The Book. ( Jonah 2 v 9 )

I wonder do you have a favourite book or books, I have many favourite books, here are a few ,'The wind in the Willows, Watership Down, Pilgrims Progress,' I have hundreds of books ,and have read hundreds of books. I am always reading something. It was Sir Walter Scott who when he was dying said to his servant ,''Bring me the book'', and the book he meant was the Bible. Of all the books I have, the most important  one is the Bible. it is unique, what makes it unique ?,it is the word God. Of no other book can that be said , it is literally God speaking to us, that means what he actually said, and what others have said. It is a book with history telling us how the world began , and how man came into being and how sin came into the world. There is so much more we  can say about the Bible, the poetry ,the songs, the hero's, the villains, love stories, tragedies, the triumphs . All of life is there ,but it is a book about redemption from sin, Sin that offends a holy God, and its terrible  consequences for everyone is clearly spelt out. The Bible tells us the truth, that many people don't want to hear, that we are sinners, we might be into denial, but it is evident in a millions ways . We are all born separated from God ,His wrath lies upon us, left to ourselves we will perish and go to Hell. The Bible is the only book that reveals the God of loves answer, Jesus, whom we need to believe in, if the sin problem is going to be resolved.  

                                          ' Believe in the Lord Jesus , and

                                            and you will be saved.'

                                                         (Acts  16 v 31 )

                                                                                                 

You failure. ( Philippians 3 v 12 - 14 )

 What have these three biblical characters have in common? ,King David, the apostle Peter ,and Mark the writer of Marks gospel, they all failed. Unlike Islam ,who take extreme displeasure at any body who dares to criticise there prophet. The Bible does not try to hide the failings of those recorded within its pages, all the disciples forsook Jesus when he was arrested. The Roman Catholic church failed so many young people, by not dealing with  the awful abuse that was going on, better they had. China a great nation fails  to admit there failures, and begin to change. I remember being told that the Chinese hate to loose face, hate  to admit they have failed. But lets be honest none of us like admitting we have failed, or that our children have failed. There is a sense of shame  when we fail, and even anger, even pain, whither it is in our marriage, jobs, driving tests, moral failures, financial failures ,sporting failures. Let me say this ,we all fail, do you know anyone who has never failed?, of course not, that appears obvious. Consider those three men, David failed morally, God forgive him ,he will forgive you, and restore you, if you repent, and ask His forgiveness .Peter did something he said he would never do, he denied his Lord, well the Lord  restored him, and recommissioned him.  Mark,  in the apostles Pauls eyes had failed, well he recovered from that, and even Paul had to admit later on ,that he was useful. Let  us learn from our failures, to walk humbly, and not to be so judgemental of others, who fail, and not to give up, deal with what needs dwelt then, and then by Gods move on.

Are you feeling insecure?. Psalms 23/ 121/27

Totalitarian states and those who govern  then appear to to be very insecure  ,while watching a documentary by Michael Palin on a visit to North Korea, the first thing he was asked ,did he have a Bible. Michael felt that was funny, but for the North Korean regime it was no laughing matter, they were deadly serious. When  Mao Zedong became leader of the Communist Party in China, he went to see Stalin, and asked his advice, Stalin advised him to get rid of all the opposition. Present  day China are a powerful  nation, they have a vast army, many weapons of mass destruction, no one can threaten them, yet they feel threatened ,when anybody criticises them. They hound those dissidence who challenge their policies, put them in prison, kill them .It is a historical  fact that Stalin, uncle Joe, was paranoid,  especially  of those near him, and no matter how much evil they had committed for him, he had them eliminated. The fact is  we live in a very insecure world, think how many people feel at this time, insecure. As Christians we also can feel insecure, well we have to be honest, we do, so what is the answer ?, faith in our loving heavenly Father, faith in his word.

                                                 I will fear no evil no evil

                                                 for you are with me.

                                                            Psalm 23 v 4.

God listens ( Psalm 34 )

 I  found the words from a Christian song by Chris Tomlin instructive, it is from an album called. 'The God who listens'.

                                                               I'm not just hoping,

                                                               I'm not just wishing,

                                                               I know I'm praying,

                                                               I know He hears me,

                                                               I know He's living,

                                                              Yes, I am praying,

                                                              To a God who listen's.

                                      And without faith it is impossible to please God,

                                     because anyone who comes to Him must believe

                                     that He exists and that He rewards those who

                                     earnestly seek Him.

                                                                  Hebrews 11 v 6.

Jekyll and Hyde. ( 2 ) ( Romans 5 v 6 - 11)

We ended last time by pointing out that  the bad we, the wicked we do, should be seen from Gods view point as sin. Society rarely mentions the word sin, we go to court ,to give evidence, we are asked to swear on the Bible, that we are  going to tell the truth , the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yet the vast amount  people ignore the Bible, and  do not believe the Bible, and indeed resent what the Bible says. God has  a moral standard, that reveals to us what is right ,and what is wrong. When we break his moral standard we sin, this includes even our thought life, lustful thoughts ,hateful thoughts, covetous thoughts, are sinful. Telling untruths is a sin, stealing is a sin. Of course there is only one God, the God of the Bible,  to worship any other God, is a sin. Here is  a very important thing to remember, it is impossible for us not to sin, we have a nature that just cannot be sinless. It's impossible, we will always be, Jekyll and Hyde,  there is nothing we can do to change that, you look at others, and you say why did they do such and such a thing. Then you look at yourself and you ask the same question ,why?. welcome Jekyll and Hyde. And so the sins mount up, and up and up, but now the good news ,Christ Jesus died for sinners, that's you that's me, we can be forgiven, no matter how sinful we are. We have to stop protesting our so called innocence,  and  humbly seek the mercy of a holy but forgiven God, though his Son Jesus.

                                                                    

                                                      Christ receives sinners.

                                                      Christ died for sinners.

                                                         That means you

Jekyll and Hyde.( 1 ) ( 1 John 5 v 17 )

 I was touched emotional while watching TV ,about a charity which runs  a organisation where children with special needs and others  could have a session riding a horse,  they had a problem ,because of the pandemic they were going to have to close, for lack of funding.  The good news is, they are not closing, because people have sent in gifts ,I think they received about 5 million pound.  Yes there are many dear people who do a lot of good things, in giving to others, serving others, etc, but there is two sides to everything, and the other side is this ,we are sinners. That means everybody even those nice people who sent the gifts into that charity, the nice old lady ,and the  nice old man. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote the novel called .'The  strange case of  Jekyll Hyde'. It highlighted the unpredictable dual nature we all have, sometimes good but also the not so good, and also shockingly evil. The little nursery rhyme about a little girl, reads,' When she was good, she was very ,very good but when she was bad , she was horrid' All of us are a mixture, there are two sides to all of us, that's a fact. From  a human point of view, what we call bad ,God calls  sin, it is vital that we see wrong as not just about being bad, but sinful. It is also important to understand that the good that we do ,does not nullify the sins we commit ,they remain with us ,and their awful consequences .We will continue this next time

Who is offended? ( John 8 v 1 - 11 )

 Matthew  Parris writing in the Times  newspaper ,wrote on evangelicals who complained about certain things shown on TV ,he stressed  that usually there is advanced warnings so that they could switch off. I understand that point of view to some extent, and in the present moral climate, it is helpful. But ,yes there is always a but, where is God in all this ?,there are people who say what goes on between two consenting adults, is alright .People say that swearing and blasphemy is just another another way of speaking, or it does not matter how one thinks. The fact is ,it does matter, it matters to God, but then most people don't think much about God. But one day they will stand before God, what then?, a good question.it says in God's word after death the judgement. Hebrews 9 v 27, God will not be protesting but judging .So should we as Christians say nothing ,of course we should, but a note of quotation, as regards taking the moral high ground. In Christs day there were those who took the high moral ground, they were called Pharisees, unfortunately many of them ,were self- righteous. Charles Bridges wrote the following, ''There is not a sin, that the highest saint of God may not commit, if trusting in  himself.'' The Pharisees did not  see it like that, so at all times they were out for the kill, not so the Christian. We must speak yes we must speak ,but it must always be in love ,pointing people to the only who  one can forgive, and who can save, even Jesus.