Freedom ( Psalm 40 v 1 - 4 )

A young girl who escaped from a cult, said the following,'' The hardest day of freedom ,is better than the best day in a cult''. The wonderful message of the work of the gospel means freedom,the prophetic word as regards the Messiah Jesus is found in Isaiah 61 v 1,which reads,'to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners''.We are all born without exception prisoners, being held captive by the world, the flesh,and the devil,if God is speaking to you ,pray to Him,ask Jesus to come into your life and set you free.

Doing evil. ( 2 Samuel 4 )

Matthew Henry writing on Romans 3 ,comments on those  who say ,'Let us do evil, that good may come'. 'Let us do evil that good may come.is oftener in the heart than the mouth of sinners, so justifying themselves in their wicked way'' Machiavelli wrote the book  ,' The Prince', which put forth the idea of the greater good,in other words even if it meant doing that which is not right.Many have chosen that path ,Stalin was ruled by this,even Hitler, they believed the evil they were doing was for the greater good,and so millions upon millions suffered.This flawed belief has caused untold suffering, it is also seen in the attitude of the Jewish leaders towards our dear Lord,When they plotted to murder Him,Caiaphas the High Priest said ,that if they let Jesus continue the Romans would come and take away the temple and the nation. He followed this by saying, ''Better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish'' ( John 11 v 48 -50 ) No matter what it may concern, it is never good to do evil, be it whatsoever,and we cannot never justify it.

Death. ( Romans 6 v 18 - 20 )

Adam and Eve were told that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would experience  certain death ( Genesis 2 v 17 ). What did that death mean that God threatened man with?, 'Augustine comments;' was this death ,bodily or spiritual, or that second death, we answer; it was all.'' What Adam did affected not only Eve and himself,it brought death upon all humanity,as Augustine said, bodily and spiritual death followed. Romans 5 v 12 ,reads, 'By one man sin entered into the world,and death by sin; so death passed upon all  men,for that all have sinned'. That is the dilemma we find ourselves in,you and I are dead in our trespasses and sin,the future is grim,because in that state we are barred from God and heaven, death ,death, death.When we die all that awaits us  is eternal judgement,an existence that will never end. But here is the good news,'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  ( Romans 6 v 23 )

Danger ( Romans 6 v 23 )

I read these words recently,'Sin is dangerous', it is dangerous ,first and foremost because God's righteous anger burns against all sin, without exception.It has serious consequences for the whole of mankind,because God is holy,that means He cannot tolerate sin when Israel had escaped from Egypt,they came  to Mt Sinai,and so the vast population camped at the foot of the mountain. Moses was told to warn the people to not come up the mountain,if they did they would be put to death.We read in Psalm 24 v 3 - 4  ',Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?Who may stand in his holy place?. The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.'In Lev 10 v1- 2, the sons of Aaron's sons died when they sinned,by disobeying Gods instructions,fire destroyed them.Sin is dangerous if not forgiven,, very.

Destructive ( Genesis 3 )

Sin is destructive,consider the evils in the world ,there is no end to them,the cause,sin, which brings a measure of destructiveness, be it a supposed white lie ,or a wrong thought. Our first parents ate fruit ,consider how  it destroyed humanities relationship with God,and has affected humanities relationship with each other., and even effected nature.Take time to read history, why have there been so many wars.?.39 people were found dead in a container lorry,why?a woman aged sixty is captured by an IS group,she was raped continually, tortured, and then stoned to death,why,?. The  answer is simple sin and its destructive power,we can expect nothing else from a fallen sinful world,This world will  continue on this course, until the end of the time,we can do something about it to some extent .On a personal level we can repent of our sinfulness and accept  Christ,He can change us,and then we can tell others about Christ ,the Christ who is the only answer to sins destructiveness

God Almighty ( Ephesians 3 v 20- 21 )

In Genesis 17 v 1 God reveals himself by means of a new name,'EL Shaddai', which means, 'God Almighty'.The context is in relation to Abraham and God's covenant relationship with him,and all that it would mean,the promises that it involved.God was saying to Abraham I will fulfill these promises,and of course He did.at the age of 90 Sarah had a child,and Abraham was 100,so it came to pass.When God makes us a promise no matter how difficult it may appear it will happen.When Sarah was told that she would soon have the promised child she laughed, but she was reminded ,that nothing was to hard for the Lord, (Gen 18 v 14 ),and she believed,and so it came to pass.Let us remember what God promises He will fulfill,someone wrote,'I ask great things of a great God'.

No Exceptions ( 1 Peter 1 v 18 - 19 )

Although I have read and preached on the plagues of Egypt, I was struck forcibly by the following words I read,  'Even the Israelites are in danger from the wrath of God in the last plague', surely not you say,they were Israelites ,children of Abraham. It reminds me of the words in the Jewish daily prayer book,which read, 'All Israel have a portion in the world to come'. Not so as in shown in the last plague , a lamb had to be slain and the blood sprinkled on the sides and tops of the doorframes.  When the angel of death came that which saved them, from judgement ,was the blood.It made no difference who you were,if there was no blood showing then judgement fell. Nothing has changed there is judgement coming upon this sinful world,,and the only way to escape, is by trusting Jesus who shed his precious blood,on the cross.