Wrath – Praying Pint

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

1 John 5:11-13    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 3:36     Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 5:24   Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:47    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

John 8:51    Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 11:26    and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Mark 16:16    Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

1 Peter 1:21   who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

John 10:27-30   My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9     For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 John 3:14    We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Ephesians 2:5     even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

The second we were born we were given a “death sentence”. Seems harsh, doesn’t it? Some may be born and live 70 to 100 years. Others are much shorter. However, the fact remains that every last one of us will die. We will experience death. Our time on this side of eternity will stop. All of the pleasures, trials, blessings, troubles, love, anger, joy, hate, worry, fear, peace, hope, etc…… on earth will cease for us. We do not know the day or time of our death but it is as sure as the sun rising and setting. We don’t give much thought to our death, but we sure give much thought to our living.

We try to prolong life and delay death without giving much thought to death. It seems as though it is something that happens to others and not so much to us, when in fact, it will. We don’t know when our time will be over. And yet it will happen.

When we don’t give thought to death and what is on the other side of it, our lives become full of only what this world has to offer us. temporal things, things that will decay, things that give us short-lived satisfaction, and they are all left behind when we die.

There is a spiritual side to every single person born just as there is a fleshly side. We tend to the flesh but give little thought to the spiritual. Think about it, how much of your time any given day is given toward God and eternity compared to things of this world.

Scripture tells us that though our flesh dies our spirit lives forever. It also reveals that there are two destinations to which our spirit will arrive. Eternal life in heaven with God or eternal total separation from God in hell. How important then is it to give time to thinking about the eternal over what is temporal? How important is it to give thought to eternal life in heaven and eternal separation in hell?

Scripture says – Death

Romans 5:12     Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Hebrews 9:27. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

Job 14:5    Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

Job 30:23     For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

Psalms 89:48     What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

Ecclesiastes 3:20    All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 9:5     For the living know that they will die

Ecclesiastes 12:7   and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Scripture says – Judgment

Ecclesiastes 11:9    Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Ecclesiastes 12:14     For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Matthew 25:31-34     “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  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.

41  “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.

2 Timothy 4:1     I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead

Romans 2:5   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Romans 14:12   So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

2 Corinthians 5:10    For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Jude 1:15    to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Scripture says – Life

Jhn 3:16    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:15-16    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

John 3:36    Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 5:24     Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 20:31    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.

Romans 5:21     so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23     For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:11-12    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

“Enter through the narrow gate”

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Ephesians 2:2-3    in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Psalms 14:2-3     The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Isaiah 1:9     If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.

Jesus did not speak of this gate as our destiny, but as the entrance to a path. There is a right way and a wrong way, and Jesus appealed to His listeners to decide to go the more difficult way, which leads to life. He understood and taught that not all ways and not all destinations are equally good. One leads to destruction, the other to life. The true gate is both narrow and difficult. If your road has a gate that is easy and well-traveled, you do well to watch out. (Guzik)

Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in the same case and circumstances with those we have to do with, and act accordingly. There are but two ways right and wrong, good and evil; the way to heaven and the way to hell; in the one or other of these all are walking: there is no middle place hereafter, no middle way now. All the children of men are saints or sinners, godly or ungodly. See concerning the way of sin and sinners, that the gate is wide, and stands open. You may go in at this gate with all your lusts about you; it gives no check to appetites or passions. It is a broad way; there are many paths in it; there is choice of sinful ways. There is a large company in this way. But what profit is there in being willing to go to hell with others, because they will not go to heaven with us? The way to eternal life is narrow. We are not in heaven as soon as we are got through the strait gate. Self must be denied, the body kept under, and corruptions mortified. Daily temptations must be resisted; duties must be done. We must watch in all things, and walk with care; and we must go through much tribulation. And yet this way should invite us all; it leads to life: to present comfort in the favour of God, which is the life of the soul; to eternal bliss, the hope of which at the end of our way, should make all the difficulties of the road easy to us. This plain declaration of Christ has been disregarded by many who have taken pains to explain it away; but in all ages the real disciple of Christ has been looked on as a singular, unfashionable character; and all that have sided with the greater number, have gone on in the broad road to destruction. If we would serve God, we must be firm in our religion. Can we often hear of the strait gate and the narrow way, and how few there are that find it, without being in pain for ourselves, or considering whether we are entered on the narrow way, and what progress we are making in it? (Henry)

For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction; so that the one may be easily known from the other. There is no difficulty in finding out, or entering in at, or walking in the way of sin, which leads to eternal ruin. The gate of carnal lusts, and worldly pleasures, stands wide open,

and many there be which go in thereat; even all men in a state of nature; the way of the ungodly is “broad”, smooth, easy, and every way agreeable to the flesh; it takes in a large compass of vices, and has in it abundance of company; but its end is destruction.(Gill)

50.p. Wilderness – 14.v. “Stubbornness of this people”

Deu 9:22-29 “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

The name Taberah means “burning,” and in Numbers 11, when the people of Israel first left Mount Sinai to head towards Kadesh Barnea and the Promised Land, they immediately complained, and God sent fires of judgment against them at a place they called Taberah because of the burning fires of God’s judgment.

Exodus 17:7 describes the naming of a place called Massah, which means “tempted,” because there Israel provoked the LORD by doubting His loving care and concern for them in the wilderness.

Kibroth Hattaavah: The name means “graves of craving” and was the place where Israel longed for meat instead of manna, and God gave them meat. However, it became plagued in the mouths of those with greedy and discontent hearts .

When the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea: Moses briefly remembered the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, where Israel doubted God’s love for them and refused to enter the Promised Land by faith – rebelling against the LORD. Israel’s disobedience to God began with their unbelief. They did not believe God loved them and was mighty enough to bring them into the Promised Land. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to them. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to the patriarchs. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of concern for the glory of God’s own name and His reputation among the nations. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because they were God’s people.

Keeping these things in mind is also a way to refine our prayers. When we pray only for the things consistent with God’s glory, will we have our hearts set on the right things. (Guzik)

And it was not on this occasion only, viz., at Horeb, that Israel aroused the anger of the Lord its God by its sin, but it did so again and again at other places: at Tabeerah, by discontent at the guidance of God (Numbers 11:1-3); at Massah, by murmuring on account of the want of water (Exodus 17:1.); at the graves of lust, by longing for flesh (Numbers 11:4.); and at Kadesh-barnea by unbelief, of which they had already been reminded at Deuteronomy 1:26. The list is not arranged chronologically, but advances gradually from the smaller to the more serious forms of guilt. For Moses was seeking to sharpen the consciences of the people, and to impress upon them the fact that they had been rebellious against the Lord (see at Deuteronomy 9:7) from the very beginning, “from the day that I knew you.” (Keil)

50.m. Wilderness – 14.s. “Remember and do not forget”

Deu 9:7-8 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

In order to destroy the opinion which the Israelites had of their own righteousness, it was necessary to call to mind some of their most notorious provocations and rebellions, which Moses exhorts them to preserve in their mind, as a means to keep them humble.

Sin, there is none so rational and efficacious as to confute and baffle those motives by which men are induced to embrace it; and among all such motives, the heart of man seems to be chiefly overpowered and prevailed upon by two, secrecy in committing sin, and impunity with respect to its consequences. God is not impressed by human wisdom; He is not impressed by power; He is not impressed by wealth. Instead, by choosing the humble, God has turned the wisdom of this world upside down.

A God who exists but does not matter, who does not make a difference in the way you live, might as well not exist.” Why should we question God when He allows adversity in our lives? Both good things and adversity are tools God uses to accomplish His purpose in our lives. And God has so constructed His plan for our lives that we cannot understand it apart from Him.

This applies to any environment where a believer allows the world to influence their thinking above the influence of God’s Word and His Spirit. When believers are being conformed to this world and are not being transformed by the renewing of their mind, they join with unbelievers in an ungodly way. Most Christians are far too undiscerning about the things they allow to influence their thinking and actions.

49.t. Wilderness – 13.z. “I speak in your hearing today”

Deu 5:1-5 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.

Psalms 106:23 Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Moses demands attention. When we hear the word of God we must learn it; and what we have learned we must put in practice, for that is the end of hearing and learning; not to fill our heads with notions, or our mouths with talk, but to direct our affections and conduct. (Henry)

Israel was bound to the covenant they agreed to in Exodus 24:1-8, yet the covenant was made with the previous generation which perished in the wilderness. The present generation had to understand and embrace the covenant if they were to enjoy the blessings of the covenant. In fact, the covenant was originally made with the previous generation, and Moses did not deny this. But he drove the point home: This was their covenant; it is a covenant of the living, not of the dead. (Guzik)

“Hear, learn, and do them”. How many hear but never learn? How many learn but do not apply? The Bible is full of examples of those that did not and of those that did. Those who did not listen and learn were rejected and punished by God. God blessed those that did. These examples were given so that by them we would intentionally choose to believe, trust, follow, obey, and be reliant upon God. When it comes to learning there must be a desire or experience that roots this information in our minds. Without a desire to learn and grow in knowledge and understanding of the Word of God and the Things of God, there will be no learning or application in our lives. How often are we given the example of “Their hearts were like stone and their ears were deaf and there was no love for God or obedience to His Word? He sent angels, prophets, and finally His Son, and yet people still reject, deny, and turn away from God and the Things of God.

Unless there is a desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions, our hearing will dull to the Word of God. The application will be nothing more than doing what is right in our own eyes. We are often looking for and expecting God’s blessings, but give no thought to obedience because we lack a foundational desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. David’s desire should inspire us to be like-minded; Search me and know me, see if there is anything within my heart and mind that is offensive to You, and lead me on paths that honor and glorify You.

45.t. “Wilderness” – 9.z. “Unauthorized fire before the LORD”

Numbers 3:1-4 These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

Lev 10:1-7 – 1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace. 4 Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.” 5 So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. 6 And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled. 7 “You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD [is] upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

What was their sin in thus offering it? Plainly, the narrative points to the essence of the crime in calling it ‘fire which He had not commanded.’ So this was their crime, that they were tampering with the appointed order which but a week before they had been consecrated to conserve and administer; that they were thus thrusting in self-will and personal caprice, as of equal authority with the divine commandment; that they were arrogating the right to cut and carve God’s appointments, as the whim or excitement of the moment dictated; and that they were doing their best to obliterate the distinction on the preservation of which religion, morality, and the national existence depended; namely, the distinction between holy and common, clean and unclean. To plough that distinction deep into the national consciousness was no small part of the purpose of the law; and here were two of its appointed witnesses disregarding it, and flying in its face. They have had many successors, not only in Israel, while a ritual demanding punctilious conformity lasted, but in Christendom since. Alas! our censers are often flaming with ‘strange fire.’ How much so-called Christian worship glows with self-will or with partisan zeal! When we seek to worship God for what we can get, when we rush into His presence with hot, eager desires which we have not subordinated to His will, we are burning ‘strange fire which He has not commanded.’ The only fire which should kindle the incense in our censers, and send it up to heaven in fragrant wreaths, is fire caught from the altar of sacrifice. God must kindle the flame in our hearts if we are to render these else cold hearts to Him. (MacLaren)

This may be an emblem of dissembled love, when a man performs religious duties, prays to God, or praises him without any cordial affection to him, or obeys commands not from love, but selfish views; or of an ignorant, false, and misguided zeal, a zeal not according to knowledge, superstitious and hypocritical; or of false and strange doctrines, such as are not of God, nor agree with the voice of Christ, and are foreign to the Scriptures; or of human ordinances, and the inventions of men, and of everything that man brings of his own, in order to obtain eternal life and salvation. (Gill)

Hearing and reading God’s Word must come into willing, obedient, and reliant hearts. If not we will have worldly desires of what is right and wrong and try to mix the Word of God with that which is not ordained by God, nor does it give Honor and Glory to Him. The Word of God has little benefit in a disobedient heart that is set on its own desires and paths in life. Without a desire to be led by God for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Him our hearts and minds become dull and our ears deaf and our hearts like stone. It is easy to spot and identify the first steps away from God that lead to such lukewarm commitment – Neglect and Complacency. The loss of desire to honor and glorify God is always preceded by a lacking desire to honor and glorify Him in all thoughts, words, and actions, which is closely followed by neglect of His Word. We might live content with our place in life but we should never be content with our growth, maturity, and service to God.

44.p. “Wilderness” – 8.v. “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people”

Exodus 32:11-14  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Deuteronomy 9:18-20    Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger.  For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

Psalms 106:23   Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them

Deuteronomy 9:26-29    And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

In his prayer, Moses first gave the people back to God. “LORD, they belong to You and not to me. Moses then appealed to God on the basis of grace. “LORD, we didn’t deserve to be brought out of Egypt to begin with. You did it by Your grace, not because we deserved it. Please don’t stop dealing with us by grace.” Moses next appealed to God on the basis of glory. “LORD, this will bring discredit to You in the eyes of the nations. The Egyptians will think of You as a cruel God who led your people out to the desert to kill them. Don’t let anyone think that of You, God.” Finally, Moses appealed to God on the basis of His goodness. “LORD, keep Your promises. You are a good God who is always faithful. Don’t break Your promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” “Undoubtedly Moses was filled with compassion for the people, but his chief concern was for the honor of the name of God.” (Guzik)

Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people? so as to think or speak of consuming them utterly; otherwise he knew there was reason for his being angry and wroth with them; but though they were deserving of his hot wrath and displeasure, and even to be dealt with in the manner proposed, yet he entreats he would consider they were his people; his special people, whom he had chose above all people, and had redeemed them from the house of bondage, had given them laws, and made a covenant with them, and many promises unto them, and therefore hoped he would not consume them in his hot displeasure; God had called them the people of Moses, and Moses retorts it, and calls them the people of God, and makes use of their relation to him as an argument with him in their favour; (Gill)

Do you ever wonder how often we may have displeased God with our actions? Do you ever think about how many times Jesus Christ, sitting at the Right hand of God, has interceded on our behalf? How many minutes and hours go by every day without a thought about Jesus Christ, God’s Word, and things of God? We live free from the guilt of sin because of the substitutional death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are not set free to live as we will or according to this world’s pleasure. We are to live in such a way that in all we think, say, and do, Jesus Christ is honored and glorified.

44.o. “Wilderness” – 8.u. “Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.”

Exodus 32:8-10  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

Exodus 20:23    You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

Deuteronomy 9:16  And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

Judges 2:17   Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

Proverbs 29:1    He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Zechariah 7:11-12     But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.  They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

Psalms 78:8    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Quickly after the law was given to them, and they had promised to obey it; quickly after God had done such great things for them, and declared his kind intentions to do greater. Untractable, willful, and stubborn; unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse from all good, prone to all evil, incorrigible by judgments, and obstinate to all the methods of cure. (Benson)

How easy is it to fall away from intentional obedience to God and things of God? How easy is it to keep that unholy thought just a few more seconds in your mind? How easy is it to be tempted by things and thoughts of this world and what it establishes as important? How easy is it to not eat or drink from His Word? How easy is it to be influenced by things in this world?

Take time and think about your past week and how much time was spent between worldly and Godly pursuits. There is no time like right now to affirm a new intentional choice to spend more time studying and meditating (thinking) about things of God, holiness, and the sinfulness of sin.

43.e. “Wilderness” – 7.l. Sinai – “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”

Exodus 20:16  “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Leviticus 19:16    You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

Psalms 101:5-7    Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.  I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.  No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes

Proverbs 10:18   The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.

Proverbs 11:13   Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

Ephesians 4:31    Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

James 4:11    Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.

In an extended sense, we can break the ninth commandment through slander, tale bearing, creating false impressions, by silence, by questioning the motives behind someone’s actions, or even by flattery. The New Testament puts it simply. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds. Lying and false representations belong to the old man, not to the new life we have in Jesus. Satan is always there to encourage a lie, he is the father of all lies. (Guzik)

The ninth commandment concerns our own and our neighbour’s good name. This forbids speaking falsely on any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising or designing to deceive our neighbour. Speaking unjustly against our neighbour, to hurt his reputation. Bearing false witness against him, or in common conversation slandering, backbiting, and tale-bearing; making what is done amiss, worse than it is, and in any way endeavouring to raise our reputation upon the ruin of our neighbour’s. How much this command is every day broken among persons of all ranks! (Henry)

Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Neither publicly in a court of judicature, by laying things to his charge that are false, and swearing to them, to his hurt and damage; nor privately, by whispering, tale bearing, backbiting, slandering, by telling lies of him, traducing his character by innuendos, sly insinuations, and evil suggestions, whereby he may suffer in his character, credit, and reputation, and in his trade and business. (Gill)

We may think it is far from us to bear false witness against another, but surely our society looks favorably upon it. Look at social and news media outlets. A good journalist can easily destroy the life of any person with both their mouth and pen. Day after day you read it and hear it and even expect it. It almost becomes so natural that it seems right and ok to do. There is nothing subtle about it. Twisting words and actions of others to fit a narrative and opinion is common. It is still wrong. It is equally bad to tell a lie by calling it the truth or tell a truth and have it called a lie about a person. Both are false and designed to harm someone in character or financially or both. As Christians, we see it wrong and doubt this type of sander and falseness would come from our mouths.

Repeating gossip is a form of false witness. How many divisions in our churches have evolved because of this type of behavior? Did you hear……..? I think we should pray for ……… I just heard. Did you know that ……. cheats on his wife? Did you know that our pastor did……..? I heard that……. get’s drunk every night. And the list goes on and on. Soon the reputation and character of that person is destroyed. Unless we might get too comfortable and say we do not do this at church or with church members, can it be said about us that we don’t do it at our place of employment? Do we cause harm to our witness and to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ because we allow ourselves to be caught up in social norms?

Will what I say honor and glorify Jesus Christ? Should I repeat what I have heard? Discernment is a gift from God. Oh, that we would seek all we read and hear through the filter of God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Don’t become blind to the ease at which our culture and society have approved bearing false witness in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts. Pray that God would lead you in proper discernment, speech, and deeds that Honor and Glorify Jesus Christ.

When we intentionally choose and commit to honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do our discernment and control of our thoughts, tongues, and actions will follow.

39.r. “The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.”

Genesis 49:5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Psalms 26:9    Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

Psalms 64:2    Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,

2 Corinthians 6:14    Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Proverbs 1:15-16   my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,  for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

Proverbs 12:5    The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Our soul is our honor; by its powers we are distinguished from, and raised above, the beasts that perish. We ought, from our hearts, to abhor all bloody and mischievous men. Cursed be their anger. (Henry)

Simeon and Levi are brothers,…. Not because they were so in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother’s side, for there were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners (f), bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the evils predicted of them, instruments of cruelty. (Gill)

Being in agreement with someone and joining together in an act does not necessarily make that act right, good, or just. It may make us think it is, but that will never make it so. Being angered at an act of another person(s) will surely come to us at some point in our lives, whether it be an act against us, our family, our friends, our community, or our nation. For some reason, anger is a part of our nature, and rightly so. Having the ability to recognize right and wrong, good and bad, just and injustice, and have either indignation or pleasure from it seems to be within our nature. How we treat this recognition in light of our knowledge and application of God’s Word is the difference between that which brings honor and glory to Jesus Christ or not.

By faith, trust, and reliance on God and His promises we can choose to lay the burden of our hearts about wrongs, injustice, and other sinful actions of others at His feet. Why???

Beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God
Vengeance is mine; I will repay
Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all
Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
“O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.
Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
the Lord will repay him according to his deeds
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
the Lord is an avenger in all these things

I think it is good that we can see wrongs and feel indignation and anger. This means we have the ability to know the difference. However, some people may be angered by good. The civil war is an example of two groups of people who saw the same thing, one calling it wrong and one calling it good. When we look at abortion there are those who call killing unborn babies good and those who call it bad. The same can be said about pornography, sex trafficking, LGBTQ, looting and burning businesses in an outcry of retaliation, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, etc…. Let us know that it is from the heart that seeks and desires to honor and glorify Jesus Christ that a person will discern what is right, true, just, and good. Praise God that we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us unto truth in all matters. Praise God that we have been given discernment. Praise God that we have been given His promises of handling all wrongs, injustices, and cruelty. Praise God who gives us promises that allow us to lay these at His feet and know, in His Holiness and in His time they will be justly handled. Praise God we can rest and have peace when all around us are in fear and anger. Praise God and rejoice for He is God and in Him, we have hope for today and assurance for tomorrow.