Living in This World of Sin

 A Living Faith in Trials and Temptations

Book of James Chapter 1

We know that this James was the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

Mat 13:55  Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 

Mar 6:3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 

It was this James who was one of eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord.

1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 

It was this James who became the Pastor of the first Christian Church after Peter had to flee for his life, which was in Jerusalem.

This is also when Peter started a mission for Jesus Christ.

Act 12:16  But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. 

Act 12:17  But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place. 

It seems it was this James that took over for Peter who actually began this first church of Christianity.

It was this James who was the presiding officer of the first Jerusalem Counsel.

Act 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 

Act 15:14  Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 

It was this James who was named one of the pillars of the early Church.

Gal 1:19  But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. 

Gal 2:9  And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

We can see that the half-brother of our Lord was held to a high standard to be mentioned along with Peter and John.

We know that this James was well versed in the Old Testament.

We know that this James knew how to apply the Old Testament to the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that this James was really familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, because he has included much of it in this first Book of the New Testament named after him.

We can trust this Book of James to be written under the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit!

This Book was written to the Christians who were scattered because of the persecution of the Jews.

*****Jas 1:1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 

Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 

We can imagine it took a lot of faith for a brother to confess that his brother was actually the Messiah and the Creator of this Universe.

That faith came when he saw his brother, the Lord Jesus Christ after his death, as He was resurrected from the grave, because the grave could not hold Him because death could not hold Him!

No doubt James was proud to say he was a servant to his half-brother Jesus because he did so.

We know that Moses was a slave to God, along with Joshua, and David, and Paul, and Jude, and all the Apostles and this James along with all the Prophets and now each of us who believe the truth and are all called Christians.

James had a calling to reach out to all Christians.

God used this letter so James could remain with the early Church when Peter had to flee from Herod and begin his own mission to reach the lost.

We should understand that it is not always easy to be a Christian in this world and it has been that way since the beginning of the Church.

We should expect trials and temptations and prepare for them because they will surely come!

When we think about having joy in these things, it first seems ridiculous, but in truth, life is not an easy walk for most people to begin with.

We should also understand that temptation also means to test, to try, and to prove, so we can have a better understanding of it.

When we conquer temptation and the trials of life, we become a much purer person, more holy, more righteous and more just.

We become a stronger person and become ready to be that servant the Lord can use.

The more we conquer these things, the more we become like the Lord Jesus Christ which must be our goal after salvation!

Remember the Lord Jesus told us take up our own cross and follow Him. That cross is a sign of death.

Mar_8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Then the Lord teaches us:

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Joy is not one of the things we feel while we are going through these things.

But Joy is the attitude that is needed.

The Lord is saying that when we look back on the things that have made us more Christian, we will find that some of our reactions were indeed laughable.

In reality, we should have joy in the fact that the world sees us as a Christian.

One of the greatest rewards we can receive upon this earth is patience!

We should understand that the Lord did not send us temptations nor trials in this life, but He will chasten us for our sin.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

Will the Lord test our faith? We can be certain that He will!

An untested faith is a faith that may not exist.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

The Lord is seeking to improve our endurance to all these things.

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 

Notice the Lord says, if it gets too bad in some areas, we may have to flee, but we can be assured that the Lord is coming back to get those who have not already gone home to Heaven.

This is called the rapture of the Church.

In all things we must allow patience to be our rule in this life!

*****Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 

We should understand that if we truly want to become a citizen of Heaven, we must not refuse to enter the school of suffering which the Lord Jesus Himself has established here on earth!

When we look at these things as opportunities to get the blessings of the Lord, then we will see that we can have joy as we go through them.

When we can conquer our trials and temptations and get stronger, then we have fulfilled the purpose that God sent them.

We can see how these words become real in this day we are living.

Listen to the Lord Jesus:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

God's purpose for us is to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

We cannot say we are Christian if we are not becoming more like Jesus. Do not let this world fool you! 

The more like Jesus that we become the more this world will hate us, because this world hates the Lord Jesus Christ!

If we stand firm in our faith in Christ, then we have conquered death just as He conquered death!

This is when the Lord opens the windows of Heaven and pours out more blessings than we can absorb while we are upon this earth.

We will have an eternity of perfection.

We will have an eternity of fitness, of completion, and fulfillment and all these things throughout eternity and that mansion will not be a bad thing either.

My pastor once preached that some of the people left behind might be injured for all those false teeth, those old joints that have been replaced with steel, all those glasses we need on this earth, all those braces, and crutches and any other thing that was placed in our bodies while we were living on this earth as they fall down as we are going up.

It will be the strangest rain they have ever seen!

We will lack nothing.

We will want for nothing.

We will have the abundance and the fullness of this life, but it cannot compare to those days of eternity in God's Heaven in His House!

We cannot reach this fullness of life if we lack the wisdom of the Lord!

*****Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 

We will not be able to conquer anything in this life without the wisdom of the Lord!

Wisdom means far more than knowledge.

Wisdom is far more than just being intellectual about life of some area of this life.

Many people in this world have much knowledge; they are very common.

Many knowledgeable people fail trials and temptations because all that knowledge did not help them.

Only wisdom can grasp the great truths of life.

Scientists of today when they do not understand life they just add another billion years or so to it.

They may have knowledge, but they lack wisdom and they certainly lack understanding in the truth of God, at least most of them do!

Wisdom is seeing and knowing what to do about life!

Wisdom grasps the great truth of life without having to make up some false idea about life.

Wisdom sees the trials and temptations that surround life and death, the Lord and mankind, time, and eternity, good and evil, the deep things of the universe and the reality of the Lord our Creator.

Wisdom not only understands these things but wisdom knows what to do with these things!

Wisdom gains victory over all these things!

Psa_111:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Pro_2:6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Pro_3:19  The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

The Lord is willing to share all His wisdom with us, but it can be too much for us, so he shares it a little at a time.

Asking wisdom of God is the way to conquer our trials and temptations and the Lord will always, will always, provide a means to escape.

God will never scold us for not knowing how to handle some trial or some temptation!

We must understand there is no question that the Lord cannot answer.

We must also understand if we cannot believe that the Lord has those answers we dearly need, then He will not provide that answer.

*****Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 

If we are making a cake, then flour would be a necessary ingredient.

If we are making sweet tea, then sugar would be a necessary ingredient.

If we are praying to the Lord our Father in Heaven, then "faith" is a necessary ingredient.

Not just any faith, but faith in His ability to answer our prayers.

How can we ask in Christ's name, which is another ingredient, if we do not believe the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Joh 16:23  And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 

There will be no answer for those who are not true believers!

Joh 9:31  Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 

The things we ask for must be an object of our faith!

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 

1Jn 5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

That word wavering means being in doubt.

How can anyone who rejects the truth of the Lord even think that our Father in Heaven would even consider answering their prayers when He has said He will not?

No matter how great the storms of life are to the unbeliever, they do not bother our Savior.

Mat 8:24  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 

He was asleep, because these twelve men had no faith and the things of this world, no matter how severe they seem to be they do not bother the Lord!

Those that pray without faith, how can they expect their prayers to be heard?

Those that reject the Lord, how can they expect to go to Heaven?

Prayer is the greatest gift the Lord gives to believers after the gift of salvation that comes by faith and faith only!

*****Jas 1:7  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 

Jas 1:8  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. 

Unbelieving prayer is useless.

Though they may receive something it did not come from the Lord and they certainly have no right to blame the Lord either way.

They cannot expect anything more because they are not under the assurance of God's promises as is the believer.

Now the believer may not receive an answer they expected, but the Lord will listen to their prayers and His answer will be what is best for them.

God will never reward doubt!

God cannot answer the prayer of a doubting person because if He did, He would be rewarding doubt.

We must believe that God is who He says He is!

God will not hear nor can He answer any person who wavers in his faith!

Those who waver in their faith do not know the value of the gifts of God and cannot receive those gifts!

Those who waver in their faith are unstable in all their ways.

We cannot live our lives up and down, or back and forth and say we belong to the Lord, because we are not sure of anything.

We cannot be unstable in our Christian life and still insist we are living in the will of God. It is not God's will that we live in such a way!

This is the very reason so many saved people receive so little from the Lord.

Some have enough faith to be saved, but they remain babes in Christ all their days, never taking that next step of being Christian, a servant of the Lord trying to be like Him.

We must understand that the fruits of our prayers are received from the nail scared hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the middle person by whom God conveys His blessings!

Our strength comes from our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

*****Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 

We must understand that we will face the temptations of Satan, the Devil.

We must also understand that we will face the temptations of those who are lost in this world, our fellow human beings who are the children of the Devil whether they recognize it or not.

We must also understand that we will be tempted by the actions of those of this world that is so full of sin!

The Lord expects us to endure temptation no matter who we are.

It is true that sometimes, the strongest among us fail because they felt like they could not fail.

We must rejoice in the Lord no matter our circumstances!

Even the lowest Christian on the face of this earth will be exalted as a king and prince when the Lord returns.

No one has rank in God's New Heaven except the Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowing this, then if we are poor in this life we can think of ourselves as kings when the Lord returns.

All kings live in mansions and the Lord is building us all a mansion.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

We must never accuse the Lord of things that He cannot do!

We must never think our temptations come from the Lord!

*****Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 

So, where does temptation come from if not from God?

Because we still have that sin nature, sometimes the desire and the craving for things upon this earth are almost unbearable.

This is what temptation is: the desire and the craving for wrong things, things that the Lord forbids, and are harmful to our bodies, and to our spirits.

Just because some man justifies it, and says that it is acceptable, does it make these things right for us.

Such as alcohol, the Lord will never approve the drinking of any alcoholic beverage!

Pro 23:31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 

Pro 23:32  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 

Certainly if we are not to look upon alcohol, then we should not be drinking it!

It does not matter that some religions allow the consumption of alcohol when the Lord says no to partake of it. They are wrong!

In this case the Holy Spirit uses wine and He says to not even look upon it.

We must not take into our bodies anything that dulls our senses and lowers our moral tone.

We must not yield to the temptation of anything that influences us to go against the Word of God!

God will never tempt us to go against Him!

We always want to blame someone else for our failures, but our failures are our own and we are the blame for all of them.

*****Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Jas 1:16  Do not err, my beloved brethren. 

While we are in these bodies with that sin nature that we cannot avoid, evil thoughts and immoral desires will rule our lives if we allow them to.

These things will lure us into sin!

Even the unbeliever cannot use other excuses for rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is their decision to make and their opportunity to miss.

God cannot ever induce anyone to act against His will.

God will never go against anything He causes to be written down for us.

There is never a modern Gospel and there never will be a more modern Gospel than we have now. God never changes!

The Word of God is a Living Word that is real and is the truth, in all ages.

We must understand that some of our desires can be a sin, even if we do not act upon them!

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 

When we face temptation from the normal and natural desires of man or woman, and think we cannot turn away from them, then these things become sin.

There is no person who is not a man or a women based upon the sex with which they were born.

Those that desire to be someone of the opposite sex is living in sin just as much as any of those desires that goes against the Word of God.

We cannot desire to do what sinners do and still say we are the children of God!

We are never to given in to our desires if they go against the Word of God!

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

We must understand that it is the intention of the Word of God to be our guide in living the way that God has decided what is best for us, because we prove over and over again that we do not make good decisions based upon the rules of this world.

*****Jas 1:21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 

The Lord Jesus does not see us as wise unless we are keeping the Word of God!

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Our house is this body we have been given, and it is this house we are to build upon with that Rock of Jesus Christ!

We must understand that just because we sit in God's house and listen to that sermon God gave to our pastor, that these things make us acceptable to Him.

It is not these things that make us safe and secure!

When we slip into some sin, we must not believe that God will forgive us just because we ask this of Him.

We must never think that God will not reject us.

We must clearly understand, God does not accept us because we hear and know the Word of God nor because we confess our sins.

These things are necessary and are very important but God accepts us because we confess our sins and then repent of them.

Repentance is turning away from sin and turning toward God!

God accepts us because we turn to Him and live for Him.

When we truly believe the Lord Jesus, then we will trust and follow Him and doing exactly what He says.

So many believe they can hang on to that pet sin they keep hidden and ask for forgiveness when we slide into it, but repentance is still required.

We are only deceiving ourselves when we think that God will just forgive us because of His grace!

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 

Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

There is no sin that we can continue in claiming God's Grace to be forgiven!

It is the doer of the Word of God who is blessed and not those who just hear the Word of God!

We are deceiving ourselves if we believe otherwise!

We are attempting to defraud the Lord Jesus Christ when we attempt to do these things.

We owe Him all we are and all we have!

*****Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 

Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 

When we see the Word of God as our mirror, we can see just how great a sinner we have been since our birth

This holds true to every human being upon the face of this earth, no matter who they are.

Eze 33:31  And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. 

Eze 33:32  And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 

Many of those who are lost do see the Words of God as great words to live by, but they go their own way because they do not see the Word of God applying to them.

They have made themselves self-righteous.

Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 

Much of this world believe the Word of God is too harsh to live by, and they go their own way doing what suits them.

In either of these cases these who are lost forget that they are sinners in need of a Savior and the Bible says that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ and there are no other saviors.

They forget the destruction of this world that the Bible says will happen.

These are the loudest voices when the world speaks of "climate change" or "nuclear war” because they see this world as savable when the Lord says it is not savable.

Rev_21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

The Lord would not make all things new if this world were worth saving!

The greatest gift we can give to our pastors or preachers who preach the message God has given to them, is obedience.

When they preach, they must be looking for fruit.

As hearers we must carry out what we hear, or the preaching of the Word is falling upon deaf ears and that preacher will get discouraged and quit.

There are not enough true preachers today, but there are many impostors.

We cannot get the blessings of God from an impostor!

If we cannot find faith in the Word of God then as hearers, we also become impostors.

Then there are some who find the truth of God.

*****Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

What is the Word of God? It is the perfect law of liberty. Liberty from the bondage of Satan!

It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who can make us free from the bondage of the wickedness of this world.

When we live according to the Word of God, we will find that we can be freed from all the things that enslave our souls upon this earth.

We are free to know and fellowship with the Lord forever and ever.

We must continue in the Word of God all our days.

The trouble with this world is that those who deny the Lord Jesus, deny that there is life after the death of our bodies.

You would think that even the greatest believer in evolution could see that the miracle of life must extend after death.

They see animals of many kinds that can go dormant for periods of time and then come back to life and this is what God is telling them, there is life after death!

The Lord promises us that it is in this life that we are to prepare for the next life which is eternal!

The Word of God is the truth.

Heaven and Hell are real places!

Amen

The Patience of a National Ruler

 David's Patience

2 Samuel Chapter 5

If we remember, we first met David when we studied the First Book of Samuel.

We should all remember when David defeated that Philistine named Goliath who was a giant of a man but he was weak man because he defied Jehovah and the people of God.

If we know one thing for sure, it is the fact that after we met the Lord Jesus Christ and began a personal relationship with Him, our lives began to have real meaning.

We know that one of the traits of David was his patience, waiting on God and we need to have that same patience.

As we studied in the Book of Mark, the Bible is a book about our Savior, but is also the Book of Promises and God will always keep His promises.

Knowing this, then we need to have patience when waiting on the truth of God to manifest itself in our lives.

Godly patience can be described as, that calm and unruffled temper with which a godly man bears the evils in this life.

God is also the God of patience and the Word of God contains the promises of God that will comfort us in those days when our patience is lacking.

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

Rom 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 

Rom 15:6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Rom 15:7  Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

To the world David was nothing but a lowly shepherd up until the time when he killed Goliath.

He was only about seventeen, too young to be in the army of Israel when this took place and David accomplished this thing because of his faith in Jehovah God.

David was no match for Goliath in his own power.

We do not have the power to stand against the giants that come before us today unless we have the power of God living within us!

At the end of the Book of First Samuel, King Saul and three of his sons had died at the hand of the Philistines and David was made King of Judah and Abner the general to King Saul had convinced the remainder of Israel to choose Ishbosheth the only remaining son of Saul to be King.

We know that this went against the Word of God because Jehovah had chosen David to be King of all of Israel.

The name Ishbosheth has the meaning of "a man of shame" and he was the youngest of King Saul's sons.

Ishbosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, but it was Abner who handled all the affairs of the state and all negotiations with King David of Judah.

Abner was brother to the father of King Saul, who was Kish.

They went to war on several occasions as Abner sought revenge upon David, when it was the Philistines who had taken the life of Saul and his family.

We know that David had no part in that war but had gone back home, which was another one of our lessons.

He considered David a traitor to King Saul.

When Abner died, Ishbosheth had no support for his Kingship and because he was such a feeble man, some of the men of Israel murdered him in his sleep.

Abner's death came when he tried to turn on Ishbosheth and tried to be friends with King David but he was killed by Joab and Abishai in revenge for Abner killing Asahel who was King David's nephew the son of David's sister Zeruiah.

Our lesson begins today as King David of Judah becomes King of all the tribes Israel.

We should understand that David has been the most famous of the kings of Israel throughout their history.

Israel still flies the flag that is called the "Star of David".

A new weapon they have used in the war with Hamas is called the "sling of David".

Israel is still waiting on the King in the line of David to sit upon the throne of Israel just as Christians are also waiting on the return of the Messiah who will return as King of kings and Lord of lords after He has removed the Church.

*****2Sa 5:1  Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 

2Sa 5:2  Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.

2Sa 5:3  So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. 

2Sa 5:4  David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 

2Sa 5:5  In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 

After seven and a half years of war and skirmishes King David was finally able to unify the nation of Israel.

It had been twenty years since a teenager named David, whose father was Jesse, had been anointed by Samuel, to be God's choice as King of all Israel.

This is a lesson on patience because David had to wait on Jehovah to do these things that he could not do himself.

This is a great lesson for us all!

David had faith.

David certainly had courage as we saw as he faced Goliath.

David was a warrior, which showed his ability to lead.

David was God's chosen man to lead Israel.

But David was not a complete man of God without patience!

We should not look past the fact that before these things David was a shepherd, which showed that he was a responsible man.

1) These tribes of Israel found out that their strength as a nation came from their unity.

This is the truth of our own nation but we have allowed foolish sin and corruption and immorality, to divide our nation and the world now sees us as a weak nation.

Just like David and just like Israel, our true strength comes from God and we had better get back to obedience and patience.

We see it was these tribes of Israel that approached King David stating that they were all one family, the descendants of Abraham and Sarah.

2) They knew that King David was a proven military leader. He had been the leading military strategist in King Saul's army. He had led his own small army to victory on every occasion because he had the help of God.

3) They acknowledged that David was God's choice to be ruler and judge of all of Israel.

They looked more on his military experience, but God looked more upon him as a shepherd to lead His people who acted more like sheep, just as we do here in America today.

Even much of the Church would rather be sheep than the saints of God!

David was to be first a shepherd, and then, a prince over the people of God.

If we are paying attention, we can easily see King David as a type of Christ.

The Lord Jesus may see us as sheep but He sees us as the sheep of His pasture and not the goats of this world!

The one thing we had better understand as a nation is, that we will suffer and fail if we fight against the Divine purposes of the Lord, as would David if he went against the Lord.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

We must be in harmony with God's purpose as an individual, as the Church, and as a nation!

Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 

Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 

This is the only way we can conquer our enemies and it is by the power of the Lord Jesus and this through the power of the Gospel.

Our nation has become corrupt, wicked, and divided and these things will ruin any nation and cause their downfall.

The people of Israel were not created for the king but King David was created for the people.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not created at all, He just is, but He came for the people.

All religions are just the opposite, the people are created for all false religions, because they are all man-made religions.

The Church is a creation of God and the Messiah is sent for the people of God!

We know that shepherds, lead, provide, and protect their sheep, and this is the same way that Jesus Christ leads the people of God.

What does a good shepherd do?

1) He guides the sheep to his pasture and away from dangerous places.

2) He seeks and saves all those who are lost.

3) He protects the sheep, willing to sacrifice his own life for the sheep to be saved.

4) He restores those sheep that go astray and returns them to the sheepfold.

The Lord Jesus Christ is proven the Ruler over God's people.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign over all of Israel.

The Lord Jesus Christ was thirty years old when He began His ministry.

We must never forget that our Savior is also the Sovereign Lord and Majesty of the universe, all His creation!

It was King David that made Jerusalem the capitol city of all of Israel.

Psa_122:6  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

We had better pay close attention to what this verse says today as the world and much of America are turning their backs on Israel.

Some of the so-called churches are saying things they do not understand if they go against the Word of God.

Gen_12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Rom 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 

David became a mighty king and part of the reason was because he moved his capitol city from Hebron to Jerusalem and in his heart he loved Jehovah.

By choosing Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, Jerusalem became the city of peace between all the tribes of Israel.

Jerusalem will again one day be the City of Peace and not the city of turmoil that it is today!

Solomon, the son of David chose Jerusalem to be the place for the Temple that was to be a House of Prayer for all of Israel.

He did this because his father David insisted that the city of Jerusalem would be the place to house the House of God, the House of Prayer.

Jerusalem also became known as the city of David.

*****2Sa 5:10  And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him. 

2Sa 5:11  And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. 

2Sa 5:12  And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. 

David was not a perfect man and he made many mistakes in his life, but he never forgot where his strength came from.

It can be the same for every Christian if we never forget that our strength comes only from the Lord Jesus Christ!

David called Him Jehovah, we call Him the Lord Jesus, they are one and the same.

Once we give our life to the Lord we will grow and mature in Him!

The phrase the “Son of David” is mentioned twenty-six times in the Bible.

Sometimes it was spoken of Solomon the son of King David, but many times it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Son of David is proclaimed from Heaven as King of those who love Him and He will rule by treating everyone according to justice and reason.

Psa 98:9  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

We are to grow more and more, to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

1) Living righteous and holy lives.

2) Showing love and compassion to all people.

3) Forgiving others as we have been forgiven.

4) Helping others when they have a need.

5) Walking humbly before all others, acknowledging them, and building them up.

6) Most of all being obedient to all the Word of God, rightly divided.

We do this by growing in Christ!

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 

As David grew in the LORD, the Philistines became aware that if they had any chance to defeat David, then they had better get started before he became too powerful.

This is the same thought the false priests and elders in the time of Jesus.

They decided they had better get rid of Him before He had too many followers to overcome them.

The world has the same thought today as the hatred for the true Church continues to grow because we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ!

If were possible, though it is not, for the world to get rid of the Jews, the world would immediately turn to attempt to get rid of the Church and they will continue until they find this out. God loves His people!

*****2Sa 5:17  But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. 

2Sa 5:18  The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 

2Sa 5:19  And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 

The Philistines, the Palestinians of today, had not bothered David up until this time, because Judah and Israel were fighting with each other almost constantly, but as soon as David was made king over all the tribes of Israel, they decided to attack him before he could get his armies organized.

They feared David's growing power!

David was not only a man after God's own heart, but also a shrewd politician and a mighty general and we will see for many years David would always consult with God before he jeopardized the lives of the armies of Israel.

Only Israel does this today!

George Washington did this same thing and some few others, but I dare say it is only the mothers and fathers and the Church who pray for our militaries today.

The Philistines invaded Israel to try to stop Israel from growing into a dominant nation and they had gathered their entire military forces to do this.

It was the wrong time for these wicked people to attack God's people!

The Philistines marched their armies within a mile of Jerusalem.

Rephaim, at one time meaning the valley of the giants was the same place that Og the king of Bashan belonged.

There were a few remaining of these giants in the days of David.

The Philistines had an old quarrel with David and they came to make all of Israel their slaves, at least this way their intent.

Jos 15:8  And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward: 

It was a place of very fertile land:

Isa 17:5  And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. 

We see that David enquired of the Lord something we should all do before we make major decisions and probably before every decision we make.

This is an example for us all and especially for every national leader!

I am sure the leaders of Israel have done the same thing many times today before they went after Hamas. 

We can also see they did not rush into this war; they made the proper preparations.

It amazes me that the world sees the so-called Palestinians as innocent victims when few of them are.

They have to go to a place where they can learn the truth and see the truth and come to know the Lord Jesus in a personal way to ever change.

I saw one in the news reports the other day and i was impressed with him as he reminded me of Mary Magdalene amazed that God could forgive him of the things he had done. A sinner just as we all are.

Most of the Palestinians no matter where they are located remain partners with Hamas, a terrorist’s group who may be more wicked and evil than all the rest in the likes of ISIS!

This week I saw where they had roasted a baby in an oven in that raid into Israel and maybe more than one and beheaded several.

The abortionists cannot say much about this because they are just as guilty of atrocities like this.

The Lord told David to go up against the Philistines and He would give David victory over those wicked people.

*****2Sa 5:20  And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim. 

2Sa 5:21  And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

2Sa 5:22  And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 

2Sa 5:23  And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 

2Sa 5:24  And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. 

2Sa 5:25  And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.  

Baalperazim would be known as the place where, not David, but "the Lord led Israel to a great victory" over these Philistines.

Many times in the Old Testament we have seen where the Lord just took over the battles that came against Israel.

The world had better be really careful today because the Lord could take over the battle, the war Israels faces with Hamas because much of the world has sided with terrorist. Far too much of the world has sided with them!

Israel is still God's people.

This world one day will wake up to the fact that there is a God and He is the God of Israel and the God of the Church.

In retreating from this first battle the Philistines left behind the idols that they worshipped as gods.

Some say that it was only after these idols were paraded through the streets of Jerusalem before these idols were burnt but either way, they were burnt till there was nothing left but ashes.

The Philistines later regrouped and came after Israel repeatedly again David prayed to the Lord.

This time the Lord gave David a strategy to pursue in defeating the Philistines.

One thing we should notice in these battles is the God is never on the side of the Philistines.

God will never be on the side of the Palestinians!

The Palestinians had better figure out the God is never on their side unless they accept His Son Jesus.

God told David not to attack these Philistines head-on on but to flank them and to circle around behind and attack them in front of mulberry trees.

David would catch his enemy by surprise and this time they would not be able to retreat.

Many passivist would frown on this tactic today saying it was a war crime because Israel could slaughter the Philistines.

In verse twenty-four we see that phrase "hearest the sound of going".

This "going" would be "the sound" of a massive army all marching in step, when there was not one!

In other words, these Philistines would hear this sound like a massive army coming at them, and they would retreat and run right into Davids army waiting upon them and they would have nowhere to run and they would be slaughtered.

David and his army pursued the few stragglers that tried to get away for over twenty miles until they all had been slaughtered them all.

Israel had desired a king to lead them into battles and they had gotten Jehovah back.

King David proved to Israel that it was far better to allow the Lord to lead them in all their battles rather than any king.

A great lesson for us all today, especially as we see where this world is headed.

A world that is on the side of the enemies of God, when God cannot be defeated!

Even with all these things we read that happened, still the most important thing we read is, that it is prayer that is most important!

The greatest power we have today is prayer and we must not wait till troubles come before we ask God for help!

We need to be in daily contact with our Holy but All-Powerful God, who is always on our side!

God promises us He will deliver us no matter how terrifying our trials.

He promised to make us conquerors.

Rom_8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

And one of the most important prayers in the Bible for Israel and for the Church.

2Ch 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

God has His rules and we just need to obey them all!

Amen

A Lapse of Faith

 Abraham's Tragic Lapse of Faith

Book of Genesis Chapters 16; 17

We could change the title this lesson to "God Does Not need Our Help to Fulfill His Promises".

The one most important thing to consider is that God will never fail in keeping His promises!

The second most important thing to consider is that God works according to His own timeline and not ours!

God has a plan and a purpose for each of us who have called upon Jesus Christ to save us.

In Abraham's day, righteousness came by his faith and faith is still the key to our relationship with our Heavenly Father today.

It can be said that we are our own worst enemy most all the time.

When we believe that God has put all the processes in our world in place and just allows them to run their course, then we are wrong.

If this were true, then our prayers would not bring results.

Certainly, God has put many processes in place, but the fact remains that our Lord also has His hands on all of His creation.

Our Lord God Almighty has His hands on us who believe at all times or He could not be referred as being our Heavenly Father and He would not say we were His children!

The Lord has a perfect plan and has made many promises and God's plan and His promises will be completed just as He has stated and all we need do is to believe and act according to His perfect Word!

*****Gen 16:1  Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

Today we will see the birth of the Arab nations and why there is so much hatred between the Arab nations and Israel.

If they would acknowledge these things, then there could be a true and lasting peace!

One of our greatest failures come because of our lack of patience.

Patience could be said to be a calm an unruffled temper in which we bear the evils of this life.

Believe me, we need a lot of patience to deal with this evil, corrupt, wicked and evil world!

Our faith tells us that Jehovah will never break a promise. Our lack of patience demands that we see those promises fulfilled in our lifetime.

Every believer knows that we will never die so we are selfish to think God will complete His promises in our lifetime.

God promised Abram a son by his wife Sarai, but Sarai had been barren for 75 years and she just could not believe she could have a child.

She was right in her thinking but wrong in placing limits on the power of God.

His power is unlimited!

In reality this was a lack of faith because the Lord had said Abram (Abraham) would have a child and that child would come by Sarai (Sarah).

Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 

We must understand to go against any part of the Word of God, no matter how small, will bring consequences, sometimes severe consequences as in the case of Abram.

Hagar was a slave girl given to Abram and Sarai during the time they spent in Egypt where Abram had made another mistake telling Pharaoh that Sarai was his sister which she was, but she was also his wife.

In the New Testament and in typology, Hagar would be a type of the Old Covenant, the Law and we know that the Law enslaves its followers.

Satan makes slaves. You would think that all who hate slavery would also hate Satan and his ways.

The children of Hagar were born into slavery and so is everyone who put themselves under the Law.

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 

Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

That promise being salvation by "Grace". Sarah represents "Grace" and she is a type of Grace in the Bible.

So let us see these things.

*****Gen 16:2  And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 

We should also understand that Sarai had always wanted children and was probably key to Abram bringing Lot with them as they traveled.

We should also realize that Abram was not sure if he were the cause or his wife was the cause of their lack of children.

Why was Sarai barren? If we study the Word of God, we will find that many people lived in certain circumstances so that in the future God could work a great miracle that would not have been believed otherwise.

Listen to Jesus:

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 

Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 

Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him". 

God still does these things but most of them go unnoticed! Sarah would have fit into this category!

Sarai could not believe that she could have children, but she felt the promise of God to Abram was so important that it needed a little help to be fulfilled.

She gave these thought to her husband and he listened to her, much as Adam did to Eve and they both were proven wrong and their wrong were sin with severe consequences.

In fact she was so wrong it clouded her judgment.

God does not need our help He just commands us to obey, and He always does what He says He will do.

Had Sarai been right then we would not need God nor the Word of God because it would not be believable.

In fact God did not have to do any of these things, He could just have easily have been a tyrant, and voiced His commands.

*****Gen 16:3  And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 

We should also notice that Sarai never considered Hagar to be her slave but one of her maids.

Sarai gave Hagar to her husband, which in the eyes of God was also wrong though it was a custom of that day, for a man to have more than one wife.

1) So many today try to do things to help the Lord fulfill His promises and He does not need our help at all to do as He says He will do!

2) So many today try to conform to the customs of the place they live when God's law is for every where we live. We are never to act upon the laws of the world that go against the Word of God.

3) So many today feel like the end will justify the actions of today, when only one thing will work consistently, and this is obedience to the Word of God and "faith" that God will do as He says. Which He has proven to be true!

The Word of God proves these things to be true, over and over again if we would just show that true "faith"!

We should be very careful before acting upon the suggestions of others, when we are trying to be obedient to the Lord. 

What may seem right to many, may actually be wrong by the Word of God.

The world will never lead us to Jesus because the world hates Jesus because Jesus points out sin!

*****Gen 16:4  And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 

When we go against the Word of God bad things happen almost immediately.

Sarai wanted to be a part of God's plan for her husband, but she began to question God's promises, something we should never do.

She felt that she and her husband were already past child-bearing years and they were by todays medical standards, but nothing is impossible for God.

Mar 10:27  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, "but not with God': for with God all things are possible.

Luke 1:37  "For with God nothing shall be impossible".

Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which "it was impossible for God" to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

This is the reason there are no true atheists, they are afraid of the promises of God, but so-called believers just do not always believe the Word of God as commanded!

What we have seen so far is that impatience leads to a collapse of "faith"!

Abram had been walking with the Lord for more than 10 years now and impatience brought temptation because of strong arguments from his wife.

Abram begin to question the Word of God.

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 

Here we see we need the patience of Job! God "will never" break a promise He has made to us!

*****Gen 16:15  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 

Gen 16:16  And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.  

Ishmael became the oldest son of Abram when he was born when Abram was 86 years old, but Ishmael was not the son promised of God!

Some of the things said of Ishmael even before he was born.

Verse 12: He will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man and every man's hand will be against him. He will dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The one group who fit this description today are the so-called Palestinians!

He was born at Mamre.

He was circumcised at the age of 13.

He grew up a true child of the desert, wild and wayward.

He knew how to insult, and he knew how to mock those around him, for no reason.

All these things happened because of the impatience of Sarah and Abram allowed them to take place.

God came back to Abram to assure him that His promise was real.

*****Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 

Gen 17:2  And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

It was twelve years later that Jehovah returned to Abram with these words.

Abram had lived these 12 years thinking he was in the will of God but not so.

The truth is we all need to walk with God. Not Allah but Jehovah the true God!

Some of us may walk alone while many will walk in groups of others together, preferably all in one accord.

If we do not walk with the Lord, we will never be aware of His presence in our lives!

The Lord does what the Lord does every day, we can be a part of it, or we will be left out entirely!

If we strive to be perfect, our example being the Lord Jesus Christ, then we must walk before the Lord.

In other words we must do all we can do for the "Glory of God"!

We must live moment by moment in the presence of the Lord, aware that He has His loving eyes upon us at all times!

This is walking before the Lord!

We cannot be perfect in this life, but we are obligated to try our best.

Our effort means more to the Lord than the results and our effort works toward God's "Grace" in our lives!

1Th 4:11  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 

Abram had been desperate to achieve what he thought God wanted, but Abram had fallen into the same trap that many may fall into today.

When God says He will do something, then we just need to accept it as fact and trust Him and go one with our lives in peace. 

God does not need our help to fulfill some promise He has made!

God made this covenant (contract) with Abram and all Abram had to do was to patiently wait on the Lord!

There was only one thing for Abram to do. Humbly go to the Lord.

*****Gen 17:3  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 

Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 

We may sometimes wonder how God will do as He says and when we do this, we make God to be small with little power, but we serve a Great Big God, and we need to be aware of God's Awesomeness!

We serve an "AWESOME" God!

If we need to arouse our faith the best place to start is upon our knees!

When we humble ourselves before the Lord, we show Him that He is in charge of our lives, and our only wish is to have His will to be our will!

God reminded Abram that He had made this covenant with him and not to someone else and his age had nothing to do with it.

In fact, if God had given Abram his child at a young age, then Abram would not have felt the power of God to do as He wishes.

We can only give the Lord the sack of dirt that we are! We have nothing else meaningful to give to the Lord!

The covenant God made with Abram was of a "promised seed". Far beyond that of a human child, but of the Messiah!

This seed included the Messiah.

We must see Jesus throughout all the Old Testament for He is there.

The only way for Abram to see what the Lord was saying was to look through the Lord's eyes.

It would not hurt for us to do the same thing.

Find a place in the Scriptures and jump in and be one of the characters.

This new covenant would require a name change.

*****Gen 17:5  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

The name Abram means "an exalted father".

The name Abraham means "father of a multitude".

God told Abraham he would not only be a great father, but he would be a father of a great multitude as the father of all those who have faith in the promises of God.

God also changed the name of Sarai to Sarah.

Sarai means "my princess".

Sarah means "the princess of a great multitude". Not just a princess, but the but the mother of the promised child and in this case a type of Mary the mother of Jesus the Christ (Messiah).

*****Gen 17:6  And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 

Gen 17:7  And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 

Gen 17:8  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 

This is not so much an expansion of God's covenant with Abraham but in reality, God just explaining the meaning of His covenant.

There will be descendants of Abraham upon this earth as long as this earth exists!

We see that Abraham becomes a person that God wants to have a close personal relationship with.

A type of each Christian today.

God established not only the Messiah but His followers as the "promised seed" and He would be God of the "promised seed".

That "promised seed" is all those who believe the Word of God, and the promises of God, as did Abraham and this belief is accounted to them for righteousness, just as it did Abraham.

This is what the Apostle Paul tried to teach the Jews who rebelled against such teaching.

The Covenant with Abraham is the foundation of our hope from which the riches of God, at the expense of the Lord Jesus Christ, will be fulfilled!

This has been God's guide in dealing with us since the time of Abraham and will continue until the "Rapture" of the Church and the Millennial Kingdom for the Jews, who could have missed out on the wrath of God if only they had believed as did their patriarch Abraham, this also true for the Arab nations.

God separated the lands of the Jews and the Arab nations and even these would have worked better, if it not been for the descendants of the wild man Ishmael who still causes most of the problems in this area of the world.

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

Rom 4:14  For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 

Rom 4:15  Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

This covenant was sealed with a sign.

*****Gen 17:13  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 

Gen 17:14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Circumcision was a special badge of God's chosen people Israel, not the Church!

The circumcision of the heart is the sign of God's chosen people the Church, all believers!

Rom 2:25  For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 

Rom 2:26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 

Rom 2:27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

Again the Apostle Paul tried to explain these things, but the Jews remain blind to the Word of God as do most all of the world!

We can be sure that God never said that rites, rituals, or ordinances, bestow anything upon anyone, but are only signs of something that has already taken place.

Col 2:16  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 

Col 2:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 

Now God mentions Sarai, (Sarah).

*****Gen 17:15  And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 

Gen 17:16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 

We must understand to have a personal relationship with the Lord is to change our relationship with our family.

We will never know if Abram blamed Sarai for being childless. 

Abraham had already proven he could father a child, so it was Sarai who was barren.

If this was true, then God reassured Abraham that Sarah would be the mother of a multitude.

God gave Sarah a new name and the relationship of Sarah to Abraham was mended.

If Abraham believed all God's Word, then he would have to believe these words of God!

By the thinking of man this thing was impossible, but nothing is too hard for God!

We should notice that even with all the promises given to Abraham, one of those things was to treat his wife with respect and honor.

Our relationships with our family should be a priority after we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior!

A Christian man must be head of his family, as Jesus Christ is Head of the Church!

Abraham may have had a little problem in believing this thing or he reacted with a laughter of delight, we will never know which one.

Jesus said Abraham acted with great delight.

*****Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 

Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 

We should believe Jesus!

Joh 8:56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 

We should believe the Apostle Paul.

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 

Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 

Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 

Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 

Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 

It brings great joy when we realize God has done something in our lives that we did not expect!

Abraham did show his great love for Ishmael, but it would be the seed of Sarah by Abraham, Isaac, whom God's covenant would continue through.

It was Abraham who would name his only child by Sarah and his name would be Isaac.

Abraham may have thought his dreams would be fulfilled through Ishmael, but God had already said he would be a wild man, and this would have been out of God's will.

Those who are wild reject authority!

Abraham would have to pass his heritage down through Isaac as God had commanded.

Ishmael would also be blessed but not the "promised seed" so Islam is a false religion!

Note: We can arouse our "faith" by having a fresh stirring experience with the Lord, a refilling of the Holy Spirit daily, and a true walk before the Lord!

Amen

The Longsuffering Of God

Praise God For His Patience

Psalm 106

The word "patience" means suffering through some afflictions while some period of time passes by without murmuring or complaining.

Not many of us have enough patience but God expects us to be patient because our God is so patient with us.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our God is very patient with this world He created because He is longsuffering in waiting on that last soul to be saved.

Our God is very patient because He is very sensitive to all those evil the things that are happening to those that have accepted Him for His truth but He withholds His vengeance until the appointed time.

Our God is patient because the lack of patience is our weakness but God's patience shows us that we serve a God of all power, even power enough to not go against His own passive nature until it is time to do so.

Our God is patient because the plan of salvation is His plan, and He will see it through until His harvest has reached maturity.

God has placed the Church in this Age for one purpose and God is patiently waiting for the Church to complete it's work.

Mat 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Mat 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

We must remember the patience God has for each sinner is the only hope they have for salvation!

I'm glad my God was patient in waiting on me and it is now my job to help others come to know Him before His patience runs out!

So let's begin;

*****Psa 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 106:2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?
Psa 106:3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
Psa 106:4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;
Psa 106:5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

This Psalm is also not titled but this is probably also another psalm of David.

The word "hallelujah" is spelled almost the same in every language and it means only one thing.

"Praise ye Jehovah"

This psalm highlights the confession of the sins of Israel and in doing so, teaches us the great patience our Lord has for the sinner.

At the end of God's patience lies only one thing:

Psa 104:35 "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more". Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

We must praise God for our own salvation.

We must praise God for His patience in dealing with all sinners.

We must praise God for the end result, when there will be no more sin.

It should be the goal of us all to glory in the inheritance of God.

But true Christianity means we must do our very best to keep the commandments of the Lord.

And true prayer means we must identify with our Savior!

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Happiness can only come by being obedient to the Lord!

Happiness can only come when we have been visited with the salvation of God!

There is no salvation apart from the Lord and He must visit us with it or we will never obtain it!

*****Psa 106:6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

Psa 106:7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

There is only one way to get our prayers answered and that begins when we can confess our sins.

Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, "the Lord will not hear me":

God can only visit with His salvation after we have confessed the need of His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!

The downfall of many sinners begins when they follow in the ways of their sinful parents.

There are the sins of "omission" we commit when we do not walk in the way God has directed.

There are also the sins of "commission" we commit when we know what God has said to not do but we go ahead and do them anyway.

The sin of rebelling against the Word of God must be confessed after we have first asked for mercy.

The Jews at the time of Moses had never understood the great miracles that they had witnessed and had therefore not been able to convince their own children of Jehovah God and His mercy and of His Glory.

But are we so different today?

If we would list all the miracles that are written for us in the Word of God, we would be astounded at what all God has shown to humans through out all our days.

The miracles of God cover every aspect of life.

If we acknowledge the miracles of the Bible, we can begin to see many of these same miracles that God has done in our own behalf, beginning with the miracle of childbirth.

God still performs great miracles everyday and we miss most of them, and those that we see, we do not thank Him enough for.

What is the truth of the salvation of God?

*****Psa 106:8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

When we do not acknowledge what God has already done for us, He certainly has no reason to continue to do things for us.

When God can find no reason for His mercy, there is always a reason for His glory to shine!

Israel did not deserve to be saved but Pharaoh's pride certainly deserved to be crushed because he was making himself out to be some god.

Today we are no different, we certainly do not deserve to see the "mercy" of God but Satan still deserves to be punished for rejecting the Almighty God.

God will have His mercy but God will also show forth the Glory of His power when He so desires for His Own Names Sake!

*****Psa 106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

Psa 106:10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
Psa 106:11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.
Psa 106:12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

There are many theories about what happened at the Red Sea as Israel escaped an evil Pharaoh but the bottom line is that the Red Sea heard the voice of God and obeyed!

God will not allow any obstacle to hinder the salvation of His people. God is bound only by His Own Word to keep His covenants!

God promised Israel a future land, the covenant with Abraham.

God promised Israel the Kingdom rule of the Messiah, the covenant with David.

God promised Israel spiritual blessings, the New Covenant as written in the Book of Jeremiah.

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

God will always save Israel from those that hate them and God will always redeem Israel from the hand of their enemy until these covenants are fulfilled.

God is God and He must hold true to all His character!

When God pledged this truth beginning with Abraham, then He also pledged the fulfilling of His covenants to the Church.

If God breaks one covenant then He could break them all, if God keeps one covenant then He must keep them all!

What did Jesus say?

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Those who do not believe the truth of God are by God's own words, the followers of Satan.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

What happened to the enemies of Israel at the Red Sea?

The waters covered them in death and not even one of them was left to tell about it.

It took the death of Pharaoh and his army before these children of Israel believed the Word of God.

They had already witnessed the plagues of Egypt.

They had already witnessed the first Passover.

They had walked across the Red Sea on dry ground, but it took the death of Pharaoh before they would believe.

That little bit of faith had saved them but doubt would soon rule in their lives!

Those that cannot believe the "truth" of God's Word until they see some miracle are not believers at all!

This is not what "Faith" is is all about!

They sang His praise but only because they had escaped death themselves.

Their praise came up short when it ended in complaints!

*****Psa 106:13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

Psa 106:14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
Psa 106:15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
Psa 106:16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.

We can see that the lust to fulfill their own desires did not allow much time to praise the Lord God Almighty who had performed such miracles before their eyes and brought them to safety.

God had commanded these miracles by His Word just as God had spoke all His creation into existence but these people could not take the time to listen to what Moses had to say, whose councilor was God.

In the wilderness, this new nation of Israel was so intent on getting material things such as food and water they became blind to what God wanted for them.

God had provided all their needs up to this point, why would they think God would stop doing so day by day.

How often do we see this same thing. A lost soul attempts to receive the free gift of salvation and then refuses to see what the Word of God says about walking a Christian life.

Most all the world we live in today are more concerned about personal satisfaction in the things of this world, than spiritual satisfaction that can last throughout eternity!

What is the worst prayer that will sometimes be answered?

It is when we complain enough to God that He gives us what we want, even though He knows it is not good for us to have!

When we do not get what we want, it is because God knows what is best for us!

Instead of happily receiving the "Manna" from Heaven, Israel received the meat of birds which they soon despised.

Num 11:19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

Num 11:20 But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

It was their own lust for the things of this world that brought on another plague that killed many of them!

Num 11:33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

These people were not satisfied with the bread that God gave them which indeed nourished them for 40 years and they could not be satisfied when they could eat all they wanted of the things they most desired.

This will always bring the wrath of God!

We can see this lesson spiritually if we remember what God says in His Word.

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

When our prayers focus on physical desires rather than spiritual desires, they will go unanswered and we will begin to doubt God and we will waste away physically and spiritually even being of no use to God.

What happened to these Jews will happen to us all.

Notice they even became envious of those God had chosen to lead them and they began to rebel against Moses and Aaron.

These things will always lead to death!

*****Psa 106:17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.

Psa 106:18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
Psa 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
Psa 106:20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
Psa 106:21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
Psa 106:22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

If there is a place where we can see the end of God's patience in the Bible, then this is the place.

God had opened wide the Red Sea to deliver His people and God now opened wide the earth and those that rebelled the most went alive, straight to eternal death into the pit that is called Hell.

Not only that, the Levites that stood with Korah perished by fire because they had offered strange fire in the Tabernacle.

When the Tabernacle was first built, the fire in the altar was used to consume the burnt offerings and the incense. The fire was to be kept burning. They were not to ever put that fire out nor allow that fire to go out on it's own.

To put the fire out was disobedience, to allow the fire to go out was laziness in serving God.

This showed that there was never a time that they would not need to be forgiven of their sin.

This fire was to be started by friction. If a fire was started by any other means such as bringing fire from the outside it was considered "strange fire" and therefore unholy.

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

The altar of the Tabernacle was the one and only place that sacrifices were to be offered and is in fact a "type of Jesus Christ and the Cross.

God had said that if anyone offers a sacrifice and not bring it to the altar of the Tabernacle then the blood of that person would be cut off from among his people.

You see the lesson we must see is that any substitute of the Cross, God's Altar, other than Jesus Christ will surely bring eternal death!

There can be no other means of salvation!

Not only that, but in the very place where they had solemnly pledged themselves to obey the Lord they broke the first commandment of God.

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

While insisting that they would worship the one and only true God they danced and played before some hand-made symbol of a god of Egypt.

They had forgotten their Savior!

And for those that doubt the truth of the flood, God makes sure that we know that Egypt was settled by Ham, the son of Noah.

Egypt is also the Mizraim of the Bible.

The patience of God was wearing thin again with all these things.

*****Psa 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

God had already brought leanness to their souls for their lust of physical things.

God had weeded out the those that rebelled against His chosen prophet Moses and His first High Priest Aaron.

God had removed those that had brought "strange fire" onto the Altar, a type of Calvary's Cross.

God had decided unless someone would stand in the gap for them, He would destroy them.

Moses was born in a time when Pharaoh had ordered the death of all the Hebrew male babies.

Jesus was born in the time when Herod murdered all the male babies of Bethlehem up to the age of 2 years.

Moses at 40 years old, sacrificed his adopted royalty.

And Christ, being in the form of God left Heaven and became the humble servant of God.

For 40 years Moses dwelt as a lowly shepherd in the land of Midian.

For 33 years the Lord Jesus was a lowly shepherd teaching His flock how to begin the Church.

Moses delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt.

The Lord Jesus delivers all faithful believers in this entire world.

Moses became a great mediator between God and Israel and turned away God's wrath.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the Church.

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

But there will always be those that just refuse to believe!

*****Psa 106:24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

Psa 106:25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.

These murmuring and complaining Israelites decided that the Promised Land just was not worth the trouble to get there!

It is a bad sign for any Christian to lose his focus on Heaven!

When the things of this world begin to look better than God's promises then we are perverting the Word of God.

Perverting means we are turning from right to wrong.

These verses give us a great example of what happens when we begin to despise the Word of God.

If we ever settle in our hearts, that Heaven is not what God days it is, then we are also despising the Word of God.

When we reject what God has to say, God will remove His hand of blessing.

*****Psa 106:26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

Psa 106:27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

God did not allow those that of that generation, from 20 years old and upward to enter into Canaan Land, the Promised Land of God to the Jews. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness.

Only Caleb and Joshua and those under 20 years old were allowed into the Promised Land but as God has promised even the seed of all those that rejected the Word of God have been scattered throughout history throughout all the lands of this Earth.

Only since May 14, 1948 have the Jews been allowed to regather in the land promised to them of God.

This maybe the greatest noticeable sign in our own history that we are in the end-times or the latter days as written in the Bible.

Those that rejected the truth of the Promised Land died in the wilderness. The seed of those that died because they never changed their ways were allowed to cross Jordan but they never got the opportunity to make the Promised Land their permanent home.

There are still more Jews scattered throughout this world than there are those who have returned to their homeland!

Why?

*****Psa 106:28 They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

Psa 106:29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

As we witness for the Lord, many of those who are lost and just cannot fathom salvation, may be convinced of their own sin. They may go through one trial just to begin another.

We may threaten them with Hell and even though we point them to Jesus, they continue to travel the same path to destruction.

Baalpeor was an idol of the Moabites.

The name Baal signifies lord or master and was a common name for idols of many nations.

Peor was a high place of worship of the Moabites.

God says: Hos 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

You see if we choose a false way of worship, we have chosen a false god!

It does not matter if we say we Love the Lord, if we cannot worship Him the way He has said, we are worshipping a false god.

This is still the problem with the Jew as they reject the Holy Trinity.

This still the problem with the Muslim as they reject the Holy Trinity.

This is still the problem with all false religion because they reject the worship of the Holy Trinity.

The Moab women gave themselves as sex objects to their false god and the men of Israel were enticed into this false worship.

Num 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.

Sacrifices were made to lifeless statues of gold covered wood or stone or the precious metals themselves and Israel would then eat of that sacrifice.

Num 25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

Those who will not commit themselves to the true Living God will always look to this world to provide them a false god more suitable to their taste.

Those that reject the Word of God, will always seek some perverted version that meets their own requirements!

Num 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

If you call yourself a child of God and then not worship Him as He decides, God will become angry.

When mankind invents new sins, God will also invent new punishments!

*****Psa 106:30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

Psa 106:31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

All during our study of the Old Testament we see that God had His champions who always stood up in the worst of times ready to battle for the truth of God.

Today in the Church Age God has given us all something to do. We are all to be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just like Phinehas, we are in a war with evil and God says we must take our stand on His Word of Truth!

Phinehas took a stand when those of false worship tried to bring false worship into the house of God.

Num 25:6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 25:7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
Num 25:8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

In that day it took drastic actions to not allow false worship inside the Church but we have become very lax in this today.

But God does not change and He still commands us to take a stand on the truth.

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

What was Phinehas's reward? It was counted unto him for righteousness throughout eternity!

But Israel continued in their sinful ways.

*****Psa 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

Psa 106:33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

The scene changes, God continues to provide, but sin also continues.

God still held on to His patience but Moses had run out of patience.

Moses was only a man and not God!

It was the sin of Israel that had angered Moses but Moses still had to bear the consequences of His own actions.

Num 20:12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

It does not matter how much this world provokes us, there is never an excuse to go against the Word of God!

God will still hold us accountable if we lose our temper and do things we know we should not do!

Patience is a quality that we as men truly have a hard time with.

Moses was the great law-giver and he was held to a higher standard than others if he broke God's law.

As Christians we are also held to a higher standard than those that are lost!

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Even though the true believer cannot lose their salvation, we will all be held accountable for any action that goes against the Word of God especially those actions that are before the lost.

We cannot speak unadvisedly with our lips!

We are all to obey the Word of God without question, even when we do not understand why!

*****Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:

Psa 106:35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

We absolutely cannot make peace with evil. This holds true in Christianity and it should also hold true in this world we live in now!

The sin of those that dwelt in Canaan Land had become a menace to all mankind and it was God that decided their time on this earth should cease.

There is no dialog of peace that Satan has any interest in.

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But, God has not directed the Church to seek to destroy any people.

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

God did direct the children of Israel to do so!

Why?

When evil is allowed to live side by side with good, the good will be overwhelmed by the evil!

The morals of God's people were compromised when they became mingled among those that were heathen.

1Co 10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

We are to love our enemies and tell them about Jesus, but we are never to do the things that they do!

What did this cause?

*****Psa 106:36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

Psa 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
Psa 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Psa 106:39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

The world of today still serves it's idols just as those that rejected God in the days of Israel conquest of Canaan Land.

Every commandment God gives us has a specific purpose behind it!

When Israel failed it caused her children to fail!

When we become fascinated by the charms of idolatry our families will always suffer!

When we compromise with the world we are putting the things of this world ahead of the Word of God and that is idolatry and we will serve those things!

These Jews did actually sacrifice there own children to those false gods.

Today as believers compromise with the teachings of the world, our children get caught up in evolutionary teaching and we will have done the same as these Jews and sacrificed our sons and our daughters to devils.

We cannot be servants of sin without trapping ourselves and our families in sin!

We will be just as guilty as these Jews in murdering our own children and no different than those who abort their own children!

The Church is the "Bride of Christ" but when we serve Satan, we are no more than a whore who will cheat on her husband!

When we serve Satan we will always invent some new god or some new thing to worship.

Satan is dead set on destroying the family and when we serve him, we are are helping him destroy our own families!

Certainly God does not like such things.

*****Psa 106:40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

Psa 106:41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Psa 106:42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

God allowed trouble to come to His people but this was done in order for Him to return to help them and reopen their eyes to the truth.

Our troubles are helpful when they humble us back to our knees and sometimes in takes a lot of trouble to humble us.

Our troubles show us who is in charge of this world and drive us back to God. Sometimes God will even have to put us on our backs so the only place to look is up toward Him!

Our troubles will revitalize our prayer life if we allow it.

Our troubles will increase our faith.

Our troubles will make us more dependant on the true God.

Our troubles will point out that the same thing is happening to others and prepare us to help them through their troubles.

But we are still a hardheaded and rebellious people just as these Jews.

*****Psa 106:43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

The Apostle Paul said the Old Testament was our school master to lead us to Jesus.

If we do not learn anything else we can learn of the patience of God in dealing with those that say they believe.

We cannot allow our own self will to be our counselor!

What did Paul find out as He preached the "Gospel" to the early church?

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

What do we see today in our world? We see a people that are brought low because of their own iniquity!

How patient is our God?

*****Psa 106:44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

Psa 106:45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

If God's faithfulness to us was limited to our faithfulness to Him we would all perish in that "Burning Lake of Fire!

But God faithfulness is only linked to the faithfulness of His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ and therefore God will always answer when we call.

Our Father in Heaven has a father's heart and will always respond to His children and will always look upon us with compassion and mercy!

God's wrath for our mistakes cannot extend past His love for us because of His Son Christ Jesus!

*****Psa 106:46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

Even as the Jews were carried off to be dispersed throughout this entire world, in most every case, God would see that their enemy had compassion upon them.

Though we are yet sinners God will have compassion upon all His children!

God will appoint someone to help us out of troubles!

*****Psa 106:47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

Psa 106:48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.

God will answer this prayer of David because He has made a promised covenant to do so!

Eze 39:26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.

Eze 39:27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Eze 39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Eze 39:29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

This prophesy began it's fulfillment on May 14, 1948 but will not be fulfilled until The Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David at the end of the 7 year tribulation period.

Our God is very patient with the plans that He has made for Israel.

Our God is very patient with the plans He has made for the Church.

Blessed be the Almighty God, Jehovah!

And let all people say, Amen!

Questions?

Let's Pray!