God speaks. 1 ( Isaiah 1 v18 )

 In Isaiah 29 v13, God speaks to His people, the chapter is about a people who were far from Him,it starts with ,' What sorrow awaits Ariel,a special name for Jerusalem'. Verse 13 highlights their state spiritually, 'And so the Lord says,''These people say they are mine, they honour me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man made rules learned by rote''. On a general application of the words,'These people say they are mine',most people would say they are children of God,but they are not unless they have truly trusted Jesus as Saviour. ( John 1 v 12- 13).These people say they are mine, but where they?,everything they were doing  was a denial of that relationship.Remember what our  Saviour said by their fruits you shall known them Matthew 7 v16,There must be an evidence that we are Gods children, even as Christians we will sin, 1  John 1v 8, but we do not walk in sin,and act as if sin does not matter, it does.John Stott writes,' The divine nature within the regenerate believer asserts itself against all evil. It is impossible for him to make a practice of sin.' We are children of God, and sin is unnatural to us'( Dodd').'The believer may fall into sin, but he will not walk in it. (Smith)We will continue this next time.

                                                                Augustine

                                           'It is a human thing to fall into sin

                                           A devillish  thing to persevere therein,

                                           And an angelical or supernatural

                                           thing to  rise from it.'

Such love.( John 1 v 10 - 13)

While on holiday in the town in Tavistock I saw something that is in most towns in the United Kingdom a monument with names on it, the dead  who died in war who sacrificed their lives for our sakes.0n top of  this particular monument there is a cross, that reminds all who see it of  one who sacrificed his life for mankind. They both made sacrifices,those whose names are mentioned on the monument, lead down their lives for friend ,family,and their fellow country men,and we applaud that, Consider the profound difference between the sacrifice that Christ made , from the sacrifice of those who laid down their lives ,in wars.Christ sacrifice was for his enemies Romans 5 v 8,the fact is, all mankind are  total enemies of God, lovers of darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil,in fact they hate the light John 5 v 19-20. The supreme reason for crucifying Jesus is summed up in the words of Luke 19 v14,'We will not have this man to reign over us'. Mankind has always objected to God's rule ,and when they crucified him, they showed their hatred for God in the most extreme manner imaginable. Yet in spite of such ingrained brutality,Christ sacrificed his life that mankind's sins could be forgiven,and that they may be reconciled to God, and receive eternal life. 

                                              'We love Him, because he first love us'.

                                                                 1 John 4 v 5 .

Emptiness. ( Hebrews 11 v 24 - 27)

Jack London a famous author  said ,' 'The function of man is to live. Not to exist'', he lived a very full life ,what he said has a ring of truth about it. It meant not being a couch potato ,of putting effort into life and he did that. But there is a greater meaning to these words,our Saviour came that we may have life,and have it abundantly.I believe that what people call life is a life without Christ, and that can only be described as an existence, without Christ, life will always be just an existence,and when one dies it will still be just an existence.A life without God is missing the true meaning of life ,everything is but an anti climax without God.  I asked a lady how she was keeping,she replied in a negative way,and I said to her that Christ makes all the difference for life ,and for eternity.Most people live just for the here and now,with not a  thought for eternity, the prodigal went looking for a life that he thought would be wonderful, but it did not turn out that way. We have a choice if we really want to live  and not just exist, the answer is very simple,  Christ.

                                              O what emptiness without a Saviour,

                                              Mid the sins and sorrow here below!

                                             And eternity,how dark without Him!

                                             Only tears and endless woe!

                                            What though I might live without the Saviour,

                                            When I come to die what will it be?

                                             O to face the valley's gloom without Him?

                                            And without Him all eternity!.

                                                      Words David Hanson.

                                            

He see's,He hears, He delivers. (Psalm 34 )

 Let us consider v15 of this lovely 34 Psalm written by David ,at a time of great distress.  'The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,and his ears are attentive to their cry'.Another translation puts it like this.'The eyes of the Lord watch over those who  do right,and his ears are open to their cries for help.'Sometimes a parent may say to a child  ,'I'm watching you',well dear child of God, he is watching you, you are never out of his sight, 24/7.He saw Jonah in the belly of a whale,he saw Daniel in  a den of lions. It is a great comfort that God is always watching over us,there are dear children of God who are in prison,their families do not know where they are,but the Lord is watching over them.This should be a great comfort to every child of God,but it is also a challenge, to live as to be always in the sight of God. Next he says that God listens to  his children when they cry out to him, He is always available, He will always come to your aid,for' when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles' v17.

                                 Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

                                 Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

                                  When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He;

                                  His eye is on the sparrow,and I know He watches me;

                                  His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He cares for me.

                                                       Words  Chas ,H. Gabriel.

Are you in Trouble?. (Psalm 34 )

 So we continue to look at Psalm 34, written by David, at a time of great difficulty, v 6, reads ,'This poor man called and the Lord heard him, he saved him out of all his troubles'. He is not talking poor materially, no , it has the idea of being humble, he is acknowledging that he has no bargaining power,remember what our Saviour said,'Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5 v 3) David the great warrior future king, saw himself in God's sight as one who as William Hendriksen puts it ,'as one who realizes their utter helplessness (Romans 7 v 24), they expect nothing from self,everything from God'. The Living translation puts it like this,'In my desperation I prayed.'This is a heart wrenching prayer,all the niceties are gone,he was in desperate straits, so out of that desperation he calls upon his God.the result God answered not in a halfhearted way,He delivered David from all his troubles. Consider the word all, there is no trouble, that God cannot deliver us from, no matter how many they are ,or how difficult they  are.            

                                          'How great is our God how great is His name,

                                          How great is our God,He's forever the same.

                                          He rolled back the waters,of the mighty sea.

                                          And He said I'll never leave you, put your trust in Me.'

                                                             Linda Randel.

Are you fearful ?. ( Psalm 34 )

 When  David the future king of Israel was being hunted by King Saul. he fled of all places to the land of the Philistines, to one of their major cities Gath. ( 1 Samuel 21 v 10 -15 ) Why did he go to such a place?,had David not killed their champion Goliath, and why did the Philistines allow him in the country?. Possible because he would have been seen as a defector , David wasn't but they were not to know that,he was after all going to be Israel's next king,My study Bible writes,'Soon however the Philistines became nervous about David's presence, after all he had slain thousands of their people'.David felt himself  in real danger so he pretended to be insane,and then he fled to a cave in Adullam. Out that fearful experience he composed  Psalm 34, it is a song of praise, and a testimony to  God for his deliverance.In that life threatening experience David was fearful, remember even a great man has fears,but he didn't run with his fears,no, instead he ran to God. God did not turn a deaf ear to his prayer for deliverance,hear is what he says,( 4) 'I sought the Lord and He answered me',hear this, God answers prayer.next,'He delivered me from all my fears',Hear this,God can deliver you from all your fears. We will continue this next time.

Now . ( Acts 16 v 31 )

 In the play the Tempest you have the words 'The very instance I saw you did my heart fly at your service', someone put it this way,'  My heart is always at your service'. Of course he is not talking about the physical heart,but the center of our inner being, Cruden's describes it as,' our mind,soul, spirit,in fact our entire emotional nature and understanding'. In Proverbs 23 v 26, we have the words,' My son give me your heart'. I remember a preacher ,saying when he was young those words brought conviction to his heart,he was religious but he had not surrendered to Christ, but that night he did.Let me ask you have you surrendered your heart to Christ, why not? and why not do it today,why are you resisting Gods Spirit?.There is a little prayer which goes,' Come into my heart Lord Jesus,come in today,come into stay,come into my heart Lord Jesus'.

                                           ' Behold, now is the accepted time;

                                            behold, now is the day of salvation.'

                                                     2 Corinthians 6 v 2 .

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