It was Spurgeon who wrote of ' the folly which is satisfied with hearing God's word and neglecting do what it says'.How imporant it is to be not just a hearer of the word as one translation puts it,'Do not merely listen to the word,and so decive yourselves.Do what it says. (James 1 v22) Obedience can be costly,but disobedience can be even more costly.The unsaved pay a terrible price by not obeying the gospel,a price so awful, so terrible,let us remind you that hell is real.For us who have obeyed the gospel we can rejoice in all blessing that has brought us into,forgiveness freedom and the presence of God. But obedience to the gospel brings us into lifetime of obeying God, The days of doing things our way is finished with,everyday brings the challenge of doing it God's way. The days of running with the crowd are gone,instead we are now under the challenge ,of walking in obedience to our Lord and Saviour. We as Christians have the Holy Spirit within us and when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our disobience,it will affect our relationship with God,the word of God tells us if we have sin in our lives the Lord will not hear us when we pray He will not listen to us (Psalm 66 v18).Your peace will go ,joy will go,a sense of God's nearness will go, but all is not lost,repent seek forgiveness, and fellowship with God will be restored.(1 John 1 v 9)
A person called Mikail Bakunin was touched by Beethoven's ninth symphony said in praise of that music,''Everything will pass, and the world will perish, but the ninth symphony will remain''.Part of that saying is true but not it all,for according to scripture this world and the things of this world will pass and indeed perish.It is James who spells it out very clearly when he writes ,'But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bear'.(2 Pet 3 v10) CP Matthew 24 v35.We are destroying this world by the things we do to it.but in God's time it will be totally destroyed by God himself. But that is not the end of the story for as Christians we look for a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3 v13),and most wonderful of all , it will be where righteousness dwells.It will be a holy existence and so it will be a happy existence,as regards Beethovens ninth symphony ,well even though its a lovely piece of music,I don't think it will follow us into eternity or into heaven ,some people might want Mozart,or whoever,and that may just disturb the harmony of heaven,so I think not.The word of God tells us ,'No eye has seen,no hear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.( 2 Corinthians 2 v 9)
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In Mark 14 v3ff we read how our Saviour was in the home of Simon the Leper,it obivious that Jesus must have healed him,for the law as regards leprosy required that they should be be seperated from society because it is contagious (Leviticus),it is not a problem now as it can be treated with antibiotics and other medicines. So here we have Jesus in this home and a woman we believe was Mary (John12 v 3),it was Mary's brother Jesus he had raised from the dead(John 11),she had a great devotion for Jesus, which is shown by what she was about to do.She had a flask full of very expensive perfume,and she went to were Jesus was,broke the flask and poured the perfume over Jesus head.Mark tells us that those present became angry at what she did,Judas was the one who led the angry mob. Judas said that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor (John 12) , but Jesus would have none of that,and this is what He said,'Why are you bothering her? she had done a beautiful thing, One writer said the following,'If love is true,there must always be a certain extravagance in it.It does not nicely calculate the less or more. It is not concerned to see how little it can decently give.If it gave all it had,the gift would still be too little. there is a recklessness in love which refuses to count the cost'.
Although this world has been affected by sin and sinful man, there is still much beauty in this old world,from the mountain of Mourne that sweep down to sea,to the beauty of a flower ,or a bumble bee.It is all around us if we had eyes to see,in a new born baby,or lambs in the fields jumping around.Or a beautiful cloud formation, a spiders web,a sunrise or a sunset,a rainbow,and so we could go on. It was Folliott S.Pierpont wrote the following.
'For the beauty of the earth.
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies;
Father ,unto Thee we raise
This,our sacrifice of praise.'
How important is the truth? very,my mother used to say,'you can't trust a liar',people take an oath when they are called to be witnesses and so swear to tell the truth,the whole truth,and nothing but the truth.There is a novel wriien by kieth Waterhouse called 'Billy Liar' he was an incurable liar,idle and dishonest,a character in the book called a Mister Fisher said of him,'Its just one of his stories,he can't say two wards without telling a lie'. Every day people are decieved by liars,and are cheated out of their money.,every day people make false promises.God takes lying very seriously ,Proverbs 12 v22 reads ,' Lying lips are abomination to the Lord'.very strong words,it is as serious as that,one of the greatest Presidents of America was known as Honest Abe,if only all politicans were honest.Our dear Saviour had to deal with people who were liars,'He said to them 'you are of your father the devil',(John 8 v 44).There is a saying which goes ,'Tell the the truth and shame the devil'.sadly there are those who shame themselves by telling lies.So many dear people hold on to power and forsake their principals by their lying,it is all very sad,it need not be that way.
During the second world war Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Edinburgh in Scotland,where he received of the freedom of the city. Churchill spoke to the people gathered, in the audience there was the music-hall entertainer Sir Harry Lauder,and this is what Churchill said,'Let me use the words of your famous minstrel-he is here today- words which have given comfort and renewed strength to many a burdened heart;'Keep right on to the end of the road,Keep right on to the end'.That's what God wants you and I to do as Christians,to keep right on to the end, don't give up, no matter what the devil throws at us,no matter if the whole world is against us,don't give up.No matter how we feel like given up,replace those feelings with faith,and prayer.Think about what you would be going back to if you gave up,your old sins,your old ways,let us walk in the footsteps of Jesus, in newness of life. In midst of lifes difficulties remember there is a better day coming,for every child of God,so don't give up.
