"Consequences"

"Consequences"

     I recently watched a documentary in which an atheist debated a Buddhist.  The former believed in no afterlife; the latter believed in many.  Both disbelieved the Biblical truth that the one earthly lifetime given to every human being bears eternal consequence.  "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

   The hear and now determines the then and there.  Moreover, the issue is clear cut and uncompromising: "What think ye of Christ?  Whose son is He?" (Matthew 22:42).  How our hearts answer these questions determines the course of the present life, and of the next.  The reason for such a "narrow way which leadeth unto life" lies in the simple truth that human beings exist to know God and His Son, as revealed by the Holy Spirit - "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent… To live is Christ… He is thy life" (Matthew 7:14; John 17:3; Philippians 1:21; Deuteronomy 30:20).  All things bear witness to this Truth of all truths. Therefore, only the willful blindness of human hearts prevents recognition that the Spirit of God, the Word of God, the church of God, and the creation of God continually communicate that how respond to the person, name, and work of the Lord Jesus paves the path of life for the believer, and sadly, the path of death for those who reject the One who declared, "I am… the life" (John 14:6).

    A strong awareness of consequence leads to a strong determination to consecrate ourselves to life, truth, and reality - to Christ.  What we believe and what we don't believe matters.  What we do, and what we don't do matters.  Who we know, and Who we don't know matters.  We will live on after this present lifetime.  We will not return to earth in different forms of reincarnation.  How we live today affects tomorrow and forever.  This very moment influences the next.  These things are true, solemnly, unchangeably, and universally true.  And most importantly, our answer to the questions, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?" pervades all.  Consequences, consequences of, about, and through the Lord Jesus Christ determine the course of this moment, this day, this lifetime, this forever.

"If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins."

(John 8:24)

"Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

(Galatians 6:7)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law."

 (Psalm 119:34).

“Deep In My Heart”

"Deep In My Heart"

     I try, as I am sure you do, to regularly let it overwhelm my heart and boggle my mind.

    "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me" (John 17:20-23).

   God loves the human race so dearly that He is not content to simply dwell with us.  He rather desires to dwell within us, so much so that His beloved Son first prayed to make  such "hope of glory" possible, and then suffered, died, and rose again to make the gift actual in those who receive the grace of the Savior's atonement and the Holy Spirit's indwelling (Colossians 1:27).  All who believe become "the habitation of God through the Spirit" because, again, our Heavenly Father loves our hearts so dearly that He would not merely live on the doorstep of our being.  "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).  This is a love of which the Apostle Paul so rightly declared that it "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  Thus, it is absolutely proper to seek overwhelmed hearts and boggled minds, trusting that to be staggered, startled, and stupefied accomplishes much in the matter of growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.  

   Long ago, King Solomon could not fathom the presence of God in an earthly temple.  "The heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee!  How much less this house that I have builded?!" (I Kings 8:27).  What would the King have thought had he known that the temple of stone presaged the temple of God's Spirit dwelling in human hearts?  "Ye are the temple of the living God" (II Corinthians 6:16).  Indeed, not content to merely dwell with us, our Heavenly Father made a way by His Son and His Spirit to dwell within us in a love beyond all our capacity to understand.

You are deep in My heart.

You would have to journey far

to find the place of My grace,

of "hid with Christ in God". 

For you are deep in My heart.

You are deep in My heart.

So deep that we never could be apart.

I in you, forevermore,

My glory to know and to explore,

for you are deep in My heart.

You are deep in My heart,

the thought such joy imparts,

for you are more dear to Me 

than the life I gave to set you free,

Oh you are deep in My heart…

Deep in My heart.

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."

(Romans 5:5)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law."

 (Psalm 119:34).

“Justice? Mercy!”

"Justice?  Mercy!"

     Just before entering the courtroom for his sentencing hearing, the gangster's lawyer told the guilty man, "I'll plead to the judge for justice, Bugs."  The gangster did a mortified double take and responded, "Oh no, Mr. Attorney, whatever you do, don't do that!  No, please, beg for mercy!"

    "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jeremiah 23:5).

    We long for a day when the execution of Divine justice will establish true righteousness in the earth.  Were it not for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, however, such a hope would actually constitute a horrific prospect far more fearful than the gangster's concern.  Divine justice would condemn the entire human race to eternal judgment because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  Despite the entitlement mentality that plagues modern times with darkness and deception, God's standards have not changed - "The soul that sinneth it shall die… the wages of sin is death" (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23).  In and of ourselves, the human race is a willfully rebellious family that wrongly perceives itself to deserve better when the truth of the matter is that we deserve hotter.  

   God loves us nevertheless and made a way for mercy to save us from our willful rebellion.  "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).  The Lord Jesus Christ provides our pardon from deserved judgment, having been judged for us on the cross of Calvary.  "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).  Thus, we need not "beg for mercy" as the gangster pleaded.  No, we rather receive mercy by faith in the certain promise of God that all who come by the way of the cross receive the forgiveness provided by the Blood shed upon it.  Yes, the same Savior who will one day rule in perfect righteousness presently redeems in mercy.  Let us be grateful that the Lord Jesus who "ever liveth to make intercession for us" pleads to the Father for pardon rather than justice (Hebrews 7:25).

"Mercy rejoiceth against judgment."

(James 2:13)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law."

 (Psalm 119:34).