Tag: hands

34.s. “The Lord will judge all people.”

 

 Matthew 27:24  So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

 Jeremiah 2:35    you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

 2 Corinthians 5:21    For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 Hebrews 10:29-30    How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

“Oh, the daring of Pilate thus in the sight of God to commit murder and disclaim it. There is a strange mingling of cowardliness and courage about many men; they are afraid of a man, but not afraid of the eternal God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (Spurgeon)

Vain hope pulls many into believing their heart is pure and their conscience is clear of wrong doing. In this hope many find ways to justify their words and actions that neither honor and glorify Jesus Christ or are in line with godly living. Being negligent in God’s Word does not free a person to say my heart is pure and conscience clear for lack of knowing. By the very fact they intentionally choose to neglect God’s Word or have any desire to hear Him speak into their lives, is as if they are saying you are not worthy of my interest, my time, my all. Like Pilate, they wash their hands of any responsibility for their lack of desire to live for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. No excuse can be made on judgement day for neglecting Jesus Christ and living for Him. What will a person say? I was busy. I went to church. I lived peaceably. I was kind. I was generous. I was not as bad as other people. It was just to hard to understand. 

On judgement day every thought, word, and action the heart and mind of a person has taken, in an instant, they will become aware that it all was exposed before the eyes of God before it even happened. What will a person say at this time of Judgement? They will know without any doubts that they have disregarded, rejected, and denied God, the Word of God, and Jesus Christ. There will be no excuses residing in their mouths for they shall see clearly the Son of God they have cast away as not worthy of their thoughts or time. 

Trying to justify ourselves before God is to put ourselves and things we do ahead of Jesus Christ. Our hope is in what we have done or are doing. Our justification is in Christ alone. Period. He is the author and finisher our redemption, salvation, forgiveness, and hope of eternal life.

Do not think you can wash your hands of neglect, complacency, denial, rejection, or whatever else is contrary to living for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do. 

19.e. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:14   Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Psalms 78:11-22     They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.  In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.  He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.  In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.  He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.  He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.  Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.  They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.  They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?  He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”  Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,  because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 10:38-39   but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Thomas had doubts about what the other disciples to him about seeing Jesus.  Thomas would have seen Jesus hung on the cross and watched His death and being stabbed with a sword to make sure.  He was absolute in the fact that Jesus died.  Now to have his fellow disciples tell him Jesus was alive made no sense what so ever.  Thomas says I don’t care what you say, I saw Jesus die and there is no way you can get me to believe He is alive now unless I put my fingers in His side. Surely he would have heard from Peter and John that the grave was empty.  He also would have heard Mary saying she saw Jesus.  Thomas can not discount what he saw and override what he knows as truth, that once you are physically dead you do not come to life unless Jesus calls you to life.  How can Jesus, who is dead, raise Himself from the dead?  He did not care about the disciple’s witness or testimony.  He can not believe it true without physical confirmation.  

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and proof/conviction of things not seen. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.  By faith, we are transformed, born again, made new, realize forgiveness, and inherit eternal life.  Therein is where our hope rests by faith.  We can not add anything to faith and make ourselves better.  In fact, adding anything more to faith in the complete work (death and resurrection) of Jesus is to take away from what is rightly and solely glorified in Jesus.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”  It is by faith alone.  Faith alone. Faith.  Our sins were paid in full by Jesus Christ if we believe (have faith) in Him alone.  We can not allow thoughts of needing to be good enough to receive the gift of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness of our sins to block us from Faith (relying on, clinging to, and trusting in) in Jesus Christ alone.  Faith casts out all doubt.  Faith allows us to cast out the doubts of being good enough.  By faith, we understand that we are not and will never be good enough and we surrender all of our hope in self-goodness relying fully on the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ

19.d. “The doors being locked”

John 20:19   On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

The disciples have heard the tomb was empty.  They had more than one evidenced account of it. You have to wonder what their discussions were concerning this.  Was He taken? Has He risen? Was He alive? Each of them had to have these and other questions running through their minds. I imagine some of them had thoughts of shame and guilt and cowardliness and fear.  The doors were shut and they were fearful of the Jews.  They knew Jesus was not in the tomb and more than likely Jewish leaders would blame them and come for them. Maybe the same thing that happened to Jesus would happen to them.  Imagine all of the thoughts they could have had running through their minds.  Surely, after their desertion of Jesus on the day of His crucifixion, the disciples probably expected words of rebuke or blame. Instead, Jesus brought a word of peace, reconciling peace.  Jesus stands with them.  He just appears.  He was not there and now He is on the inside with them while the doors were shut.  He did not knock and ask to come in.  He did not say, “let me in”.  He came and stood in the midst and He spoke a blessing and forgiving words, “Peace be with you.”  I am sure they remembered what Jesus told them the night He was betrayed, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.”  

The harmony of God’s Word will grow our faith, trust, reliance, obedience, and love in and for Him.  

They have not know my ways

“So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?”

“In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.”

“They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

“And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

John 20:24  Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Psalms 78:11     They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.  In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.  He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.  In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.  He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.  He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.  Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.  They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.  They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?  He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”  Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,  because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:18     And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 4:1     Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.  For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Psalms 85:8    Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

2 Peter 2:19    They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

It is not uncommon for unbelief to enter our heart and mind.  We have a sinful nature that does not want to believe in, trust in, cling to, or rely on God.  Just look at our culture and how far it has fallen away from God.  Pornography is viewed as adult entertainment.  Child pornography is at an all time high.  Domestic minor sex trafficking is climbing.  Higher education explaining and teaching there is no God.  People never being satisfied.  That which was shameful and done in secret is now a normal way of life.  It is as though people are living without a thought that there will be a day of judgement coming.  We choose to live for God, believing in Him, or we choose to deny Him.  We choose if we commit all of our heart, mind, and soul to humbly serving, honoring, following, obeying, and loving Him and His plan and purpose for our lives.  There is no middle ground.  We serve Him fully or not at all.  Our culture seems to have us believing the lie that it is possible to live in a middle place, somewhere between full commitment to God and living as though He has no place in our daily lives.  This lie tells us that we are good enough or doing good enough to receive eternal life.  The truth of his word says it is not by works or being good enough.  It is by faith alone we are saved.  The lie has us performing for that which cannot be obtained by performance.  The lie has us pretending everything is ok when in fact our heart is far from Him.  God is real.  Jesus Christ death and resurrection is real.  Salvation by faith through Him alone is real.  God’s word is truth.  A day of judgement coming is real.  Eternity is real.  Heaven is real.  Hell is real.  Saying and believing this is false does not make it false.  Denying sin is sin does not make it right.  Everything we do ought to be done in light of His word.  Our culture and our sinful nature want us to deny God fully into our lives.  Do you want purpose in your life?  Believe in Him with all your heart, mind and soul.  Trust in Him alone.  Live for Him alone.  Stay in His word.  Study His word.  Ask Him to make His word alive in you.

Living for Jesus

“To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

John 20:11  But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.  They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.   If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Matthew 10:16     “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 28:18    And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Luke 24:46  and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 2:38     And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:38     Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,  and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Forgiveness of sin comes to all who believe and are called.  Our lives are no longer without purpose.  We are to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.  We are to make disciples.  We are to receive the Holy Spirit.  We are to walk in humbleness.  We are to follow and obey.  We are to honor God.  We are to be thankful in all circumstances.  We are to seek and desire Him.  We are to be different from those who do not know or live for Jesus Christ.  We are to be the light to those in darkness.  We are to study His word.  We are to keep our focus on Him and eternity.  We are to pray. We are to be kind.  We are to communicate hope, peace, love, and joy.  We are to find our purpose in humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying God for His glory. Our life is no longer ours to live but His to live through us.

False Hopes

“Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

Psalms 30:6  As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”

Isaiah 56:12  “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”

Daniel 4:30   and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

Luke 12:19  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

Proverbs 27:1  Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Luke 21:34  “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.

James 4:13-16  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Ecclesiastes 2:1  I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.

What cares of this life blind us to our soul purpose of humbly serving, honoring and glorifying God?  What is in this life that compares to the promise of eternity in heaven?  What does a life look like that cares not for self but rather seeks to know, understand and serve God?  Our length of life is but a vapor when compared to eternity.  Yet we find ourselves consumed with satisfying ourselves with what this world has to offer.  Our minds lose sight of God so easily.  We allow our minds to dwell on things temporary and day after day focus on what pleases us.  We jump on a worldly cause and listen to others who speak with passion about it, never giving thought to or about God.  We would do well to first seek God and how to humbly serve Him.  We would do well to keep focus on Him.  We worry, we boast, we seek self pleasure, and we consume our lives with chasing after that which pulls us further and further away from God.  How long will God pursue us with grace and mercy before He says ENOUGH and  allows His wrath loose.