A perfect Saviour. ( Hebrews 7 v 25 )

One of the most well known characters in the book of Judges is Samson ,Hollywood even made a movie about him He is remembered for his great strength .We read about him in chapters  13- 16 of Judges, chapter 13 starts with a recurring theme of Judges ,'Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,so the Lord delivered  then the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40yrs.' There is no record of  the people repenting and turning to God for deliverance.,but that didn't stop God moving on their behalf,for better or worse they were His people.I remember a lecturer at Bible college telling us a about a liberal church,were God moved in revival .Israel needed a saviour a deliver ,a revival,that's were Samson comes in, a man endued with great strength from God, but a man with great weakness'es, weakness'es that would cost him  his sight and his life. It is interesting that he is mentioned  as one of the great hero's of faith ( Hebrews 11 v 32 ). We are told that Samson would begin to deliver Israel,the full deliverance would not some until the reign of David.Samson would be an imperfect saviour, but one  day long after Samson had died,God would send a perfect Saviour, to save not only and imperfect Israel but an imperfect world. His name is Jesus ,He saves sinners from eternal death,sin, and the punishment and misery of sin in other words He saves to the uttermost,or completely.  

Loving discipline. ( Psalm 138 v 8 )

It was the time of the Judges ( not Judges as we know them but local tribal leaders }it is a record of how Israel fared after Joshua died,sad to say it showed that the nation continually deteriorating spiritually.In many ways it was a chaotic time. We have these words  which sum up Israels behaviour during this time,'Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord'  (13 v1),and so God dealt with them,using the surrounding nations as a rod of correction. This would drive Israel back to their God ,until the next time,but the amazing thing which we see manifested time after time,God showing love, patience, forgiveness, and restoration. It is marvellous beyond words. the love and mercy poured out upon His erring children.It is in that hymn .'The church's one foundation',written by S A.Stone we have these word's ,'By schisms rent asunder,By heresies distressed'. so often the church again and again have fallen short of what it should be.But lets bring it down to a personal level , for so often we walk in our own ways,instead of His ways,causing Him to discipline us, for grieving His Holy Spirit,let us remember that always His purpose is to restore us to Himself.So if today you are under His rod  affliction remember in the words of another hymn by  James Edneston.

                                            'Then though Thou bend my spirit low

                                              Love only shall  I see

                                              The gracious hand that strikes the blow,

                                              Was wounded once for me'

Grace ( Luke 15 v 1 1 -32 )

I wonder do we underestimate God's grace? I think I do,there are people who do awful things to children,everyday people are doing awful things.I read about a certain American pastor who had the task of ministering to those being tried in Nuremberg,they were the top Nazis leaders.They were responsible for so much evil,the Pastor wrote later how some of those people did respond to the message of the gospel. there were those who resented that ,believing that those people should  know nothing of God's grace and mercy.There were people who wrote abusive letters to that Pastor calling him a Jew hater. They felt that in no way they should be saved and go to heaven. Could be that many of us are like the prodigals older brother.(Luke 15 v 25 -30),we sing ,'Amazing grace that saved a wretch  like me',but yet we limit that grace and even resent it,when a person is known as being really wicked experiences that grace.May God help us to understand that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,no matter how dreadful a sinner they are, let us pray to that end,and let us remember that grace is not something we deserve, but something we need.

Witnessing ( 1 Thessalonians 1 v 4- 10 )

 I remember when I was at work, and someone commented about my pleasant demeanor,I cannot remember what I said, but it reminds me what I was reading today from 1 Peter 3 v 13 ff, the context  being of Christians coming under attack,and how we should respond, we are not to be intimidated by them,he goes on to say if someone ask you as regards your Christian hope,we should  always be ready to explain it, not in a threatening way,but in a gentle and respectful way.But we are also told,to live in such a way,that our lives will speak for themselves,I like how one person puts it,'So keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you,none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath' I want to highlight a number things,we will be attacked at times because of our faith in Christ,that should not silence us,we are not to be afraid,our dear Saviour wasn't. As regards witnessing ,how we do it is very important. in the town where I live,there are Christians who stand in the town centre  screaming at people to be saved.That is not appropriate ,if we want people to listen to the good news of  Christ ,we should not do it in an offensive manner.Last but not least ,our lives must be consistent with our Christian confession.

Our substitute. ( Romans 5 v 6 - 8

Tony Campolo writes about visiting Auschwitz Nazi murder camp,while there he was taken to the cell of a Roman  Catholic priest,Maximilian Kolbe. Tony tells how the Nazi captors had an ugly way of deterring prisoners from escaping. If someone escaped, they would choose six prisoners to be hung,nevertheless some did escape, so all the prisoners would be lined up, and six were chosen at random to be hung. So on one occasion  one did escape,so six prisoners were chosen and brought to the scaffold  to be hung. Before they were hung the priest asked to be heard, he pleaded with the commandant to be allowed to take the place of one of the men. He pointed to  a man,he said, ''He's from my village. I know him, he's a good man and he has a wife with several children. On the the other hand, I am a priest. I am not married and I  have no children. I do not have a family that needs me. Let be hung in his place'',and  so it happened.It is a lovely story,dying for that good man,but I want to point you to the cross of Jesus.Why was Jesus on that cross? he was laying down His life,for His enemies,for sinners,that means you and me, Christ died for the ungodly ,He bore the wrath of God,on that cross,so that we would not have to face that wrath of God when we die.We put that in motion when we trust Jesus to forgive our sins,when we do that ,our sins are forgiven, wrath is removed ,and we receive eternal life..

What we all need. ( Acta 4 v12

Peter Lewis in his book called  ,'The living God'gives an account of  a Chinese Christian leader,who spoke  to an American audience,(This was before communism took over)when he had finished, he invited people to ask questions.A student asked the following question,'Why should we send Christianity to China when it has Confucianism?'Mr Lee said;' There are three reasons. First of all , Confucius was a teacher and Christ is a Saviour. China needs a Saviour more than she needs a teacher. In the second place, Confucius is dead and Christ is alive. China needs a living Saviour. In the third place, Confucius is one day going to stand before Christ and be judged by Him. China needs to know Christ as Saviour before she meets Him as  Judge'

                                              'What we all need most, is a Saviour

                                               that Saviour is Jesus.

Testings. ( 2 Timothy 4 v 9- 10 )

 In Deuteronomy  13 v 3 we read, 'The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul'. I often wonder why the Lord picked Judas,He knew the kind of person he was,he was thief ,so why did he put him in charge of the money bag? ( John 12 v 6)It appears we have the answer in those words from Deuteronomy,he failed that test,Christ our Saviour was seeking to to save him from his love of money.Here is a man who heard Jesus speaking,that wonderful sermon on the mount,he witnessed his miracles,his compassion,his love,and humility.But he choose to continue on in his thieving way,that was his choice ,instead of loving our Saviour with all his heart and soul, he failed the test.I remember as a young lad being faced with a choice,I can remember it, as if it was yesterday,and I like Judas made the wrong choice.Our Saviour said to Peter,'Do you love me more that these? ( John 21v 15) We will all be tested in this Christian life, those tests come in all shapes and sizes,no one will be exempt from these tests,no one,and we will hear that small still voice of  Jesus ,saying,''Do you love more than these?''.