Thursday, August 16,
2012, 6:43 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “Trust Him” playing in my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV 1984):
For I do not want you
to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the
cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and
drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased
with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Now these things
occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they
did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people
sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” We should
not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand
of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed
by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did —and were killed by the
destroying angel.
These things happened
to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the
fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be
careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common
to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can
bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can
stand up under it.
Under a Cloud
God’s chosen people of the Old Testament, and the Old
Covenant relationship between God and his people, were the Jews. Now God’s
chosen people are those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah (Anointed One/King),
Savior and Lord. The Jews of faith in the Old Testament had faith in God and
looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. We, as followers of Christ, look
back to the coming of the Anointed One – our High Priest and King.
God’s chosen people of the Old Testament were in slavery to
the Pharaoh of Egypt. God sent Moses as his chosen instrument to deliver his
people out of bondage in Egypt, and to bring his people into the Promised Land,
though Moses did not get to physically bring the people all the way into the
Promised Land, but brought them up to that point, and then Joshua became God’s
chosen leader to lead the people into the land.
When God’s people were traveling between Egypt and
ultimately their final destination of the Promised Land, they were under a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. These pillars are
symbolic of God’s leadership, guidance and protection of his people. God did
not fail them, though they often failed to follow his appointed leadership. He
led them all the way through the sea, through the desert and into the Promised
Land.
Our Deliverer
We, as the people of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, were
once in bondage as slaves to sin. God sent Jesus Christ as his chosen
instrument to deliver his people out of bondage to sin, and to bring his people
into the Promised Land of eternity with God in glory.
Jesus Christ came to earth, took on human flesh, became a
man, suffered as we suffer, was tempted in every way in which we are tempted,
yet without sin, was despised and rejected of men, abandoned by those he loved,
denied, betrayed, beaten and crucified on the cross for our sins. When he died,
our sins died with him, and when he rose triumphantly from the grave, he
conquered death, hell, Satan and sin so that we could go free from the ultimate
penalty of sin (eternal damnation) and so we could be free from slavery to sin
day-to-day.
Moses, and Joshua, too, were prefigures of Jesus Christ as our
deliver from bondage to sin, as our commander in chief, and as the one will
lead his followers into the Promised Land of eternity with God in glory. The
phrase “baptized into Moses” carries with it the idea that the people were
under submission to Moses’ God-appointed authority as their deliverer and leader.
This was also a prefiguring of our spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit into
new birth in Jesus Christ, and our submission to him as Savior (deliverer) and
Lord (leader/boss).
As well, the manna they received from heaven was a figure of
Jesus Christ as our bread from heaven. The rock from which they received water,
plus the water, were figures of Jesus Christ as our Rock of salvation from
which we receive eternal life in the Spirit (living water). The manna from
heaven and the water from the rock also symbolize the spiritual sustenance we
receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ, through the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, and through the word of truth. We have all we need to live this
life for Christ.
God Not Pleased
Even though God did all this for his people, they grumbled
and complained against Moses, God’s appointed leader, and they rebelled against
God’s leadership and authority. Some of them were involved in pagan worship
involving sexual immorality, and many (24,000) died because of that. As well, they
followed after other gods, replacing God in their hearts with man-made idols. So,
God was not pleased with them. That is why 24,000 of them faced death through plague
(see Numbers 25), others were killed by snakes (see Numbers 21) and some were
killed by the destroying angel (see 1 Chronicles 21:15). Joshua and Caleb were
the only adults who had come out of Egypt who entered the Promised Land,
because of the Israelites’ continued disobedience against God, and because of
their wickedness and idolatry.
Pleasing God
There is a common trend among evangelical Christianity in
America to teach that repentance and obedience to Christ and his commands are
not required for salvation and that God is pleased with us no matter what we do,
now that we are under grace, meaning he is pleased with us when we sin. All of
the New Testament refutes that false teaching. Continually we are taught
throughout the New Testament that repentance and obedience to Christ, which are
gifts from God, as appropriated to our lives through faith, are required for
eternal life with God and relationship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus
Christ.
As well, there is much teaching in the New Testament with
regard to the subject of pleasing God. We learn that those being controlled by
the sinful nature cannot please God, that we should make it our goal to please
God, and that if we are living to please men, we cannot be true servants of
Christ. We learn that the one who sows to please his sinful nature will reap
destruction, but the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life. Obviously
pleasing God is central to us receiving eternal life with God. We should find
out what pleases the Lord, and do it. We should live lives worthy of the Lord
and “please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work…” We should try
to please God, who tests our hearts.
We have been instructed in how we should live in order to
please God. We should not involve ourselves in civilian affairs, but we should
want to please our “commanding officer,” Jesus Christ. If we shrink back from
our faith in the Lord, God will not be pleased with us for he says, “But my
righteous one will live by faith.” “Without faith it is impossible to please
God.” We receive from God what we ask in his name in prayer, “because we obey
his commands and do what pleases him.” And, we should present our lives to God
as living sacrifices on his altar, holy and pleasing to God, for this is our
spiritual act of worship to God. We should no longer be conformed to the
pattern of this world, but we should be transformed in the renewing of our
minds and hearts via the working of the Holy Spirit.
Examples and Warnings
Paul, under God’s grace, provided through Jesus’ blood
sacrifice for our sins, and under the New Covenant relationship between God and
his people, cited these instances from the Old Testament of God’s people doing
what displeased God, as well as he cited God’s judgments upon them, as examples
and warnings to followers of Christ of what can happen if we willfully do what
we know displeases God.
God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with many
spiritual blessings, he has delivered us from bondage to sin, and he has filled
us with the presence of his Holy Spirit, who serves as our counselor, guide,
comforter, conscience, helper, etc. He
has given us the very words of God, the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ to
encourage us in our faith and to teach us how to walk this Christian walk in
the Spirit.
We are not without resource or knowledge in knowing what we
need to put off and what we need to put on in Christ. Yet, many respond to God
and all he has done for us in much the same way as the Israelites, with ungratefulness,
arguing with God, disobedience, dishonor, disrespect and disregard for their
deliverance from sin and for his commands. And, because of that, many
professing Christians today are following after gods of men (entertainment;
philosophies of men; man-made religion; teachings of men; marketing schemes for
how to build Christ’s church; sports; possessions; leisure activities; careers,
pornography, etc.). Teaching God’s grace absent of the cross in our lives, i.e.
absent of repentance, obedience and living lives pleasing to God, has helped
only to facilitate Christians to continue in sin.
Standing Firm?
So, if we think we are standing firm just because we made a
decision at some point in our lives to “receive Christ,” but we have not
accompanied that decision with repentance (a transformation of heart and mind
and action away from sin) and obedience (following Jesus), and if the focus of
our lives is not on pleasing God but we are still living to please ourselves,
then we need to take a Biblical heart examination before God to see first of
all if we are really in the faith. If we are not, or if we are but we are not
living like we are, then we need to repent of any known sin and determine from
this point forward to walk in full obedience to Christ’s commands. If we don’t
do this, we are setting ourselves up for a fall.
Some people say they can’t help but sin, but Jesus set us
free so we don’t have to sin any longer. There is no temptation to sin that is
not common to man and that God is not capable of providing a way out from
underneath it so that we can stand up under it. He may not remove the
temptation, but he will show us what we need to do so we don’t give in to it.
We just have to ask him, and then we have to do what he says.
Many Christians leave themselves wide open for temptation
when they continue in things they know are areas of weakness for them. We can’t
feed sin in our lives and expect God to rescue us, either. We need to rid
ourselves of anything in our lives that leads us to temptation. And, we
definitely need to throw off anything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles us so that, fixing our eyes on Jesus, we can run with perseverance
the race marked out for us (see Hebrews 12).
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be
of courage;
Be strong and take
heart today.
Do not fear when foes
attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in
times
Of trouble and
distress,
He’ll comfort you in
all ways
As you trust Him with
your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll
not leave you.
You can always count
on Him.
He will fulfill all He
promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for
this life.
Let Him lead you. Open
your heart;
Let his truth envelope
you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God;
follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins
today.
Make Him your Lord and
your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He
leads you
In His service; be His
witness,
Telling others about
Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
No comments:
Post a Comment