God cannot be bought off. ( 1 Peter 1 v 18-19 ) 1

 The first sermon I preached in England was from the book of Micah chap 6 v 8 , it reads ,'He has told you,O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justice, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God'. Micah ministered during the reign of 3 kings of Judah, 'Jotham , Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Bear in mind that the nation of Israel split in two under the rule of Rehoboam ,Solomon's son, it was  a judgement caused by the sin of Solomon.It is to these two nations that Micah spoke to, telling  them God's judgement was coming, and it did. but their was also a degree of hope,things would change eventually.Micah answers the question,as to what the Lord required from the nation.would multitude of  sacrifices be the answer?, the answer was no. David Prior writes ,' This notion of atonement by means of costly gifts,of virtually buying God off , dies very hard in the human heart'.The Roman Catholic church sought to do this in the selling of indulgence,the more you give the less time you spent in purgatory.a man called Simon in Acts 8 thought the gifts of God could be bought with money, he was rebuked severally by Peter. There is a saying everyone can be bought,but let me assure you, God cannot be bought off.Peter sums it up like this ,'You were not redeemed with corruptible things,like silver and gold,from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of  a lamb without blemish and without spot', (1 Peter 1 v 18- 19)

Are you blind? ( John 3 )

 Have you ever wandered why when you talk to JWs, Mormon's, that no matter what one says from the scripture,they refuse to accept it. Also why did the religious leaders failed to recognise Jesus for whom He was,their Messiah  .In present Israel there is a group of Jews called Hasidic Jews,and most of the men spend their days studying the Torah ,the first five books of what we Christians call the Old Covenant scriptures,they also  fail to  recognise their Messiah?.What is obvious to the Christian, ,is not obvious to them, why can't they understand,why?,but they don't.Paul writing to the Christians at Corinth declares,' And we have received God's Spirit (not the worlds spirit), so we can know the wonderful things  God has freely given us (1 Cor 2 v 12)then he follows it up by saying,'But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand what the Spirit means'. (v 14).Our Saviour was faced with people who like the Hasidic studied the scriptures, the Pharisees,the separated ones, the defenders of the Law.This is what Jesus said to them,  You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life'.(John 5 v 39- 40). The fact is,it is not enough to know the scriptures,you must know the Christ of the scriptures as your Saviour.

/

The best thing you have ever done. ( John 11 v25 )

Are you a rational person? most people are rational to some extent, some people choose not to be,for whatever reason .They ignore reality,and they do foolish things with dire consequences,they  do the lottery ,instead of paying into a pension scheme.They refuse to be vaccinated even though it has a proven record of being an effective means of protecting one from certain illnesses.People still smoke even though it is potentially very dangerous, instead of being rational and saying no ,and of course we have the flat earth society,very rational, I think not .Many people who are Christians,stop believing certain Christian beliefs because they seem irrational.Doctrines like the deity of Christ,hell ,certain moral things,they may even reject the resurrection of Jesus,in fact an awful lot of non- Christians,believe when your dead that's it. In spite of the fact that Christ rose from the dead,so many people will not believe, because they do know of anyone who was truly dead and come back  to life.There are those who believe that the body can be resuscitated,  so they have their bodies frozen..As to Christs resurrection Jesus foretold that He would rise again Matthew 27 v 62 - 63 ., and the fact is He did, after his resurrection he was saw by over 500 people 1 Corinthians 15 v 3ff,the result is, all who put their faith in Christ,even though they die they shall  live again,with a new body in that place that Christ has gone to prepare for all who believe in Him. It will be best thing you have ever done,and the most rational thing,if you would believe in Him.

Shedding blood. ( Exodus 20 v13 / Joel 3 v19 - 21)

When Cain murdered his brother Abel,the Lord said,'What have you done?, Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.'.This followed by these words ,'Now you are under a curse  and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hands'. Genesis 4 v10- 11. It is said that visitors to Babylon ,and to other Chaldean towns and cities, saw unrivalled magnificence and grandeur. They were hugely impressed by what they saw, but all they could see was splendid buildings. God looked at the city and saw bloodshed'.Think of all awful violence perpetrated in the history of mankind,,the innocent blood that has been shed. David Prior writes,' Human blood has a voice. When it is shed,it speaks,its voice cries out to God,God responds to human bloodshed with a curse on those He would prefer to bless. The voice of every victim cries out to God.Their agony rings through the streets and squares,through the marketplaces and corridors of power. They reach the throne-room of heaven and rend the heart of God. He, therefore,  decrees that all such enterprises will be doomed to frustration and to failure'.

                                                                 ' Jesus said'

                                    'All who take to the sword will perish by the sword'

It is finished ( John 19 v 30 )

 The last words our dear Saviour spoke before He died on the cross was ,'It is finished', John 19 v 30,some say it was His triumphant cry,or it is accomplished.In other words He had completed His Father's  will,  the work of salvation was complete,nothing can be added, nor should be added to it,yet people do. Some of the epistles reveal that there were people who wanted to add to the gospel, the book of Colossians dealt with people who said ,yes you have trusted Christ, but you need something else. CP  2 v 16 - 23 ' . Many great artists are never satisfied with what they do,likewise we may be perfectionist,our best as we see it,is flawed,we always want to do better, we may think that what we do is good ,but we are not satisfied. Christ came into this world to do the Fathers will,to keep the law of God perfectly,and to die on the cross ,that was the will of God for Him,and He did it perfectly,it is blind folly to think you need to do your bit to be saved, you don't,why because Jesus paid it all.

                                                    'But God  forbid that I should boast

                                                    except in the cross of our Lord Jesus

                                                                     Christ.'

                                                               Galatians 6 v 14.

                                                 

Our substitute. ( Romans 8 v 32 )

 I just read yesterday that Jerusalem was built on Mount Moriah, in fact Solomon constructed the first temple on it.It is also believed to be the place where Abraham at the command of God took his son Isaac to sacrifice him ,we read about it in Genesis 22.Abraham laid him on the altar and was about to kill him,when an angel intervened, and told him not to do it,it had been a test, Would Abraham obey God?,did he fear God?,the answer was yes,God is to be feared and reverenced ( Matthew 10 v 28 ),and indeed obeyed. On the way to be sacrificed Isaac asked the question,' where is the lamb for the burnt offering?', Abraham replied ,'God  himself will provide the Lamb'( v 8), and He did, for just after God stopped him offering  Issac,Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket,Abraham took that ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son .The ram became a substitute,it took the place of Issac,it is in Romans 8 v 32,we read something God did,'He did not spare His own Son , but gave Him up for us all'. In your mind look on the cross were Jesus died,on that cross He took the sinners place,He would bear the punishment for us sinners,so that we would not have to bear it. One could say much on this,but what I would say,God in love gave His Son Jesus ,that you might be saved from going to hell,believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,and you will be saved.

                                               ' By his death Jesus paid our dreadful debt'

                                                                Wm.S. Plumer

Hosea ( Psalm 81 v 7 - 16 )

Hosea the prophet had a bad marriage ,he married a promiscuous woman, Hosea loved her dearly,but it made no difference.God was in it all.The loving husband and the unfaithful wife has a deep spiritual meaning,it illustrated God's faithful love, to the unfaithful nation of Israel. Time after time God forgive Israel,and time after time they did the same wicked thing,turned from Him,to other god's and wicked ways.Thy suffered greatly for their sinful ways,they never appeared to learn to be faithful,and to walk in holiness .They had only themselves to blame, Derek Kidner writes ,'Sin not only alienates ; it saddles one with guilt,and guilt is written all over this nation, not only by the shamefaced looks that normally betray it, but by the very brazenness that would deny it.' One has said that God knows the worst about us,and yet persists with us'.  God is merciful,but there will come a point that is if mercy is  spat on, it will give way to judgement,only God knows that point, it will happen, Genesis 6 v 3. The last verse in the book of Hosea reads,

                                           'Who is wise? Let him realise these things.

                                            Who is discerning? Let them understand.

                                            The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous

                                             walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them'

                                                            Someone wrote.

                                                 'To turn aside from Thee is hell,

                                                  To walk with Thee is heaven '