Be careful. (Romans 12 v 1 - 2 )

On holiday I went into a gift shop,and saw an ornament, the three wise monkeys ,one covered his eyes,the next covered his ears,and the last one covered his mouth.' This indicated that they saw no evil, heard no evil,and spoke no evil',if only we could be like those three monkeys.Our eyes take in so much that's good and so much that is bad,we look lustfully after a woman,and that can start a terrible process ,that can lead us into so much that is wrong. ,CP  Genesis 3 v 6/  1 Kings 11 v 2. Next our ears,what we listen to,recently I listened to a person  who spoke about a man who was not very nice, afterwards ,I felt convicted and wish I had not listened to what was being told me. (Proverbs 20 v19.)Next we have wrong speaking,let us remember once we say something,we cannot draw those words back again.The words of James 1 v 26 read,'Those who consider themselves religious and yet  do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves'.There is a little children's song that goes.

                                                     ' Be careful little eyes what you see,

                                                      Be careful little eyes what you see ,

                                                      There's a Father up above ,

                                                      looking down, with tender lover

                                                      So be careful little eyes what you see.

The hymn applies those words to our ears and our words,so let us be careful,as regards our eyes ,our ears ,and our tongues.

                                                         

No ifs.( Philippians 1 v 22 )

We all know about children who want their own way,and they have to be taught that they can't always have their own way.And as they look back on their lives ,they realise that their parents knew what was  best,for they saw the potential dangers.I read the following account of a minister ,who was praying for a child  who was  apparently dying,he prayed, 'If it be Thy will, spare this child'. The wretched  and distracted mother interrupted him with the words,''It must be Gods will ; I will have no ifs'' The child to the surprise of many , recovered, but lived to break his mothers heart, and was publicly  executed at the age of 22'. I believe the safest  thing is ,to let God choose, always.

His name is Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 5 v 17- 21)

 During the reign of Hitler school children were taught to sing a song to Hitler,which reads,'You are the noblest being in all the world' I can assure you that's not true, it seems an obvious answer,yet even now some people believe he was.I would say in relation to  wickedness ,he rates very highly, he is just one example of how far humanities fallen nature can fall,if unrestrained. We are all born with a fallen nature ,it is something we pass on to our children (Romans 5 v 12 ), there is nothing we can do about it.There will never be a cure ,we cannot change it,as one said ,it is,' the nature of the beast.' Education cannot change it,social well being cannot change it.religion cannot change it, philosophy may appear to have the answer but it doesn't .So God provided the answer ,He decided he would make a new creation , but in order for that to happen,someone would have come into this fallen world. It would mean a lot of pain and would result in the death of that person. That death would take place on a cross, the price of sin is death, and eternal separation,that separation is the wrath of God.That special person who came was sinless ,His voluntary death would involve Him becoming a sacrifice,He would bear the wrath of God, so that all those who trusted Him as their Saviour would escape the wrath of God. They would become a new creation with a new new nature, their sins  would be forgiven and they would be called ,the children of God.Who is name of that person who came ? His name is Jesus.

A wonderful change. ( 2 Corinthians 5 v17

In 1 Corinthians 6 v 11 we read,' And that is what some of you were'. What were they? ,'sexually immoral ,idolaters ,adulterers,homosexuals, thieves,greedy,drunkards, slanders, swindlers,In that state they were cut off from the kingdom of God/  ( 1Cor 6 v9 ff).Paul goes unto say how things changed by the grace of God,and he mentioned ,from being excluded from God's kingdom,that now they were changed,and he mentions three things,they were washed,were sanctified ,and justified.One commentator points out,'that these verbs ,indicate an once-for-all event,which had completely transformed them.John Calvin maintained that all three terms refer to the same thing,though from different aspects. Our sins have been washed away,we are set apart to be God's,and our totally accepted by God.all this in the precious name of Jesus,  and we are empowered by God's holy Spirit.No longer lost we are found,no longer under the wrath of God,but have been saved from the wrath to come.no longer at war with God,but have peace with God,no longer children of  disobedience,and of Satan,but Children of God, no longer slaves of sin,we are truly free,no longer earth bound ,and hell bound, but heaven bound.

                                                'When Jesus becomes your Saviour

                                                 then all things are changed.'

Free love. ( Romans 6 v 23 )

 In one of Rudyard Kipling's stores,he had an old soldier saying,

                                  'Ship me somewheres east of Suez,where the best 

                                   is like the worst,

                                  Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an' a man

                                   can raise a thirst.

I remember reading this ,' The first of all the human instinct is the instinct to do what we like. instead of doing what we should know what is best for us.' The world is like the prodigal ,they want to throw off what they see as unnecessary restraints. In the sixties there was a movement that  was called ,'Free love', it sought to throw off restraints as regards ,marriage,birth control,and adultery.The problem is we need moral guidelines, but whose moral guidelines,we feel we do not need God's moral standards,with the result  human life is undermined,we have literally millions of abortions being carried out every year,confusion as regards sex,and gender,marriage has been eroded children are suffering.Society continues to distance themselves from God,seeing Him as an  unessential of whom whom they are not accountable too,or that He does not exist. To leave God out of ones life,or to deny His existence is a disastrous. road to take,it leads to a situation of everyone doing whats right in their own eyes,with little regard to the consequences.Death will reveal all,as we stand before the God we have ignored,and the Saviour we have rejected.

                                            'It is said, nothing is free, there is always a cost'

Weakness ( Psalm 61 )

I am sure there are those people who think I am a very strong Christian, I don't feel  strong,far from it, I feel very weak. I often find myself singing words of a song ,I don't know who wrote it,or even if  I am getting the words right,they go like this,' Jesus keep a hold,a hold on me ,I'm the weakest of your children,how I need you. If I make it through the only way it's going to be,if Jesus keeps a hold, a hold on me'. That's the way I feel, I am not strong,sometimes a feather could not knock me over, you don't have to convince me that I'm weak,it's a fact of life.Was it Spurgeon who said ,'everyday you are a Christian it's a miracle', so very true. I love the honesty of Paul writing in Romans 7,when he cries out as he considers his struggles ,'What a wretched man I am, v24, but he doesn't stop there,he declares,'Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord' v 25.  In himself Paul was weak, but Christ lived by His Spirit in him,and that's what made all the difference.When he cried out in his weakness to be healed,his request was refused,instead God promised him grace,to sustain him in his weakness.{1Corinthians 12 v 9) In Psalm 61 v2 David cries out that his heart was overwhelmed,and then he says 'Lead me to the rock that is higher than I'.,who is that rock? it is Jesus.

                                                    O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,

                                                    My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly,

                                                    So sinful ,so weary,Thine,Thine would I be,

                                                    Thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee.

                                                    Hiding in Thee! Hiding in Thee!

                                                    Thou blest Rock of Ages,I'm hiding in Thee'.

                                                                 Words. W O. Cushing.

     

Music. ( Romans 1 v 16 )

Lenin once said that he refused to listen  to Beethoven because the music  made him want to pat children on the head., all I can say to that,I wish both him and his friend Stalin would have listened to Beethoven.For they were both sorry evil specimens of humanity and were guilty of the death of millions of people. We read that the Lord afflicted King Saul with an tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.(1 Samuel 16 v 14). So they heard that David was a musician so they brought him to Saul to  play to him and when he played, the tormenting spirit would leave him. I supposed we have all been soothed by a lovely peace of music.There is a saying that goes,'Music hath charms to sooth the savage beast'.It may have power to sooth ,but it did not change Saul,in fact he became worse,and became paranoid as regards David,and continually sought to kill him.Music cannot change the fallen nature of man,only Christ can do that.

                                           ' For all things were changed when He found me

                                            A new day awoke all around me;

                                            For I met the Master,now I belong to Him.

                                                         Words Mosie Lister.