Temptation. ( Exodus 20 v 17 )

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King David ( Psalm 32 )

Lets consider Psalm 32,it was written by King David ,it is linked with Psalm 51,both Psalms are written in the aftermath of David's adultery with Bathsheba,and his murder of her husband Uriah,Yes King David,surely not,the man after Gods own heart,the sweet Psalmist of  Israel,the man who faced a giant,and slew him,and became a hero,and the greatest of all Israels kings. Alas ,it was so,let me say this ,the greatest,godliness,holiest of people,are but sinners,saved by grace, and it is possible that they like us can fall into the most grievous of sins.Not until we reach glory will any of us be free from that fallen nature that still clings to us, the word of God tells us ,yes warns us,that we should never become self confident,and blind to the fact that we can so easily fall into sin, ( 1 Corinthians 10 v 12 ) let us all heed this warning.

This little light of mine.( Matthew 5 v 14 - 16 )

In the darkness of the early morning I looked out at my garden,all the solar light had stopped shining,darkness reigned,no not quite,the little light on my water feature was shinning . One light in the darkness,as time goes on in life,it appears that the darkness is spreading over this world, false religions,secularism,unbelief,confusion in sexuality,in gender,love of pleasure.As  Christians let us remember the words of our  wonderful Saviour,to us His followers,''You are the light of the world''(Matthew 5  v 14 ).and then He goes unto say,''Shine'' ( MT 5 v 16 ).We may be the only Christian in our family, in our street,in our place of work ,in our prison,shine for Jesus,be that one light in the darkness.

Grace from beginning to end. ( 1 Peter 5 v 10 - 11 )

Many years ago I was involved in a quiz ,in my local church,the question was asked,what was the last words in the NT?. I thought I knew, so my answer was,'Even so,come , Lord Jesus',did I get it right?,no,nearly,  the right answer is,'The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people, Amen..' (Revelation 22 v 21) What a wonderful verse for the Bible to end with,Bruce Milne writes,'' ..Heaven is real because God, in utter grace,has made a way for his sinful creatures to return to him,and to live with him in everlasting righteousness and joy. He then quotes Beasley  Murray,',As in revelation,so in history,grace shall have the last word', Indeed it will , for heaven is simply grace abounding, grace unleashed,grace uninhibited ,grace unending, in the land of the Trinity,for ever more.( BM )

Reason (Proverbs 3 v 5 )

I had two JWs call at my door, I sought to be polite,and give an explanation for the deity of Christ, like a fool I then had to listen to them talking a distorted lot of nonsense,in their attempt to disprove what I said,it appeared they believe in gods.I must confess nothing I had said ,made any impression, and to be honest the more I tried to talk with  them as to what they were saying,the more frustration I felt,in the end they had not really listened to what I had said,so it ended.On reflection I realise the truth of what Martin Luther said,'that reason is the enemy of faith''.Of course spiritual, the JWs are but a godless religion built upon mans  sinful human reasoning,.The word of God tells us to not lean upon our own understanding, but to trust in the Lord with all our heart. These words challenge  our  proud nature,our sinful desires to know more than God,our dear Lord Jesus,faced such people,the result ,they refused to accept Him,as the Son of God,and in their spiritual blindness crucified Him.

No wrath. ( Romans 8 v 1 / 33 - 39 )

What about believers?,will they be lost?,the answer is no ,we read in  Revelation  20 v 15 , 'that if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire'. In other words those whose names are in the book of life are saved from judgment.Why is that ?,very simply when we trust Jesus as our Saviour,we are saved from coming wrath ( 1 Thessalonians 1 v 10 ) What happened on the cross?, Jesus took the punishment of those who trusted Him, consider the words of that wonderful hymn, 'Jesus Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress; midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,with joy shall I lift up my head. Bold shall I stand in that great day, for who aught to my charge shall lay?, fully absolved through these I am, from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.'

The book was opened. ( Revelation 20 v 13 )

We read that the dead will be judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books (Rev 20 v 12,) This simply means that God  as it were is recording all the wrong things we have done during our lifetime. Nothing will be missing,it will be all there,every sin we have ever committed ,every wrong word (Matthew 12 v 36 ),every wrong thought ( Matthew 5 v 27 -26 ),sins of omission,  not loving God,and others,the sin of unbelief .These and every other sins will be brought to light ,the secret sins ,the hidden sins kept  from your wife,husband,employers,the things you coveted,your false worship,the sins that you forgot about,the sins that you laughed at,it will be all brought to light. No one on that day will be acquitted,no one will be found sinless,and no one will escape judgment. We will continue next time on this subject.