July 23

JUDGES 6
Do you ever think of the Lord as having a sense of humor? I do. I think it is part of His glory. Do my dogs laugh? I am not sure. Sometimes I think they understand humor. Sometimes I wonder. Is having the ability to laugh and tell jokes part of the Divine image reflected in us? I certainly think that the Lord is having a good time of teasing with Gideon here. I mean, think about it! This is a horrible situation in which the Children of Israel and Gideon find themselves. Gideon is threshing his wheat crop by hiding it in a wine press so that no one will know that he has harvested his crop. How does the Lord address him? “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” The irony is lost on Gideon. Sometimes when things are really bad, we need a little humor in the situation to lighten things up. Sometimes when we are really down, we don’t get the humor. Gideon sees only the problem. He ignores the mighty-man-of-valor part; although, He is ready for an argument about the part of God being with him.
Have you ever been there? I have. He has been reduced to hiding in a wine press in order thresh his wheat. Wheat is normally threshed at a place where the wind blows, like a hilltop. As the grain was tossed into the air, the wind would carry away the lighter, unwanted parts of the wheat plant. This would make it easier to separate the grain kernel from the rest. Hence, an open space was more desirable, but open spaces, especially hill tops are easily seen and observed from a distance. Winepresses on the other hand would be protected from the wind so as not to blow impurities into the freshly squeezed grape juice. A wine press would be a perfect place to hide while threshing wheat. Been there? Your circumstances reduce you to hiding. God is with me? I don’t think so.
Gideon still senses that there is something divine about his visitor. So, he prepares a sacrifice. The sacrifice is miraculously consumed in fire. Gideon now has a greater problem. He complained openly in the face of God. He knows how the Lord responded to his ancestors when they complained. He knew that he was in trouble. How does God respond? “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” That is the glory of our Lord; even when we deserve death, He gives us opportunity to live. The Lord, lovingly, humorously and patiently brought Gideon to Himself. He does the same with us. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 22
“Stop swinging on that door!” The tone in the voice and the glare in his face let me know that my behavior greatly displeased him. Even now, I think that is a bit of an understatement. When Dad was angry the atmosphere was charged with an energy which you could almost taste; I certainly felt it. It was an anger that was in your face. It was unavoidable. As an 8-year-old, I could not quite understand why He was so angry, but I couldn’t deny the anger. As an adult I have had to repair many door frames. Often times the frames were broken because of children using the doors as toys. They place leverage on the doors that the doors were not designed to sustain. Now I understand his anger; then I did not. Nevertheless, his anger was real. I have never swung on a door after that.
Psalm 22 remains as a solid witness to all generations of the glory of the Lord Jesus. Matthew quotes this Psalm to prove that Jesus was fulfilling prophetic Scripture especially in His death. The opening line of this Psalm was Jesus’ cry shortly before His death as He hung on the cross. It was an experience that Jesus, the God man, had never experienced before. From the moment that He entered time and space by adding the nature of a man to His person, Jesus, the man, had known intimate fellowship with the Father. He had experienced the good pleasure of His Father. He knew fully what it meant to be beloved by the Father. Twice the Father publically declared His love for the Son. Only the day before in response to Jesus’ prayer to glorify the Father’s name, the Father had declared, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” But now that relationship had wholly changed. Jesus was now enduring the fullness of the Father’s wrath against our sin. For this eternal moment in time, Jesus was bearing the full brunt of the wrath of a just God against the sin that you and I had committed. Jesus knew the fury of God. He had never experienced that before either in eternity or in time. The Father was in His face, angry, wrathful, just, furious. The pain seared His soul and spirit, as well as His body.
How could the Father be just and do this to His innocent Son? I wasn’t innocent. Jesus was. But that is one of the mysteries of the Gospel. The Psalmist tells us. Jesus was no longer innocent. He was now “a worm.” Somehow on that cross He, who knew no sin, became sin on my behalf. The Father was holy (v.3). Jesus was unholy (v.6). Justice required that this sinful worm be squished. And so, the Father was in His face, slowly pouring His wrath upon that sinful worm, but I was the worm.
The religious leaders recognized Jesus’ quote of the opening line of Psalm 22. In the deepest scorn they quote verse 8 right back at Him. So now even His own creation is in His face mocking Him. His created humans now surround Him like savage animals moving in for the kill. They pierce His hands and feet (16 crucifixion). Then they gamble for his clothes (18). Amazing! One thousand years after David prophesied this; Jesus fulfills this. What amazing control of the destiny of history! What amazing resolve to self-sacrifice for us! Just think, He became a worm in my place, Amazing! He faced the Father’s wrath, just for me! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

JEREMIAH 48
Through the end of Jeremiah 51, Jeremiah brings prophecies of the Lord against the enemies of Israel. Now that the Lord has dealt with His people (judgment begins with the household of God. 1 Pt 4:7), He is dealing with the nations who have dealt ill with His people. Moab, descendants of Lot, had a long standing history of enmity with Israel. As early their journey to the east side of the Jordan, the king of Moab hired Balaam to prophesy against Israel. When they couldn’t curse Israel, Balaam advised the king to get the young women of Moab to seduce the young men of Israel. The intermarriage would open the door to sharing the same gods and ultimately bring a curse upon Israel. It almost worked. Centuries ill will existed between them. David’s grandmother, Ruth, was a converted Moabitess.
Beside their enmity with Israel, what did the Lord have against Moab? He says this, “Because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, You also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity.” They trusted in their works and treasures and worshiped Chemosh. Who is Chemosh? This is what the Nelson Electronic Bible Library has to say:

Chemosh (Judg. 11:24; 2 King. 23:13) was the national god of the Moabites. This deity was apparently compounded with Athtar, the Venus star, and so is thought to be a pagan god associated with the heavenly bodies. Chemosh has been identified with Baal of Peor, Baal-Zebub, Mars, and Saturn, as the star of ill-omen. Dibon (Num. 21:30), a town in Moab north of the River Arnon, was the chief seat of its worship.
Like Molech, Chemosh was worshiped by the sacrifice of children as burnt offerings, but scholars believe it is incorrect to identify Chemosh directly with Molech. Solomon sanctified Chemosh as a part of his tolerance of pagan gods (1 Kin. 11:7), but Josiah abolished its worship (2 Kin. 23:13). Human sacrifice was made to Chemosh, according to 2 Kings 3:27, which reports that Mesha, king of Moab, offered his oldest son as a burnt offering on the wall of Kir Hareseth, the ancient capital of Moab.

Wow, sounds like the present day United States. We trust in our works and treasures, and we worship a sexual god that calls for the abortion of our children. It would be easy to rant and rave about abortion at this point, but notice what is mentioned first. They trusted in their works and treasures. What we trust in ultimately defines what we worship and what we do. Is there any hint in our churches that we worship our works and treasures? As I read books like Radical and Radical Together, both by David Platt, I am becoming more convinced that the reason that the American church is so anemic is because we trust in our works and our treasures, not the Lord’s. Because the Lord is longsuffering, He took 800 years before the final death blow came to Moab. Why did He take so long? I believe that He was waiting for Moab to repent. He does not desire that any should perish, but He will not wait forever. How long will the Lord wait upon a church before he removes its lamp? I don’t know, but why do I even ask the question? Shouldn’t I want to forsake everything for this glorious God who gave His own Son to save us? Lord, pour your grace upon me and your church that we might forsake trusting in our own works and treasures and trust only in You! Help Lord! You are merciful, longsuffering and full of grace, but You will not strive with us forever. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ACTS 24
Felix’s wife, Drusilla, was a Jewess. Through her, Felix must have had some kind of awareness of the standard of the Law of God. He was also a Gentile—the kind of person to whom the Lord had sent Paul. He was also the governor, a man exerting great influence in Israel. He was also crooked—looking for money from Paul to release him when he knew full well that there was not enough evidence to convict Paul. So, of what did Paul speak when he had his conversations with Felix? I think he spoke of the glory of Christ. “Wait a minute!” you say, “The Bible says they spoke of righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come.”
Do you remember what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit? He said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He . . . shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.” (John 16:14) And a little earlier He said, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” (John 16:8-11)
What was Paul discussing with Felix?

1. Righteousness—How do we know what righteousness is? Well certainly with a Jewish wife Felix had opportunity to explore the Jewish law. But since she had married a Gentile, it is clear that there was at least one aspect of the Law to which she did not hold—marrying a Gentile. Perhaps her Jewishness was only a cultural exterior and the righteousness of the Law was not all that important to her. How was he to know what righteousness was? There was Jewish Law, there was Roman law, there were a multitude of gods, religions, philosophies to study. The Greeks are famous for their various philosophies and gods. I am convinced that Paul spoke not only out of the Jewish Law but also of the person of Jesus Christ. The standard of righteousness that Jesus presents in the Sermon on the Mount is unattainable. It was Paul who wrote of Jesus to the Corinthians, while in Ephesus, probably not more than a year before this imprisonment, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The way we know righteousness is that the Holy Spirit convicts us of the righteousness of Christ.
2. Sin—No one likes to be convicted of sin. That is why we run from God. Sin is an indication of a lack of self-control. Everyone of us lacks self-control in at least one area of our life—some more than others. The good news of Jesus is that self-control can be obtained, when we believe, trust, in Him. Felix knew he lacked self-control and he did not want to trust in a dead man he had never met even if He was living again.
3. Judgment—Part of Felix’s job as a governor was serving as a judge. That is why he had met Paul. Paul spoke of judgment. I believe he spoke of the judgment of Christ. Jesus is the righteous judge in contrast to Felix who was looking for a bribe. Jesus is able to change lives so that self control is a possibility. Jesus has already judged Satan, the ruler of this world. All those who refuse to come under the protection of Jesus will fall under the judgment of Satan.

No wonder Felix became frightened! Paul had expounded the glories of Jesus’ righteousness, sin and judgment. Felix did not want to trust in Jesus. The clear implication was that unless he repented, he would fall under the judgment of the ruler of this world, Satan. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john