Author: J.D.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

It is difficult for people to truly comprehend the gracious acts of our Lord Jesus Christ as he endured all matter of humiliating and painful actions at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. He had the power to stop the pain at any instant, but chose not to do so because of his love for us.

Without his self-minimizing actions there would be no hope for any person and all would be judged and destined to an eternity of separation from the Creator in Hell.

We can, therefore, be thankful to God that his immense love for us resulted in a perfect, yet costly, plan to retrieve us from our sins.

Glory be to God!

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

Joshua seemed to know that his people would fall away even though they had every reason to know and give thanks to the one true living God! And, indeed, throughout the Old Testament are numerous examples where they did exactly that.

Today we see many people in America falling away and clambering after other gods just like the Israelites and others have done. Commonly they are bowing to secular ideas that are founded on evolution, deep time, and humanism.

However, Christians are called to reject these and other similar ideas and, like Joshua, commit their households to serve the LORD.

He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. (Psalm 104:5)

Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth and it endures. (Psalm 119:90)

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. (Psalm 148:5-6)

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:3-4)

These verses tell us that the earth is destined for an eternal existence. Things will be transformed but not obliterated, as attested to by the following:

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13)

So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)

When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. (Genesis 4:12)

Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (1 John 3:12)

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks even though he is dead. ( Hebrews 11:4)

Likewise, those today who fail to take advantage of God’s gift in Christ Jesus are condemned to an eternity of separation from God.

These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn leaves, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 12-13)

He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. (Psalm 103:7)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:33)

There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12)

The concept clearly shown in these verses, and numerous others, is that although man is not on a par with God (far from it) God has chosen to give him enough information to know right from wrong. God’s way is right! All of history has shown that, without God’s Word, man cannot on his own tell right from wrong and more often than not choses wrong over right.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. (Hebrews 6:18)

And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:18-20)

According to these verses God thinks it was most important to have Christ take our sins to the cross so that we might have a living hope. Of course, the big component of that living hope is the promise of everlasting life that was foretold through the actions of “the firstborn from among the dead.”

And, Christ has done the part that is impossible for us. But do we have any responsibility because of the hope that we have? The apostle Peter thinks that we do as outlined in the verse that follows:

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

According to the Bible, it seems that every believer has the responsibility, at all times, to be prepared to provide a defense of his living hope whenever asked to do so.

For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9)

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death… (Colossians 1:21-22)

Dear friends, now we are children of God… (1 John 3:2)

According to the Bible, believers have many fantastic things to look forward to in heaven. But these verses tell us that our great eternal future is totally the result of our situation in Christ now! Amazing!

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

All of the silver and gold on earth would not be sufficient to redeem a single one of us from our sins!

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9)

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. (Romans 3:25)

We have been justified and saved, but only through faith in the blood.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 12:11)

And, Christ’s blood is also able to overcome the attacks of Satan, the wicked one.

Hallelujah!

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. (Mark 16:14)

The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert… (Psalm 95:8)

As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15)

God can harden the hearts of people and people can harden their own hearts as well. The result is not a good thing in either case. The question  is, how can believers avoid this?

We must be sure to follow God’s first commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? (Luke 12:20)

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:13-14)

In the parable from Luke, Jesus highlights the futility of the unbridled accumulation of material goods. We cannot take these things with us into the next life and everything belongs to God.

In Isaiah, we see that our tendencies to selfishness are exactly what caused Satan’s downfall. The “I, me, my” attitudes lead down a path to destruction and those who follow that path are fools indeed!