosen (Matt 20:16, 22:14). Discipleship and not blessings determine the gulf.

Jesus started by teaching ‘Happy are the poor in spirit’ and with each beatitude the gulf of discipleship widens. The eighth beatitude is probably the biggest challenge to following Jesus in taking up our crosses daily (Luke 9:23)…. ‘Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Our natural tendency is to defend our rights; in discipleship to Christ our rights have been surrendered.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
(Rom 8:17)

Even our righteousness have to be surrendered, ‘happy are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness'. In order to experience the blessedness of persecution for righteousness sake, it has to be Christ’s righteousness we are suffering for, for it if were for our own righteousness than there is no value in the suffering.

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
(Tit 2:12-13)

The teachings of Christ that leads to this gulf of discipleship will bear fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life (Rom 6:22). Are we disciples or do we belong to the multitude that don’t make it in His glorious appearing? Jesus than goes on to say that we are salt and light; Christ disciples are not just heaven bound, but also of earthly use for we are His earthly expression to declare the praises of Him who called us our of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9).

Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
(Psa 141:2)

We have to be reminded that prayer is more than a duty, it bespeaks of our relationship with God as we pray ‘Our Father …..’ (Matt 6:9). David knew how to cry out to God (Psa 141:1), whereas many will cry out to men for whatever reason. Learning to cry out to God in relationship is so important, Esau cried out for lost blessing (Gen 27:38) but David cried out to God to restore intimacy with the Almighty (Psa 51)… ‘cast me not away from Thy Presence…’. David’s crying to God was so deep that it was an offering up of his soul and affections to God. What or who are we offering ourselves up to these days?

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
(Mat 27:50)

Jesus cried out to the Father and gave up His Spirit on the cross, no coincidence that it was about the time of the evening sacrifice. Crying out to God involves something dying inside that God’s divine plan takes over because these kind of prayer goes against everything that is in us and to culminate in the Father’s higher purpose (Mat 26:42). Jesus went through the cross despite human pity (Luke 23:27, 28) and pain, for God’s purpose fulfilled in us does not concern our personal comfort nor well being. God’s final interest is that we conform to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28, 29) and consider that this is that ‘all things work together for good’ to those who love God.

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
(Psa 141:5)

Our pain is God’s good for us, which is the predestination plan of God for us to bring us to glory (Rom 8:30). Welcome righteousness to smite us, it shall not break our heads but it may break our hearts. Chastisement of God is the proof of our son-ship (Heb 12:6) which brings us to spiritual maturity where we are persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:37, 38).

Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
(Prov 16:3)

I believe the writer of the Proverbs (most likely Solomon) is talking of more than our occupation, may it be in our jobs, as homemakers, as a minister, missionary, etc. We tend to segregate ‘full-time’ and ‘secular’ lives. David Pawson said that there is no such thing; as long as we are Christians (followers of Christ) we are full-time Christians in whatever occupation we are in. We are to be consistent in our witness of being light of world (Matt 5:16). If we separate than we adopt the Greek (humanistic) philosophy of dividing the spiritual from the physical which leads to double lives. Our children can see through our hypocrisy if we live this way, having one behavior in church and another at home and worst behavior at work or with our friends. The obvious thing is in our speech splattered with ‘hallelujahs’ and another time with curses (Jam 3:10). If we live in this manner then we are the salt that has lost its savor (Matt 5:13). Salt remains as salt wherever it is. When Jesus talked about salt in His days, its use is for more than preservation but in agriculture where salt in the form of potash was used as fertilizer. Therefore Jesus was talking more than preservation but also of growth and fruitfulness. Therefore ‘works’ is more than occupation but encompasses our entire life which can be either hot, cold or lukewarm (Rev 3:15).

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
(Jas 1:8)

Double mindedness literally means double souled, having one soul towards God and the other towards something else. James is obviously referring to Christians because the unbeliever would not have one’s soul given to God. Here is where we can live schizophrenic lives, neither hot nor cold which results in God’s rejection (Rev 3:16). I dare not imagine the sorrow of God’s rejection yet this is what Jesus (not the apostles) said in Matt 25 because the truth is that God’s rejection is an everlasting one.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
(Jas 4:8)

The remedy to living double soul lives is given to us in the form of repentance. Firstly humbly coming before God acknowledging our wretchedness as sinners (remember James is talking to Christians!) and cleanse our hands (our works) and purify our hearts (where it all begins). It is no wonder that our thoughts are unstable, filled with doubts, fears, self, sensitive, etc because there is no establishment in God. We need a renewed mind where our entire life is lived in accordance to God’s satisfaction (Rom 12:1, 2).

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
(Isa 26:3)

When our thought life is founded on God that is when we are at peace though there can be a raging storm (economically, turmoil, etc) around us (Psa 91:7), this is when our thoughts are established (firmly grounded and unshakable).

Denying self vs. Self denial

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
(Luke 9:23)

Bill Gothard mentioned that there is a difference between the denying self and self denial. This statement really got me thinking about Jesus call to believers. Jesus did promise two things for a follower of the Way (as early believers are called) eternal life and likewise also the cross. The question of what the cross is comes to mind and we may have different ideas of what the cross entails.

Jesus laid this condition for coming after Him with a question of ‘who others say that He was’ (Luke 9:18) and varied answers were given. When the question was directed to the disciples, as usual, Peter quickly answered….. ‘The Christ (anointed) of God’. Anointed meaning chosen by or as if by divine intervention and Jesus goes on to explain that He was appointed divinely to suffer, die and resurrect on the third day. We know that the suffering and the death Jesus obediently went through for our propitiation was the cross. The cross means death, for Jesus it was not giving of Himself for the world, but rather giving of Himself to the Father (Luke 22:42). We cannot degrade the cross to the humanistic level of thinking that the cross Jesus died was merely for us. Jesus taught that the opening to our prayers is with regard to His Kingdom and His will (Matt 6:10). Jesus cross was primarily for the Father, His Kingdom and His Will, we shouldn’t think of anything else lesser than these.

Paul says that we are new creation with the old passed (past tense) away (2 Cor 5:17). Passing away requires death. Holding things in balance, we are to be living sacrifices to God thus the cross for us is not one of physical death. Not being physical means it is not external.

The Pharisees’ focus was primarily on the external that they wanted people to recognize them for humanly visual piety, for example their fasting and prayer. They exemplify self denial. Jesus said that fasting and prayer in secret will receive heavenly rewards, these things are to be done that the Father alone would see. Today we too can be trapped into self denial and put on a front of ‘Christianity’. Yes we are to be salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt 5), but note that these two have the properties within themselves that classify them as salt and light. For example salt that loses its flavor is good for nothing, therefore salt is not salt if its properties are lost. Salt is not noticed unless there is lack of or too much of it. Those who practice self denial bring a lot of focus and attention on themselves. The danger is that pride can seep in and we know what God thinks of the proud. The converse is those who deny self bring praise and glory to the Father Whom we give ourselves to.

To come after Jesus means that He will give us the cross daily, the cross is not from our pastor, family, employer nor even circumstances. However God may use people and circumstances as the cross, but keep in mind that it is Jesus Who will give it. The purpose of the cross is death to an inner self that God’s Kingdom might be manifested and His will be completed in our lives (Phil 1:6). The evidence of God’s Kingdom for His disciples (Matt 5:1) is listed in Matt 5:3-12. It is not about the external but about the being, thus these are called the Be-Attitudes. How much of the cross we carry daily will show in our meekness, mourning for sin (Rom 8:23), purity in heart, merciful, turning the other cheek, etc. It is not the means (the cross) we should be concerned about; it should be His Kingdom and Will. I decrease that all things that concern Him will increase.

Ask what I shall do for thee

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. (2Ki 2:9)

There are instances of asking in the Bible, for example God asking Solomon what He shall give him (I Kings 3:5). Jesus taught about asking in Luke 11 relating to the Father’s willingness to give His Holy Spirit to those who desire earnestly and ask. Jesus mentioned that there were three actions on our behalf, first being asking, second seeking and thirdly knocking. Three in the number is representation of divine completeness as with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as God being ‘Holy, Holy, and Holy’. There is a divine completeness to receiving from God but it begins with asking.

Elijah knew he was to be translated to Heaven by whirlwind and Elisha was asked to tarry three times. Each of the three times Elisha’s consistent reply was ‘As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee’. Do we consistent want to receive from God as Elisha did or we ask amiss (James 4:3) to consume for ourselves. Therefore we have to ask for the right thing so that it pleases the Father’s heart to give. Likewise earthly fathers don’t just give anything that a child asks for. Some things may not be necessarily bad, for example a child could ask for a knife. The knife is a useful instrument but if the child is not ready to handle it the knife is forbidden.

Jesus taught in the Matt 6:8 that we don’t waste our prayers like the heathens making repetitive prayers for things beyond the necessary. We have to learn to trust the Father Who will lovingly provide for all our needs. In Matt 7:11 Jesus said that the Father will give us good things. If we cross reference to Luke 11:13, He was referring to the good gifts or things as being the Holy Spirit Himself. He was referring to the better things in life worth asking, seeking and knocking on doors for is the presence of the person of the Holy Spirit permeating our lives.

Elijah knew that the Spirit of God that rested on Elijah was what he wanted. Three times asked to tarry, but three times consistently replying with the same desire. The sad thing about Gehazi was he followed after Naaman (showing his persistency) to ask for material gifts. This man could have received double of Elisha’s anointing which numerically will mean four times of Elijah’s! The Bible recorded double the miracles in Elisha’s ministry and Gehazi could have quadrupled. What a waste we might say, but do we have the desire and persistency of Elisha which will not ask amiss to spent it on our own desires? Check our prayers, what proportion of it deals with asking for His desire or His Holy Spirit or for His Kingdom coming down on our nation, community and our families. It’s either God’s Kingdom we want or we want our’s to supersede.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
(John 14:26)

As a disciple of Christ, the Holy Spirit is the promise Who will bring revelation of everything Jesus taught. We may know about what Jesus taught, but the true revelation of the Word (John 1:1) Himself is through the Holy Spirit. Paul’s apostolic prayers have always been that we have the revelation of Christ. It was by the Spirit the apostle John had the Revelation of Jesus Christ. So ultimately, the Comforter will reveal Christ to us. Paul could say truths like he was determined not to know anything among the believers except Christ and Him crucified and he was crucified with Christ. These are revelations of Jesus’ promises for He promised two things…… the cross (Luke 9:23) and eternal life. We like the latter but don’t be enemies of the cross (Phil 3:8).

I believe the revelation of the cross is firstly the revelation of our redemption. The whole creation groans and labors pang for it’s redemption through the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:22, 23) likewise we also groan for the redemption of our body at the Appearing of Christ second coming. The sons of God need to have the revelation of our redemption so that we know the cost of God sending His own Son and the cost of the Son His life lest we trample of the Son’s precious blood. When we have the revelation of the redemptive power of the blood of Jesus we will think twice about sinning and keeping our live pure and holy to live before God. Today we can despise the redemptive work of Christ by the way we live, talk, spend our money, time and priorities. We who are still living in this ‘tent’ need to continually repent that we might grow from glory to glory. Rejecting repentance also reject the redemptive work of Christ because we think we are alright and not willing to work out our salvation in trembling and fear.

The second revelation of the cross through His Spirit is the cross we need to bear daily in following Jesus (Luke 9:23). This is called the cost of discipleship, the dying to self to take on the life of Christ. Oh, that we have the same revelation that Paul had that’s why he could peek into heaven (Acts 26:19) and know his destiny. Do we know our destiny or does it end at the grave or our destiny is an eternal one in Christ? What are we asking for these days?

Oswald Chamber's thoughts on forgiveness and the Cross

The Forgiveness of God
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/11/20/devotion.aspx?year=2008


In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm. Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

Bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus

From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
(Gal 6:17)

Jesus resurrected bodily, not just in the spirit for after He rose from the dead he ate before His disciple (Luke 24:32). He also showed them His hands and side and even asked Thomas to feel the wounds. Why didn’t Jesus resurrection come with healing and why the scars of the painful crucifixion still remain? Paul himself told the Galatians that he bears the marks of the cross. If the disciple is not above the Master (Matt 10:24), like Paul we should also bear the same cross and eventually the same marks of the Lord Jesus.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
(Php 3:18)

The reality is many are not enemies of Christ for many want the blessings (eternal life, healthy, wealthy, protection and whatever we want God to offer), but when confronted with the cross many will veer or run. The foot of the cross is where we decide who is in control, whose will is it that rules. Once we decide it is God’s will, we will indeed drink the cup that Jesus drank (Matt 20:22, 26:42) and from the foot of the cross to the hanging there. We decide and God will bring people or circumstances to pin us to our cross. We don’t hang ourselves there. Subsequently the marks of Jesus become our marks if His will is done.

As we know the cross is the place of death, to follow Jesus and to inherit His Kingdom takes death, though not physical but yet much deeper because we have to live through it. Abraham had to let his dreams die when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. That is probably why physical death is easier to face. This old patriarch lived to see the day Isaac was born as it were the confirmation of God’s promise that through him comes a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 18:18). In Gen 22, the quick and unquestionable obedience of this righteous man took his only son whom he loved up to offer as a burnt offering. He only knew it was somewhere in the land of Moriah, location not told to him yet. He must have done some deep wrestling within himself but didn’t question Jehovah. Faith is like that, it leaves us in an un-nerving situation when we have lost total control. Wrestling with the Truth (John 14:6) isn’t easy. On the mount, Abraham’s dreams died….. however the promise of God came through……”Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. “ (Gen 15:1). This revelation given to him long before Isaac was born became a reality on that mount, he inherited the Kingdom. It wasn’t Isaac but God.

Jesus said ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matt 5:3). Abraham came to appoint of absolute poverty before God when his dreams died. The rich young man (Matt 19 and Mark 10) could have sold everything he had and gave to the poor but the covetousness could not have been dealt with. In Matt 5 Jesus started giving a discourse about the spirit of the law, beyond the external. Our righteousness that will have to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees has to do with the dealing beyond the external, for who can outdo these men who followed the Law to the letter. It has to do with dying deep inside, which Abraham experienced, he could have toyed with the idea of him dying in the stead of his son. You see, inner dying is harder because it will leave a scar of remembrance for the rest of our lives. Jacob (supplanter) became Israel (he will rule as God, Prince of God) but walked to the grave with a limp.

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
(Joh 20:27)

You see, the dying may be internal but the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ is external. We are called to mourn when everyone else is rejoicing (heart broken for the sin of the world and for the people who call themselves ‘church’, marked by God as those who mourn for the sin Eze 9:4). We are called to be meek, losing our rights but being bondservants of Jesus Christ. People everywhere will fight for their rights, from the rich to the pauper. But we are to confessed that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb 11:13). We are called to pure in heart, an ‘enclosed garden’, an exclusive bride of Christ. (SoS 4:12). We are called to turn the other cheek. We are called to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which spitefully use us, and persecute us.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
(Php 3:8)

The cross we carry to follow Jesus takes us to the place when things we have been holding on for dear life becomes dung, never secondary nor even holding third place…..but becomes dung. What do we want to win today? Is it our ambition, dreams, ideals, ideas, anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ, good and noble they maybe…… or we want to bear the marks of discipleship to win Christ. Confront the Truth, let the wrestling begin, don’t veer or run away but yield at the end. The paradox of the Kingdom of God is loosing in order to gain (Mark 8:36).

Ten Indictments (A Historical 21st Century Message) by Paul Washer

Description: Preached Wednesday, October 22nd at the Revival Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Paul Washer delivers a urgent appeal to the Christians and Churches in North America that many have been believing a false gospel and have false assurance of their salvation. He lists 10 indictments against the modern Church system in America. This is a historical urgent message, tell others and spread the message. We need a reformation and revival of a biblical standard!

http://downloads6.pardoned.net/18/SID18002.mp3

Grace that trains us

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
(Tit 2:11-14)

As followers of Christ, we will know that we have been saved not by works but by grace. Grace makes salvation available to all mankind, regardless of the former condition we came from, but the truth is whether we are willing to admit it or not, we have been saved from wretchedness. If we don’t see our salvation from wretchedness than grace doesn’t bear its significance. Because we have been called out of darkness into marvelous light, thus grace revealed to us our state of darkness and our response to grace is to want to get out of it. We are saved not in sin, but grace beings salvation to us out of sin.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
(Col 1:13)

The work of translating us from darkness and the power behind the darkness is the work of God, thus we are saved by God’s grace. Grace therefore is powerful, not just to save us but changes our standing.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(Rom 5:1-2)

Our standing or foundation changed to one that has peace and live in agreement with the Holy God. We can see the doorway into the foundation of grace is faith. Without faith it will not please God to save us by His grace. Our new standing through Christ is our cause for rejoicing, Jesus said that our rejoicing is on the basis that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). What are we rejoicing over these days? Are they eternal and heavenly in nature or earthly and temporal?

Beyond having the power to save us from darkness and the power thereof, grace has the authority to teach or to train us to godliness and our ‘taste’ for worldly lust change into the blessedness of hungering and thirsting for righteousness (Matt 5:6).

What happens if we reject the training to godliness?
We are saved from one kingdom to another, either we are in the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. Jesus said that there is another father, the devil (John 8:44)..... and He taught us to pray to our Father in Heaven. Earthly parents are to train children in the way they should go (Prov 22:6), more so our Heavenly Father would want to train us, His children, in the way of righteousness. If we are indeed His children, than the authority of His grace must be seen at work in our lives to train us into God (Christ)-likeness. To deny the authority of grace is to deny the Fatherhood of God.

If we subject ourselves to the grace of God that trains us unto godliness, we then have the blessed hope to meet Christ in the air when He returns (1 Thess 4:17) and receive the redemption of our body (Rom 8:23). Conversely, if we reject the training unto godliness, we will follow the way that seems right to us and its end are the ways of death (Prov 14:12).

To love because or to love despite

Jesus asked Peter “lovest thou me?” in John 21 has been much preached over pulpits as the restoration of Peter after his 3 times denial of Jesus. From the same passage comes also the teaching of ‘agape’ and ‘phileo’, distinguishing the deeper meaning of levels of love lost in the English language.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deu 6:4-5)

Love is a topic that can’t be ignored because love is the essence of the commandments that God gave through Moses. If the essence of God’s commandments is about love why are laws and commandments looked upon with such negativity? I have even heard of a preacher saying that the 10 commandments ought not to be considered in the church today because it deals with before Christ resurrection. However Jesus said in Matt 22:37 that to love God first and to love our neighbor, these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Therefore to love God first and to love others as we love ourselves fulfills the law and the prophets. There is a completion in obedience by just fulfilling these two. Now how do we rationalize this?

Jesus said that if we claim to love Him, keep His commandments (John 14:15, 14:21, 15:10, 1 John 5:2, 5:3, 2 John 1:6). As parents as know that we expect obedience from our children whom we love and their obedience to us is the evidence of their love toward us. Obedience is then not tedious to us because it is in love. Christ expects us to obey in love; therefore obedience and love are one.

If a man say, I love (agape) God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth (agape) not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love (agape) God whom he hath not seen? (1Jn 4:20)

Jesus said that we agape our neighbor as ourselves, John also goes on to teach us the second commandment to agape others carries the same equally importance as the first. It is easy to phileo other for it say I ‘love because’….. I am loved in return, I benefit something out if it… this kind of love is like in a ‘win-win’ situation (sounds covetous and selfish doesn’t it?). Jesus said in Matt 5:46, there is not reward if we love and expect love in return. To agape is to love my enemies, to love without expecting anything in return… it is a love that ‘loves despite’.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (Jas 1:27)

Why is agape love important? James 2 teaches that faith without works is dead and if we link that truth together with the goats and the sheep in Matt 25 we can conclude that at the end our reward of eternal life is founded in our love toward others; give drink to the thirsty, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, visit the sick and go to those imprisoned. These ones that we love won’t have anything tangible to return as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (loving with a cost). Can we love others this way, even if they have cursed us, spitefully used us and persecuted us? This is the love the Son of God demonstrated by dying on the cross for the world… He loved us despite that we were enemies and without strength (Rom 5:6). Are we willing (not that we are unable) to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Master to ’love despite’?

When pride compliment covetousness

For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. (Psa 10:3-4)

This verse is clear in describing the proud as being wicked. To be wicked also means being evil or having morals that are bad in principle or practice. Truly wickedness is conceived inside and out of that rottenness comes forth boasting and covetousness, eventually to the point of denying God. To deny God is to say that God doesn’t exist and self has been proclaimed as god. Psalms 14:1 describes the god-less fool as corrupt and does nothing good. Mathematically this makes sense because evil inside equals to evil practices. If self have taken the place of God, then the direction of worship or worth-ship is on self and not to the Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth. High estimation of self becomes pride. God will resist such a person (James 4:6), conversely gives grace to the humble.

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. (Luke 12:18-19)

Jesus warns us about covetousness and it appears that the covetous thinks highly of self for it’s all about ‘my’. Humble people put others into their consideration. Building up self is the main concern and God is out of the picture totally. The same situation as in Psalms 14:1 when God declares such one as fool. What a terrible judgment, losing not just dreams on earth but eternally loosing everything.

We can be quick to put a wealthy person into this mold. Consider that a 'rich' person can be abounding in natural resources or gifting or even experiences (one that claim to have eaten more salt than others have eaten rice). We have heard of the wealthy despising the poor (James 2:6) similarly people who are consider themselves more ‘superior’ than others in talent and gifts who don’t have things in Godly perspective tend to despise others too.

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: (Jas 2:8)

God looks for obedience, Samuel told Saul that all the sacrifices is not what God is looking for (1 Sam 15:22, 23), for disobedience is viewed as rebellion and it is as the sin of witchcraft. The penalty for witchcraft is death. Paul reminds that that there is such a thing as obedience unto righteousness (Rom 6:16 – here is one for the antinomians from Paul, the preacher of grace). Therefore the righteous subjects of the Kingdom of God have a very important law to obey. As far back as Lev 19:18, the Lord said that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves. The command ends with ‘I am the LORD’, meaning we better take heed to this commandment because He is LORD. Love is the more excellent way (1 Cor 12:31), Paul said that even if we do anything or sacrifice everything, without love we are nothing. Obeying the royal law is then what we should do.

The opposite of pride is meekness and the blessing for meekness is inheriting the earth (not the world). Probably the most powerful prophet who would have a lot to boast about including his close communion with God (even speaking face to face, Duet 34:10)) was the meekest man on the earth (Num 12:3). Living in that stature of meekness, there isn’t any reason for covetousness in a righteous child of God.

What seest thou?, Jer 1:11

The true test of a prophet is whether they see what God is showing them. Rightly so because prophets are also called seers as recorded for us in 1 Sam 9 on Saul’s servant suggesting to look for the prophet Samuel on some lost asses. Seeing correctly is important to God as we have to view things, situations, circumstances from His perspective and will. Even in prayer, I was told that we should pray with our spiritual eyes open.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
(Rev 1:17)

Not just seeing from God’s perspective but also seeing Him correctly for Who He truly is. Not some figment of our imagination of a god we want to see. The apostle whom Jesus loved, the same guy who leaned on His bosom during the last supper, saw the exalted Christ and fell as though dead.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
(Exo 20:4)

Many have this picture of gentle Jesus, sweet and mild. I wonder where this imagery came from. Once we have our own perception of Jesus it would be considered have graven an image of Christ in our minds. If so then it is called idolatry, idols don’t have to be physical. Idols are worshiped and exalted by those who form them according to their imagination.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
(2Co 10:5)

Paul warns us about imaginations that conflicts with the true knowledge of God. These imaginations are human concepts of a god according to their own reasoning and wisdom. The exaltation of such knowledge is idolatry because it is a poor portrayal of the Almighty. God is Holy, so in our relationship with Him there has to be boundary which cannot be frivolously overstepped.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
(Mat 5:8)

Jesus stated very clearly who can see God for Who He truly is. A simple test of the purity of our hearts is found in our speech.

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
(Mat 12:34)

How pure our speech is, it is how pure our heart is. James warns us that our tongue is small yet difficult to control; it defiles the whole body and has fire set on fire of hell. We have to check our speech if it’s nature is hell like. I have heard a preacher say that we lie in our worship because we can bless and curse with the same tongue. Our worship can be overwhelmed with emotion but God’s Presence isn’t there because it takes clean hands and a pure heart to enter His Holy place.