One Year Bible - September 26

ISAIAH 48:12 - 50:11                                                                                                         
"NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED":  In the first 8 verses, Israel is described as lying hypocrites, obstinate rebels, foolish idolaters, and treacherous transgressors.  They were not any different than the people of Babylon!  But God chose to save Israel, and to destroy Babylon in the process.   We are distinguished by grace and purpose.   BUT, because of sin, disobedience and unbelief, Israel forfeited everything.   God calls us to "come out of Babylon", because "there is no peace for the wicked."

JESUS - JEHOVAH'S SERVANT:  Jesus was commissioned, appointed, called, set apart, prepared, qualified, anointed.  When the Son agreed to become Jehovah's servant, God made Him 7 promises:  (v.7) Although despised and abhorred, God will exalt Jesus and make up the object of worship. (v.8) God will hear His Son. Even now Jesus intercedes for us (Heb 7:25).  (V.8) The Father promised to help Jesus in all He did. (v.8) God promised to preserve Jesus through all His suffering.  (v.8) He promised to give His Son "for a covenant of the people".  (v.8-10) God promised Him that He would not fail to deliver and protect and provide.   (v.12) God promised Jesus that He would gather His people from the four corners of the earth.

HAS GOD FORGOTTEN ME?  Unanswered prayer or protracted suffering can lead a person to feel this way.   BUT, we are called to "sing and rejoice" because God has not forgotten or forsaken me.  Every time He opens His hand, He thinks of me.   I am tattooed on His palm. IN FACT: He goes up against everything to deliver us.   He gave His all to do it.  We were not only captives, but lawful captives!   There was no hope for fallen, captive, condemned man.  But God took up our cause.   He contends with my adversary.

SAVIOR & REDEEMER:  First God was rejected, even though He is the only one with power to save and deliver.  Our troubles are the result of our own unbelief and disobedience. They had forsaken God and had sold themselves into bondage.  Our separation from God is our own fault, not God's.  But God rescued us Himself.   He is a Prophet Who hears and speaks, a voluntary slave, who is a willing sufferer.   His submission was complete.  He was justified by the Father - - - by His own choice.  "Who is mine adversary?"  None can stand against Him.

LIGHT MY OWN FIRE:  If you want to provide your own fire (self-confidence), God will leave you to it and "you shall lie down in sorrow."  In the meantime, true believers sometimes walk in darkness!   This is not talking about NO light, but about no clear light.  But we never quit, even when we can't see!   Isaiah's answer?  "Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and rely on his God."  If you cannot trust God in the darkness, you do not trust Him at all.

RESPONSE: I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it a lot of the time.   At least now I know that I am not alone.   I DO know how to cling to God, and Ps 97:1-2 says,  "The LORD reigneth; . . . . clouds and darkness are round about him:."   Self-confidence is the opposite of faith.  When I don't understand something or don't know what to do, it is still tempting to think my way out of it instead of trusting my way out.

EPHESIANS 4:17-32                                                                                                            
"PETER PAN SYNDROME":  V. 1 7-19 describe people in the church who have never grown up. The reason is that they have never submitted to the "fathering" ministry of the "gifts" listed in v.11, especially the "Pastor".   They have become spiritual orphans.  They haven't changed the way they live after they were saved.  This description is the OPPOSITE of what is described in v. 24-32.  Their lives are "futile".  It is characterized by self-centeredness, ignorance, shamelessness, perversion. 

THE EXCHANGED LIFE:  We "lay aside" or "take off" the "old man" -  the old us that is "corrupt" (defiled, ruined, moral decay), originating out of our own deceitful lusts.  That "old man" is actually getting worse and worse!  It is putrid and is rotting continually.  When we were born again, we accepted crucifixion of the "old man" (Rom 6:6).  Now we "put on” the "new man" that is created in "righteousness and true holiness".   UNDRESSING AND THEN DRESSING.  This is something you have to choose to do.  This is done through repentance.  Letting Jesus be Jesus in your life.  This "clothing" is inside us in the Person of Jesus.   It is our "exchanged life" - our life for His.  Our lifestyle should match our new nature (righteous and holy).  The key to living in our new nature is the way we think.

HOW THE "NEW MAN" THINKS:  (v.20-21) Christ-centered as opposed to being self-centered. (v.21b) knowing Truth in Jesus. (v.22) sensitivity to sin. (v.23) new thoughts (Phil 4:8 for example). (v.24) new attitudes: (righteousness and holiness).

HOW THE "NEW MAN" BEHAVES: (v.25) Tells the truth. (v.26-27) Only sin angers him, and then only because it grieves God (see below).  (v.28) Share and pay your debts.   (v.29) Everything we say is appropriate and full of grace.  (v.30-31) Don't grieve (vex) the Holy Spirit with bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander or malice.  (v.32) Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving.

LET'S TALK ABOUT ANGER:  Mark 3:5 tells us that the characteristic of anger that Jesus manifested was to "grieve because of their hardness of heart".  Ecc 7:9 says "anger resides in the lap of fools."  Human anger is a response to a perceived threat and it takes many forms: selfishness, filthy language, arrogance, depression, fear, unforgiveness, self-pity, bitterness, smoking, jealousy, over-eating, addictions, retaliation, passive-aggression, impatience, complaining - just to name a few.   Matthew 5:21-22 shows anger as the first step toward hatred and murder.  Eph 4 says not to allow anger to lead to sin.  We don't repress anger or try to control it either. We get rid of it through repentance.  This is because anger is arrogant, self-righteous, self-defensive and manipulative.  ALL of these characteristics are abhorrent to God.   NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE IS ANGER CONDONED.  In fact, everywhere anger is forbidden. "Venting" gives place to the devil, and is practice for doing it again.  You cannot feel angry and happy at the same time.   No one MAKES me happy or mad and angry.  I CHOOSE to be either angry OR happy. Emotions don't just "happen" to me. I decide how I feel. In fact, the only things about my life that I really control are thoughts, feelings and behaviors.   People who habitually choose anger over happiness lead frustrated, angry lives, not happy ones.  Anger is the result of faulty thinking.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "RIGHTEOUS ANGER". James 1:19-20 says that man's anger cannot produce righteousness.   In fact, in man's anger, SELF is blown way out of proportion.   Anger is a form of BLINDNESS, because it turns us away from Truth, and onto ourselves and our perceptions.  We can't compartmentalize anger.  We become an "angry person."   Internalized anger eventually turns to bitterness and hatred, so don't ignore it.   Get rid of it.   Become the kind of person who does not get angry.

"PUTTING OFF" THE "OLD ANGRY MAN":  The answer is not therapy, but Blood sacrifice. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so humbling because it treats us as helpless.  Jesus come to rescue us from the evil within us.   Jesus is not just nice, He is brilliant, savvy, informed, and handles life the way it really is.  So trust Him.  Unforgiveness is antichristian and strictly forbidden in believers.  Forgiveness is not forgetting, but it is remembering and letting it go.   It is NOT being victimized, but being sacrificed.   Forgiveness is a CHOICE to stop treating people as if they owe you.   It is a CHOICE to obey the Word of God, and it is the KEY to personal freedom.  "Putting off" is a decision.   A daily over-and-over-and-over choice.   It is a decision to forsake the flesh and choose the Presence of God.

RESPONSE:   Obviously, I have had lots of experience with being angry.  The first 50 years or so of my life I spent being angry.  WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!  Anger is self-destructive, but it also affects everyone around you.  Bitterness is contagious (Heb 12:15) and causes us to be self-deceived.  It colored every perception I had.  I wasted all my energy being miserable.  I didn't know I could CHOOSE to be happy!  Now I choose it all day long.   Every time I catch myself falling into a negative thought pattern, I arrest myself - begin praising and thanking God for all He's done (not just for me, for just all He's done - - - period.)   Happiness demands that I drop that stupid idea of fairness once and for all!  There is no such thing.  Waiting for things to be "fair" is living in unreality, and it is unbiblical.

PSALM 69:1-18                                                                                                          
BETRYAL & REJECTION: This song shows overwhelming sorrow from betrayal and insults. The adversaries were in positions of power and outnumbered the friends.  Because we say we love God and have let people know it, we ask God to help us not become a stumbling block to anyone because of how we respond to such bad treatment.  When we respond like Jesus said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Mat 5:44) that can become grounds for more intimidation and ridicule.   It is a time for prayer to draw close to God and cling to Him.  We keep pressing on to the obedience of faith because we Trust Him.

PROVERBS 24:5-6                                                                                                  
A wise man is strong because he knows how to navigate this fallen world successfully.  He may be ripped to shreds, but his testimony is intact and his faith is strong.  Put him together with 10 more just like him, and they are "more than conquerors through Him Who loved us." (Rom 8:37)

RESPONSE:   God already knows all our outcomes.  He is interested in the PROCESS.  How do we handle being insulted?  How do we respond to rejection and betrayal?  It isn't just people who are watching us.  There are innumerable company of angels, demons, and principalities, and even God scrutinizes us when we are under pressure.  Our children see us.  The neighbors.  In a small town, lots of people know when we "ding" someone's cardoor because we are angry.  We are "surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." (Heb 12:1) SO RUN WELL!!