17.e. “But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride;”

John 17:32   Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

 Hebrews 4:15   For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

 Job 30:25    Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

 Psalms 119:136     My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.

 Isaiah 53:3   He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief

 Jeremiah 13:17     But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride;

 Luke 19:41    And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,

The grief and tears of Mary and Martha moved Jesus. God sees the tears of the grief-stricken and is moved with compassion.  Jesus sees our tears and is touched by our tears.  According to Trench, the sense of was troubled is “‘And troubled Himself.’ The phrase is remarkable: deliberately summoned up in Himself the feelings of indignation at the havoc wrought by the evil one, and of tenderness for the mourners.” It means that Jesus wasn’t so much sad at the scene surrounding the tomb of Lazarus. It’s more accurate to say that Jesus was angry. Jesus was angry and troubled at the destruction and power of the great enemy of humanity: death. Jesus would soon break the dominating power of death. “Jesus had humanity in its perfection, and humanity unadulterated is generous and sympathetic.” (Clarke) “He suffered all the innocent infirmities of our nature.” (Spurgeon)  

“Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Spurgeon put it like this; “these words were not helpful to anyone. Spurgeon noted that all this “what if” talking is vain, of no use. “Perhaps the bitterest griefs that men know come not from facts, but from things which might have been, as they imagine; that is to say, they dig wells of supposition, and drink the brackish waters of regret.” “Suppose that Jesus is willing to open the eyes of the blind, and does open them; is he therefore bound to raise this particular dead man? If he does not see fit to do so, does that prove that he has not the power? If he lets Lazarus die, is it proven therefore that he could not have saved his life? May there not be some other reason? Does Omnipotence always exert its power? Does it ever exert all its power?

14.s. “And they followed Jesus.”

John 1:35   The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

I really did not give much thought to “John was standing with two of his disciples” before.  I guess I just glanced over this and thought John was standing out in some body of water and telling people to repent and be baptized.  John the Baptist preached a message of repentance expressed in water baptism and bearing active fruit in one’s life in preparation for the appearing of the Messiah. Mark 1:4  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John was sent to call the people to urgent repentance in light of what God would soon bring about.  John had disciples who learned from him.  Acts 18:25 introduces us to a man named Apollos of whom it is said: “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John.”  While Apollos still needed further instruction and clarification in the faith, accounts like this make it clear that the core of the gospel was preached and taught by John.  When John saw Jesus walk by he said to the two disciples standing with him, “look, the Lamb of God”.  John preached repentance, confession, baptism, and the coming Messiah.  Even unto death, John called people high and low to turn their hearts and their lives from their sin unto God.  John preached warning people of the wrath to come.  Luk 3:7-10  He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”

Many times people were cut to their heart and asked “What then shall we do?”  From the warnings of the wrath of God to come, people made intentional choices to repent, confess, and be baptized.  Some of these men stayed on with John.  We see Andrew was one of the two and when he heard John say “behold the Lamb of God” they immediately followed Jesus.  Andrew did something else too, he first went and told his brother, Peter, “We have found the Messiah”.  To the heart that is seeking, Jesus will be seen. If the warning about the coming wrath of God is rejected the need for Jesus will never be seen as needed.  Sin is always at the door of our heart, knocking and trying to open the door to entice us to live for self, rely on self, and deny there is any need to change.  There is a yielding that allows this door to open just as there is a firm resistance to keep it closed.  It is an intentional choice and both become easier over time.  Yielding day after day to sin will harden the heart to the point where the door is wide open and wrong seems right and false seems true.  The intentional choice doesn’t even need to be made anymore because this way of life has become common, regular, and established.  Resisting day after day will keep the door firmly closed. The intentional choice to keep the door closed is made every waking moment.  God’s Word will strengthen the resistance and give power to the weak who intentionally choose to resist.  Sometimes we don’t even know what to resist until God’s Word reveals it to us.  That is the power of His Word.  Be mindful of your heart and bath it in God’s Word every day.

9.p. It was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption.

Amos 1:1   The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Amos, possibly the first of the writing prophets, was a shepherd and farmer called to prophesy during the reigns of Uzziah (792–740 b.c.) in the southern kingdom and Jeroboam II (793–753) in the north. During this time both kingdoms enjoyed political stability, which in turn brought prosperity. It was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption. The rich and powerful were oppressing the poor. Amos denounced the people of Israel for their apostasy and social injustice and warned them that disaster would fall upon them for breaking the covenant. He urged them to leave the hypocrisy of their “solemn assemblies” (5:21) and instead to “let justice roll down like waters” (v. 24). Nevertheless, said Amos, God would remember his covenant with Israel and would restore a faithful remnant.

Let’s see what God will say to us through Amos.  Let our ears be open and our hearts tender to His Word.  In three weeks or less, we will start to see the impact of Covid 19.  It will surely come in and through the US in separate waves, peaking state by state as it progresses day by day, week by week, and month by month.  Its effects will be seen and felt throughout our nation unless God alone puts an end to it.  As much as I want this to be wrong about the pending effects, how can it be wrong when it is certainly from the very hands of our sovereign God?  We do well to learn what it means to repent and return to God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.  Far too long, we have been complacent and neglectful of Him and His Word.  It is time for us to take our eyes off self, self-reliance, government reliance, and turn to God.  As a nation, we have tolerated pushing God out of honor, glory, praise, and worship due Him.  We have allowed ourselves to be drawn into false beliefs that we can live worldly lives and somehow think this is fully and humbly surrender to God with a whole heart, mind, and soul service to Him.  When in the past has all of the earth had so much technology and medical understanding?  Never and yet Covid 19 advances.  I fear we are looking for man to bring us out of this tragic global pandemic.  For sure God can give man understanding in and how to defeat it.  Yet when we give our reliance to man rather than the Author of all there is, we void ourselves of the help we need from God alone.

Seek and desire God’s intervention, repent and return to Him, and worship, praise and fully trust in Him alone.

8.v. “These words are trustworthy and true.”

Revelation 22:6  And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

Trustworthy and true – What is being said is deserving of our complete confidence. documents: (1) Jesus is returning one day – physically, visibly, in power and great glory; (2) we do not know the day or the hour of His return; (3) we should live in view of His imminent return; (4) when He comes, all people will know it; (5) Jesus will judge all people personally, rewarding believers according to their faithfulness and punishing unbelievers in varying degrees in hell; (6) He will create new heavens and a new earth, setting everything right; and (7) the glory of eternity with Christ will cause the “former things” of this world to fade away.

Phillips, Rob. The Searcher’s Guide to the Apocalypse:

8.t. But only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:22   And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

If there is a sad conclusion to John’s description of the city, it is to note that it will be denied to some.  Chapter 21 lists the kinds of people who will not enter the city, and verse 27 summarizes by saying “only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” will enter the city of God. It will be too late to try to enter for the first invitation to enter into the family of God was rejected.  The first invitation for redemption, salvation, forgiveness, and eternity with God was rejected in place for self-satisfying and passions for what the world has to offer.  The fact that God was able to soften our heart to hear this invitation should humble our hearts and awaken our soul to deny self and serve Him with our eyes focused on Jesus Christ all the days we have this side of eternity.

6.w. Surely there is a God who judges on earth.

Revelation 6:9   When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Deuteronomy 32:43    “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.”

Psalms 58:11   Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

When the 5th seal is opened John sees these martyrs and hears their cry “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”  These have been martyred for witnessing and living for Jesus Christ. These are those who believed in and proclaimed the gospel after the removal (rapture) of believers prior to the opening of the seals.  Standing firm to the end is not a way to be saved but the evidence that a person is really committed to Jesus. Persistence is not a means to earn salvation; it is the by-product of a truly devoted life. Times and trials serve to sift true Christians from false or fair-weather Christians. When you are pressured to give up and turn your back on Christ, don’t do it. Remember the benefits of standing firm, and continue to live for Christ.

Remember these martyrs have been told to wait until the full number of those who will be killed for their belief in Jesus Christ is complete.  When I give just a small amount of thought to this I am ashamed for what I think is a trial in my life.  I am ashamed of the times I think the trials I face are “BIG” for the trials I have faced surely have not ended in death for believing in Jesus Christ – the ultimate test of faith.

Make sure you stay rooted in God

Exodus 14:31  Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 4:31     And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

2 Chronicles 20:20     And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”

Psalms 106:12-13    Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.  But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

Luke 8:13   And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.

Is it true?  Can a person get to a place where they have seen and tasted the awesome power of God and then fall away?  Can it happen to anyone?  How are we to recognize it happening?

Yes it can happen and no one is immune to times of testing that come this side of eternity.  The culture we live in, the people we listen to, the places where we spend time, the things we read,  all have the possibility of pecking away at our beliefs.  They can dilute our walk to a complacent neglect of  God and how we think, act and speak.  We need to take care and be ever discerning of what it means to not just believe but rather to continually grow in our reverence, understanding, knowledge, service, and obedience to God.  Take a quick inventory of what is occupying your time for a day, week, month. Was your actions and thoughts keeping God present in what you were doing?

Spend time each day in His word.  Live each moment with thoughts of how to honor and glorify Him.  Seek to hear His whispers of guidance and purpose in your heart, mind, and soul to not only listen but truly obey.

What is in your heart

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?”

“remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Psalms 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

Psalms 105:5     Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,

Psalms 106:7     Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Psalms 106:21     They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

Deuteronomy 8:2-4     And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

Deuteronomy 8:10-14     And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.  “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,  lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,  and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

Deuteronomy 32:6     Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

2 Chronicles 32:25    But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 63:7    I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Jeremiah 2:31-32     And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Luke 17:15-18     Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;  and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?  Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

 

David said, “remember” and “forget not, the benefits and mighty works of God” .

Moses said, “take care lest you forget”, and “is this how you repay the Lord for all of His benefits?”  ” “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,  lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,  and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God,

Once again it is recorded another way in Jeremiah, “Yet my people have forgotten me days without number

We all need reminders.  Remember to humbly serve, praise, honor, follow, and obey God.  Do not forget His grace and mercy in your time of plenty.  Do not forget His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Do not forget to seek and desire His whispers of guidance into your heart and soul.  Do not lean on your own understanding.  Open the door to your heart and soul wide open to His plans and purpose for your life.  Yes we all need reminders of encouragement to the steadfast awesome power, might, and love of God.

Pay Attention

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

” let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

Psalms 56:5  All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

Job 16:20   My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,

Matthew 22:15   Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words

Luke 11:54   lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Jeremiah 18:18   Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

Luke 22:3  Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.  He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Isaiah 63:9   In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Hebrews 11:13   These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Malachi 3:16   Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.

Psalms 126:5  Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Revelation 7:17    For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

It is obvious there are those who seek God and those who do not.  For those who do not, they have closed their ears, eyes, heart, soul and mind.  they have closed all of these to His creation, His word, and what He has placed within our heart about Him.  Their heart and mind have hardened to the point of not only rejecting God’s call but to reject, mock, and cause issue with those who walk by faith in the one true God.  In Romans it says that they have chosen to reject God because He has made it clear to them through creation and by placing initial knowledge of Himself in their heart and mind.  Romans continues to say that because they have rejected Him, He has given them over to this debase and eternally harmful mindset.  For those who have chosen to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey there is another course/path for their lives.  God is ever present in their heart, mind, and soul.  They know there is more to life than what is experienced this side of eternity.  They hold on to that which is promised – not seen. They come to God with their heart cry and know He is their strength, rock, refuge, joy, peace, and place of rest.  They live this side of eternity with hope and expectation of eternity promised with God.  Keep strong, stand firm, seek God, and CHOOSE to keep your heart, mind and soul focused in this life on Him.  Do not allow your heart and mind to be pulled away by things of this world and culture.  Do not get so busy that you lose sight of God and eternity.  Do not neglect His word.  Keep your life in check with His word.