One Year Bible - November 11

EZEKIEL 23:1-49                                                                                                        

REALLY GROSS HARLOTRY:  Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom; Jerusalem the capital of the Southern Kingdom. They are the "harlot sisters", children of Israel, the "mother of harlots" (Rev 17:5). "Bloodshed and harlotry" :  they killed their prophets and prostituted themselves with the nations and their idols.  We see God revealed here as the Husband of His "elect".  Friendship (if you can call it that) with the world-spirit is called "harlotry".  They were called "lewd", so insatiable is their appetite for "things of the world" (1 Jo 2:15).  Spiritual unfaithfulness carries the seeds of punishment right in it; it is called "consequences".  It is impossible for us to be completely satisfied with the substitute lovers we have chosen.  Not only that, but our lovers become our punishment!  Our "pleasure" becomes the thing that gives us pain.  The things of the world that we love will be raised up against us, driving us back to God.  Nothing will satisfy us then, but to be with Jesus.  We are dead to all our old lovers, but alive unto God (Rom 6:22).

RESPONSE:   This is so disgusting that I wanted to check to be sure I was still in my Bible!  We need to see our substitutes for God for what they really are!  When we lust for food, for excitement, for thrills, for booze, for power, or whatever "rings our bells", we are like those "old whores"!  I will never look at forbidden candy the same way again.

HEBREWS 10:18-39                                                                                                         
If we left our flesh to do whatever it wanted to do with us, we would wander away from God.  Our tendency is to do whatever is convenient at the time.  We are especially prone to resist the rest of God, because it is not available by fleshly means.  And so, in Hebrews chapter10, three times says, "Let us..."  This isn't just a suggestion, it is a command:  (V.22) "draw near" without fear because God NEVER thinks about our sin or guilt.  (V.23) "hold fast" without fear because God is FAITHFUL, even if we are not.  (V.24) "keep an eye on one another" without being critical, but rather encouraging each other to continue on.  And stay together!

FOURTH "WARNING": (Heb 10:26-39)  It is interesting to note that Jesus said (Heb 10:5) that He came to prepare a Body in the earth, that reflects Himself....and over here in v. 26 we are warned against thinking outside of that Body!  To refuse to join with other Believers and try to "go it alone" - is to despise the WHOLE GODHEAD: Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  What was happening here was what we call "guilt by association".  There is persecution associated with being a Christian believer, and if you are associating with other believers, they assumed that you ARE one!  To refuse to pay the price as a believer is to insult God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.......all of Who are working together to mold us together as One Body.  This portion of Hebrews is speaking of those who try to hide the fact that they are Christian Believers when they are out in public, so they won't suffer persecution or rejection. 

ABOUT FAITH.....:  There are only two positions:  Living by faith OR  "drawing back unto perdition/ruin".  Our lives are ruined if we draw back from living by faith.  We sometimes feel as if our lives are being ruined when we DO walk by faith because of the accompanying persecution and rejection that comes.  Doing the "will of God" (v.3) doesn't always bring an immediate result.  Real faith is always tested by delay.  It takes faith AND patience to receive "the promise".  Heb 4:1 tells us that "the promise" is "God's rest".  Heb 6:15 says that through "faith and patience", Abraham "obtained the promise".  Abraham's promise was the Land.  It is thru Abraham that we and Jesus have the claim on the Land - which Hebrews declares is "God's rest", and is also interpreted in Heb 10:39 as the "saving of the soul".  It says here that I can handle the rejection and the insults and the persecution when I live like a Christian believer because I have "a better and enduring substance in heaven".

What is that "better and enduring substance?"  Heb 11:1 says the "substance" is the essence of faith - what faith is made up of. Heb 1:3 translates the same word "Person" - Jesus is the "substance" of God.  Our "better substance" our "promise" is God's rest and the perks that come with it: "rightgeous, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 

Now that you mentioned it: what is the "saving of the soul"?  Jam 1:21; 1 Pet 1:9 also speak of the "saving of the soul".  Heb 4:12 talks of dividing the spirit from the soul as being possible ONLY by the Word of God, and for the intentions of provoking growth in us as the flesh dies.  The NT Greek word for "soul" is "psuche" which is also translated "life" in Matt 10:34-39; Mar 8:34-35; Luk 17:31-33; John 12:24-25, where we learn the "salvation of the soul" is actually when it is handed over to DIE - when we deny it, refuse to be swayed by it, disregard it as unworthy of obedience.

RESPONSE:   Faith is based on hearing God's voice in His Word, in our hearts, thru someone or something around us. "Faith" and "believe" are the same word, actually. To have faith is to believe God.  Others can tell what you really believe by what you do!  Do you fall apart when you receive bad news?  What is your first reaction to rejection because of your faith in Jesus?  Are you easily swayed by public opinion?  I don't know if I could "take joyfully" (v.34) the "spoiling of my stuff" - whether it was stolen or vandalized.  Maybe if I KNEW it was because I am an outspoken Christian believer, it might be easier - because I'd know it didn't happen because I had done something or said something stupid.

Here we also learn that the opposite of living by faith is to draw away from Truth to where God does not "have pleasure" in us any more!  On the other hand, when we obey God, we give Him pleasure and sometimes I can actually feel His pleasure in me!

PSALM 109:1-31                                                                                                                
Remember that Psa 109 is one of the "Deuteronomy" Psalms, making it about "Living by faith in the Rest (the Land) of God".   I love this last section of Psalms, because it tells me how to think so I can rest, and believe and behave by faith. Psa 109 is the last of what are called "imprecatory Psalms" - prayers that call down judgment on our enemies. This particular one is about JUDAS, the betrayer of Jesus. The principle here is that betrayal and character assassination cause pain, but God will vindicate us, and we must never defend ourselves. The curses that this prayer call down are actually the fruit of the enemy's own choices and deeds. They forfeited away the goodness of God.

PROVERBS 27:13                                                                                                           
If you are making a loan to someone you don't know very well, you better make sure you get plenty collateral!  Myself, whenever I loan ANYONE money, I consider it a "gift".   It works like forgiveness, with the forgiver bearing the loss.  This is how we get wisdom thru experience.

RESPONSE:   Philippians is the book that tells us to (1) Never defend ourselves; (2) Never demands our own rights or our own way; (3) Never complain.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that when the OT tells us to kill all our enemies, it is speaking of our own flesh with its desires lurking in our members.  The flesh is what gets us to betray our covenant with God, and so it must be dealt with, without mercy.   In fact, of all our enemies as listed by various Bible texts: the world, the flesh and the devil, the flesh is the only one we are told to kill or to avenge ourselves against.  That death, or crucifixion, comes when we deny the flesh, or when we submit and obey God when something in our flesh is telling us not to.  When the world rejects us or slanders us, or even oppresses or hinders us in some way, if we were wrong, then we go to the person and repent.  If we were being persecuted wrongly for our faith, then we rejoice as we share in Christ's sufferings.

I have trouble with my own brain persecuting me. Whenever I have to do a distasteful job, like cleaning a toilet, my flesh tells me, "You deserve better than this. Make someone else do it." So, it is important to keep our heads straight by studying the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit.

One Year Bible - November 10

EZEKIEL 21:1 - 22:31                                                                                                      OVERTURN, OVERTURN, OVERTURN": (21:26-27)  The devil and his crowd have been brought low three ways: body, soul, and spirit.  Power and authority were taken from Zedekiah and retained by the Father until the day He sent His Son (Col 2:15).  Zedekiah is "profane", worse than the king of Babylon, and his day has come.  Israel would be blotted out and the Ammonites would be judged in their own land by "brutish men", fire and sword, and then blotted out also.

"THE SWORD OF THE LORD":  When mercy and grace didn't win us, God used the sword.  It is actually Nebuchadnezzar's sword as the means of judgment. "Sword" is used 14 times in this chapter.  Jesus said He came to "bring a sword" (Mat 10:34).  As Joshua entered the Land, as Jesus began His ministry, and again in Revelation, Jesus appears with a sword in His hand.  The "Sword of the Lord" is symbolic of His assertion of power and authority in judgment.   It doesn't mean that God is in heaven, leaning down to swing the sword this way and that way, killing all who stand in the way, although it may appear that way.   But He uses our enemies to wield the sword against us. 

GUILTY OF BLOODSHED:  Matt 23:31-37, Jesus said: "So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,..."

Nothing has changed.  Ezekiel's people turned their backs on God, and the bunch in the NT killed Him!  The City of Blood had nothing of value in it any more.  The refining furnace could find nothing but dross in Israel - it all melted and was disposed of.

PROPHETS, PRIESTS, PRINCES, & PEOPLE: (22:23-31)  Leadership failure! ...This is the big reason why the church found itself in this condition.  When that happens, there is no real ministry, no discernment, no true authority.  No man to stand in the gap as an intercessor to plead with God to spare the Land.

"I will remove your filthiness out of you." (22:15) The purpose of discipline of the righteous is to cleanse, not to destroy.  The fire consumes all that is flammable - the works of the flesh, ("wood, hay and stubble" - 1 Co 3:12-15) and leaves us with what came from God: eternal things that aren't corrupt.   The afflictions of the righteous are the opportunity to rid us of corruption, of the flesh, of the self-life. God's keen eye knows there is gold and silver in us!

RESPONSE:   When I am actually going THROUGH THE FIRE, I don't think of it as a good thing. It isn't until later that I can see the value of it. In fact, in a later trial, I am amazed at the change that had come in me!  My reactions (attitudes) to circumstances are changing.  I don't realize that God had scrubbed something off until I "missed it"!   This is why it is so important to use these opportunities to deny our flesh (and let it die) when they come. We lay our lives down over and over again, until those fleshly things finally die.  Then we lay our lives down again when the opportunity comes. Paul said, "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31).   Today's trials (opportunities to die) are preparation for tomorrow's trials.  When we see the changes take place, we rejoice because Jesus did it all!  We just lay down our lives.  If we don't lay our lives down as a sacrifice, they will be wasted.

HEBREWS 10:1-17                                                                                                                 

OUT WITH THE OLD (chap 8)....IN WITH THE NEW (chap 9-10):  While this is speaking of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, it also speaks to our generation about the old way we lived (trying to please God, trying to do better, etc.) and the way that Hebrews is encouraging us to live - by faith in the "eternal covenant, eternal redemption, et al".

WHY WE REJECT OR LOSE THE "NEW": From the first chapters of Hebrews, we see that living by faith, driven by our love for God, is something we must "labour, strive, fight" for. The evidence of living by faith is our "entrance into the Land" , which is the "Rest" of God.  Living by faith brings rest because we trust God with the outcomes. This kind of living takes practice, repetition, the formation of new "good" habits (Rom 12:21).  This process is called "sanctification". The alternative is to try harder, resulting in frustration, fear, and failure.  The "five warnings of Hebrews"  tell us why we stay in such a negative condition: Heb 2:3 warns us of apathy, carelessness, and indifference.  Life by faith requires an aggressive pursuit, along with the acknowledgment that details and "small stuff" does matter.  Heb 3:7-4:1 warns us of "an evil heart of unbelief".  Self-preservation and bitterness cause us to betray Truth because we want to preserve our flesh, leading to hardness of heart (unbelief).  We have to "hold fast" to the Truths of God's goodness and greatness by constantly instructing our hearts.  Heb 6:4-6 warns of the impossibility of continually "starting over" as Christians.  We can't keep "getting saved" so we can start over. Our sin has been removed and forgotten.  Forget the wasted years and go on, using your spiritual knowledge for life's situations.  Allow your fleshly deeds to be burned, and keep pressing toward God.  Heb 10:26-31 warns of loss, not doom, when we refuse to pay the price of being identified as part of Jesus' Body.  We get to this condition from despising the rewards of being faithful to the Lord, as not being worthwhile.  Desiring to escape man's judgment, we fall into the "hands of the living God"¸which leads to loss of rewards, and even death. Heb 12:12-29 There is grace (God's enablement) for every situation of our lives if we would press past our flesh and focus on the goodness and greatness of God. When we despise this "Rest" (as being too difficult to get into or as not worth the trouble), and choose to complain and indulge our flesh instead, we have to settle for what is temporary or earthly and fleshly, because the eternal rewards are lost to us.

THE "ALTERNATIVE" TO ENTERING INTO THE REST: It is NOT hell. ( NOTE: Moses went to heaven, but not into the Land.)  The alternative to "rest"  is a frustrating, guilt-ridden life in the here-and-now. There is more to the Christian life than just being saved from hell. We must also LIVE SAVED, by faith in Truth. What is at stake here is not heaven, but forfeiture and loss of God's Rest of faith. Chapter 10 of Hebrews contrasts it like this:

FIRST/OLD COVENANT (ALTERNATIVE TO FAITH)        NEW COVENANT (LIFE OF REST
v.1: a shadow (outward appearance) of what's real              Spiritual reality (inward working)
v.1-4 Sin-consciousness and focus            God-consciousness, sin removed & forgotten
Guilt and condemnation                                                    Freedom from guilt & condemnation
v.1&14 Cannot "make perfect" - effect inner change             Sanctified by His Blood
Tries to be holy                                                                 Christ is my Righteousness
Led by senses, reason, "standards", fear.                          Led by faith in "better promises".
Sacrifice & rituals (repeated cycles)                               New & living way to God's Presence
Impossible to remove sin                                                       Remission of sin
"Passing away" - external & temporary                                Eternal & never-changing
Restricts the flesh & tries to control it.                             Image of Jesus being formed in me -
                                                                                          I live by His Life in me.
Fear and lack of intimacy                                                     Boldness in God's Presence
Taken away (violently by force)                                                   Established for eternity

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: Heb 10:5: "As Jesus was coming into the earth (womb)" -   Literally, as He made the passage from heaven to earth, these were His words to His Father: He (Jesus) was coming to earth to enact the Father's will and purpose: to bring forth a Body; "many sons", who would be the image of Jesus in the world.  In order to do that, Jesus "taketh away the first, that He may establish the second."

RESPONSE:   I have been caught up in that cycle so many of us are in: sin → repent → try harder → sin again → repent, etc. (sounds like Romans 7, huh?) That cycle is the result of being sin-conscious. We are behaving as though we were "under the law".  Freedom from sinning is from being God-conscious, knowing He has removed and "forgotten" our sin, our condemnation, and our guilt.  Jesus is the Righteous One IN me. I live by His Life in me, not my own life.  This redemption is "everlasting" or "eternal” (Heb 9:12).  When I try to control my flesh, I am doomed to failure.  The flesh has to be denied and crucified.  It can't be repaired or restored!  Hebrews 6:1 says to "go on" from "the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.."  Now our repentance is about being self-sufficient, about relying on the law to control our flesh outwardly, about unbelief.... NOT about specific deeds.  The OT word for "repentance" is to "turn" - to turn toward God and cling to Him.  Re-connect with Him as being a branch to His Vine.  If you haven't done that, then you really haven't repented.

Jesus is teaching me how to be a true servant.   When confronted with that, I have trouble with being self-centered and selfish.  I don't like being at someone's "beck-and-call" all the time. Sometimes when I am expected to drop everything and do something for someone else, I feel resentful.  (After all, I was having time with God.)  As soon as I detect that resentment, I am tempted to think, "You aren't such a great Christian, after all!" "What would people think if they could hear your thoughts now?"   So now, I have learned to open my mouth IMMEDIATELY and start singing, "Jesus, You are wonderful. Jesus, you are my strength, my help, my ability, my know-how. You are worth every sacrifice. I give you all of me. I want all of You."  You know what I mean................whatever it takes to turn my mind back toward God and connect to Him.  I must "strive to enter the rest".  That's how I do it most of the time.  Sometimes I do a little dance.  Sometimes I laugh out loud.  How do you do it?

PSALM 108:1-13                                                                                                             
When pressure comes against us, (and it does) we must be "immovable" ("fixed").  We must not give in to the flesh.  It seems like there is always some kind of pressure to say the wrong thing, to complain, to argue, to lose my temper, to get lazy, to defend myself, to want candy, to think I deserve the credit for something, etc.  How does one get his heart "fixed" during pressure?  Heb 13:9 says it is established "with grace" - with God's enablement.  This means I must keep my focus on God's goodness and greatness.  This Psalm tells us we can be confident that God owns it all, and He will act in my behalf....as I force my heart into a fixed position by speaking Truth to myself....God is calling out His army and will "tread down our enemies."

PROVERBS 27:12                                                                                                            
Oftentimes evil can be foreseen. When it is, the "prudent man" (cautious man) seeks safety until the evil passes by.  A fool can't be bothered to change anything he's doing.

RESPONSE:   To "fix my heart" - to attach it to God so it can't be moved - requires God's grace, not another rule of action. We can't really change anyone's mind or make others think like we do. Psa 108:12 says that "man's help is vain" - it is unsatisfactory. There are three rules in Philippians that we should never forget: (1) Never defend yourself. (2) Never demand your rights. (3) Never complain. Those things are OPPOSITE to being "fixed" - connected to God as our Source of strength, protection, nurture, being cherished.  If we do not fix our hearts to God, we will be shaken and unstable. This is because external things are temporary and are passing away.