Invictus. ( Psalm 27 )

I  read the following on the bonnet of a car on TV, ' I am the master of my fate,I am captain of my soul' ,these words are taken from the poem by English poet ,William Ernest Henly,( 1849 - 1903 ) It is known  by the title ,'Invictus ',meaning,' unconquered '. It is thought of as Victorian Stoicism, stiff  upper lip attitude, Those last lines where the motto of Nelson Mandela, and of course the poet who wrote this poem suffered a leg being amputated ,so out of that experience and other difficulties, he penned those words.  Are these  words  appropriate for a Christian to use,I do not think so, they indicate the power and ability for a person to withstand what ever life throws at them.Some people can I know from my experience withstand a lot,but I know that I am weak, and stoicism could not get me through all that life throws at me,what I need is Grace the grace of God. Are we masters of our fate are we captains of our souls, no, the child God bows in humble reverence, and declares to a Sovereign God,'' My times are in Thy hand ; My  God I wish them there'' ( Words/ W. F . Floyd )                                                               
                                                I could not do without Thee
                                                I cannot stand alone ,
                                                I have no strength or goodness,
                                                No wisdom of my own;
                                                But Thou, beloved Saviour,
                                                Art all in all to me,
                                                And weakness will be power
                                                If leaning hard on Thee.
                                                        ( Frances R. Havergal )

Paradise lost. ( Romans 5 v 12 )

In that very old song ,'Sonny boy', sung by Al Jolson, there is a line that goes,''You made for me a heaven right here on earth''. if only that where so. But it will never happen ,no matter how well you are off,no matter how healthy one is,no matter where you reside. The earth is Paradise lost ,what a wonderful place it must have been before that awful day which brought catastrophe upon that paradise called planet earth.Nothing would ever be the same , nature would no longer be in harmony with itself, and as for the jewel in the crown  of Gods creation.They were told what would happen if they sinned, but ignored what God said,instead they not only listened to Gods enemy, they obeyed him  .When asked why they had did it ,they blamed it on each other ,and then on that evil  being, we know as the devil,but it did not only affect them,it had consequences for their children, that is all of  us, for they are ,our first parents. So driven out of  the security ,and well being, of that place known as the garden of Eden,to live at a lesser level,to struggle against disease,dangers,and death.There are foolish people who put the blame on God, why did He not stop it happening?. What I would say to that, I do not know, but I believe the judge of the earth will not to anything evil or wrong. ( Gen 18 v 25) What we know for certain as Alec Motyer puts it, ''Adam and Eve were wilfully disobedient,to them it appeared a comparatively minor matter,......but to the Lord it was not.''Yes sin ,no matter how trivial it may appear, is not trivial to the Lord, and so paradise was lost
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .

They do not listen. ( Psalm 95 v 7 - 8 )

I met a lady at a supermarket cafeteria ,she introduced herself and it took me a while before I recognised her ,it was a good few years since I last saw her. She attended a local church and I asked her if she was attending anywhere, she was not because she became disillusioned,mentioned a few reasons .I sought to say something to her,but there was not to much time,but afterwards I  thought she was not listening to me.,it appeared that her mind was fixed.Consider Pharaoh king of Egypt. he was faced with a prophet called Moses  ,and Aaron his brother, who spoke to him Gods word, and witnessed the power of God,in the plagues, yet he never really listened. We all have heard of wives who say to their husbands ,'you don't listen to me', she is not saying he does not hear her speaking, but that  he does not let it sink in,what she says. We may listen when we it is important   ,even then we may not,I believe God is speaking to us every day,Christian or otherwise.I cannot help think of Christmas and how many people hear the carols,see the nativity scene, and don't hear God speaking. The cry of God to mankind goes on the whole unheeded, I wear a little cross as a witness, but for the many who wear crosses it is nothing more than a fashion accessory,strange accessory, considering what it really means  .                                                                                                                                                                                         I spoke and they did not listen                                                                                                                   I healed the sick and they did not listen,                                                                                                   I raised the dead and they did not listen                                                                                                     I promised them freedom and forgiveness
                                                         and still they did not listen.                                                                                                                       I died for their sins and still they did not listen.
                                                         I rose from the grave but still they did not listen.                                                                                           

Faith and conflict. ( Revelation 2 v 8 - 11 )

An old Gospel song has the following words,''I go to church on Sunday,the vows that I make I break them  on Monday,the rest of the week I live as I please but come Sunday morning  I'm down on my knees'' . Our Christian life is not just an hour on Sunday it is to be lived out  24/7,most of us know this so what has this to do with ,''Faith and conflict'' ?. Everything ,for the child of God who sincerely  follows  his Master Jesus, is in a battle  ,I do not exaggerate ,that faith will be tested in one way or another , Gods word continually stress'es that there is no such thing as an untested faith .There is no good saying I do not know why these these things are happening to me .Alec Motyer writes ,''Testing has its place and purpose,and this applies not only to the outward trials of adversity and circumstantial difficulties but also to the individual realities of besetting sins, temptation and ceaseless warfare of the spiritual life''. A/M ,goes unto write,'' Israel ,having sheltered beneath the blood  of the Lamb , launched out into a pilgrimage ( Exod 12 v11 ) to face the wilderness ( Deut 8v15) in a divinely planned programme to test obedience, bring loyalty to light and prove the faithfulness of God ( Deut 8 v 1 - 4 ; cf. 1 Cor 10 v 6 - 13 ) Speaking of Israel , A/M, writes as ,''They had no expectation of trouble ahead,yet the word of  God was quite explicit. They believed ( Ex 4 v31) ,but they did not listen ,when God's word warned that there is no such thing as an untested faith. It could be said that the root of all disaster in the Christian life is the failure to hear and believe what the word of God says and to act accordingly''.

Disobedience is serious. ( Numbers 20 v 12 )

Yesterday we considered how Adam and Eve by their disobedience lost paradise,Alec Motyer writes ''Their disobedience lost the garden for themselves and their human posterity,and lost the manifold  perfections of the garden for the whole of creation. Disobedience is as serious as that. Moses'  obedience  brought Israel out of Egypt, as we might say, against all the odds and in the face of the then world's superpower; his disobedience lost him the promised land. The terms in which this  is expressed are telling; disobedience as Numbers 20 v 12/ 27 v 14 reveal, rebels against the divine word, deserts the life of faith, scorns the holiness of the Lord and provokes His anger. ( Deut 1 v 27 ) The Lord sometimes gives a signal demonstration of how He feels and reacts to disobedience, the plagues in Egypt the great flood in Genesis ,(  9 )the destruction of Sodom ( Gen 19 )  the striking down of Ananias and Sapphira  ( Acts 5 ) are all examples of the fact that the Lord sometimes gives a signal  demonstration of how He feels and reacts All these reveal His love of obedience and His revulsion of disobedience''.
                                              To obey God is always,always best.

Faith and conflict. ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 10 )

Alec Motyer is writing  about Exodus  about a people who had suffered under the Pharaoh's , when he came to them, he tells them that God is going to deliver them from the slavery of Egypt. They reacted favourable to what they heard, but when Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh requesting that he let Israel go,he acts unfavourably,refuses and punishes Israel ,they turned on Moses ( Ex 5 ) from faith to despair. A/M equates this to what our Saviour taught in Mark 4 v 16-17 .There we are told about those who heard Gods word, received it with joy, and turned away because of trouble and persecution .A/M says the following , ''There is no such thing as untested faith'', he goes on to say, ''When the word of God arrives in our hearts and lives, testings and trials comes to us as God's appointed way for His children to grow spiritually , and to come into the arena of Christlikeness . Even our poor understanding of such things can see that this must be so''.We will leave it there and look at it some more next time, but consider the following scriptures.  (  1  Thess 2  v 13- 14/ 1 Peter 4 v 12 - 13/ 2 v20 - 25/ James 1 v 2 - 4/ 1 Peter 1 v 6 7/ Job 23 v 10)

Helps to understanding Gods word. ( Colossians 1 v 9 )

At the moment I am studying the book of Exodus with the aid of  Alec Motyer's  book from the Bible speaks to day series, I am finding it very profitable.I have a thirst to understand Gods word , I have read the Bible  through many times in different translations, preached from it many times,been to Bible college,but I know that in a sense I have only scratched the surface of Gods word. I am seventy three but I still want to have a greater understanding of Gods. I have commentaries on all the books  of the Bible ,they have served me well,but the Bible speaks today has been a great help, the authors of this series of books, have worked hard to help those who  want to understand the scripture. They are  not expensive can be purchased on Amazon at a very reasonable price,the reason I am telling you this ,is because I believe they will help you grow in your understanding of Gods word.  My next message will be on a passage by A/M  from Exodus called faith and conflict.