February 12

GENESIS 45
God makes even the sin of man to praise Him! We’ve reached the climax of the Joseph chronicle. I love these sentences by Joseph:

5“But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. .. . .7And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. . . .13So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.

This is the value of focusing upon the glory of the Lord. So often when we are wronged by others, especially fellow believers, our brothers and sisters, we focus upon the wrong. The wrong is painful. It is discouraging. It hurts. But God has ways of taking that sin and turning it into something good. He makes even the sin to praise Him. That does not make the sin good; it just makes His glory greater. He can take vile sin and turn it to His praise. Witness Joseph and his brothers!
How could Joseph possibly not have wanted to take revenge? I submit to you that it is only because he focused on the glory of God and not the sin of his brothers. Even when he did not know how God was going to work in the depths of prison, he focused upon the glory of God. When we look upon His glory, bitterness cannot stick to us. It eventually slides off.
“Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt.” That is a human perspective. All the Egyptians would have discussed the success story of Joseph. He had risen from the depths of prison to the second most powerful man in the world at that time. Had it been today, the paparazzi would have been all over him like flies on honey. On a human level, that is glory! But look at Joseph’s perspective. Twice he says, “God sent me.” Once he says, “It was not you who sent me here, but God.” He also says of God, “He has made me a father to Pharaoh.” It was not just Joseph’s glory that was increased by the sin of man; it was God’s. On a human level, that was made possible because Joseph focused on the glory of God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 43
Sometimes when you experience the rejection of a group of people, it feels like God has also rejected you. When you have been accused of motivations you did not have, of lack of production that really is not your responsibility, or even production that is ignored, you just want to scream out, “This is unjust! I did not have that motivation. That was not my responsibility! I did not cause that! I did produce this! Why can’t you see that!” In short, you want to be vindicated. You want God to stand up and declare the truth.
In four other Psalms the Psalmist cries out, “Vindicate me!” David had reason to scream that. He was steadfastly loyal to Saul. For his victories over the Philistines on Saul’s behalf, he was hunted as a criminal. Everyone was told that he was in rebellion against Saul. I am sure that he wanted to scream out:
But it was I who killed Goliath! I am the one sang and played the harp and lyre and lute and brought a soothing spirit to Saul. I have led Israel’s armies into battle and killed thousands of Israel’s enemies. I have brought increased security to Saul’s regime. I am Jonathan’s (Saul’s oldest son) best friend. I killed 200 Philistines in order to purchase Michal (Saul’s daughter) as my wife. I am Saul’s son-in-law! I have had opportunity to kill Saul with impunity. What do I need to do to demonstrate the loyalties of my motivations? What else can I do that shows I fulfill my responsibilities to Saul? What more do I need to produce to show that I am loyal?
In such situations only God can vindicate.
David felt rejected by the nation. He felt cast off by God. He asks for light and truth from God. Light enables us to see our surroundings. In the darkness of his downcast soul, David needed spiritual light to see the reality of his situation. He needed God’s truth to illuminate the emotional and mental darkness around him. He needed that light and truth to lead him into the very presence of God for it is in the presence of our Shepherd King that our downcast soul is set upright again. His presence gives us exceeding great joy. In His presence it doesn’t matter what our evil nation thinks; there is only One opinion that counts. That is His glory. When we experience the light and truth of His glory, everything else melts in His light. That is why seeing His light and truth and glory on a daily basis is so important. Only there are we truly vindicated. Only there can we find true joy and hope. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JOB 11
It is easy to latch on to one aspect of the Glory of God and think that you now understand how that applies to every aspect of life. Zophar thought that. He has some very astute understanding of the glory of God, and yet he has completely misapplied it in relation to Job. Look at some of Zophar's statements:

1. “God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.“ That is a statement that is partially true of everyone. If the Lord exacted justice immediately, then we would all be instantly killed. However, it is His mercy that holds off His justice giving us time to repent. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
2. “Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do?” He is dead on center with this statement. We cannot find the limits of the Almighty. We will be forever learning more about God and never have learned everything because He is infinite. By definition finite creatures like ourselves will never be able to understand the infinite being. But how does that prove that Job is being punished for something He did wrong? It doesn’t; Zophar has misapplied the truth.
3. “If He passes by . . . then who can hinder Him?” Again Zophar is dead on center. No finite creature could ever hinder the infinite being! But how does that prove Job’s guilt?
4. “But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And they shall not escape, And their hope—loss of life!”

True the eyes of the wicked will fail. All of us will die. There is no escaping death except that the return of Jesus should happen before our time to die. Is the hope of the wicked loss of life? Jesus said, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
This we learn about the glory of God from Zophar. It is His mercy that keeps me alive. Illness is not necessarily the direct punishment of God. God has no limits. I will be forever learning about what He is like. I cannot hinder His ultimate purpose. I can hinder His purpose in my own life but not His ultimate purpose. I have one hope, to lose myself in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

MATTHEW 26:26-46
Our hardest moments are often not our most public moments. So it was also with Jesus at this time. The crucifixion was very public. The Garden turmoil was very private. Jesus’ sharing of the Passover meal with the disciples is key to understanding the turmoil in the Garden. The text says, “He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Later in the Garden, twice He prays, ”Let this cup pass from me.”
What is the cup of His blood of the New Covenant? Jeremiah is the one who pronounced it first in 31:31-34. It is a Covenant that Yahweh (Jesus) makes with Israel, which Israel will be able to keep. These are the results of the Covenant:

1. He will put His law in their minds.
2. He will write it on their hearts.
3. He will be their God.
4. They shall be His people.
5. Everyone shall know the Lord.
6. He will forgive their iniquity.
7. He will remember their iniquity no more.

How will the LORD accomplish this? Jesus says that it is in His blood. The cup represents the blood of the covenant. A covenant was always inaugurated with the shedding of blood. As Jesus was praying this night in the Garden, the Father was showing Him what was going to happen to Him the next day. He was looking in to that cup. He was seeing the reason for which His blood was going to be shed in His beating and in His crucifixion. That blood was for the remission of sins so that God would no longer remember our sins.
As Jesus looked into that cup, He saw all the sins of all the people of all the ages. He saw the wrath that the Father felt for that sin. Most importantly for me, He looked into that cup and saw the sin of John Chaffin. He saw all my insolence against Him. He saw the pain that it would cost Him to bear my insolence as the Father punished that insolence so that He would remember it no more. But it wasn’t just my insolence. He saw every sin that I have ever committed and ever will commit. He saw every time I placed a god before Him, and He thought, “Isn’t there some other way?” He saw every time that I made an idol and the justice that God would pour out upon it, and He thought, “Do I have to go through this?” He saw every time I spoke His name in vain and was repulsed by my vulgarity, and He thought, “Isn’t there some other way?” He saw all the times when I was so caught up in my own work and pleasure that I could not honor Him even one day out of the week by ceasing my activities to seek His face, and He thought, “Must I die for this?” He saw every time that I failed to honor my parents with the great honor that they deserve. Perhaps He thought, “Why should I honor a boy who cannot honor his own parents, by dying for that boy?” He saw every time that I hated someone else or denigrated someone else’s value. He said, “Must I die for a murderer?” He saw all my lusts, my thefts, my lies, my covetousness. He thought, “Must I go through this for Him? Isn’t there some other way? Cannot this cup pass?” As He looked, it was not just the sin of John Chaffin that repulsed Him. It was that sin multiplied by billions of others. The sin wasn’t all that was there, but He also saw the wrath of a Holy God being poured out upon that sin. “Isn’t there some other way?” The answer was a simple, “No.” His reply, “Your will be done.” The struggle was over. It was now just a day of agony. And He did it for me, and He did it for you. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John