Lying. ( Proverbs 12 v 22)

 Most people love David such a brave courageous person,the giant killer, Israels greatest king,and of course we have more of his life recorded  than any other king in the Bible. He wrote many of the Psalms.my what a wonderful man of God,a man after God's own heart.But he was not perfect by any means we are familiar with his dreadful actions, in committing a adultery and the murder that also took place. It is Herbert Lockyer who points out ,'Lying was a sin that David. through diffidence ,fell into frequently , 1Samuel 21 v2,8; 27: 8, 10.of course lying usually has consequences,for it cost the lives of the priests of God on one occasion.Is it possible to always to tell the truth?,can we excuse David for his lying?,no ,of course not,lying is a sin,God is a God of truth,and He expects us to tell the truth.There is an old saying ,'Tell the truth and shame the devil', we all remember President Nixon saying,'There will be no whitewash  in the White House', but there was.Sometimes political leaders,and powerful men  in business, think that the importance of telling the truth does not apply to them, but it does. Lying must be seen for what it is, a sin,  and it is important,that we realise the seriousness of it, for all sin is very serious, lying is no exception . Thankfully God is a forgiving God,and if we repent,and seek forgiveness, he will forgive us.

I am a stranger. ( Revelation 20 v 1 - 4 )

 ' I am a stranger on earth',so reads v 19 of Psalm 119,It is in Philippians 3 v20 the apostle Paul  reminds us Christians,that we are citizens of heaven.As Christians we are to keep that in mind  it is vital that we don't get so carried away with life on planet earth and that we do not loose sight of eternal values, and our eternal destination.The saints of God who lived under the old covenant  confessed themselves foreigners and strangers and longed for a better country, a heavenly one. Hebrews 11 v 14 -16. They were people of faith and God promised to honour that faith v 16, as he will honour our faith,and we with them will enjoy eternal joys .It is not that we should not love life here on earth ,it is important, it is of course,but its not the all important thing. We have a choice we can set our minds  solely,on this life which is temporal.or by faith set our hearts on heaven where Christ is. All we can see with our natural vision will soon be gone,but our future glory will never fade or pass away.We will go from the imperfect ,to the perfect,we will go from living in a sinful world, to a sinless existence. Our sinless fallen nature will be no more, perfection will reign,every aspect of our fallenness  will be be removed.No more tears ,loneliness ,sadness or badness, Satan's reign will  have ceased,and  Christ will reign for ever, and we shall reign with Him.

                                                    'When all my labours and trials are o'er

                                                     And I am safe on that beautiful shore,

                                                     Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,

                                                     Will through the ages be glory for me.'

                                                                 Words C.H. Gabriel

Punishment.( Isaiah 53 v 10 - 12 ) 2

 Let us consider some aspects of Christs death on the cross, it involved punishment, yes Christ was being punished, not for wrongs that He had done,the hymn writer asks the question,'Was it for sins that I had done He groaned upon the tree?. The answer is very simply yes,for Jesus never sinned ( Hebrews 4v 15 ).Because of sin the wrath of God is upon all of us John 3 v 36,that is the punishment for sinning against a holy God.The bible clearly teaches that after death there is going be a judgement,that will mean that all who are without Christ will go to hell, and that is an eternal judgement.Revelation 6 v 16- 17.  That is a just punishment for sin, by a just God,on that day no one will suffer any injustice.In 1Peter 2 v24, we read,' He himself  bore our sins ' in His body on the cross',It is A.M.Stibbs who points out,'To bear sin or iniquity means  in the OT , to be answerable for it, and to endure its penalty', the penalty for sin is death. (Romans 6 v23).His death was a vicarious death,the  meaning of this is,one who would act on the part of another. So on the cross He bore the punishment for sin, as the hymn wrote,' The wrath of God that the sinner due was led upon the lamb. So it is that the moment Jesus forgives a sinner ,judgement is removed,never to be enacted upon.

                                           'O happy day when Jesus washed my sins away'

I will not die. ( Psalm 118 v 17 )

 Often David was in dangerous places,were death threatened,Psalm 118 is about such a situation, in v11 he writes of being surrounded on every side by enemies, like a swarm of bees.In the midst of it we have him declaring God as his helper,he likens what he is going through as a chastening of the Lord .It did not include him dying,in fact he declares in v17 ,'I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done'.Herbert Lockyer writes the following,' The Psalmist was cheerfully assured that no arrow  could carry  death between the joints of his harness  and no weapon  of any sort could end his earthly sojourn . The time of his departure had not come.and he felt immortality beating within his bosom.Is this not true of all who have been kings and priests unto God? They stand unharmed till their last sacrifice has been presented to Him.'He finishes by saying,''No bullet will find its billet in our hearts till we have finished our allotted period of activity''.

                                           'Plagues and death me fly,

                                           Till He please I cannot die;

                                           Not a single shot can hit,

                                           Till the God of love sees fit'

                                                 Words . John Ryland.

The giant killer ( 2 Peter 1 v 3 - 4 )

 When you read of a giant killer, you immediately think about David, the young lad who killed Goliath,but we read of one of Davids mighty men Benaiah ,who also slew a giant of a man 1 Chronicles 11 v 23 .We don't see many giants,there are some basket ball players ,that are very tall.But the giants that David and  Benaiah had to face were not involved in sport, no they were mighty warriors,enemies of God and his people, they had to be faced and slain,so that's what David and Benaiah did. Giants still stalk planet earth ,they have different names,it was dear old John Bunyan that godly man who wrote a wonderful book called ,'Pilgrims Progress'.in the book we have two Christians,Christian and Hopeful, on a journey to the Celestial city, unfortunately instead of keeping to the straight and narrow,they wandered of it and became captives, of Giant Despair,and were imprisoned in Doubting Castle,there they suffered a great deal,there appeared no way out,death awaited them.But things changed,for Christian discovered he had a key  called promise,which they used to escape. Christian on their way to glory can so easily be taken captive by Giant despair,Giant of lust,Giant of pride, Giant of unbelief.Those and many other giants that can take over our lives,and destroy us,it need not be so,for God promises in His word, to deliver us and set us free.

                                             ' It is for freedom that Christ hath set us free.

                                              Stand firm, then. and do not let yourselves

                                              be burdened again by a yoke of slavery'.

                                               

He will not fail you. ( Psalm 27 )

King David was in exile in the land of the Philistines,King Saul been hunting David to kill him,time after time he had escaped his clutches,but there came a time when David had,had enough,and he thought to himself, 'One of these days I shall be destroyed by the hand of  Saul.The best thing I can do  is to escape to the Land of the Philistines' 1 Samuel 27 v 1.While in the land of the Philistines he and his six hundred men,plus women and children lived in a town called Ziklag. During that time he and His men were away from their family, when they returned to their horror Amalekites had raided Ziklag, they burned  it down,took all the women and children captive,and went on their way.This seemed to be the last straw ,it caused them great sorrow, but Davids men also felt great bitterness towards him, and talked about stoning him. What do you do when you are face with such a situation?.The first thing David did was,'he encouraged himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam 30 v 6.then he inquired of the Lord what he should do.v 8.and the Lord told him what to do.This he did,and rescued all the wives and children.These are written for our learning, if you are in difficulties even great difficulties,encourage yourself in the Lord, and ask Him what you are to do,. He will not fail you.

Very serious ( Luke 16 v 19 - 31 )

I was listening to a a former atheist talking about becoming a  Christian ,he was a  qualified scientist ,he spoke of attending church thinking all he would hear  about was  sin and hell, instead he heard about love.I had not time to listen to anymore of what he was saying, I hoped that is not where  he stopped,I hope he went unto realise, that like or not,that we have accept that sin and hell are realities,that we have to accept. We cannot water those things down,they are to serious to do that,I remember hearing  about a Christian who was a passenger on the Titanic,he did die ,but before he did ,he swam around telling people about Jesus that they may be saved.Church history is full of people who endured so much ,in order tell people about Christ,who can save them. think of what Christ suffered in order for them to save them..People are grossly ignorant  of spiritual things, I am not ignorant of spiritual things, I know what the Bible teaches,as regards unforgiven sin,dying without Christ is a very, very, serious business.

                                                  ' Come to the Saviour make no delay'.