Tag: Naked

20.r. “Let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”

 

Romans 11:20   They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

 James 2:19     You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

 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.

 Revelation 3:17     For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

 Hebrews 3:19   So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 Hebrews 4:6     Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

 Hebrews 4:11   Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

 Isaiah 66:2    All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

 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.

Paul said, “note the severity and kindness of God”.  We have a natural thought that clings to God’s kindness but sidelines and thoughts to His severity of judgment, wrath, and anger.  We cling to “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” but we give little thought of His wrath and anger against unbelief, trust, faith, and obedience in/on Jesus Christ.  Paul saw how easy it was for believers to fall into disobedience.  He saw how they became complacent and neglectful of things of God.  They became lukewarm towards seeking and desiring to honor and glorify Him.  Over and over again Paul urged people to remain steadfast and to not forget the grace, mercy, kindness, and love of God.  Paul had to be dismayed when he would return to towns he had once been and had seen great numbers of people believe in Jesus Christ, only to find they had become neglectful and complacent in their devotion to God.  Paul so how easy it was for the heart of man to fall away from being fully committed and living for God every moment of every day.  God’s kindness and severity remain true and steadfast.  We do well to our hearts, minds, soul, and our daily lives in line with the Word of God at all times lest we become disobedient through neglect and complacency.

20.i. “We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Romans 10:3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

 Leviticus 26:41   so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,

 Daniel 9:6-9     We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.  To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.  To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.  To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him

 Revelation 3:17-18  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

 Isaiah 64:6   We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Has mankind changed over time?  Have they gotten smarter, wiser, more ingenious? Have they been able to do greater and greater advances in science, industrial, technology, physics, chemistry, medicine, social and cultural understanding?  And yet, a man finds, at the end of all of their efforts, they are not closer to God or closer to understanding and knowing Him.  For all of the advances, man has made they seem to think it was because of their great self-knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.  Do they ever wonder who it was that gave them this understanding, wisdom, and knowledge?  Was it not from God?  I think some, over the history of mankind, have sought God for His help to accomplish an advance in science, industrial, technology, physics, chemistry, medicine, social and cultural understanding, and they were blessed by God to accomplish it and they gave God the honor and glory for the accomplishment.  I fear far too many others sought it out for their own glory and honor. Because they did not seek God’s help for God’s honor and glory, they end up thinking that they are capable of accomplishing major advances on their own, without God.  Credit is given over and over again to men and what they have accomplished – The Nobel Peace Prize.  Over time a man thinks God is not real and not needed.  Some may even use what they have accomplished to prove God does not exist.  

There are others who see and hear about the accomplishments of various people and over history apply the same approach to being right with God.  “Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”  We need to be very careful of what social and cultural influences we use to view God and His plans and purposes for salvation, redemption, forgiveness, heaven, hell, and eternity.

12.l. “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Zachariah 7:1  In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

Isaiah 58:1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Romans 14:17-18   For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:31   So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 5:15    and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Colossians 3:23    Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

The Law of Moses only commanded one fast day, on the Day of Atonement. In addition to this day, during the exile, the Jewish people instituted four more fasts to remember key dates in the tragic defeat of their nation.  These additional fasts were not commanded by God, but instituted by man. Yet because they were traditionally practiced for so long (at least 70 years), they developed an authority of their own.  God’s word through Zechariah rebuked the people of God for what their fasting had become – indulgent pity-parties instead of a time to genuinely seek God. Their lives were not right when they did eat and drink – that they did for themselves, not for the LORD. A few days of fasting every year could not make up for the rest of the year lived for self.   Because their hearts were not right with God, their rituals were not right before God. Everyday obedience would make their times of fasting meaningful, but their neglect of everyday obedience made their fasting hypocritical.  Instead of actively performing and pretending, God wants us to focus on active obedience and an active walk with Him. Think about this; these additional fasts were established by man to remember what had happened to them when they were disobedient to God and they became a man-made way of getting right before God.  They established special days where they would piously observe fasting and yet the rest of the time they lived for self.  This is not obedience but rather ritual.  A heart for God will be a heart for God every day, every moment, and in every fiber of the fabric of their soul, not just on special days.

12.i.”And the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

Habakkuk 2:15  “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

Jeremiah 25:15    Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

Revelation 17:2     with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

Revelation 18:3    For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

We read of drunkenness both literally and metaphorically in Scripture.  When consumption of alcohol is used to dull the senses to the point of affecting reason, this is bad. When alcohol is used literally a person becomes void of reason and allows a person to do what they would normally not even consider doing.  When inhibitions are lost there is a host of sins just waiting to come to life and produce the fruit of the sinful nature.  This sin has no bounds or limits.  How many families do you know of that has been affected by the use and abuse of alcohol?  It is not that alcohol is bad but there is a fine line that can be stepped over very easily.  People say and do things under the influence of alcohol that they would not even dare think or do sober.  It seems alcohol is used to dull senses and replace the need for prayer, reliance on Jesus Christ, and hearing the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit of God.  In this dullness, there appears to be a reprieve of what troubles the soul.  How many TV or movie shows do see where after something bad or taxing has happened they reach for a bottle of whiskey or some other strong drink to calm their concerns.  They would have us believe this is the normal thing to do rather than calling out to God for help.  “Come unto me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest”.  This comes from God alone and not a bottle.

Metaphorically drinking is used to show uninhibited drunkenness with power, luxurious living, and sexual immorality.  People as well as nations fall because of this.  Remember the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the prosperity they drank from the cup of sexual immorality and as well from the cup of the Wrath of God.  When God is removed from the heart and soul a person’s mind will be filled with uninhibited sinful desires.  Some of these will manifest themselves with things we can see and other things we cannot. The cup they blindly choose to drink from is filled with worldly sinful passions and will result in also drinking the cup of God’s wrath. The end result is separation from the One and True God who is able to save, comfort, and encourage us now and throughout eternity.

9.t. “But their lies have led them astray”

Amos 2:4   Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.

Amos 2:6   Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted;

Amos 2:11   And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, You shall not prophesy.’ “Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down. Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,” declares the Lord.

How can someone reject what God expects inline with obedience?  I fear it is easier than we think.  Step back and take account of how much time was spent in His Word over the last week or two.  Was there thirst and hunger for your soul?  Was there anticipation for the Holy Spirit to speak into your heart and mind?  When there is no desire and seeking how to humbly serve, honor, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ it is no wonder God can say “you have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His statutes.”  Not only this but because there is no hunger and thirst to serve and honor Him something else creeps into our lives – lies.  These lies are born out of the lack of God’s Word and because of this, we are influenced by what the world, culture, and society deem appropriate.  The worst part is that we buy into these lies.  We buy into the lie that we are good enough and have done enough to merit God’s favor.  We buy into the lie that if the world approves or condones something it is alright.  A friend of mine told me this once, (I’m sure he heard it somewhere else) “right is right even though only one person is doing it, and wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”  It is more than a lack of God’s Word in our daily lives that leads us to rejection of its application in our lives.  It is the lack of desire, hunger, and thirst for God’s Word that allows lies to replace the absolute truth found it in.  If ever there is a time to repent from this lack of desire and hunger it is now. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

8.x. I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

Revelation 22:12  “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Matthew 25:34  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We should never be so easily fooled by our culture and the lukewarm, complacent, and self-approving approach it seduces people to believe toward what it means to be a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came from heaven to redeem those He called and those who responded to this call with belief, repentance, faith, and trust He.  This call for repentance and turning away from sin also calls us into action, putting our faith into action, living for and to honor Jesus Christ in all that we do, think, and say.  Yet many stop at the call and accept deliverance but over time are seduced by the ways of this world and completely lose sight of Jesus Christ.  Their lives mimic what is approved by the culture they live in rather than by and through the Word of God.  If we are not in His word, then His word is not in us.  If His word is not in us how are we to know and do what is pleasing, honoring, and glorifying to Him.  We so easily accept what the world says it is rather than spend time in His word and let it speak into our life.  We do well to be in His word and seek to be led by Him, to be used by Him, and to do that which honors Him.

6.k. ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.”

Revelation 3:15    “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Matthew 24:12    And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Deuteronomy 5:29    Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Psalms 81:11-13     “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.  Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

1 Kings 18:21   And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

Do you ever stop to wonder what the Christians in Laodicea were like and how we compare to them?  What were their daily lives like?  How did they speak, think, and act?  What was their worship like?  Where did they place God in their lives?  What influence did culture have on how they reverenced God?  The big question that comes to my mind is how close are we to acting, living, thinking, and speaking like the Christians in Laodicea.  Notice how it says they prospered which led them to think they needed nothing.  They are called wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  They sought comfort, ease, and became content with their lives apart from God.  How many times do prosperity and ease lead people down paths apart from God?  For this very reason, you need to make every effort to live in fear, reverence, and thankfulness of the redeeming salvation through Jesus Christ.  We are to live as though we are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.  Sons and daughters who live to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust and obey their Father.  Sons and Daughters who never forget from that which they were saved.  Sons and daughters who remember and love Jesus Christ because they remember that which they have been forgiven.  Sons and daughters who live each day with Jesus Christ being first in their life.  Sons and daughters who deny self and live no longer being self-centered and self-reliant.

How do you compare to the Christians of Laodicea?  Are you living lukewarm?  Repent and intentionally choose to live each moment of every day honoring Jesus Christ.  What are you tolerating in your life that you shouldn’t?  What are you doing that you know you shouldn’t but you do because other Christians are doing it?  REPENT!!!!!!

193. Even a child makes himself known by his acts.

2 Kings 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Proverbs 20:11     Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.

1 Kings 11:38     And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Joshua 1:7     Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Ezekiel 18:14-17     “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise:  he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife,  does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment,  withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.

Being 8 years old and becoming a king that did what was right in the eyes of the Lord would mean you have some very dedicated and godly people around to guide and give you counsel.  Seeing how Manasseh reigned 55 years and did evil and his son Amon reigned 2 years and followed in his father’s same footsteps it is a wonder that young Josiah was able to come out against the adopted culture of his people.  Such is the way it is with people who choose to be open to God, choose to be used by God,  choose to listen for God to speak directly into their life, choose to follow His word, and choose to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

We can easily live how we choose to live here in the US.  We have a choice to live in such a way the glorifies and honors God, a way that follows and obeys Him, a way that listens and expects to be lead by God, a way that reflects the light of Jesus Christ to a dark world, and a way that demonstrates trust, faith, hope, and reliance in Jesus Christ.