The Sins of The Saints

Bernard of Clairvaux once mentioned an old man who, upon hearing about any professing Christian who fell into sin, would say to himself: "He fell today; I may fall tomorrow!" The apostle Paul commended the same mindset when he wrote, "let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12) 

There is great wisdom in not trusting our own ability to stand. When I was a boy, my father would often say, "The person I trust least of all is myself." It should shock us to hear a professing Christian say, "I would never do that," or "How could anyone do that?" Consider the following: 

If Adam, an innocent man, could choose a piece of fruit over the infinitely valuable God (Genesis 3:6);  if Noah, the most righteous man of his day, could get so drunk that he passed out naked before his sons in his tent (Genesis 9:21);  if Abraham, the most faithful man of his day, could father a child with his wife's handmaiden (Genesis 16:1-4) and twice hand his wife over to other men (Genesis 12:11-15; 20:1-2);  if Sarah, the mother of promise, could laugh at the words of the God of promise and then lie to Him about doing so (Genesis 18:9-15);  if "righteous Lot" could greedily pick the most materialistic and sexually depraved place for himself and his family to live (Genesis 13:8-13), and could hand his daughters over to the sexually perverse men of the city (Genesis 19:4-8);  if Isaac, the son of promise, could show partiality to his oldest son because he liked his hunting skills (Genesis 25:28), and he, too, could hand his wife over to another man (Genesis 26:6-11); and if Jacob, the namesake of Israel, could swindle his brother for a birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), then so could I. 

If Moses, the meekest man on the planet, could act in such sinful anger and unbelief that God would not let him into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:7-12);  if his successor Joshua, could disobediently covenant with pagans (Joshua 9);  if Gideon, the mighty man of valor, could fall into idolatry at the end of his life (Judges 8:22-27); and if Samson, the strongest man who ever lived, could be defeated by wine and women (Judges 14-16), then so could I. if David, the man after God's own heart, could commit adultery and premeditate the murder of one of his mighty men (2 Samuel 11);  if Solomon, the wisest man, could foolishly allow his heart to be led astray by a thousand women to worship foreign gods (1 Kings 11);  if Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, could charge God with deceiving His people (Jeremiah 4:10); and if Elijah, a prophet of Israel, could self-righteously run from the mission of God (Jonah 1-3), then so could I. 

 If John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, could doubt the identity of the One to whom he bore witness (Matthew 11:2-3); and if the Apostle Peter could try to stop Jesus from going to the cross (Matthew 16:21-23), deny Jesus (Luke 22:54-61), argue with the Lord about the gospel and its implications (John 13:6-10; Acts 10:9-16), and support division in the church over the doctrine of justification by faith alone (Galatians 2:11-21), then so could I. 

If James and John could use Jesus to get to the top (Mark 10:35-37) and could want to call fire down from Heaven on those who did not believe the gospel (Luke 9:51-55); and if the Apostle John could twice fall down to worship angels (Revelation 19:9-10; Revelation 22:8-9), then so could I. 

We must resist the temptation of thinking that we can stand in our own strength. We must depend on the grace of the One who said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). The greatest believers are subject to great weaknesses. In no way do these truths give a license to sin; instead, they give a sober realization that by nature, "nothing good dwells in us." (Romans 7:18) 

We must distrust ourselves, bear with the weak, and hold fast to Christ. We must flee to our Great High Priest, who was tempted in all points as we are, yet never sinned. We must go to Him for grace and mercy to withstand temptations, and we must go to Him for grace and mercy if we fall.

[Nick Batzig]  

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1 Corinthians 15:10 ...  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Psalm 119:117 ...  Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. ❤

This is The Finger of God

Look at the words which form the title of this article, and consider them well. They were spoken by heathen men more than three thousand years ago. They fell from the lips of Egyptian magicians when God sent one of the famous plagues on the land of Egypt. "Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh: This is the finger of God!" (Exodus 8:19.) 

It would be well if we all were as wise as these Egyptians!

From WHENCE does the cattle plague come?

I answer, unhesitatingly, that it comes from God! He who orders all things in Heaven and earth, He by whose wise providence everything is directed, and without whom nothing can happen.  He it is who has sent this scourge upon us! It is the finger of God!

I shall not spend time in proving this point. I refer anyone who asks for proof, to the whole tenor of God's Word. I ask him to mark how God is always spoken of as the governor and manager of all things, from the very least to the very greatest.

Who sent the flood on the world in the days of Noah? It was God! (Genesis 6:17)

Who sent the famine in the days of Joseph? It was God! (Genesis 41:25)

Who sent the plague on the livestock of Egypt in the reign of Pharaoh It was God! (Exodus 9:3)

Who sent disease on the Philistines when the ark was among them? It was God! (1 Samuel 5:7; 6:3-7)

Who sent the pestilence in the days of David? It was God! (2 Samuel 24:15)

Who sent the famine in the days of Elisha? It was God! (2 Kings 8:1)

Who sent the stormy wind and tempest in the days of Jonah? It was God! (Jonah 1:4)

I cannot understand how anyone can be called a believer of the Bible, who denies God's providence over His world. For my own part, I thoroughly believe that God has not changed. I believe that He is governing all things as much now, as He was in the Old Testament days. I believe that wars, famines, pestilences, and cattle plagues are all His instruments for carrying on the government of this world. And therefore when I see a scourge like the cattle plague, I have no doubt as to the hand that sends it. It is the finger of God!

Can anyone give a better account of the cattle plague? I believe that the only cause that we must come to as last is: This is the finger of God!

Does anyone regard my assertion as absurd and unreasonable? I have no doubt that many do so. Many, I suspect, think that God never interferes with the affairs of this world, and that pestilences and cattle plagues are only the result of certain natural laws which are always producing certain effects. I pity the man who thinks so.

Is he an atheist? Does he believe that this wonderfully designed world came together by chance, and had no Creator? If so, he is a very gullible person.

But if he does believe that God made the world where, I ask, is the absurdity of believing that God governs the world? If he allows that God framed the universe then why not allow that God manages it?

Away with this modern skepticism! It is offensive and revolting to common sense. They are not to be heard, who would shut out the Creator from His own creation. He who made the world at the beginning by the finger of creating wisdom will never cease to govern the world by the finger of His providence. This cattle plague is the finger of God!

[J. C. Ryle]

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Coming Back To The Lord

Jonah was disobedient, rebellious, and selfish.  He had run from the Lord. He had shunned the Lord's command.  He had endangered the lives of those on the ship where he had tried to hide.  Yet even in the middle of his rebellion, God heard his cry and delivered him.  If you are in rebellion, if you are seeking to hide some secret and all-consuming sin, please know the Lord wants to ransom and redeem you! Things won't be easy, but coming back to the Lord means ultimate redemption and deliverance.

[Phil Ware]

Jonah 2:1-2 … Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Daniel 9:9 … To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

Joel 2:13 … And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Joel 2:32 … And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. ♥

Jonah

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales and how she had heard in Sunday School about how a whale had swallowed Jonah.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl remained steadfast in her position and reiterated that indeed, a whale had swallowed Jonah.

Irritated, the teacher again stated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, "I'm not sure how it happened, but when I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."

The teacher replied smugly, "What if Jonah isn't in heaven?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

[Author Unknown]

Jonah 1:17… Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Matthew 12:40 … For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Luke 11:30 … For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. ♥

Sweet Hour of Prayer

┼ And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Genesis 25:21



┼ And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD's. Exodus 9:29



┼ And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 1 Samuel 2:1



┼ And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. 1 Kings 8:22-24



┼ Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. 1 Chronicles 29:10



┼ Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Jonah 2:1-2