Monday, April 27,
2015, 5:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Open Your Hearts.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Acts 27-28 (selected vv. NASB).
For the Hope of
Israel
When
we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was
guarding him.
After
three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and
when they came together, he began saying to them, “Brethren, though I had done
nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered
as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. And when they had
examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for
putting me to death. But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to
Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation. For this reason,
therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the
hope of Israel.” They said to him, “We have neither received letters from
Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or
spoken anything bad about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views
are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against
everywhere.” ~ Ac. 28:16-22
The hope of Israel was/is their Messiah, promised through
the prophets of old, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God the Son. Yet, many of
the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and thus they
persecuted and killed his servants and messengers, just as they had done to Jesus.
Just as Jesus and his message of hope had served as a threat to many of the
Jewish leaders’ own positions of power, rule and control (or influence) over
the people, so did his followers and their message of hope – the same message as
Jesus taught - serve as a threat to the Jewish leaders and to the sovereignty
of their nation, so the Jews went to great lengths to remove that threat in
hopes that things could return to “normal,” and that life could go on as usual.
So, not only did Paul’s life “hang in the balance,” but so did the message of
the hope of our salvation, for truly it was the message that was on trial.
So, what is the message that was on trial? First of all it
was that Jesus Christ, God the Son, left his throne in heaven, came to earth,
took on human flesh, and suffered and was tempted in like manner as we suffer
and are tempted, yet without sin. During his time of ministry on the earth, he
went about healing the sick and the afflicted, comforting the sorrowful,
lifting up the fallen, forgiving sins, delivering from demons, and preaching
repentance for the forgiveness of sins and obedience to his commands (his
instructions). He said his sheep listen to him and they follow (obey) him. He
said if we want to come after him, we must deny self and die daily to sin and
self and follow (obey) him. He said that if we want to live, we must die to
sin. He said that if we want to have eternal life with God that we must participate
with him in death to sin, for that is why he died. He died that we would no
longer live to please our sinful flesh but that we would live to please God.
Jesus Christ, even though he was God incarnate (in bodily
form), who lived and walked the face of this earth, and who brought the message
of hope to us all, became the sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sins of
the world. The Jews killed the “author of life” and hung him on a cross to die
as though he was a common criminal. In his death he put our sins to death. When
he was resurrected from the grave, he rose victorious over sin, death, hell and
Satan. Through his death and resurrection we have been given the hope of
eternal life with God in glory, the forgiveness of sins, freedom from slavery
to sin, and the freedom to walk in the Spirit in Christ’s righteousness and
holiness. Amen!
All we have to do is to accept God’s invitation to his great
salvation by faith. This faith, Biblically speaking, involves turning from our
lives of sin, being transformed of the Spirit of God, and turning to God/Jesus
to walk in his ways in the power and working of the Spirit within us. This is
true hope! This is true grace, because it frees us, not only from the ultimate
penalty of sin, but it frees us from the control of sin over our lives
day-to-day and it gives us the power and strength to now walk in the Spirit and
to live godly, upright and holy lives pleasing to God. Amen! [See: Luke
9:23-25; John 10:27-30; Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 6-8; 2 Co. 5:15; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:8-10;
4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; & 1 Jn. 1-5.]
Dull of Heart
When
they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers;
and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God
and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and
from the Prophets, from morning until evening. Some were being persuaded by the
things spoken, but others would not believe. And when they did not agree with
one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, “The
Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying,
‘Go
to this people and say,
“You
will keep on hearing, but will not understand;
And
you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
For
the heart of this people has become dull,
And
with their ears they scarcely hear,
And
they have closed their eyes;
Otherwise
they might see with their eyes,
And
hear with their ears,
And
understand with their heart and return,
And
I would heal them.”’” ~ Ac. 28:23-27
Many people will receive the message of hope with great joy
and will truly believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of their lives.
They will leave their lives of sin behind them, and they will follow their Lord
Jesus in obedience and in surrender to his will for their lives, not in
absolute and sinless perfection, but in the power and working of the Spirit within
them, daily putting off the misdeeds of the flesh and daily walking in the
Spirit. They will not use their lack of perfection, though, as an excuse for
willful and continued sin, while claiming that God’s grace covers it all, but
they will consistently confess their sins to God, and they will choose to daily
walk in fellowship with their Lord. Yet, this is not to say that genuine
believers in Jesus Christ will always live like this or that they will never
falter in their walks of faith and obedience to their Lord. They can, and many
will, so they will need to be revived in heart and mind, renewed in the Spirit,
and strengthened anew in their faith.
There will be many, as well, who will reject this message of
hope, and who will have nothing to do with Jesus Christ or with his gospel of
salvation. Included, though, among those who reject Jesus Christ are those who
make pretense of having a relationship with Christ, but who do not know him.
Their faith is in form only or in lip service, but their hearts are far from
God. As well, there are many who will accept what Jesus did for us in dying for
our sins, but they will not have genuine saving faith for they have bought into
a lie which tells them that nothing is required of them at all – no repentance
and no obedience. So they claim to know Christ but they are still walking
according to the flesh and are living to please themselves and their own sinful
desires. God’s word teaches that if they claim to know God, to love him, or to
be in fellowship with him, yet they are still living sinful lifestyles and are
not walking at all in obedience to him, they are liars and they don’t truly
know God at all.
So, this passage may apply to those who are wandering from
the faith; to those who make a pretense of faith only but whose hearts are far
from God; to those who have bought into the lie that says no repentance or
obedience is required of them by God; or to those who outright reject Jesus
Christ as Savior and as Lord, but who have heard the message of salvation
taught to them. All of these groups of people are ones who, in one way or
another, are hearing the word of God with their physical ears, but they are not
really listening, and they are not applying the truths they are hearing to
their lives via genuine faith (continuous and consistent). Many who profess the
name of Jesus have closed their eyes and their ears to the truth of the gospel
as taught by Jesus and by the apostles because they want to follow a gospel
that satisfies them with what their flesh desires, or else they want to ignore
what they know is the truth so that they can do what their flesh tempts them to
do.
Yet, if they would open their eyes and their ears to hear
the gospel message, as taught by Jesus and by his apostles, and they would make
it their own through genuine faith in Jesus Christ, i.e. through turning from
sin to walking in fellowship with their Lord, then he would heal them of their
sin-sickness, he would deliver them out of bondage to (the control of) sin, and
he would empower them to walk daily in obedience to their Lord, walking in his
holiness and righteousness, living godly and upright lives pleasing to him.
This is our reasonable service of worship to our Lord to walk in His ways and
no longer according to the sinful desires of our flesh nor according to the
ways of this sinful world (See: Ro. 12:1-2).
Open Your Hearts / An Original Work /
September 11, 2011
Open
your hearts to Me.
Will
you not receive me?
I’m
your Lord and Savior, Jesus,
I
am King of kings.
Listen
to Me speaking to you.
Invite
Me within.
Hasten
to Me calling.
I’ll
keep you from falling.
I
am with you, and I will
Abide
with you always.
Repent
of your sins and
Worship
Jesus Christ today.
Come
and follow your Lord.
Obey
all His teachings.
Witness
to your neighbors,
And
tell them of Jesus Christ.
Let
them know that He provided
Their
sin’s sacrifice.
He
is your deliv’rer;
Rock
of your salvation;
Cornerstone,
rejected by men,
Mighty
God is He.
He
will give the only hope
Of
life eternally.
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