How would I like to die? ( Acts 21 v 10 - 14 )

 As I was out walking I spoke to God about dying ,I said  Lord let it be painless, but then I thought, whatever  way I die let me glorify You. An Egyptian Christian  declared , ''Now is our Joy complete'', when the bodies of her two sons had with others suffered martyrdom, were  returned for burial.  In her loss she was able to express joy at her sons honourable death. Although Peter failed his lord by denying him, it was Peter who had said that he would lay down his life for Jesus, when our Lord rose again ,he met Peter and told how he  would die, John 21 v 18 - 19. In doing this , C. Swindoll says Christ was telling Peter , he would be granted a Christ worthy death, that he would  '' wear '' a cross to his own honourable death.'

                                              Mans chief end is to glorify God

                                              in life and in their death.

                                 

Be not wise in your own eyes. ( Proverbs 3 v 6 )

 There is one verse of a poem by Robert Burns which goes,' The best laid plans of mice and men, Gang aft agley'. The  ending is written in a Scottish dialect, what the poet is saying,' No matter how well you plan ,there is no guarantee of success'.  I have always followed what Proverbs 3 v 6 teaches ,'In all your ways, acknowledge  Him , and He shall direct your paths.' I wonder how many Christians do this. Yet it is the clear teaching of scripture, we may not have given it much thought ,sometimes when faced with something  major, we may pray. We may feel that the normal everyday happenings, are not important to pray about, yet how do we know ,but that the the ordinary, may turn out to be very important. We may think that God is to busy to be be bothered with these apparent insignificant things, but not so, in thinking like this, we are bringing God to our level. No let us obey the clear instructions given to us in this verse. As another scripture instructs us to be not wise in our own eyes (Prov 3 v 7 ), let us lean not on our own understanding. God loves to be consulted, so let us to do just that, consult Him, and as He has promised, He shall direct our paths.

Holiness (3) ( 1 Peter 1 v 5 - 6 )

 God is holy we are not, so how can we be accepted by Him, first of all it is by faith in  Christ, and that alone, no pluses no add-ons. The wonderful C.H. Spurgeon, was troubled for a long time, as regards how could he get saved? ,so one Sunday morning, in the providence of God, he found in a Methodist chapel. He was miserable, the preacher stood up and spoke, the text used was Isaiah 45 v 22, 'Look to me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth'. The preacher challenged Spurgeon to look, and he did that, and was saved, it was a look of  faith ,by a desperate young man. So Christ saved him, his sins were forgiven, not only that ,the Lord Jesus righteousness was transferred to him ,it became his possession, and indeed  this applies to all who trust in Jesus .CP. Jeremiah 23 v 6/ /1 Cor. 1 v 30 /2 Cor. 5 v 21.So let us return to our original point, in Phil 4 v 2 of standing firm, we have mentioned the importance  of truth, now lets consider ,standing firm in holiness. the challenge the word of give is in 1 Peter 1 v 15 - 16 .'But just as he who called us  is holy, so be holy in all you do; For it is written; ' Be holy, because I  am holy'. It is a big challenge, but we must it take on board, pray about it. About our language, our thought life ,the things  we indulge in, consider all unrigtheousness is sin. The pornography must go, the drugs must go, living in sin must, the cheating must stop, holiness must be our watchword. How can we do this?, well as a Christian we have the holy Spirit who dwells within us, He will help us to be holy.

Stand firm (2 ) A holy God.

 Last time we looked at standing firm as regards truth, not let us consider ,standing firm as regards holiness. Now it is not a word you hear on the media, or even with your everyday person, or even in the church.  But it is mentioned in the word of God ,in relation to God , as to His being. Tozer writes of the holy Trinity, let me also stress, because it is important God is a triune being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This a great mystery, Tozer writes  'Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery  of the Trinity must  remain forever futile'. We must humbly accept by faith this mystery, and in worship and adore ,One God in Persons Three'. As to his being He is holy, Isaiah 6 v 3,we read ,'Holy , holy, holy  is the Lord Almighty, likewise in  Revelation 4 v 8. That holiness shuts out humanity from having a relationship with Him. Again in turning to Tozer, who writes,' There is a relative and contingent holiness which He shares . with angels and  with redeemed men on earth as their preparation for heaven'. The unsaved have no part in this, it is foreign to them, because of their sinful nature, and their natural animosity towards a holy God and His ways and His will. We will continue this next time.

Stand firm ( Jude v 3 )

 Rudyard Kipling wrote ,in his famous poem, IF', 'If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs'. So many Christian are loosing the plot, even Christian leaders. In a number of Pauls letters, he challenges Christian ,'to stand  firm', Philippians 4 v1/ 1Cor 16 v 13/ Gal 5 v11/  1 Thess  3 v 8 /2  Thess  2 v 15.  A young child can easily be knocked over, but we are who men and women of faith, are called to stand firm. Truth is absolutely vital, make no mistake , it makes me sad as I have viewed on TV what some  preacher come out with. It is not only the cults that we have to contend with, in these days, they are the  enemies within. I asked my minister was he an evangelical?, he replied, 'it depends what you mean ',he knew what I meant. William Barclay was a very popular Christian writer, I have all his NT books, I received much help from them. I realised he was not clear in certain things, but when  I bought his autobiography ,I discovered he did not believe in the deity of Christ, was a universalist, did not believe in Christ being our substitute, he wrote of obliterating hell. The miracles would also be a problem with him, it is obvious that he did not  stand firm , as regards truth. If we don't believe the truth ,then we believe a lie, and if we don't stand firm for the truth, we are betraying the faith that has been handed down to us, from Him ,who is Way, the Truth ,and the Life. ( John 14 v 6 )

I am right. ( Revelation 3 v 14- 22 )

Proverbs 16 v 2, reads, 'All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits'. Charles  Bridges writes,' If a man were his own judge, who would be condemned'. Mankind can commit awful things and believe they are right, the list is endless, that goes for the political, religious, indeed ever area of life. There are prostitutes who would have one believe that what they do is just a nine to five job, but its not. People will cheat on their taxes and feel justified in doing so, many  live by  what  Niccolo Machiavelli taught in his book ,'The Prince', we do things for the greater good .Many have carried out awful things for what they believe was for the greater good, the Jews did,( John 11 v 5). by committing an unspeakable evil,  murdering Jesus. But God weighs up what we do, and why we do certain things, and He declares ,'You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting',( Daniel  5 v 27) In other words what we have done ,no matter how we may to justify it, we did wrong, acted wrong, spoke  wrong, in Gods eyes. God is holy, he expects us to be holy, God is righteous, he expects us to be righteous ,God is loving , he expects us to be loving, God is forgiving ,he expects us to be forgiving. 

Thirsty? ( Revelation 3 v 14 - 22 )

Water is very precious, we could not live without it, often when I am going to a drink a glass  of water ,I  offer up a prayer of thanksgiving ,for this precious gift from our creator God.  The  word of God speaks of water in different ways. In Isaiah 12 we have  a song of praise, God had been angry with his people , but now they find faith arising to look again to the God of  their salvation. In v 3 we these words 'With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation'. Israel throughout their history kept going away from God. CP  Jeremiah 2 v 13. ' For my people have done two evil things; They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water'. They found out to their cost how foolish that was ,and the price they had to pay. But now they are invited to once again, to turn to the God of their salvation, and like thirsty travellers be refreshed. When we came to Christ, we were leaving behind,  those things that did not satisfy the needs of our heart, only  He, can do that. Yet like Israel of old we forget , and we find ourselves returning to our old ways .We need to be reminded , that when we do this we are like a dog returning to its vomit. 

                                                   Create in me a pure heart, O God,

                                                   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

                                                   Restore to me the joy of  your salvation,

                                                   and grant me a willing  spirit to sustain me.

                                                                 Psalm 51 v 10 /12 .