July 30,2010

Judges 13

The children of Israel again “did evil.” This is the seventh and last time these two words are used together in the book of Judges. Each time the words are used, they restore peace. The cycles are representative of us. We stray from the Lord. He brings us discipline. We repent. He delivers. We seem to do it over and over again. The judges in a small degree are representative of the Lord Jesus. He is the Great Judge. He is the Great Deliverer. Only He has none of the faults that these other judges had. Notice that through the cycles of the judges, each successive judge seems to have more faults than the previous judge. Each of the periods of peace brought about by the judge is successively shorter than the previous judge.

The Angel of the Lord appears three times in the Book of Judges. This last time He appears to the mother and then father of Samson. Gabriel appeared to Mary and then to Joseph. Jesus was called a Nazarene. Samson was to be a Nazirite. A Nazirite was to abstain from any grape products. He was to never cut his hair. And he was to never touch a dead thing or person. Unlike Samson, who lived according to his fleshly passions leading him to break each of the three nazarite vows, Jesus kept His vows. He came to do the will of the Father. He pursued that will to the point of death on the cross. Like Samson, the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to deliver His people. In His death and resurrection we have peace with God. Lord, let me walk in Your peace and in Your victory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Rom 2

We all, whether Jew or Greek, are guilty before God. One day God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel. I can hide those things about which I am ashamed from people. We all have them. Dirty little secrets about something we are or did long ago or maybe even just yesterday. They bring shame to us and we try to hide them. Oftentimes that shame leads in to even more shameful behavior. One day God will reveal them all by Jesus Christ.

How will He reveal them and judge them? The answer to that question is an indication of His glory. How will he reveal our secrets? He is God. He knows all things. He is able. Isn’t that amazing? This God-man knows everything about me. How will He judge everything He knows? He will judge it according to the Gospel. So many people envision that He will judge by putting all our works and secrets, good and bad in a scale the good on one side and the bad on the other side. But what kind of glory would that be for Him? It just reduces Him to a technician who properly operates a scale. Furthermore it is not even remotely related to the Gospel. It is the Gospel that Paul is revealing here in Romans.

It is the Gospel that brings Him glory. What is the Gospel? He died to pay the penalty for our sin. He rose to set us free from the power of sin. We must trust Him to receive the benefits of His death and resurrection. When He judges the secrets of our hearts it will be according to whether or not we have trusted in Him. If we have, then when He judges the secrets of our hearts, what will be revealed? His death and resurrection is what will be revealed. Then He will say to us, “You are perfect without spot and blemish. Enter into my joy.” If we have not trusted in Him, and he reveals the secrets of our hearts, what will be revealed? Our sin is what will be revealed. Then He will say, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.”

He is not just a technician manipulating a scale. He is the King of kings who gave Himself for us. He is the Lord of lords who removes our sin by His self sacrifice. There is nothing that could give Him greater glory than judging those innocent who trust Him and guilty those who do not. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John