Are you a Christian? ( 2 Thessalonians 3 v2 NLT)

 Are you a Christian? that's the question I asked a neighbour this morning,it turns out she is not a Christian,but her mother is.She mentioned that she tried to live to a certain  Christian standard,she sounded a genuine person.She sounds like someone who is almost a Christian ,but of course she is not. I mentioned  briefly the  consequences of not knowing Christ, there is no substituted for that.One may be a good living person,but one will never be a perfect person,do you know any perfect people?,I don't,I have lived 79 yrs,and have not  met or known a perfect person.Perry Como sings a song called 'I'ts impossible',the fact is it's impossible to be perfect,no one has a perfect score card.Most of us know about the  commandments,they were not given by God as a means of salvation,but a means of bringing us to salvation. One must look not just look at the letter of the law, but the spirit of  the law. God considers how we think as well as what we do,what are our motives,is our hearts pure?.I have met some people who say they have never sinned,they are not telling the truth ,for God's word say's for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All this is meant to bring us to a place of conviction of our sinfulness,and our need of forgiveness,and to the one who alone that can save us Jesus. When you trust Him as your Saviour then you are a Christian.

It is a thing most wonderful. ( Isaiah 53 )

Most of the pictures of Jesus on the cross show a sanitized Jesus,with hardly a mark on Him, in spite of   the fact that he had been brutalized,battered and beaten,nearly flogged to death, He wore. a crown made up of large thrones on his head.He would have been an awful sight to behold. Isaiah wrote of his suffering in Isaiah 52 v 14,'His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness'. Of course it didn't stop there , for on that cross He bore the punishment for our sins,the wrath of God that was our due was laid upon Him, if we had been at the cross,we would only have seen part of what He suffered.What great suffering ,what great love, William W. How wrote the following.

                                                         

                                                        'I sometimes think about the cross,

                                                        And shut my eyes,and try and see

                                                        The cruel nails and crown of thorns

                                                        And Jesus crucified for me.

                                                        But even could I see Him die,

                                                        I could but see a little part

                                                        Of that great love, which like a fire,

                                                        Is always burning in His heart.

The cross of Christ. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

  In his book,'The cross of Christ',John Stott  writes how the cross eventually became the universal  Christian symbol,he says,' The choice by Christians of this symbol was central to their understanding of Jesus,neither  His birth nor His youth,neither  His teaching  nor His service, neither His resurrection nor His reign, nor the gift of the Spirit, but His death,His crucifixion'.Now we are not denying the importance of all those things ,but without Christ death on the cross,all those things would mean nothing. The reason Christ came  was to die on the cross, without the cross we have nothing, I stress that again.There is no gospel of the Holy Spirit,it is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,it was Christ  who suffered and died on the cross,we are cleansed by His precious blood, we are forgiven on the bases of His death.On that cross He became our substitute,instead of us being punished  for our sins,He bore the punishment,meaning no longer would we be under under the wrath of God.( John 3 v36/ 1 Thessalonians 5 v10).

                                               'Christ crucified is God's power  and wisdom'

Priorities ( Matthew 6 v 33 ) 3

 We continue to look at the anointing  of  Jesus by  Mary  ( Mark 14 v 1-10/ John 12 v1 - 8 ) ,to the main person in this account,Jesus.Now our dear Saviour doesn't say much, until they started harassing Mary,then our Saviour speaks,while they thought that she actually did a bad thing,Jesus said it was a beautiful thing and that she would be remembered for what she had done. Jesus our Savior went about doing good,not just good but amazingly good,yet there were those who wanted to kill Him.What you do may not be appreciated, don't worry Jesus knows how you feel, remember it is His estimation of what we have done that counts .Jesus saw the depth of meaning in her gift,it was in relation to His death.People send flowers to the dead, in one sense the dead know nothing as regards life on planet earth.Would it not be more appropriate to send a person a nice gift before they die. Likewise when people die people say nice things about them ,would it not have been better to say nice things about them when they are alive.Last but not least ,He mentions that this was the proper time for what Mary did,a sort of farewell gift,which he much appreciated.and after He had gone ,he reminded His disciples there would be plenty of time to help the poor, 

                                                       'Jesus be the centre

                                             Be my source,be my light,Jesus.

                                                         Jesus be the centre

                                              Be my hope,Be my song, Jesus

                                                           Michael Fyre

                                                              

Judas (1 Timothy 6 v 10 )2

  Let us continue to consider the events in Lazarus home,and think a bit more as regards Judas,the one who laid a double life, the question is why did he follow Jesus? Well like many Jews he thought of Jesus as an earthly Messiah,who would reign on earth,and he may have considered the rewards that would come with that to him. I am not sure why he followed Jesus,but the fact is he did.,very imperfectly,but he wanted his rewards now.So he took advantage of his position  as treasurer and lined his pocket with  ill gotten gains. I imagine he was always looking for a a way to get money.So when he saw Mary pouring that very  expensive perfume over Jesus feet, he saw an opportunity to get hold of the  money from selling the ointment ,he pretended  that the money from the sale of perfume would have been better given to the poor and needy..The other disciples were taken in by Judas,and they joined in and rebuked Mary harshly.When this happened I am sure ,Judas was very angry at Jesus,at not being able to get hold of the money, so he went out to make a deal  with the religious leaders,to betray Him.He wanted money ,he got his wish,but he got more than he bargained for. Let us learn from this that if we give in to our sinful nature we will get more than we bargain for.

Mary. ( Mark 14 v 1- 10 / John 12 v 1- 8 ) 1

 It is six days before Passover ,Jesus was staying in a friends home called Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead,it was also the home of his two sisters,Mary and Martha. His disciples were there also and among them was Judas the thief,and he was the one who would betray Jesus ,for the love of his life ,money.(This account is in John 12 v 1-8 )  They were all sitting down to a meal, in which Martha was serving ,and as they reclined there, Mary came up to Jesus and poured very expensive  perfume on Jesus feet and wiping his feet with her hair..The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume,but it was also filled with  the voice of the lover of money,he made what seemed a valid point,why was the perfume not sold and the money given to the poor . It  would have  been an opportunity for him to get his hands on some of it,he didn't care for the poor. Sadly the other disciples joined in the criticism,and they rebuked her harshly. It was at that point our dear Saviour intervened, 'leave her alone' He said,'why are you bothering her?,She has done a beautiful thing to me.Jesus reminds them that she did this deed with his death in mind. J. C .Ryle wrote the following,' Let us not heed what men say or think of us because of our religion. The praise of Christ,at the last day, will more than compensate for all we suffer in this world from unkind tongues'.

                                                  

                                                 

Hope ( 1 Corinthians 15 )

 'I wrote this down recently,'This old world keeps going from one crises after another,like so many peoples lives.' I sense that so many people  underestimate the awfulness of mankind's history, take the 20th century,it was a century of absolute horror,yes even that word horror is not strong enough  to describe that century. I look with great concern on the century we live  in ,and wonder if it is going to be worse than 20th, it may be. Because of man's fallenness  the future is not  very bright,of course we have the so called natural  disasters,they are bad enough. I do not paint a very optimistic picture as regard this world, but history bears it out,things will not change. One could ask this old prophet of doom,me,is their no hope for this old world?,no,that's my final answer.In all the gloom and doom ,we are told there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth,whose inhabitants will be those who have been  made new in everyway. Those who have been made completely new with a new nature sinless and perfect (2 Corinthians 5 v17 ) They will have new bodies it will be a spiritual body,and Christ image will be stamped upon them from being a perishable body we will have an imperishable body,and we will be immortal, death will be no longer,life eternal with all it's glories will come into being,and it is all because of Jesus ,you can be part of it, if you trust Him as your Saviour.