Carved In Stone 06

CHASTENED BUT NOT DESTROYED!

Psalm 118:18 The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.  19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:  20 This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.  21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.  22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.  23 This is the Lord 's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it

Psalm 118 begins by EMPHATICALLY stating that God’s mercy endures forever.  Israel has been chastened sore as it says in verse 18.  They have often failed to be faithful and steady in their obedience to God and some in the Christian church have the idea that WE are their replacements and that God no longer loves Israel.  As it states in Romans 11:17, 24, we are the WILD olive tree.  Our inclusion in God’s circle of love is as much a matter of mercy toward someone undeserving as is God’s continued love and tender approach to Israel following their almost complete dismantling. 

What other nation on earth has ever been restored after their homeland was leveled and their people scattered.  The answer is that none have.  Israel and Israel alone have returned to the land of their promise and have resurrected a language and nation that was dead and destroyed.  Of all peoples ground into the dusts of time only Israel retained their national identity and maintained their roots and family tree alive.  All twelve tribes are alive and well in Israel today and very soon our Lord will remove His Gentile bride and reintroduce Himself to His chosen bride Israel.

Revelation says there are twenty four elders sitting before God in Heaven (Revelation 4:4, 10; 5:8, 14; 11:16; 19:4).  There are twelve gates in the new Jerusalem of Ezekiel 48:30-35 named after the twelve tribes of Israel.  It says in Ephesians 2:20 that we the church are built upon a foundation of the apostles and prophets.  Revelation 21:14 says that the twelve foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem are named after the twelve apostles.  Jesus Himself is the chief cornerstone, He joins both foundations and gates together. 

God has no intention of throwing away Israel in favor of the church.  Israel is the gate of the city of God and provides access to that city.  The church is the foundation upon which the walls rest and must be stable, rooted, grounded and established upon principles that are both firm and sure.  Without a strong and sure foundation those great walls would collapse but without the gates of Torah, named after Israel’s tribes, the wrong people might be allowed in and the wrong people might be kept out.  This is a great and separate honor given to both peoples, Israel and the church.

Jesus is the Torah of God and the head of the church.  He is the chief Cornerstone as quoted in Psalm 118:22, Luke 20:17, Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Peter 2:6.  In the first two verses, Psalms and Luke, we are told that the BUILDERS rejected that stone.  In the third, Ephesians 2:20, we read that the foundations of the apostles and prophets are UNITED with the chief Cornerstone.  In 1 Peter 2:6 we see Jesus as the chief Cornerstone who upholds ALL those who BELIEVE in Him.

Those who press toward the mark of the true calling of God in Christ Jesus will include both the church and after the rapture, all Israel.  Some in Israel have become Christians over the centuries and therefore a part of the Church of Christ.  That still leaves Israel the nation.  It is inconceivable that God’s mercy in Christ is greater than His mercy to His chosen people.  God’s MERCY (as Psalm 118 states) endures forever and without end.  Even 1 Corinthians 13:8 which states that knowledge, prophecies and tongues will one day cease, does not say that God’s mercy will.  Scripture says that in addition to love, mercy will be forever. 

Mercy is not the same as grace.  Grace is unearned favor with God, receiving the good things you do not deserve.  Mercy is God withholding your just punishment to allow you to change and repent.  It is not so much God’s grace that has prevented the judgment of God from striking America; it is His longsuffering and mercy.  You can still be punished terribly while mercy is in effect.  Is it merciful to ignore a child’s bad behavior or to call them on it and chasten them until they obey?  Certainly chastening for all its pain leads to a far better conclusion than allowing bad behavior to continue.  God is both parent and husband to this world we live in.  Because of His desire to have a people who serve Him out of love He will not force us to obey.  A husband who controls his wife by threats and beatings is no husband.  Song of Songs says, “God’s banner over me is love.”  A banner is something armies and navies raise over their heads to declare whose they are.  God has raised His banner over me and that banner is love. 

A bride must be mature and loving to receive a close and loving relationship in return. A child must be obedient and submissive to avoid chastening.  The deeper our maturity the greater our relationship with God.  Those who spend all their time trying to get away with something will often wonder why they never seem to grow out of the child stage and enter the bride stage.  Those who continue to press toward the mark of the great calling of God in Christ do not have to ask.  Like Esther they have walked the narrow way and won the heart of the King.

A PRECIOUS GEM WILL BLIND YOU TO THE TRANSGRESSION

Proverbs 17:8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.  9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

I’m probably not the only one who has carried the pain and heartache of someone’s actions toward me, nor am I the only one who has caused someone’s pain either without knowing it or because I was angry or upset.  I need the peace of forgiveness as much as I need the release of forgiving.  God has given us many gifts when we came to Him.  I love verse eight above because it addresses those who have chosen to sit upon their gifts and fail to release them. 

A gift can only direct the light in different directions if it is brought out of our hearts and pockets and held up to the light of the Lord and His gospel.  I have seen a crystal globe hanging in the sunlight and watched how it directed the sunlight in all different directions and colors throughout the room.  I have seen that same globe go dark as it was wrapped in a cloth until it was no brighter than the material it was wrapped in.

Our Gifts are like that globe and unless we lift them up before God to allow His Spirit to shine through them we will never achieve the wonders and prosperity God has ordained for our lives.  If we do not do this we are like the servant who took his single talent and buried it in the dirt until His Lord returned so he could not lose it.  In the end, he was cursed for not even allowing those around him to use his gifts so it might produce SOME fruit.

Your gifts are given to YOU SPECIFICALLY…by God.  He didn’t give yours to me nor can I do the things you can do so well and seemingly effortlessly.  I am not a financier or a businessman.  My gifts are not mathematics or science.  I need businessmen and organizers in my life so my gifts can flow and prosper.  I need your ability to draw in others so I might be able to speak the purpose of God into their lives.  It’s possible I need your teaching skills to help strengthen weak areas of my life and you need mine for the same reasons. 

Because I am not as perfect as our Lord Jesus and have flaws and weaknesses that He has not ye addressed, I may (will) need your forgiveness and understanding when I fail to live up to God’s full expectation for my life just as you may (will) also.  Gossip is possibly one of the worst sins a man might commit and has been the cause of many broken friendships and marriages.  I know of a man whose marriage ended because he was struggling with his wife’s attitude toward him.  He spoke to his best friend about his frustration and anger and rather than counsel him on how to humble himself and love his wife until she grows into a different attitude, he reported his best friend’s anger to the wife.

Some might say, “She had a right to know!”  To know what?  That the man was human?  That her poor attitude was brought on by issues in her own life clashing with his, and rather than help these two find the common ground of their powerful love so they could grant one another grace, he drove them apart. 

Consider this beloved…every idle word we speak, every graceless comment we make will be judged by God one day.  I would hate to arrive at that day and find that any marriages or friendships had ended or souls had been lost because of my tongue.

BROKEN DOWN WALLS

Proverbs 24:30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;  And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.  Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.

Have you ever visited someone and there was always something broken or dirty or out of order in their home?  It might be the front porch with the broken board or the wallpaper with that loose strip up near the top or down near the floor.  Perhaps its just the dirty dishes in the sink or tub ring in the bathroom.  Occasionally these circumstances are there because of injury or old age; but often is simply laziness and an unwillingness to fix the problem.  I know a person who traveled to another country and was passing through a neighborhood where the people maintained their homes with pride and kept them clean and in good repair.  When this person crossed a single street into a different neighborhood where the people had a different religion and belief system, the identical homes made by the VERY SAME CONTRACTOR were run down and filthy. 

Whether you talk about the garden of your life or home or car, you can observe the heart of the person by how they maintain that particular place.  My late Apostle used to say that God gave him every car he owned as well as his home.  I have never seen him drive a dirty car or observed his home to be anything but clean and orderly.  To him those ‘gardens’ were sacred because God made the way for Him to get them and he made sure they would always honor God.  Usually we are as diligent or lazy in our prayer, study or ministry as we are in our vacuuming, cleaning and repairing.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 says, “People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night's sleep.”  Have you ever worked hard all day long and when you finally got home and had a choice of dinner or bed you just fell upon your bed and went to sleep?  On the other hand, I have spent an entire day doing nothing at all and could not sleep no matter how hard I tried.  My body was full of energy reserves and I was trying to make it ignore them and sleep.  Not so.  You HAVE to use the gifts God has given you to effectively use the energy (anointing and life) that God desired for you.  Just as over eating without physical labor can make you fat, an abundance of spiritual gifts laying waste can make your spiritual self bloated and weak.

I was watching a sermon by TD Jakes yesterday and he began to speak of the importance of Psalm 1.  It was one of the best messages I have ever heard.  One of the most important points of his sermon was that God could only bless and multiply ACTION.  James 2:20 and 2:26 say, “Faith without works is dead.”  In the story of the talents (Matthew 25:14-29), the lord gave each of his servants talents according to their gifts.  Most of his servants multiplied the talents they were given and received great blessing from their lord.  One buried his talent in the dirt and refused to exercise it to benefit his lord.  Fear of failure caused him to be frozen and not even try.  Fear is the opposite of faith.

When Jesus fed the 5000 with a few fishes and loaves of bread in Matthew 14:13-21, He BLESSED the bread, BROKE the bread and GAVE the bread to His disciples.  The miracle didn’t happen when he blessed the bread.  That simply let God know that what He did He was doing in God’s name.  The miracle didn’t happen when He broke the bread.  That simply made enough pieces for each disciple.  The miracle happened when He gave the bread to His disciples and they began to distribute it by breaking of pieces and handing it out.  It didn’t multiply in Jesus hand; He couldn’t have carried all those baskets.  It multiplied as people were fed and more people were fed and more again.  God kept the miracle going as long as the need existed, working hands existed, and the bread was given out.  Had someone said, “This can’t work,” in the midst of it all, it would have prevented them from passing it on and the miracle would have ceased.

Miracles and blessings, blessings and miracles, they need action to take place.  Whenever you see a scripture that leads to a miracle there is always an action that brought that miracle about.  Without action the walls of your life, your body, your future will begin to crumble and fail to keep you safe.  Be diligent to grow and multiply the seed sown.

JUDGMENT COMES

Ecclesiastes 10:8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. 9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.

Our walk in Christ IS glorious and life changing.  Our life in Christ MAY BE hazardous and deadly.  Why?  Because we walk in the power and anointing of Almighty God and yet we are also hated by all mankind  except those relative few who believe as we do and receive the Bible as the uncompromised word of God.  Protestants may hate you and Universalists and Catholics and even many formerly evangelical faiths.  It has become unfashionable and possibly dangerous to be known as someone who believes in the Word of God and patterns all his life by it.

God’s Word is not ninety nine percent accurate and true; it is one hundred percent.  While there are figures of speech in scripture, by and large the average scripture that is considered allegory is actually true.  Jesus is the (only) Way, the (only) Truth and the (only) Life (John 14:6).  Without Him you cannot have any of those important gifts.  Jesus made a way through His own body’s death and resurrection.  He is the truth; there is no lie or falsehood in Him.  Jesus is the Life; purchased and paid in full by His death and resurrection.  There is no other religion and no other truth than this.

Because we are hated by vast billions here on earth, there will always be those who set traps for us and seek to change us and force us to bend to their belief systems.  Their values change daily and embrace the idea that all religions have some truth.  This is a vicious, deadly lie.  Wide is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the way that leads to the truth (Matthew 7:13-14).  Which leads to God; a worldwide ecumenical movement that embraces all the world’s religions with “feel good” doctrines, or the single most important man that ever lived and died for mankind through whom alone we have redemption?

There will be a pass or fail test on this last question.

Many will try to lay traps to make you stumble.  Some take advantage of gaps in our Christian education which is why we must study to show ourselves approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15).  They dig pits of circumstance and doubt before us and hope we will fall in and be broken.  God has promised to trip them up and make them fall if we will but trust Him AND His perfect Word. 

Others will try to tear down the hedge of protection that God has so carefully planted around us.  Sadly, it is often the church that has torn down God’s hedges leaving gaps where God’s wrath can break out and destroy.  They fail to believe His Word fully and choose an easier path of compromise and moderation in all things (2 Thessalonians 2:3).  There is no longer any zeal in them for the truth of God’s scriptures and they have diluted their love for Him until nothing is left.  God’s warning to those who would tear down the hedge of His promises is that He will allow a serpent, your father the devil, to bite them and poison their life.  God meant the hedge for protection but they have not been worthy of that honor.

As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness to save the people from the poison of asps Jesus must be lifted up so all who see Him and His example will be saved from the bite of the serpent.  He said, “If I be lifted up from the Earth I will draw all men unto me.”  He is the Hedge.  He leads us away from the tumult of raging storms and toward the still water.  There is no one else but Him in this respect.

In addition to His hedge, God has laid marker stones to keep us upon the path.  These perfect and clearly understood scriptures are being maligned and changed bit by bit in our commentaries until they hold no power of correction nor do they limit anyone’s sense of right and wrong.  Each one from Genesis to Revelation point to the Chief Corner Stone (1 Peter 2:6-8).  Since God is the one who has placed these stones, God will be the one who curses any who change one rock or one pebble. 

Finally, some will try to cut down men and women of faith who stand tall for Christ, who will not bend to the right or to the left in what they believe.  They may harm some few saints and even take their lives, but God will cause that axe of words and lies to turn against you (Mark 9:42). Remember, out of all Israel, Elijah learned that only seven thousand had not bowed to false gods and lies (1 Kings 19:18).  Out of millions, only those on the most narrow path were saved.  God cast the rest away from Israel, never to return.  Those who remained faithful from ALL tribes were safely ensconced in Judah.

Trust in God Beloved.