The Importance of God's "Unpopular" Promises

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The Importance of God's "Unpopular" Promises

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.  (John_8:24)


Generally speaking, God's promises are "popular" with many people. When most of the Lord's promises are read or taught, people are delighted. 
"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed... Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (John_8:36; Mat_11:28; and Mat_4:19). 

Promises like these are so often received with favor, because they are so encouraging. They are embraced with approval, because they are so comforting. On the other hand, some of God's promises are definitely "unpopular" with certain segments of humanity. 
This type of promise is scorned or rejected, because of its convicting or sobering character. 
Nevertheless, these promises that are not always well-received have great importance in God's plan.  

One such promise is given two-fold in our present verse. "You will die in your sins... you will die in your sins." In a tolerant world that wants to deny the reality of sin and its consequences, this is an unpopular promise. Yet, the promise is true nonetheless. 
Sin brings spiritual death. 

From the beginning, this has been the case. "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die' " (Gen_2:16-17). 
This truth was restated by the prophets of Israel. 
"The soul who sins shall die" (Eze_18:20 ). 
It was also repeated by the apostles in the early church. "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom_6:23). 

Since everyone has sinned, this warning by promise that Jesus gave applies to us all. 
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom_3:23).  

To escape the inevitable consequences of sin, one must trust in Jesus as the promised, divine Savior. "If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." This statement ("I am He") hints of Jesus' deity. 
Shortly thereafter, He openly declares that he is God, the Son. "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John_8:58). 
Here, Jesus applies to Himself the same name that God revealed to Moses. 
"Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you' " (Exo_3:14). 
Thus, this important promise by Jesus warns that only faith in Him as the divine Savior will deliver a person from the certain consequences of sin.

Lord Jesus, I thank You for this important warning given by promise. I am delighted to have yielded to its truth and certainty. I rejoice that my sins are forgiven. Use me to pass on this promise to others who need to respond to it, in Jesus name, Amen.


The Unity of God.  God is one.   The OT condemns polytheism and declares that God is one and is to be worshiped and loved as such.
"Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is One.   Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut 6:4-5).  He said through Isaiah, "There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and Savior;  there is none but me"  (Isa 45:21) And this conviction of the unity of God is continued the NT (see Mark 10:18; 12:29;
Gal 3:20; 1 Cor 8:4; 1 Tim 2:5).
more on this in next post!

YOU WILL NOT RISE WITH THE SAINTS TO ETERNAL JOY & HAPPINESS UNLESS YOU HAVE CHRIST IN YOU!

Romans 8:11 

And if  the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you. Amp.

Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead,.... These words are not to be understood as they are by some, of the continued work of sanctification in the heart by the Spirit of God; for regeneration, and not sanctification, is signified by quickening, which quickening occurs when the Spirit of God first takes up his dwelling in the soul; besides, the apostle had spoke of the life of the spirit or soul before; and they are mortal bodies, and not its mortal souls, which are said to be quickened, for these cannot mean the body of sin, or the remains of corruption, as they are said to be, and which are never quickened, nor never can be. To understand the words in such a sense, is not so agreeable to the resurrection of Christ here mentioned; whereas Christ's resurrection is often used as an argument of ours, which is designed here, where the apostle argues from the one to the other. The Spirit dwells in the saints as his temples: the Spirit that dwells in them is, "the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead"; by whom is meant God the Father, to whom the resurrection of Christ from the dead is here and elsewhere ascribed. This "periphrasis" of him is used, to express the power, justice, and grace of God in the resurrection of his Son; to show that the Spirit of God was concerned in it; and the greatness of the person of the Spirit that dwells in the saints; and what reason they have to believe the sanctification of their souls, and the redemption of their bodies, since such a divine Spirit dwells in them; wherefore, he that raised up Christ from the dead, which is the Father, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you; not the souls of the saints, for these die not: but their "bodies", called "mortal", because appointed to death, are under the sentence of it, and in which it already works; "your" bodies and not others; mortal ones, and not airy, celestial, immortal ones; the very same they carry about with them here, and in which the Spirit of God had dwelt. These shall be quickened. The Jews frequently express the resurrection by תחיית המתים, "the quickening of the dead" some distinguish  between תקומה "the resurrection" of the dead, which is common to the wicked, and תחיית, "the quickening" of them, peculiar to the righteous: though, it is observed, this distinction does not always hold: however, this act of quickening seems here designed to express the peculiar blessing, of the saints; for though the wicked shall be raised from the dead, yet they will not rise with the saints, nor by virtue of union to Christ, nor to an eternal life of joy and happiness; in this sense the saints only will be quickened, "by the Spirit"; not as an instrument, but as a coefficient cause with the Father and Son: or "because of the Spirit that dwells in you", the bodies of the saints are the temples of the Holy Ghost, they are sanctified by him, where he continues to dwell by virtue of union to Christ, and in consequence of it will quicken them at the last day; so the Jews say, that the Holy Ghost brings to the resurrection of the dead. 

What is the TRINITY?
There is one eternal God, the Lord who is holy love.
Through His self-revelation He has disclosed to His people that He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   Yet He is not three deities but one Godhead, since all three Persons share the one Deity/Godhead.   The biblical teaching of the Trinity is, in a sense, a mystery;  and the more we
enter into union with and deepen our understanding of Him, the more we recognize how
much there is yet to know.
Based on the biblical teaching, the traditional Christian confession is that God is One in Three and Three in One. 
more about this in the next post coming soon!

Glory to God in the highest

“Glory to God in the highest.”
Luke_2:1-20
Let us read with great joy of the birth of Jesus, the incarnate God.
Luke_2:2
The census was taken by Augustus, but the actual collecting of the tax was not carried out till the time of Cyrenius.
Luke_2:3-6
The decree of Cæsar was made to fulfill the decree of Jehovah, that Jesus should be born in Bethlehem.
Luke_2:7
Little love had the world for the Redeemer. It could find no room for him, no, not even in the place where the meanest traveller had free accommodation.
“No peaceful home upon his cradle smiled, Guests rudely went and came where slept the royal child.”
Luke_2:8
To simple minds, humbly doing their duty, the good news first came.
Luke_2:9-12
The heavenly messenger had scarcely concluded his announcement before he was joined by others who had hastened after him to swell the glory of the proclamation of the newborn king.
Luke_2:15
They believed the news, were interested in it, and went to see. If we believe the gospel, let us show our faith practically.
Luke_2:16-20
Here were three ways of treating the news concerning Jesus. Some wondered, and there the matter ended, as, it is to be feared, it ends with many who hear it in these days. Mary weighed all these things in her heart; to her they would be a perpetual source of blessing. The shepherds showed their piety in another manner, for they glorified God by telling the glad tidings to others. Have we not good cause to follow their example?

Hark, the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King,
“Peace on earth and mercy mild;
God and sinners reconciled.”

Veil’d in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to appear,
Jesus our Immanuel here.

Mild he lays his glory by;
Born, that men no more might die;
Born, to raise the sons of earth;
Born, to give them second birth.


“Lo, this is our God—we have waited for Him.”
Luke_2:21-22; Luke_2:24-38
Luke_2:21
Jesus signifies “Jehovah the Saviour,” and is the most melodious of all names in the ears of penitent sinners.
Luke_2:22; Luke_2:24
Our Lord having placed himself, for our sakes, under the law, was obedient to it in all points, thus fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf. The poverty of his parents is showed by their presenting the second poorest offering accepted by the law; there was one offering poorer still, but they were not in abject poverty, that worst distress was reserved for Jesus in his after years, when he would not have where to lay his head. Though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor.
Luke_2:25
He was just before men and devout towards God, and his faith looked steadily forward for the coming of the Messiah, whom those who believingly searched the Scriptures were daily expecting.
Luke_2:35
The highly-favoured mother had to endure unusually sharp and killing griefs as she saw the sorrows and the death of her blameless son.
Luke_2:37
Having lost her husband for eighty-four years, she had devoted herself to the continual worship of God, and had, no doubt, as a prophetess, been spiritually useful to many. Women are much more honoured under the gospel than under the law. It was meet that two of the first witnesses to our Lord should be an aged man and a venerable woman.
Luke_2:38
O for grace to embrace Jesus, to love Jesus, to testify to Jesus, and to be so joyful in Jesus that we may be willing, like Simeon, to die, or, like Anna, to speak of him to all around!

Saints, before the altar bending,
Waiting long with hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord descending
In his temple shall appear;

Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doom’d for guilt to endless pains,

Justice now repeals the sentence,
Mercy calls you—break your chains;
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

THE DAY OF RECKONING

THE DAY OF RECKONING
"After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them."-- Mat_25:19.

THE THREE parables recorded in this chapter are of vast importance.
Each contains a striking contrast, and in each there is the possibility of supreme joy or the inevitable sentence of deprivation and rejection. In each there is instruction and encouragement on the one side, and on the other we are solemnly warned.
In the parable of the Virgins, we learn the necessity of having adequate reserves; of possessing more than the lamp of profession, however chaste and rare; and of procuring without money or price the oil of the gracious indwelling and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That religion is entirely valueless which is not due to His kindling and maintenance.
In the parable of the Talents, we learn that the gravest peril in Christian experience attaches not to the highly, or even the moderately-gifted people, but to the poorest and humblest one-talented folk! Because they can do so little they often do nothing. The one talent, which it is death to hide, is lodged with them as utterly useless. But with God the smallest things count! He does not crush the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
In the Judgment of the Nations, we learn that the ultimate test of Christianity is not in profession or doctrine, but our care for those with whom our Lord has always identified Himself
--the outcast and helpless, the sick and sorrowful, the stranger and prisoner. Love to God has for its reverse Love to man. Even now the nations are standing before His judgment-bar, and some are being cast on the rubbish heap before our eyes.

PRAYER
Let me not be put to shame, O my Lord, but make me to love and fear Thee with all my heart. Help me to be faithful in the very little things, and to hear Thy well-done at the last. AMEN.

SALVATION IS TO BE FOUND AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS OF JESUS,SAVIOUR,LORD & KING

John 1:29-34  The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! 
[Exod. 12:3; Isa. 53:7.] 
This is He of Whom I said, After me comes a Man Who has priority over me [Who takes rank above me] because He was before me and existed before I did. 
And I did not know Him and did not recognize Him [myself]; but it is in order that He should be made manifest and be revealed to Israel [be brought out where we can see Him] that I came baptizing in (with) water. 
John gave further evidence, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it dwelt on Him [never to depart]. 
And I did not know Him nor recognize Him, but He Who sent me to baptize in (with) water said to me, Upon Him Whom you shall see the Spirit descend and remain, that One is He Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. 
And I have seen [that happen--I actually did see it] and my testimony is that this is JESUS the Son of God! 

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The Pattern of Service

The Pattern of Service

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day—- John_9:4

The Perfect Service of Our Lord

Our Lord came among us as one who suffered, and so He has taught us how to suffer. He also came as one who serves, and so He has taught us how to serve. And in this day, when the idea of service exercises such control in western Christendom, it is well that we should turn continually to the perfect service of our Lord. Sometimes out in mid-Atlantic a little boat is caught in a great storm. And she heaves and tosses in the wild of the waters till every timber in her frame is racked. And then not very far away from her making for the same port across the ocean, majestically there sails on some mighty liner. Many a worker has so thought of Christ when the winds were contrary and the sea was violent. With what an ease—with what a sense of power—with what unconscious triumph He goes by! And so it is well that we should think of Him and find anew the features of His service, and it is on some of these that I want to dwell.

The Union of Obedience and Originality in Christ

If I were asked what is the keynote to all the manifold service of our Lord, I think I should answer that it was obedience. We speak of the Gospel of John as the Gospel of love, and certainly it thrills and throbs with love; yet if you read that Gospel, at the back of love you will find something else. You will find that in every act He ever wrought, Christ was but doing what the Father showed Him; you will find that in every word He ever spoke, He was but uttering what He had heard. There is a beautiful instrument which some of you may have seen and to which is given the ugly name of seismograph. It is an instrument for recording the tremors and vibrations of the earth. And so delicate is it that if in the heart of Africa the earth should tremble with the shock of earthquake, it will be caught and registered in England. It is far from here to central Africa; it may be farther still from here to heaven. It was no skeptic, but a prophet of the Highest, who spoke of the land that is very far away. And yet so infinitely sensitive and delicate was the truly human soul of our Redeemer, that every whisper of the voice divine was caught and registered unerringly. Not the tide when it obeys the moon and moves to its fullness at the appointed moment; not the swallow when in the destined hour it makes for the sunshine of the south again—not these, nor any angel in the heavens speeding to fulfill the will of God, are so perfectly obedient as was Jesus.

Christ's Originality

Yet the singular thing is that when men looked on Christ, it was not that obedience which impressed them. It was something which seems quite different from obedience—what impressed them was His originality. On the tomb of Oliver Goldsmith there is written, Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit. It means that Goldsmith, with the charm of genius, touched nothing which he did not adorn. And if it be true of him, with all his weaknesses, a thousand times truer is it of the Master, who poured the infinite riches of His heart into His doctrine and His ministry. He touched the cottage, and from that hour to this, life in the cottage has been a different thing. He touched the heart, and in this heart of ours heights and depths appeared which had been hidden. And He touched language and it began to blossom, and He touched womanhood till it grew beautiful, and with His hands of love He touched the cross, and it has been bright with glory ever since. Had you asked Jesus with what eyes He saw, He might have answered "with the eyes of God." Had you asked Jesus with what lips He spake, He might have answered "with the lips of God." And yet men looked at Him and listened to Him and felt that here was a Man who was Himself. He was as fresh and wonderful and new as the first morning of another spring.

Now as you go out to serve, that is the first thing I want to leave with you. Your first duty is to be obedient to everything that you have learned from God. Never begin by trying to be original. That is always a tragic mistake. When men or women begin by trying that, they generally end by being useless. Begin by the great endeavor to be true to all that God has taught you and has shown you, and gradually in the lowliest service will come the touch that tells you are yourself. All service with that touch in it is blessed. All service without that touch in it is barren. It is a great thing to dare to be oneself whether in society or service. And Christ has shown us the way to that nobility—it is by being unfalteringly true to all that in the depths of our own soul we know to be the very voice of heaven.

In Christ, a Singular Union of Narrowness and Breadth

Now of course there is a sense of the word narrow which no one would ever apply to Jesus Christ. There is a narrowness which is very noble, and there is another which is very nasty. There is no love in it—no tenderness—no kindly touch as of a brother's hand. It is not generous as the sun is generous when it kisses the orchard of an autumn day. What then do I mean by narrowness? Well, take the story of the third temptation. "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." There, at the very outset of His life, when the world was all before Him where to choose, there was the stirring of imperial dream. "All these things will I give to thee." Might not this young prophet be a Caesar? Might He not go abroad into the world of men and show that He was the Master of them all? And instead of that He chose the narrow road and moved in quietness through little villages; and Roman historians, when He was dead, could not even spell His name correctly. Deliberately Christ drew His little circle, and inside that little circle He remained. And voices called Him, and hands were stretched to Him, and men besought Him, and He would not listen. Here was the place appointed Him of God, and not by a hand's-breadth would He swerve from it. That was the glory of His narrowness.

And yet once more the singular thing is this, that never was there a life so broad as Christ's. Narrowed in its sphere and in its service, the breadth of it is the marvel of the ages. Rich men like Nicodemus drew to Him. Poor men like Simon Peter loved Him passionately. Women of beautiful character revered Him. Women who were sunken would have died for Him. Men who were lawless like the zealot Simon would have fought for Him against the Roman army. And a centurion of that Roman army fell down at His feet and called Him Master. Was there ever a life so broad as this? Was there ever a life so rich in understanding? He knew the publican. He knew the mother. He knew the sufferer. He knew the child. And every bird that winged across the heaven and every flower that blossomed in the meadow, He saw, and, seeing, had these thoughts about them that oftentimes do lie too deep for tears. Intense with the intensity of God, He had the heart at leisure from itself. Feeling the infinite agony of Calvary, He felt the wonder and the joy of everything. Hating sin with an intense abhorrence, far more intense than we shall ever fathom, there was not a sinner from the streets of Magdala but somehow felt she had a friend in Him. It is such things as these that baffle me when I turn my eyes to Jesus Christ. So eaten up with zeal, and yet so tranquil; so narrow, and yet so infinitely broad. He had a baptism to be baptized with, and how was He straitened till it was accomplished—and yet He would dally with a little child as if He had nothing else on earth to do.

In Christ, a Singular Union of Failure and Success

I take it that when Christ was crucified, everybody thought that He had failed. Had you moved amid the crowds around the cross, that is the verdict you would have had from all. There was a time when He had seemed to triumph and when the people had been enthusiastic. And they would have taken Him and made Him King, and they cried "Hosanna to the son of David." But now the moment of the cross was come, and all the glory seemed to have been quenched, and the one word to write across the story was the most pitiful word in human speech. Perhaps there were one or two women who still trusted. Women can trust when everything is dark. Women will still hope about a man when every other voice is crying shipwreck. And so it may be that on the day of Calvary here and there a lamp of faith was still burning, each of them tended by a woman's fingers. But ask the disciples what they thought of it—ask the workmen what they thought of it—ask that young student, with his weary eyes, who had listened to the Lord until He loved Him. It was a splendid dream, but it was over now. It was a noble life, but it was ended. It was a fight for God in a corrupted church, and here at Calvary the church had won. Would Peter have written triumph on the cross? Could even John have written, This is victory? It was all dark to them, and all mysterious, for they had not grasped that He should rise again. If ever a service seemed to close in failure—failure dark and tragic and profound—it was the loving service of the Lord.

And then what happened? You all know what happened. On the third day He rises from the dead. Then there comes the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and the conversion of three thousand souls. And Peter is off to Babylon to preach, and Paul is off to Rome to tell the news—and Augustine is on his way to England, and Columba is on his way to Scotland—until now throughout our western world and to the farthest borders of the east, Christ is living, Christ is working, Christ is powerful in ten thousand ways. Give any name you like to that brief life, you dare not call it by the name of failure now. In all that it has done for men and women it is magnificent in its success. And yet that service, so mighty and so wonderful—so rich in impulse for a million hearts—flows from a life that once, in human speech, was branded with the bitter name of failure.

Our Seeming Failures May Be Successes in the End

Now as you go out to serve, will you engrave that upon your heart? When a man is in earnest about Christian service, he will be dogged and haunted by the sense of failure. I was talking to a doctor—a man who is well-known in his profession—and he told me how frequently there came to him a sense of uselessness that was unbearable. And I could not help thinking if that were so with him who had but the body for his sphere of service, much more would it be so with us who handle the infinite mystery of soul. I want you to believe that when you fail you may be succeeding all the time. I want you to feel you may be doing most, just when you think that you are doing nothing. I want you to look right back to Jesus Christ and to remember what they thought of Him and then to take you to your task again, leaving the issue in the hand of God. The one thing vital is that you persist. The one great treachery is to despair. To hold to it, when everything is gloomy, is the first task of every mortal man. And then some day, when all the gloom is passed, and the sun is shining and the wind is hushed, you will discover that your sorry failure was not quite so sorry as it seemed.

JESUS CHRIST SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR ALL OF US-THIS DEMANDS FOR US TO ACCEPT OR REJECT HIM

1John 3:1-24

If your prayer  life is malfunctioning, make sure you're meeting the following conditions.   When you do, you can be confident that your prayers will be effective.  For example The apostle John said we must obey God and do what pleases Him (1 John 3:22).   This includes believing in His Son and loving one another (v23).   If we don't meet God's conditions, our prayers will be ineffective.

 1Jn 3:22  We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. 
1Jn 3:23  Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. 
1Jn 3:24  As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us. 
This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed His life for us. 

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it--we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.
But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Jesus Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him--and in seeing him, become like him.
All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God's order.
Surely you know that Jesus Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program.
No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They've got him all backwards.
So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah.
Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil's ways.
People conceived and brought into life by God don't make a practice of sin. How could they? God's seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It's not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin.
Here's how you tell the difference between God's children and the Devil's children: The one who won't practice righteous ways isn't from God, nor is the one who won't love brother or sister. A simple test.
For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous.
So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead.
Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love.
This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality.
It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God!
We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him.
Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command.
As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.