Ezekiel 44
East Gate closed till the coming of the Prince verse 1- 3
Then he brought me back the way of the gate
of the outward sanctuary
which looks toward the east
AND it was shut
Then said the LORD
to me
This gate shall be shut – it shall not be opened
and no man shall enter in by it
BECAUSE the LORD
the God of Israel has entered in by it
THEREFORE it shall be shut
IT IS FOR THE PRINCE –the PRINCE
HE shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD
HE shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate
and shall go out by the way of the same
Glory of the LORD filled the Temple verse 4
THEN brought he me the way of the north gate before the house
and I looked
and – BEHOLD
the glory of the LORD
filled the house of the LORD
and I fell upon my face
Use eyes and ears to listen to instructions verse 5
AND the LORD said to me – Son of man – mark well
and behold with your eyes
and hear with your ears all that I say to you
concerning all the ordinances of
the house of the LORD
and all the laws thereof
and mark well the entering in of the house
with every going forth of the sanctuary
LORD gives instructions to rebellious people verse 6- 8
And you shall say to the rebellious – even to the house of Israel
Thus says the Lord GOD
O you house of Israel – let it suffice you of all your abominations
in that you have brought into MY sanctuary strangers
and uncircumcised in heart – flesh
to be in MY sanctuary – to pollute it
even MY house
When you offer MY bread – the fat and the blood
and they have broken MY covenant
because of all your abominations
And you have not kept the charge
of MINE holy things
BUT you have set keepers of MY charge in MY sanctuary
for yourselves
LORD gives instructions regarding Uncircumcised verse 9- 14
Thus says the Lord GOD
No stranger – uncircumcised in heart
nor uncircumcised in flesh
shall enter into MY sanctuary
of any stranger that is among
the children of Israel
And the Levites that are gone away far from ME
when Israel went astray
which went astray away from ME
after their idols
they shall even bear their iniquity
YET they shall be ministers in MY sanctuary
having charge at the gates of the house
and ministering to the house
They shall slay the burnt offering
and the sacrifice for the people
and they shall stand before them
to minister to them
BECAUSE they ministered to them before their idols
and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity
THEREFORE have I lifted up MINE hand against them
says the Lord GOD
and they shall bear their iniquity
And they shall not come near to ME
to do the office of a priest unto ME
nor to come near to any of MY holy things
in the most holy place
BUT they shall bear their shame
and their abominations which they have committed
BUT I will make them keepers of the charge of the house
for all the service thereof
and for all that shall be done therein
Priests of the family of Zadok to minister verse 15- 16
But the priests the Levities –the sons of Zadok
that kept the charge of MY sanctuary
when the children of Israel
went astray from ME
they shall come near to ME
to minister unto ME
and they shall stand before ME
to offer unto ME
the fat and the blood
says the Lord GOD
they shall enter into MY sanctuary
and they shall come near to MY table
to minister unto ME
and they shall keep MY charge
Apparel of priests in the inner court verse 17- 18
And it shall come to pass
that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court
they shall be clothed with linen garments
and no wool shall come upon them
whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court
and within
They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads
and shall have linen breeches upon their loins
They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat
Apparel of priests in outer court verse 19
And WHEN they go forth into the outer court
even into the outer court to the people
they shall put off their garments
wherein they ministered
and lay them in the holy chambers
and they shall put on other garments
And they shall not sanctify the people with their garments
Personal responsibilities of priests verse 20- 23
NEITHER shall they shave their heads
nor suffer their locks to grow long
they shall only poll their heads
Neither shall any priest DRINK WINE
when they enter into the inner court
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow
nor her that is put away
BUT they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel
OR a widow that had a priest before
And they shall teach MY people the difference
between the holy and profane
and cause them to discern
between the unclean and the clean
Priests are to be the judges of the people verse 24
And in controversy they shall stand in judgment
and they shall judge it according to MY judgments
and they shall keep MY laws and MY statutes
in all MINE assemblies
and they shall hallow MY Sabbaths
Special instructions regarding priests and the dead verse 25- 27
And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves
BUT for father – mother – son – daughter – brother
sister that hath no husband
they shall defile themselves
And AFTER he is cleansed
they shall reckon unto him seven days
And IN the day that he goes into the sanctuary
unto the inner court
to minister in the sanctuary
he shall offer his sin offering
says the Lord GOD
Special instruction regarding priest’s possessions and pay verse 28- 31
And it shall be to them for an inheritance – I am their inheritance
and you shall give them no possession in Israel
I am their possession
They shall eat the meat offering – sin offering – trespass offering
and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs
And the first of all the firstfruits of all things
and every oblations of all
of every sort of your oblations
shall be the priests
YOU shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough
that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house
The priests shall not eat of anything that is dead of itself or torn
whether it be fowl or beast
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof, and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. (3820 “mark well” [leb] means inner man, mind, the heart, disposition, determination, the locus of a person’s thoughts, volition, emotions, knowledge of right and wrong, inclination, or resolution)
DEVOTION: The LORD is giving special instructions to Ezekiel regarding the activities of the priests who were to be the LORD’S servants in the Temple. HE wanted him to listen very close to what HE was saying.
HE wanted him to listen with his eyes and his ears. How can you listen with your eyes? If our eyes are wandering around while we are in church we don’t hear what is being taught very well because we are distracted.
The LORD wants us to concentrate on what is being taught through the LORD’S servant, the pastor. If he is not instructing properly then he has to answer to the LORD. If we are not listening properly we will not learn and we have to answer to the LORD.
Instruction is very important if we are to grow in the LORD. We can never stop learning how to live the Christian life. At each age there are new instructions. As children we receive instruction from our parents. As we grow older we receive instructions from our teachers. As we grow older we receive instructions from our employer. We have to compare these instructions with the Word of God.
The teachings of our lifetime should be those that help us to mature in our faith and affect our disposition. Our decisions should be based on the Word of God as we have learned it from good Biblical instructors.
We need to realize that the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us discern what good instructions are and what is not. HE will help us as we yield to HIM. HIS instructions are more important than all the other instructors in our life. HE is the final judge. Take careful notice!!!
CHALLENGE: Our inner man needs to listen to the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and good Biblical teachers.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” (NKJV)
DEVOTION: One of the problems we face in our world is the world entering into the church. The LORD states that we are tempted in three areas in our life: the world, the flesh and the devil. We have to understand that these temptations are real. They influence us for evil.
The world wants to have us use their methods to cause the church to grow. Too often pastors are more concerned with numerical growth rather than Spiritual growth. That happens because our world judges success in numbers. Whether is it sales or money in the bank or other things.
God judges success by whether we are faithful to HIS Word. Our first concern when we think about what God wants us to do is that we should pray about it. Prayer is a way we are guided to keep God’s priorities in front of us.
There is a difference between holy things and unholy things. The church should always discern whether they are using worldly methods or Biblical methods in all their activities.
Growth is important but not the most important. Faithfulness is the most important and with faithfulness there will be proper growth. The LORD wants the church to reach their world for the LORD. Each neighbor to the church should be reached in a Biblical manner to understand the gift the LORD has given us through Jesus Christ.
Once the world’s method take charge the Bible is put on the shelf. Business methods take control.
CHALLENGE: There should always be more Bible and less world in the church in our attitude and actions.
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: 23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
(3045 “discern” [yada] means know, knowledge, understand, discriminate, declare, to turn the mind to something, to cause someone to know something, inform, or teach)
DEVOTION: Throughout the ages those who are followers of God need to know what the proper way to worship the LORD was.
With teachers that taught correctly the people of God would worship and act according to the way the LORD wanted them too. However, throughout the history of Israel and sad to say the church there have been many false teachers giving instruction.
The children of Israel had priests that helped them worship idols instead of condemning the worship of idols. Some of the priests even didn’t offer the sacrifices correctly when they went before the LORD. They would keep more of the sacrifices for themselves than they were supposed to according to the instructions of the LORD.
The LORD blamed them for leading HIS people astray. They allowed uncircumcised heathens to enter the Temple area that was reserved for true followers of the LORD.
Now the LORD was only going to allow faithful priests serve HIM. They were to instruct the people, so that, they could understand the difference between things that were done in the right manner and things that were done in the wrong manner.
God wanted them to understand what HE considered clean and unclean in their daily life. The church is supposed to help people understand the same things. There are many activities and habits that are unclean in God’s sight but many pastors will not instruct properly. They will answer for leading those in their church astray.
CHALLENGE: Understand the difference between Biblical beliefs and those that are not Biblical. This happens as we listen to the Holy Spirit as we read the Word of God.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of
every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. (6182 “dough” [airycah] means meal, coarse meal, kneading trough or flour)
DEVOTION: With all the instructions the LORD gives to Ezekiel, we have what is going to be done regarding the priests. The Levites had been unfaithful to the LORD before the captivity. They had led the people astray. They had encouraged them to worship idols. They hired foreigners to work in the Temple that were not dedicated to the LORD. They were uncircumcised.
The only family that was faithful was the sons of Zadok. They were the ones who were going to serve the LORD in the Temple.
This chapter deals with all aspects of the lives of the priests. How long their hair was supposed to be. What they were to wear while serving in the Temple. What they were to drink. HE gave them instruction on who they were to marry.
The LORD wanted to establish a difference between those who were holy and those who were not. These priests were to be the judges of the people. They were not to come close to any dead body except close relatives. Finally, HE gave instructions regarding their possessions and income.
The main stay of an Israelite family was bread. The grain to make the bread was one of the things the people were to bring to the priest so that he would have plenty to eat.
The children of Israel were to bring the first fruits of all their trees and gardens and herd to the priest. The priest was a special individual in the service of the LORD. If the people wanted the blessing of the LORD, it came through their treatment of faithful priests.
However, in this chapter we find that there were good priests and bad priests. The bad priests were leading the people away from the LORD and HIS commands. The good priests were faithful to the LORD.
The people who were faithful to the good priests and brought their first fruits to the priest were going to receive a blessing on their houses.
Are we bringing our first fruits to the house of the LORD? Do we write a check for the LORD’S work first each time we are paid? Are we expecting a blessing from the LORD without giving HIM what HE requires of us?
If we want the blessings of the LORD, we need to take care of HIS special servants who are faithful to HIM and HIS word. We are the ones the LORD uses to feed HIS servants.
CHALLENGE: Trust in the LORD usually starts with our checkbook. If we can’t trust HIM with our money then it seems that we don’t trust HIM in other areas of our life.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Sanctuary verse 1, 5, 7- 9, 11, 15, 16, 27
House of the LORD verse 4, 5
Mark well the entering verse 5
Levites verse 10 – 12
Burnt offerings verse 11
Sacrifices of the people verse 11
Priest verse 13
Holy things verse 13
Most holy place verse 13
Priests of the Levites verse 15
Offer fat and blood verse 15
Table verse 16
Clothed in linen garments verse 17
Linen bonnets on head verse 18
No sweat allowed verse 18
Holy chambers verse 19
Change garments verse 19
Not shave heads verse 20
Not grow long hair verse 20
Poll their heads verse 20
Not drink wine during service verse 21
Sin offering verse 27, 29
Meat offering verse 29
Trespass offering verse 29
Eating instructions for priest verse 29- 31
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Ordinances verse 5
Laws verse 5, 24
Thus says the Lord GOD verse 6, 9
Covenant verse 7
Judgments verse 24
Statutes verse 24
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 2- 5
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign,
Plural name) verse 2
God of Israel verse 2
Glory of the LORD verse 4
House of the LORD verse 4, 5, 7
Lord – Adonai (owner, master) verse 6, 9, 12, 15, 27
GOD – Jehovah verse 6, 9, 12, 15, 27
Lord GOD verse 6, 9, 12, 15, 27
God’s hand lifted up verse 12
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Strangers verse 7, 9
Uncircumcised verse 7, 9
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Rebellious verse 6
Abominations verse 6, 7, 13
Brought strangers into sanctuary verse 7, 9
Uncircumcised in heart verse 7, 9
Uncircumcised in flesh verse 7, 9
Pollute verse 7
Broken covenant verse 7
Not keeping charge of holy things verse 8
Went astray verse 10, 15
Idols verse 10, 12
Iniquity verse 10, 12
Cause others to fall into iniquity verse 12
Shame verse 13
Sweat verse 18
Profane verse 23
Unclean verse 23
Defile verse 25
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Fall on our face before the LORD verse 4
Mark the word of the LORD verse 5
See with our eyes verse 5
Hear with our ears verse 5
Circumcised in heart verse 7
Covenant verse 7
Ministers verse 11, 15- 17, 27
Service verse 14
Sanctify verse 19
Poll their heads verse 20
Not drink wine verse 20
Teach people difference between holy & profane verse 23
Teach people to discern unclean & clean verse 23
Stand in judgment verse 24
Hallow Sabbaths verse 24
Inheritance verse 28
Payment of sacrifices verse 29
Cause a blessing to rest in your house verse 30
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Prince verse 3
Son of man = Ezekiel verse 5
House of Israel verse 6, 12, 22
Children of Israel verse 9, 15
Levites verse 10
Ministers verse 11
Offer sacrifices verse 11
Stand before people verse 11
Keepers of the charge verse 14
Sons of Zadok verse 15
Priests change garments before leaving verse 19
Priests not drink wine during service verse 21
Priest not take wives of widows verse 22
Priest take maiden of house of Israel verse 22
Priest may take widow of another priest verse 22
Priest to teach verse 23
Priests stand in judgment verse 24
Priests inheritance is the LORD verse 28
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
4–5 The emphasis in this vision had been on God’s glory and the resulting holiness that was required in all aspects of millennial worship. Ezekiel was brought again to see the Lord’s glory filling the temple, and his immediate response was reverence and awe as he fell prostrate in worship (v.4). The Lord undoubtedly used this experience to impress again on Ezekiel the importance of holiness, for holiness must characterize the priests and their actions.
The priests would instruct the rest of the people in holiness teaching holiness by their lives, their priestly function, and their word. For this reason Ezekiel was exhorted to watch and listen carefully to all the temple regulations, especially those concerning the entrances and exits (v.5). There the priests would contact both the common life in the people and the holiness of the temple’s inner court and sanctuary. There they would meet and serve the people. (Alexander, R. H. (1986). Ezekiel. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 975). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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Ver. 5. And the Lord said unto me, son of man, &c.] This is still the voice of the Lord speaking out of the house to the prophet, ch. 43:6: mark well; or, set thine heart; be attentive to what is about to be said, as being of great concern and importance: and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee; heart, eyes, and ears, are all to be employed in the most diligent manner in regarding the things hereafter delivered; the same expressions exciting attention were used at the first of this vision, ch. 40:4: concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; see the note on ch. 43:11: mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary; the way of entrance into the Gospel church, and the manner of exclusion from it, and the laws and rules concerning these; the prophet is bid particularly to observe these well, because it was in these things God’s professing people chiefly offended, as appears by what follows; they were not so careful as they should have been in the admission of persons among them, or in the exclusion of delinquents. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 6, p. 238). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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The whole of the first part of this verse is found at chap. 40:4, where it is explained. The ordinances; the prescribed rules for persons and things in and about the temple; these ordinances are called laws in this verse. Mark well; set thy mind, that thou mayst comprehend them all. The entering in; not so much the gates and porches, through which the entrance is to the house, as the persons who may, and who may not, enter. The sanctuary, taken here largely for the holy courts, rather than for the house itself. (Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 2, p. 796). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.)
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Now the Lord solemnly charges the prophet to mark well (“set his heart upon”) all he was about to say in respect to the modes of worship in this temple and in respect to entering and leaving it. (Cowles, H. (1870). Ezekiel and Daniel, with Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical (p. 242). New York: D. Appleton and Company.)
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44:4–9 Ezekiel experiences another awe-inspiring vision of God’s glory leading him to bow in worship (see 1:28–2:1). God demands that His renewed people follow His regulations exactly. He emphasizes the necessity of holiness and righteousness, especially in light of Israel’s past abominations related to rules regulating who was to enter the temple sanctuary. Specifically, they had allowed foreigners without evidence of faithfulness to God to serve in the sanctuary (see Josh. 9:23–27; Ezra 8:20): these people were uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh. This was in disobedience to God’s commands (see Ex. 19:8; Lev. 26:41; Num. 3:10; Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Neh. 13:8; Jer. 4:4; 9:25), but was in conformity with the practices of foreign pagan religions, which God’s people had been forbidden to imitate (see Ex. 34:12; Deut. 18:9; compare Rom. 12:1, 2). (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Eze 44:4–9). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers)
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FROM MY READING:
In one of Marvel’s recent blockbuster superhero movies, a genocidal alien-arch-bad-guy named Thanos acquires an “Infinity Stone,” which allows him to change the world around him at will. With this stone, he says, “Reality can be whatever I want.”
Well, many today imagine they’ve got that same mastery over reality—not with the use of a stone, but through words. Redefining words, they think, would magically change reality. It doesn’t, of course. We don’t live in a comic book movie. In the real world, reality is stubborn. Even more, when our words don’t correspond to reality, someone always gets hurt. Or, to paraphrase Confucius, “When words lose their meaning, people lose…”
Recently, we’ve seen several cases of people, especially women, losing the opportunity to win competitions they’ve worked hard for. WORLD magazine recently reported on several international weightlifting competitions where biological men calling themselves women entered women’s divisions and blew away the competition. The words used by these men to describe themselves didn’t change their massive bone structures or muscles, but they did deprive women of a chance at fair competition and victory. As did CeCe Telfer, who went from mediocre male track athlete to NCAA national women’s champion just last week.
Another example of playing fast and loose with words as if it changes reality came from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Last week, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the State of Indiana to reinstate a 2016 law which banned abortions based solely on sex, race, or disability. The law also required that fetal remains be disposed of respectfully—not simply thrown in the garbage. The justices upheld the body-disposal provision but declined to rule on the law itself.
In a scathing response, Justice Clarence Thomas detailed the history of abortion as a tool of eugenics. In the process, he referred to women who are pregnant and are abortion-minded as “mothers.” This triggered Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who retorted that “A woman who exercises her constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy is not a ‘mother.’”
As Princeton’s Dr. Robert George noted on Facebook, if a pregnant woman seeking an abortion isn’t a mother, how can the woman excitedly posting baby bump photos and receiving congratulations be a mother? What about the woman who wants to go through with her pregnancy but later decides to have an abortion, only to change her mind again at the clinic and has the baby? Does she go from being a mother to not being a mother, back to being a mother, again?
Justice Ginsburg may think her words have the power to reshape reality, or as a former Supreme Court colleague of hers wrote, to “create [our] own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” But when reality won’t cash our checks, it’s usually the most vulnerable who get stuck with the bill. When words lose their meaning, people lose… in fact, sometimes they even lose their lives.
Consider a recent case described in USA Today. A “man” arrived at a hospital complaining of stomach pains. While the nurse treated “him” for diabetic complications, “he” went into labor and gave birth to a stillborn child. The “man,” it turns out, was a biological woman who identified as transgender.
Incredibly, psychologists and transgender activists quoted in the article blamed the doctors and nurses for the preventable stillbirth, citing their “implicit biases” that only women can get pregnant, and then calling for better training.
So, that’s what went wrong here? That’s why an innocent baby died? No. The baby died because whenever there’s a mismatch between our words and our world, there’s a victim.
Reality is objective. “Mother,” “man,” “woman,” “male,” “female,” and “baby” are words that correspond to human attributes we can’t will or speak out of existence because we didn’t will or speak them into existence. God did.
Until we accept that, the victims of our word games will continue to pile up.
(BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life.)
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1 Kings 11
Solomon takes wives from (and makes allegiances with) foreigners, and God judges him.
INSIGHT Not long after the Lord reminds Solomon of the blessings of obedience and the cataclysmic consequences of disobedience, Solomon disobeys. After taking foreign wives who turn his heart from the Lord, Solomon begins to worship Ashtoreth and builds a “high place” of worship for Chemosh and Molech, detestable pagan gods. True to His word, the Lord raises up an adversary, Hadad, to plague Solomon. God’s purpose is not to punish. He wants the adversity to turn Solomon’s heart back to Him. When you suffer adversity, examine yourself to see if there is sin in your life. That is not always true, but it is something to which we must be sensitive. (Quiet Walk)
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The Fruit-Bearing Christian
“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” (Philippians 4:17)
The apostle Paul here was commending the Christians at Philippi as the only church that had sent an offering to help defray his expenses on his missionary trips. He calls such gifts “fruit” that would abound to their “account” (Greek logos, probably better rendered as “testimony”). Thus, God considers gifts of money to scriptural ministries to be like life-giving fruits on a healthy vine.
There are other types of fruits that a Christian life can produce. Paul regarded those he had helped lead to Christ as fruits. He wrote to the Christians at Rome: “I purposed to come unto you . . . that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles” (Romans 1:13).
Genuine traits of godly character are also called fruits. “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). The classic passage, outlining the nine-fold fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of a willing Christian, is Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” It is significant that all these attributes constitute one fruit, not nine fruits.
The tremendous importance of fruit-bearing in the Christian life was especially brought out by Christ in His famous discourse on the vine and the branches in John 15:1-16. In these verses, the word “fruit” occurs eight times. First, there is the warning: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away” (John 15:2). If there is no fruit (or if the fruit is “corrupt fruit”) in the life, there is no assurance of any life at all.
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit” (John 15:8). To bring forth much fruit, we must abide (that is, “continue steadfastly”) in Christ (John 15:5).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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HINDRANCES TO REVIVAL
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Romans 10:2
The Apostle’s particular concern here is to explain why the Jews were, in the main, outside the Christian church, whereas the Gentiles had been coming in. The general trouble was that the Jews had a zeal for God but it was “not according to knowledge.”
Now the word that Paul uses here which is translated “knowledge” is very interesting. It is the strongest word used in the Scriptures with regard to knowing. It does not merely mean a general acquaintance with something. It goes beyond that. It means a full, a correct, a precise and a vital knowledge, and the trouble with the Jews, says the Apostle Paul, is that they lacked it. And there is one further idea in the word. It refers to a knowledge which has been arrived at as the result of a good deal of investigation and effort.
So then, Paul says, the Jews lacked that full apprehension, that certain knowledge which is the result of a careful and a thorough examination of a teaching. They had a zeal, but not such a knowledge.
Here, then, Paul again puts before us a most important principle, which is that an exact knowledge of the truth is essential to salvation. The Jews had not got it, so they were outside; they were lost and he prays and longs for their salvation. Now this matter of knowledge is most important. I am of the opinion that the greatest danger confronting the Christian church and every individual Christian at this moment is to fail to understand and appreciate the absolute necessity of a precise, clear knowledge of the truth. I say this because we are living in days when there is a powerful reaction against all this.
A Thought to Ponder: The greatest danger confronting the Christian church…is to fail to understand the absolute necessity of a precise, clear knowledge of the truth. (From Saving Faith, a sermon on Romans 10:3 by Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.—Proverbs 24:3–4
God has a plan that offers hope to any marriage. When a husband and wife commit their relationship to Him, they are on the road to a “oneness marriage.” This, according to Dennis Rainey, president of FamilyLife, describes a marriage where “the husband and wife are crafting intimacy, trust, and understanding with each other … chiseling out a common direction, purpose, and plan for their lives.” He goes on to say that “a oneness marriage demands a lifetime process of relying on God and forging an enduring relationship according to His design.” As you build your marriage on biblical principles, beware that there is a spiritual battle not only against you as individuals but also against your marriage and all that it stands for. Satan does not want your marriage to succeed.
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How to Speak about God When He Hurts Us
John Piper
The book of Lamentations is the heart-cry of Jeremiah when he and his people were being hurt by God, and by their enemies, and by their own sin. How he speaks of this divine hurting shows us some of the various ways we may speak about God in our own pain. If we affirm them all, then not one of them will be taken amiss.
The Lord directly does the hurting (2:1-4).
“The Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! . . . The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; . . . He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; . . . he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. . . . 4 He has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion.”
The enemies have done the hurting and God has exalted their might (2:16-17).
“All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry. . . . The Lord has done what he purposed; . . . he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.”
The enemy has done the hurting, as if the Lord were not watching! (1:9-11; 3:49-50).
Her fall is terrible; she has no comforter. ‘O Lord , behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed! . . . Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.’ . . . My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.”
The hurting happens as if by God’s “forgetting” and “forsaking” them (5:20).
“Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?”
The Lord will repay the enemies who did the hurting on earth (3:64).
“You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.”
The Lord will follow his hurting with compassion (3:32).
“Though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”
God’s hurting us is not “from his heart”—not his deepest delight (3:33).
“He does not willingly [literally “from his heart” millibboi] afflict or grieve the children of men.”
In his hurting the Lord shows mercy every morning (3:22-23).
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
God’s decisive mercy is his causing the erring people to repent; he removes the cause of his own wrath (5:21).
“Cause us to return (hasibenu) to yourself, O Lord, and we will return (wunasub)! Renew our days as of old.”
When God is hurting us, wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord (3:26).
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him.”
In and after God’s hurting us, he is our only hope and portion (3:24).
“‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.'”
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