Month: June 2022

35.h. “Good News”

 

 

Isaiah 52:7   How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Luke 2:10  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Romans 10:15 15  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

If our input on what is going on in the world is based on News media outlets our lives surely do not hear “good news”, “glad tidings”, or “things of peace”. What we will and do hear is “bad news”, news of panic, division, hate, confusion, anger, worry, etc…… On the other hand, if you read about people’s lives on social media outlets you are surely going to read or see pictures of “good lives, “perfect kids”, “perfect families, “perfect vacations”, “happy moments”, and joyful relaxing times”.  Though there is some truth in both there is much more behind it either leaving out the good or leaving out the bad. To stay away from both a person is uninformed. To rely on both a person is misinformed.

To listen to news media outlets the world is a very dark place to live and they give you their perspective on what the world you live in is like.  They tell you what to fear and worry about.  They tell you who to dislike or even hate. Bad news upon bad news.  Every now and then a local station might put up a feel-good story, but for the most part “news” to them is reporting the bad and to cause some kind of negative response.

If we take to heart the social media posts we see lives mostly in a state of perfection. I am sure this moment in their lives is one of those moments. It is a good news moment captured and being shared. The problem is that most people don’t see it as just a moment but rather an entire life that has found perfection. I personally like to see these and read their posts. I like the good news they share about their family, kids, new home, new car, moving to another state, vacations, etc…..  In truth, life has moments of good and bad, ups and downs, worries and joys, fears and peace, in need and in abundance. Do you want some “Good News”? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

 

35.g. “Enslaved”

 

From Dr. Jeffress;

By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
–2 Peter 2:19

When I was about ten years old, my mom had to go to an all-day teachers’ conference on a Saturday. She did not have a babysitter for me, so she dropped me off at a movie theater across the street from the conference. I watched four complete showings of “Thunderball” with Sean Connery. For two weeks, I went around the house saying, “Shaken, not stirred.” I had no idea what it meant. But if you know anything about James Bond, you know his designation was 007. “Double O” was a special designation of British spies who had the freedom to kill without answering to anybody. They had a license to kill.

There are many Christians today who think that because they are in His Majesty’s service, they have been given a special license: a license to sin. They think God’s grace gives them the freedom to do whatever they want to do. But that is an abuse of God’s amazing gift of grace.

Have you ever heard anybody ask this question: “If I am saved and forgiven of all my sins, and I know I am going to heaven regardless of what I do, what keeps me from sinning as much as I want to?” That question fails to take into account the fact that the recipients of God’s grace have a new master.

As a Christian, you are not free to do whatever you want to. No, you have just changed masters. That is what Paul was talking about in Romans 6:16: “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”

Every one of us is a slave of someone. None of us is free. You can serve sin, and therefore you are a slave of Satan. Or you can serve righteousness, and that makes you a slave of God.

Do you know how to tell what you are a slave to? It is whatever you cannot say no to. In 2 Peter 2:19, Peter said, “By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” If you cannot say no to dessert, guess what? You are a slave to sugar. If you cannot say no to television in order to spend time with your family or read your Bible, then you are a slave to the tube. If you cannot say no to pornography, then you are a slave to immorality. If you cannot say no to sin, then you are a slave to Satan. We are all slaves to someone.

God’s wisdom says you do not live as close to the edge of sin as possible; you flee from sin as far as possible.

35.f. ” Your nakedness shall be uncovered”

 

 

 

Genesis 2:24  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 Isaiah 47:3   Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

 Isaiah 54:4   “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth,

 Jeremiah 6:15   Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD.

 Jeremiah 17:13   O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.

 Mark 8:38   For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

This is corroborated by the statement contained in Genesis 2:25. “They were both naked, and were not ashamed.” Of nakedness in our sense of the term they had as yet no conception. On the contrary, they were conscious of being sufficiently clothed in a physical sense by nature’s covering, the skin – and, in a spiritual point of view, they were clad as in a panoply of steel with the consciousness of innocence, or, indeed, the unconsciousness of evil existing anywhere, and the simple ignorance of its nature, except so far as the command of God had awakened in them some speculative conception of it. Hence, they were not ashamed. For shame implies a sense of guilt, which they did not have, and an exposedness to the searching eye of a condemning judge, from which they were equally free. (Barnes)

To wit, of their nakedness, as having no guilt, nor cause of shame, no filthy or evil inclinations in their bodies, no sinful concupiscence or impure motions in their souls, but spotless innocency and perfection, which must needs exclude shame. (Poole)

And they were both naked, the man and his wife,…. Were as they were created, having no clothes on them, and standing in need of none, to shelter them from the heat or cold, being in a temperate climate; or to conceal any parts of their bodies from the sight of others, there being none of the creatures to guard against on that account: and were not ashamed; having nothing in them, or on them, or about them, that caused shame; nothing sinful, defective, scandalous or blameworthy; no sin in their nature, no guilt on their consciences, or wickedness in their hands or actions; and particularly they were not ashamed of their being naked, no more than children are to see each other naked, or we are to behold them: besides, they were not only alone, and none to behold them; but their being naked was no disgrace to them, but was agreeably to their nature; and they were not sensible that there was any necessity or occasion to cover themselves, nor would they have had any, had they continued in their innocent state: moreover, there was not the least reason to be ashamed to appear in such a manner, since they were but one flesh. (Gill)

The sense of shame is the shadow which temptation to sin throws across the pathway of purity. (Cambridge)

Mankind’s original purity and innocence of good and evil was a blessed state. Living in harmony with God and unashamed. How far mankind has fallen from their original state.  Knowing good and evil has given mankind a choice to choose one or the other. Many of our choices leave us ashamed in the light of God’s Word and our purpose of Honoring and Glorifying Jesus Christ in all we thing, say, and do; at least it should.

35.e. “A peculiar people”

 

 

1 Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

A peculiar people.—This curious phrase is literally, a people for a special reservation. (Ellicott)

All true Christians are a chosen generation; they make one family, a people distinct from the world: of another spirit, principle, and practice; which they could never be, if they were not chosen in Christ to be such, and sanctified by his Spirit. Their first state is a state of gross darkness, but they are called out of darkness into a state of joy, pleasure, and prosperity; that they should show forth the praises of the Lord by their profession of his truth, and their good conduct. How vast their obligations to Him who has made them his people, and has shown mercy to them! To be without this mercy is a woful state, though a man have all worldly enjoyments. And there is nothing that so kindly works repentance, as right thoughts of the mercy and love of God. Let us not dare to abuse and affront the free grace of God, if we mean to be saved by it; but let all who would be found among those who obtain mercy, walk as his people. (Henry)

A peculiar people – Compare the notes at Titus 2:14. The margin here is purchased. The word “peculiar,” in its common acceptation now, would mean that they were distinguished from others, or were singular. The reading in the margin would mean that they had been bought or redeemed. Both these things are so, but neither of them expresses the exact sense of the original. The Greek λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν laos eis peripoiēsin) means, “a people for a possession;” that is, as pertaining to God. They are a people which he has secured as a possession, or as his own; a people, therefore, which belong to him, and to no other. In this sense they are special as being His; and, being such, it may be inferred that they should be special in the sense of being unlike others (unique) in their manner of life.  (barnes)

peculiar people—literally, “a people for an acquisition,” that is, whom God chose to be peculiarly His: Ac 20:28, “purchased,” literally, “acquired.” God’s “peculiar treasure” above others. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)

a peculiar people; as the Israelites are called a “peculiar treasure”, Exodus 19:5 to which the reference is: God’s elect are a peculiar people, to whom he bears a peculiar love; they are chosen by him to be a special people above all others, and have peculiar blessings bestowed on them, and peculiar care is taken of them; they are the Lord’s, his treasure, his jewels, his portion and inheritance, and therefore he will preserve and save them; they are a people for acquisition, purchase, and possession, as the words may be rendered; whom God has obtained, procured, and purchased for himself, with the precious blood of his Son; hence the Syriac version renders them, , “a redeemed company”: the same with the church God has purchased with his blood, Acts 20:28 and the purchased possession, Ephesians 1:14 and which are redeemed and purified to be, and appear to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Titus 2:14 the end of all which grace being bestowed upon them in election, redemption, and regeneration, is, that ye should show forth the praises of him; that is, God, who has chosen them into a spiritual kindred and relation, made them kings and priests, sanctified them by his Spirit, and redeemed them by his Son, as a peculiar people; all which laid them under obligation to show forth with their lips, and in their lives and conversations, his “virtues” (Gill)

a peculiar people; as the Israelites are called a “peculiar treasure”, Exodus 19:5 to which the reference is: God’s elect are a peculiar people, to whom he bears a peculiar love; they are chosen by him to be a special people above all others, and have peculiar blessings bestowed on them, and peculiar care is taken of them; they are the Lord’s, his treasure, his jewels, his portion and inheritance, and therefore he will preserve and save them; they are a people for acquisition, purchase, and possession, as the words may be rendered; whom God has obtained, procured, and purchased for himself, with the precious blood of his Son; hence the Syriac version renders them, , “a redeemed company”: the same with the church God has purchased with his blood, Acts 20:28 and the purchased possession, Ephesians 1:14 and which are redeemed and purified to be, and appear to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Titus 2:14 the end of all which grace being bestowed upon them in election, redemption, and regeneration, is,

that ye should show forth the praises of him; that is, God, who has chosen them into a spiritual kindred and relation, made them kings and priests, sanctified them by his Spirit, and redeemed them by his Son, as a peculiar people; all which laid them under obligation to show forth with their lips, and in their lives and conversations, his “virtues” (Cambridge)

 In our culture, with its Christian foundations, we don’t easily understand the great sense of privilege and relief that came to Gentiles as they were shared in the New Covenant with the God of Israel. Peter’s message is wonderful: “You didn’t used to belong, but now you belong to God and among God’s people.” (Guzik)

A. W. Tozer wrote, “A real Christian is peculiar, (special). He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible and knows that which passes knowledge.”

Be not afraid to possess this peculiar character, for though it is misunderstood on earth, it is well understood in heaven. (Spurgeon)

35.d. “A prudent wife is from the LORD”

 

 

 

Genesis 2:18  Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 Proverbs 18:22    He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

 1 Corinthians 11:11-12    Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

 Proverbs 19:14   House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

 Hebrews 13:4    Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

A new and final need of man is stated. The Creator himself, in whose image he was made, had revealed himself to him in language. This, among many other effects, awakened the social affection. This affection was the index of social capacity. The first step towards communication between kindred spirits was accomplished when Adam heard and understood spoken language. Beyond all this God knew what was in the man whom he had formed. And he expresses this in the words, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” He is formed to be social, to hold converse, not only with his superior, but also with his equal. As yet he is but a unit, an individual. He needs a mate, with whom he may take sweet counsel. And the benevolent Creator resolves to supply this want. “I will make him a helpmeet for him” – one who may not only reciprocate his feelings, but take an intelligent and appropriate part in his active pursuits. “Barnes“

God, as her Father, brought the woman to the man, as his second self, and a help meet for him. That wife, who is of God’s making by special grace, and of God’s bringing by special providence, is likely to prove a help meet for a man. See what need there is, both of prudence and prayer in the choice of this relation, which is so near and so lasting. “Matthew Henry“

“Help meet,” which has become a recognized English word, fails to give the full sense of this passage from which it is derived. Man will find help from that which is in harmony with his own nature, and, therefore, able adequately to sympathize with him in thought and interests. It is not identity, but harmony, of character which is suggested. “Cambridge Bible“

The expression, “Help meet”indicates that the forthcoming helper was to be of similar nature to the man himself, corresponding by way of supplement to the incompleteness of his lonely being, and in every way adapted to be his co-partner and companion. All that Adam’s nature demanded for its completion, physically, intellectually, socially, was to be included in this who was soon to stand by his side. Thus in man’s need, and woman’s power to satisfy that need, is laid the foundation for the Divine institution of marriage, which was afterwards prescribed not for the first pair alone, but for all their posterity. “Pulpit Commentary“

God ordained man should be created first, and then the woman from the body of the man. By this the priority and superiority of the man, and the dependence of the woman upon the man, are established as an ordinance of divine creation. This ordinance of God forms the root of that tender love with which the man loves the woman as himself, and by which marriage becomes a type of the fellowship of love and life, which exists between the Lord and His Church. “Keil and Delitzsch “

Men thought ages have certainly perverted this which was ordained to be a holy union into a self-serving relationship of Master and servant rather than husband and wife. Men and women alike have perverted their God-given roles and purpose. All of this foolishness about transgender, homosexuality, gay pride, and lesbianism that is being discussed, promoted, and approved by cultures and societies is not of God nor of God’s purpose for mankind.  Any confusion about this comes from arguments made by men to justify their sin and rejection of God.  Scripture is more than clear on God’s plan and purpose for men and women, male and female. Rest assured perversion of this is all of man’s doing and has no hand of God in it.