Month: January 2012

Adamancy (Part 2)

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORDLeave a comment

The first post on “adamancy” was referring to Zechariah 7:12.

“Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

The nature of being adamant is God-given, but in Adam it was turned against Him.  He desires that we be strong-willed in the right things.  In the antithesis, which began in the Garden of Eden with Adam, we see the continual nature of man against God.

If we do not learn to “stand in the truth of God’s grace” (1 Peter 5:12) we will be deceived and continue to live here on this earth under the wrath of God, walking in the paths of destruction.

 The only other reference is in Ezekiel 3:9.

“As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.”

 It has been said that if we don’t stand for something we will fall for anything; but it depends on what we “stand” for.

With the new heart (Ezekiel 11:18-20 Part 1) our minds and wills are with God, not against Him.  He gives us the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2: 16) so that we can “stand” for Christ, with Christ, “against the wiles of the devil.”  (Ephesians 6:11)  We cannot do it by ourselves.

 With the new heart we are called to, and given the wisdom and strength, to stand for the only thing that matters in this world and the next—Christ, and the kingdom of God, our Father.  If we stand with, and in Christ, we are, as God’s people, with all of God’s people called to “adamancy” in the following references.  Notice the link between Christ and the mind.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.”
1 Corinthians 1:10

 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ:
…that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”
Philippians 1:27

“That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 15:6

 Dear Father, as with Ezekiel, and with all your people, set our “foreheads” “harder than a flint,” with “the mind of Christ,” that we may stand together in this world for your kingdom and your righteousness against the things of this world; to “live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age,” by the power of your grace.—for your glory and our joy. In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Adamancy

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORDLeave a comment

Adamancy— being fixed in one’s thoughts or opinions; obstinacy; stubbornness.

This word adamancy came to mind this week, after talking with a friend.  She was expressing her concerns about someone else’s problems—what they should or should not be doing.  I thought of how she could be handling her own opinions, but didn’t say much because it seemed she was so set in her own thoughts that nothing I said to her would matter.

Then I began to wonder how many times I have been in this same way of thinking—  when my opinions were so set that what anyone else said wouldn’t register with me.

A Stone
One dictionary definition of adamant is that of “a legendary stone.”  The word is used twice in the Old Testament, the word referring to the hardness of a stone, with further reference to the character of a diamond.

After looking up the definition of adamant in Webster’s and online I kept coming back to the thought: Adamancy seems to be the character of Adam, the first man; and the nature of all of his descendants.

With all that God had given Adam and his wife, Eve, and the command against what they shouldn’t have, they were rebellious, stubborn, and unwilling to listen and obey. This is the nature of all men until the Lord gives each of us a new heart.

A New Heart

“I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
 (Ezekiel 11:18-20)

This promise was fulfilled when Jesus Christ came to earth, Immanuel—God with us.  He prepared the way for the Spirit of God to come into our lives and to give us a new heart.  The new spirit is His own Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are His children. We cry, “Abba Father” to work in this new heart, desiring that we would be conformed to the image of His dear Son.  (Romans 8:15-16, 28-29)

Dear Father, thank you for your Spirit of truth that brings conviction of my own sins, and by your goodness I ask you to bring me to repentance as often as this is needful.  As you are sanctifying me show me what you and others see that needs to be changed.  Transform me by the renewing of my mind to think your thoughts and to follow hard after Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
(Join us for devotions at agoldentreasury.com)

The Saints of God are Never Lucky

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, MUSIC1 Comment

 The saints—children of God— are never lucky. We are blessed, whether in good times or adversity. And since we depend on God and not “luck” we are never “unlucky,” so Friday the 13th, which is supposed to be an “unlucky” day for some, has no meaning for us.

You will not find the word “luck” in the Bible; but you will find many references to “blessings” throughout God’s Word; and they always bear witness of God who promises them, and gives them.

 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who, in Christ,
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.”
Ephesians 1:3

 Superstition
We continue to hear Christians using the word “luck,” without realizing what they are saying.  It is a common expression in our culture, one that has held over through many generations of superstition.  I grew up in the 40’s & 50’s hearing the old wives’ tales, and the things that were supposed to be “bad luck”—“don’t let a black cat cross your path,” “don’t walk under a ladder,” etc.  And while they do not mean anything to us today, they were very real to people who believed in these sayings.

In the Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary printed in 1987 we found the meaning of “luck” —“The fortuitous happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune.  The word “fortuitous” means “accidental or unplanned.” The online dictionary defines “luck” as “good fortune, chance, event determined by chance.”

 Those who accept life that is controlled by chance are negating the sovereignty and power of God.  According to His Word these have been, before the foundation of the world, through its creation and the maintenance thereof, its only means of survival and its completion.  What hope do we have if the only thing we can depend on is chance?  If “luck” is all we have wherein is our faith?  This is the religion of those who will not accept “the whole counsel of God”—we are but as a clock wound by the creator and left to run on its own.  What happens when the clock runs down?  What use is a clock if that is all we have?   What use is God if all He gives us is a clock?

 No!  God, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, is an “ever present help in trouble.”  He is “the strength of my life.”  (Psalm 27)  Whatever He has “predestined is according to the counsel of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11) with a definite purpose and plan in mind for each of His children—that we should be to the praise of His glory.”

 The Almighty Has Afflicted Me
Though I have not lost a husband and two sons, I relate well to Naomi, in the book of Ruth.  Was she bitter, or understanding the hand of God ruling in her life when she said, “I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?”  Ruth 1:21
And from the Psalmist we read “And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.” Psalm 77:10

 There is a great purpose in the adversity we experience in this world.  Knowing this gives us hope and faith in what lies beyond this world and our circumstances.

 John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”     Count It All Joy

1 Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Acts 14:22 “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

1 Peter 3:14-15 “But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Father, I thank you that you leave nothing to chance for us as your children, but that you know your plans for us, and that you will bring all things to completion for us in Christ, our Lord and Savior.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.
(Join us for devotions at agoldentreasury.com)

I Love the Lord’s Day by Robert M. McCheyne

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, QUOTES, THE LORD'S DAY (SABBATH)1 Comment

“The Sabbath was made for man”

DEAR FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN,-As a servant of God in this dark and cloudy day, I feel constrained to lift up my voice in behalf of the entire sanctification of the Lord’s day. The daring attack that is now made by some of the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway on the law of God and the peace of our Scottish Sabbath – the blasphemous motion which they mean to propose to the shareholders in February next – and the wicked pamphlets which are now being circulated in thousands, full of all manner of lies and impieties- call loudly for the calm, deliberate testimony of all faithful ministers and private Christians in behalf of God’s holy day. In the name of all God’s people in this town, and in this land, I commend to your dispassionate consideration the following

REASONS WHY WE LOVE THE LORD’S DAY.

I. Because it is the Lord’s day. -“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice, and be glad in it” (Ps. cxviii. 24). “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. i. 10). It is His, by example. It is the day on which He rested from His amazing work of redemption. Just as God rested on the seventh day from all His works, wherefore God blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it; so the Lord Jesus rested this day from all His agony, and pain, and humiliation. “There remaineth therefore the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God” (Heb. iv. 9). The Lord’s day is His property, just as the Lord’s Supper is the supper belonging to Christ. It is His table. He is the bread. He is the wine. He invites the guests. He fills them with joy and with the Holy Ghost. So it is with the Lord’s day. All days of the year are Christ’s, but He hath marked out one in seven as peculiarly His own. “He hath made it,” or marked it out. Just as He planted a garden in Eden, so He hath fenced about this day and made it His own. This is the reason why we love it, and would keep it entire. We love everything that is Christ’s. We love His word. It is better to us than thousands of gold and silver. “O how we love His law! it is our study all the day.” We love His house. It is our trysting-place with Christ, where He meets with us and communes with us from off the mercy-seat. We love His table. It is His banqueting-house, where His banner over us is love-where He looses our bonds, and anoints our eyes, and makes our hearts burn with holy joy. We love His people, because they are His, members of His body, washed in His blood, filled with His Spirit, our brothers and sisters for eternity. And we love the Lord’s day, because it is His. Every hour of it is dear to us-sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. It is the day He rose for our justification. It reminds us of His love, and His finished work, and His rest. And we may boldly say that that man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ who does not love the entire Lord’s day. Oh, Sabbath-breaker, whoever you be, you are a sacrilegious robber! When you steal the hours of the Lord’s day for business or for pleasure, you are robbing Christ of the precious hours which He claims as his own. Would you not be shocked if a plan were deliberately proposed for breaking through the fence of the Lord’s table, and turning it into a common meal, or a feast for the profligate and the drunkard? Would not your best feelings be harrowed to see the silver cup of communion made a cup of revelry in the hand of the drunkard? And yet what better is the proposal of our railway directors? “The Lord’s day” is as much His day as “the Lord’s table” is His table. Surely we may well say, in the words of Dr. Love, that eminent servant of Christ, now gone to the Sabbath above: “Cursed is that gain, cursed is that recreation, cursed is that health, which is gained by criminal encroachments on this sacred day.”

II. Because it is a relic of Paradise and type of Heaven.-The first Sabbath dawned on the bowers of a sinless paradise. When Adam was created in the image of his Maker, he was put into the garden to dress it and to keep it. No doubt this called forth all his energies. To train the luxuriant vine, to gather the fruit of the fig-tree and palm, to conduct the water to the fruit-trees and flowers, required all his time and all his skill. Man was never made to be idle. Still when the Sabbath-day came round, his rural implements were all laid aside; the garden no longer was his care. His calm, pure mind looked beyond things seen into the world of eternal realities. He walked with God in the garden, seeking deeper knowledge of Jehovah and His ways, his heart burning more and more with holy love, and his lips overflowing with seraphic praise. Even in Paradise man needed a Sabbath. Without it Eden itself would have been incomplete. How little they know the joys of Eden, the delight of a close and holy walk with God, who would wrest from Scotland this relic of a sinless world! It is also the type of heaven. When a believer lays aside his pen or loom, brushes aside his worldly cares, leaving them behind him with his week-day clothes, and comes up to the house of God, it is like the morning of the resurrection, the day when we shall come out of great tribulation into the presence of God and the Lamb. When he sits under the preached word, and hears the voice of the shepherd leading and feeding his soul, it reminds him of the day when the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed him and lead him to living fountains of waters. When he joins in the psalm of praise, it reminds him of the day when his hands shall strike the harp of God- Where congregations ne’er break up, And Sabbaths have no end.
When he retires, and meets with God in secret in his closet, or, like Isaac, in some favourite spot near his dwelling, it reminds him of the day when “he shall be a pillar in the house of our God, and go no more out.” This is the reason why we love the Lord’s day. This is the reason why we “call the Sabbath a delight” A well-spent Sabbath we feel to be a day of heaven upon earth. For this reason we wish our Sabbaths to he wholly given to God. We love to spend the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. We love to rise early on that morning, and to sit up late, that we may have a long day with God. How many may know from this that they will never be in heaven! A straw on the surface can tell which way the stream is flowing. Do you abhor a holy Sabbath? Is it a kind of hell to you to be with those who are strict in keeping the Lord’s day? The writer of these lines once felt as you do. You are restless and uneasy. You say, “Behold what a weariness is it” “When will the Sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn?” Ah! soon, very soon, and you will be in hell. Hell is the only place for you. Heaven is one long, never-ending, holy Sabbath-day. There are no Sabbaths in hell.

III. Because it is a day of blessings. -When God instituted the Sabbath in paradise, it is said, “God blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it” (Gen. ii. 3). He not only set it apart as a sacred day, but made it a day of blessing. Again, when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week before dawn, He revealed Himself the same day to two disciples going to Emmaus, and made their hearts burn within them (Luke xxiv. 13). The same evening He came and stood in the midst of the disciples, and said, “Peace be unto you;” and He breathed on them and said, “receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John xx. 19). Again, after eight days, – that is, the next Lord’s day,-Jesus came and stood in the midst, and revealed Himself with unspeakable grace to unbelieving Thomas (John xx. 26). It was on the Lord’s day also that the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (Acts ii. 1 ; compare Lev. xxiii. 15, 16). That beginning of all spiritual blessings, that first revival of the Christian Church, was on the Lord’s day. It was on the same day that the beloved John, an exile on the sea-girt isle of Patmos, far away from the assembly of the saints, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and received his heavenly revelation. So that in all ages, from the beginning of the world, and in every place where there is a believer, the Sabbath has been a day of double blessing. It is so still, and will be, though all God’s enemies should gnash their teeth at it. True, God is a God of free grace, and confines His working to no time or place; but it is equally true, and all the scoffs of the infidel cannot alter it, that it pleases Him to bless His word most on the Lord’s day. All God’s faithful ministers in every land can bear witness that sinners are converted most frequently on the Lord’s day-that Jesus comes in and shows Himself through the lattice of ordinances oftenest on His own day. Saints, like John, are filled with the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and enjoy their calmest, deepest views into the eternal world. Unhappy men, who are striving to rob our beloved Scotland of this day of double blessing, “ye know not what you do.” You would wrest from our dear countrymen the day when God opens the windows of heaven and pours down a blessing. You want to make the heavens over Scotland like brass, and the hearts of our people like iron. Is it the sound of the golden bells of our ever-living High Priest on the mountains of our land, and the breathing of His Holy Spirit over so many of our parishes, that has roused up your satanic exertions to drown the sweet sound of mercy by the deafening roar of railway carriages? Is it the returning vigour of the revived and chastened Church of Scotland that has opened the torrents of blasphemy which you pour forth against the Lord of the Sabbath? Have your own withered souls no need of a drop from heaven? May it not be the case that some of you are blaspheming the very day on which your own soul might have been saved? Is it not possible that some of you may remember, with tears of anguish in hell, the exertions which you are now making, against light and against warning, to bring down a withering blight on your own souls and on the religion of Scotland? To those who are God’s children in this land, I would now, in the name of our common Saviour, who is the Lord of the Sabbath day, address

A WORD OF EXHORTATION.

1. PRIZE THE LORD’S DAY.-The more that others despise and trample on it, love you it all the more. The louder the storm of blasphemy howls around you, sit the closer at the feet of Jesus. “He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet” Diligently improve all holy time. It should be the busiest day of the seven; but only in the business of eternity. Avoid sin on that holy day. God’s children should avoid sin every day, but most of all on the Lord’s day. It is a day of double cursing as well as of double blessing. The world will have to answer dreadfully for sins committed in holy time. Spend the Lord’s day in the Lord’s presence. Spend it as a day in heaven. Spend much of it in praise and in works of mercy, as Jesus did.

II. DEFEND THE LORD’S DAY.-Lift up a calm, undaunted testimony against all the profanations of the Lord’s day. Use all your influence, whether as a statesman, a magistrate, a master, a father, or a friend, both publicly and privately, to defend the entire Lord’s day. This duty is laid upon you in the Fourth Commandment. Never see the Sabbath broken without reproving the breaker of it. Even worldly men, with all their pride and contempt for us, cannot endure to be convicted of Sabbath-breaking. Always remember God and the Bible are on your side, and that you will soon see these men cursing their own sin and folly when too late. Let all God’s children in Scotland lift up a united testimony especially against these three public profanations of the Lord’s day

(1) The keeping open of Reading-Rooms-In this town, and in all the large towns of Scotland, I am told, you may find in the public reading-rooms many of our men of business turning over the newspapers and magazines at all hours of the Lord’s day; and especially on Sabbath evenings, many of these places are filled like a little church. Ah, guilty men! how plainly you show that you are on the broad road that leadeth to destruction. If you were a murderer or an adulterer, perhaps you would not dare to deny this. Do you not know-and all the sophistry of hell cannot disprove it- that the same God who said,” Thou shalt not kill,” said also, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy?” The murderer who is dragged to the gibbet, and the polished Sabbath-breaker are one in the sight of God.
(2) The keeping open Public-Houses-Public-houses are the curse of Scotland. I never see a sign, “Licensed to sell spirits,” without thinking that it is a licence to ruin souls. They are the yawning avenues to poverty and rags in this life, and, as another has said, “the short cut to hell.” Is it to be tamely borne in this land of light and reformation, that these pest-houses and dens of iniquity-these man-traps for precious souls-shall be open on the Sabbath, nay, that they shall be enriched and kept afloat by this unholy traffic, many of them declaring that they could not keep up their shop if it were not for the Sabbath market-day? Surely we may well say, “Cursed is the gain made on that day.” Poor wretched men! Do you not know that every penny that rings upon your counter on that day will yet eat your flesh as if it were fire-that every drop of liquid poison swallowed in your gaslit palaces will only serve to kindle up the flame of “the fire that is not quenched”?
(3) Sunday Trains upon the Railway.-A majority of the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway have shown their determination, in a manner that has shocked all good men, to open the railway on the Lord’s day. The sluices of infidelity have been opened at the same time, and floods of blasphemous tracts are pouring over the land, decrying the holy day of the blessed God, as if there was no eye in heaven, no King on Zion Hill, no day of reckoning. Christian countrymen, awake! and, filled by the same spirit that delivered our country from the dark superstitions of Rome, let us beat back the incoming tide of infidelity and enmity to the Sabbath. Guilty men! who, under Satan, are leading on the deep, dark phalanx of Sabbath- breakers, yours is a solemn position. You are robbers. You rob God of His holy day. You are murderers. You murder the souls of your servants. God said, “Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy servant;” but you compel your servants to break God’s law, and to sell their souls for gain. You are sinners against light. Your Bible and your catechism, the words of godly parents, perhaps now in the Sabbath above, and the loud remonstrances of God-fearing men, are ringing in your ears, while you perpetrate this deed of shame, and glory in it. You are traitors to your country. The law of your country declares that you should “observe a holy rest all that day from your own words, works, and thoughts;” and yet you scout it as an antiquated superstition. Was it not Sabbath-breaking that made God east away Israel? And yet you would bring the same curse on Scotland now. You are moral suicides, stabbing your own souls, proclaiming to the world that you are not the Lord’s people, and hurrying on your souls to meet the Sabbath-breaker’s doom. In conclusion, I propose, for the calm consideration of all sober-minded men, the following

SERIOUS QUESTIONS.

(1) Can you name one godly minister, of any denomination in all Scotland, who does not hold the duty of the entire sanctification of the Lord’s day?
(2) Did you ever meet with a lively believer in any country under heaven – one who loved Christ, and lived a holy life – who did not delight in keeping holy to God the entire Lord’s day?
(3) Is it wise to take the interpretation of God’s will concerning the Lord’s day from “men of the world,” from infidels, scoffers, men of unholy lives, men who are sand-blind in all divine things, men who are the enemies of all righteousness, who quote Scripture freely, as Satan did, to deceive and betray?
(4) If, in opposition to the uniform testimony of God’s wisest and holiest servants-against the plain warnings of God’s word, against the very words of your catechism, learned beside your mother’s knee, and against the voice of your outraged conscience-you join the ranks of the Sabbath-breakers, will not this be a sin against light, will it not lie heavy on your soul upon your death-bed, will it not meet you in the judgment-day?

Praying that these words of truth and soberness may be owned of God, and carried home to your hearts with divine power-I remain, dear fellow-countrymen, your soul’s well-wisher, etc.

December 18, 1841.

SCRIPTURES TO BE MEDITATED ON.

1. Sabbath commanded.-Ex. xvi. 22-30; xx. 8-11; xxxv. 1-3. Lev. xix. 3-30. Dent. v. 12-15. Neh. ix. 14.
2. A sign of God’s people.-Ex. xxxi. 12-17. 2 Kings iv. 23. Ezek. xx. 12. Lam. i. 7. Heb. iv. 9.
3. Sabbath-breaking punished.-Num. xv. 32-36. Lev. xxvi. 33-35. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. Jer. xvii. 19-end. Lam. ii. 6. Ezek. xx. 12-26. Amos. viii. 4-14.
4. Day of blessing.-Gen. ii. 2, 3. Ex. xvi. 24. Lev. xxiv. 8. Num. xxviii. 9, 10. Isa. lvi. 1-8; lviii 13, 14. John xx. 1, 19, 26. Acts ii. 1, with Lev. xxiii 15. Rev. i. 10.
5. Rulers should guard the Sabbath.-Ex. xx. 10. Neh. xiii. 15-22.
6. Sabbath in gospel times-Psalm cxviii. 24. Isa. lxvi. 23. Ezek. xlvi. 1. Mark ii. 27, 28. Acts ii. 1; xx.6, 7. l Cor. xvi. 2. Rev i. 10.

Product Recall (Part 2)

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, MUSIC, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Resolution

There is a resolution—and only one—to the problem of the human heart that is hardened to, and unresponsive to its Creator; it is His, and His, alone.

“A new heart also will I give you; and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

“And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
 Jeremiah 24:6-8

These are the promises of our God, the Almighty Creator and sustainer of all His creation, especially His people.

The Warranty

“I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Jeremiah 32:40

With the new heart comes a new warranty—an everlasting covenant for life. The original covenant with Adam depended on his own obedience to the covenant.  It only proved that man couldn’t live alone; we cannot live without the daily presence and power of God.  Life no longer depends on our working to sustain the covenant of life in ourselves, but on our trust and faith in what He has promised to do in us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the power of His Holy Spirit.

“I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  Hebrews 8:10

The warranty is written on the new heart, and so it can never be lost.  And we can never be lost to God.  The new heart is registered in heaven.

“Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.”

And this is the testimony, (the warranty) that God gave us eternal life,

and this life is in His Son.

Whoever has the Son has life;

 Whoever does not have the Son does not have life.” 

1 John 5:10-12

 Spirit of the Living God, Fall Fresh on Me

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Product Recall

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORDLeave a comment

Have you ever been involved in a Product Recall?  Often we hear of such cases for cars, children’s toys and equipment. Some part has malfunctioned because of a mistake in the design or engineering of the product.  Or perhaps an employee has mistakenly, or purposefully, constructed the implement so that it fails.

I searched a website that lists current product recalls.  I only read the eleven pages for vehicles—cars, trucks, buses, etc.  The long list included the names, descriptions, problems, and dangers, in the use of each product, and the manufacturer’s resolutions for the products that are returned.

Even if these problems are corrected and the product is replaced the products will eventually end up in a junk heap somewhere on this earth, if not recycled, melted down, and put to some other use.

Man’s Problem

“By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.”  Romans 5:19

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  Romans 3:23

“There is none righteous, no, not one.”  Romans 2:10

Our Creator’s design for humanity was for man to live in dependence, fellowship and communion with Him; to desire His presence and power in all of life.  The heart that He created was to love Him above all things.  The mind was to be His instrument whereby He would teach us about Himself and to bring us, as His children, to maturity.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man ws great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

In God’s design and creation of the heavens and the earth it may seem that He failed to achieve what He had purposed.  He “created man in His own image.”  Why did He prepare for, and issue a “product recall” for humanity?  And how are we supposed to know about this “product recall?”

The Product Recall that God has issued is for the human heart and soul that never dies, but lives on through eternity.  This Recall has been sounded since the beginning of time, even in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  Even after they failed to meet the test for all humanity, and placed the blame everywhere but where it should be (with themselves), God’s promise for a Recall, and correction, was put into effect. (Genesis 3:15)

The Manual

What happened is revealed in the Bible, and those who read it decide for themselves if these things are true.  Whether or not one of His angels is responsible for the malfunction of the heart, or that God, Himself, planned all things exactly as they happened, is not all that matters. What truly matters is that He has issued and proclaimed worldwide, for centuries, the Recall of humanity to return with broken and contrite hearts to Him.

“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.”  Jeremiah 3:21 

Most people won’t understand what we mean when we refer to this Product Recall.  And even though He has given us a manual, and the warnings of the defective products have been given over and over, most who have heard it don’t listen. The majority is deceived into thinking that they are okay, doing pretty well with what they are and how they function in every day life.  God’s own people, the Israelites would not return.

“Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
” Jeremiah 8:4-6

Most have never seen the original design, the model from which they were created, partly because ministers are leading them astray, saying there is peace, where there is no peace.  They are led to believe that there is an easy fix to their problems, giving false hope with modern ideas that seem palatable; or that they can fix themselves.

Many, who have seen Jesus Christ in the manual, don’t like what they see.  And though God’s Word teaches us that He “is the visible image of the invisible God” they much prefer their own perception of what man should be. The basic idea in this kind of thinking seems to be that “if everybody could be like me, then the world would be okay.”

(Tomorrow—PART 2–The Resolution and Warranty)

 

The Newest Year ~ The Best Wine

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, PRAYERLeave a comment

The Father has opened my heart to think of this new year as the newest year, one that will surpass all others.  Each year of my life has brought new revelation, new truths, new vision, new purpose.  Each year has brought me closer and closer to Him. With time, aging, experience, and trials we can witness that He keeps His covenant and fulfills His promises. So why should we not come to this year with even more expectation, with a great and joyful anticipation?

All my life I seem to have been motivated by new beginnings, though they come with mixed blessings.  For every new beginning there has to be an ending, which means we leave something behind or lose something.  We may have to let something, or someone, go.  We may have to start over completely.  Years ago there came the realization that endings are like deaths.  Some are good endings that we have looked forward to. Others may be accompanied with grief, which may take time to get over.  But in the process is the preparation for the future that our Father has for us, and for things that He has prepared for us.  We are not speaking of the future as a reference to an after-death experience in heaven.  What we refer to is for here and now, a taste of heaven here on earth, and preparation for glory.  Every year, every trial, every ending, every death, every beginning brings us more of His blessings, and the heavenly gifts He waits to give.

New Heart ~ New Birth

To experience the newest we have to set aside the old.  With the new birth we start over. With the new heart our desires change.  The things that we lusted for, even things that seemed good are easily left behind for something better.  With the new spirit we look forward to new experiences that the Father has planned for us.  The child-like faith gives us hope for further fulfillment of His promises, and we rest in believing that He will show us great and mighty things we have not known. (Jeremiah 33:3)  The child-like spirit delights in the unexpected. We are not satisfied to live the same year again, but in anticipation that all things will be fresh and new from Him every day, and every year that we are here.  These new things are never lost, but added to year after year, with even greater anticipation.

We can expect the continued power of the Holy Spirit to guide us into and through the year, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month until the ending of this year, unless He has chosen to bring us to glory  ( Psalm 73:24; Colossians 3:4) before then.  We anticipate further sanctification, cleansing and purifying of the heart and the hands, transforming by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:1-2) and conforming us to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)

“He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure;

 for this is all my salvation, and all my desire.”

2 Samuel 23:5 

We look forward to His instructions, to His order of the things with which we are still unfamiliar, but that He promises to reveal to us. (Deuteronomy 29:29; John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:10)

On this first day of 2008 the question is asked, “Am I willing to give up my own ideas, the desires of my own heart, and seek, with diligence, the kingdom of God and His righteousness?”  (Matthew 6:33)  The Father has promised us an abundant life in His Son. (John 10:10)  The newest and the best are given only in Christ. All beginnings are of His grace—not a cheap grace, but one secured for us by the Father and the Son through the sacrifice of His life, a covenant of grace made for us before time began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John 3:30 

We enter this newest year with an open calendar and the prayer, “Lord, fill it with your plans for me—for your glory, and for my joy and the joy of others. Let there be less of me and more of you.”  And this same prayer we ask for all His people, for the building of His church and His kingdom. “Fill our hearts and prayers with more love for you and others, more praise, more gratitude, more of your grace. Let there be new springs, new fountains, new rivers of living water flowing in hearts, families, and churches.”

“Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.  This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”  John 2:10-11

At the marriage feast at Cana Jesus turned water into wine. Much of what we have seems good until we, in the times of our seasoning, come to what the Father has for us. It is but as water, or only a good wine, compared to the better. We can afford to wait for the best that the Father has planned for us.  “The heirs can afford to wait.”  (Andrew Murray) He has promised a heavenly life for His people who live in anticipation of the spiritual things from His heart and kingdom. (Ephesians 1:3)  He has promised new wine in new wine skins.  He keeps filling our hearts with His Word, His promises, His Spirit, His power (Ephesians 3:20; Colossians 21:27,29) and excitement that spills over into each year.  Still, the newest year and the best wine are yet to come, in Glory with Him.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,

how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” 

Romans 8:31

Keeping our eyes on Christ we live in daily anticipation of the filling of His Spirit, and the bread from heaven, the Spirit of the life of Christ given to us by a loving heavenly Father, and we pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-13; Revelation 4)  Before anything else we desire the honor of His name, the coming of His kingdom in our hearts, and His will to be done in our lives, as it is in heaven.  If these requests are fulfilled we can know that the others will be also.  The rest of the Lord’s Prayer is a petition for our needs based on our faith in what He promised and is able to do—for His glory and our joy.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:” 

Ephesians 4:7,13

(Fran 1/1/08  Article from 50 Days of Prayer and Praise ~ Articles and Stories of Faith)   Join us for our daily devotional  agoldentreasury.com.

The Lord’s Day ~ The First Day

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, PRAYER, THE LORD'S DAY (SABBATH)Leave a comment

THIS IS THE LORD’S DAY ~  THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF THE FIRST MONTH OF THE NEW YEAR OF OUR LORD ~ 2012

HOW DID IT START WITH YOU?  WAS IT IN FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH YOUR FATHER, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? WAS THE DAY SPENT IN WORSHIP WITH HIS PEOPLE, IN PRAYER AND THE READING OF HIS WORD?

DID YOU COMMIT THIS DAY, THIS WEEK, THIS MONTH, THIS YEAR ~ ALL THAT YOU ARE AND HAVE ~ TO HIM?

THEN EXPECT THAT HE WILL BLESS YOU,

PROVIDE FOR YOU,

STRENGTHEN YOU,

HELP YOU,

COMFORT YOU,

GROW YOU,

KEEP YOU UNDER THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS,

LEAD YOU THROUGH THE MOST ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT THIS NEW YEAR WILL BRING.

THEREFORE,  TRUST HIM, LOVE HIM, FEAR HIM, OBEY HIM, WORSHIP AND SERVE HIM, PRAY AND PRAISE HIM, LIVE FOR HIM ONE DAY AT A TIME, ALL THE WHILE PROCLAIMING THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST WHEREVER YOU ARE.

THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU AND YOURS THIS NEW YEAR OF LORD JESUS CHRIST ~ FOR HIS GLORY AND YOUR JOY!

(Join us at agoldentreasury.com for daily devotions from A Golden Treasury for the Children of God Whose Treasure is in Heaven by C.H.v Bogatzky.)