The Lord is Good (Psalm 126 v 23 )

'The Lord is good,His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth for ever',these words are from Psalm 100 v5. Herbert Lockyer ,gives us the following helpful comments.'God is good, and His goodness faileth never. His mercy is like Himself, everlasting, and will be ours without end. As for His truth, it will never be revoked. Amid a changing world we would be in perpetual fear of shipwreck, but we have a God whose word has never been broken. Everything  about Him is everlastingly unchangeable, and such should call forth thanksgiving unwearied from hearts that never faint'.

                                                  ' O may this bounteous God

                                                    Through all or life be near us;

                                                    With ever joyful hearts

                                                     And blessed peace to cheer us;

                                                     And keep us in His grace,

                                                      And guide us when perplexed,

                                                      And free us from all ills

                                                     In this worlds and the next.

                                                           Words Martin. Rinckart/  C. Winkworth.

I am a Christian. (Philippians 1 v 21 )

Martin Luther counseled all the Lord's people to answer  all temptations with the brief saying, 'Christianus sum'-'' I am a Christian''.  Being a Christian should make all the difference in  all our lives,it means we have one with us who will care for us ,provide for us,protect us, never leave us nor forsake us.It  should  mean that we act,speak, and think, in a different way than the non- Christian. We should have a restraint on our lives,to not do anything that would dishonour our Saviour. Our aim in life should be that of unquestionable obedience to him who is our Lord, and we should  to do all things to the glory of God.We should live in the fear of God ,and rely on the grace of God , and walk and live by faith.His word should be utmost in our lives. His word should be our guide,and our delight,we should hold fast to biblical truth,refuse to compromise ,to our own understanding, or to those who have compromised.We should hold loosely to all things, have our sights always on that which is eternal,and especially on  Christ,and never forget that He is coming again..

                                                          '' I am a Christian''.

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'.