Danger + Weakness = Joyful Praise
April 25, 2012 at 11:08 am | Posted in Biblical Danger, Biblical joy, Selected Psalms | 5 CommentsTags: danger, God's governement, God's Kingdom, God's promises, God's Throne, praise, praising the Lord, Psalm 9, The Lord
Psalm 9 is a Psalm of praise. Praise makes us joyful.
[To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David.] I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
Psalm 9:1-2
Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
Psalm 9:11
That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
Psalm 9:14
God is a King and He is THE King. The King has a throne, and His throne represents His government.
For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
Psalm 9:4
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 9:9
God’s government is bigger than any earthly government, and we can praise the King of Kings even when we can’t praise our earthly “king” or president or governor or mayor.
Have you praised God for the same things that David praised God for in these Verses?
When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
Psalm 9:3-6
Has the Lord turned back your enemy? Has He blotted out your enemies? Only God’s Kingdom will last forever. One of the reasons there is such joy in praise is because we find a shelter from trouble in praise.
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
Psalm 9:9-10
We are sheltered in times of leanness because the Lord never forsakes us. People will forsake you when you are in a lean place. An earthly government may be helping you or your family right now, but how long do you think a government will help you when the government leaders start to need help themselves? God will shelter His children, and He will never need to take away His provision and use it on Himself.
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
Psalm 9:12-13
The Lord will shelter His children when they are attacked, even though the blood of our own crimes is on our hands, on our houses, and on our heads. God is the “Avenger of Blood,” but He is also the “City of Refuge.”
For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
Psalm 9:18-20
The Lord shelters His children in times of weakness. We are vessels of clay, so all our times are times of weakness.
The Danger of Horoscopes
January 2, 2012 at 11:45 am | Posted in Biblical Danger, Uncategorized | 8 CommentsTags: Christ alone, Colossians 2, horoscopes, Lord Jesus Christ, New Year's Day, occult
As people prepare for a new year, many will seek guidance in their spiritual lives in horoscopes, psychic advisors, and all manner of foolishness. The Bible warns us of being spoiled by the “rudiments of the world” (Colossians 2:8). These rudiments include things which occur sequentially in nature, such as the periodic alignment of the stars, planets, and the moon.
Believers on the Lord Jesus Christ should not meddle with mystical or occult practices. We trust in Christ, and Christ alone, for the salvation of our eternal souls. What idiocy it would be to seek counsel or advice by any means other than Biblically-sanctioned doctrine.
The Dangers of Fatherhood
August 24, 2010 at 11:33 am | Posted in Biblical Danger, Biblical Parenting, Genesis | 8 CommentsTags: 1 Sameul 18, Camille Paglia, commentary on Genesis, date rape, Dinah, Genesis 33, Genesis 34, Isaiah 2, Matthew 10, Sunday School lessons on Genesis
In Genesis Chapter 33 Esau and 400 men are coming to meet Jacob. Jacob was afraid. He feared men more than God.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Jacob managed to get past Esau without the violent incident he feared, but he treated Esau as an obstacle, not an opportunity.
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Genesis 33:17-20
Delayed obedience is not really obedience at all. In this case, delayed obedience proved very costly for Jacob. Here are three good principles to remember about obeying the Lord: Obey immediately. Obey sweetly. Obey completely.
Jacob should have been going to Bethel instead of hanging around Shechem.
And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.
Genesis 33:20
Elelohe-Israel means “God, the God of Israel.” This sounds like a name that honors God, but God wanted Jacob and his sons at Bethel. Bethel means “House of God.” We need to remember that our homes should be God’s homes, but our homes are no substitute for the “house of God,” a local church fellowship.
Genesis Chapter 33 ends with the name of the Lord, but His name is not mentioned once in Chapter 34. Jacob’s new name, Israel, is not even used. It is the chapter which contains the account of Dinah, and it is difficult to tell if she was raped or seduced. Perhaps it was the first “date rape.” It is a strong reminder to fathers not to let our daughters be put in that situation. One of our society’s greatest disservices is convincing women they don’t need men for protection, and compounding it by failing to train them to protect themselves – especially by staying out of dangerous situations where they will be alone and vulnerable.
These Shechemites were wicked. Sex of any type held no shame to them. Jacob’s sons were out with the flocks.
And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
Genesis 34:1
Dinah went to hang out with the women of the land. Here is the result:
And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
Genesis 34:2, emphasis added
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
Genesis 34:13, emphasis added
The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
Genesis 34:27, emphasis added
The pagan practice of the Canaanites/Hivites was to treat immoral intimacy as a very common thing. Dinah was “defiled” – violated – and made to feel dirty.
Jacob’s sons plotted vengeance. Dinah’s name meant judgment, and, boy, did these men of Shechem meet judgment! Jacob’s sons were justified in being angry, but Simeon and Levi were not justified in using deception. They used the sign of the Covenant as a means of deception.
Why did the men of Shechem agree to do what they did? One reason is that they were perverts who were probably into mutilation, anyway.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Genesis 34:30
What I practice in moderation, my children may very well debase themselves in to the point of excess. The actions of his sons brought shame to Jacob, even though they are viewed as heroic in Jewish tradition. The bride price that David paid for Michal was 200 Philistine foreskins which he took from the dead and gave to Saul (I Samuel 18:27).
The last verse of Genesis 34 is a question:
And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
Genesis 34:31
This question goes unanswered – maybe because Jacob would have been two-faced to condemn them for practicing deceitfulness, considering his own history.
Jacob was probably between 97 and 100 years old when he finally obeyed God by heading on to Bethel. (He had left home at 77.) The death of Isaac is recorded in Genesis Chapter 35, and he was probably 157 when he died. Chapters 37-40 record events that occurred while Isaac was still alive. Isaac was 180 when he died.
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Genesis 35:2-4
As spiritual leaders, fathers must instruct their households.
And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
Genesis 35:7
We are to make our house the house of God, and worship God as the God of our house. We should do what Jacob did: look for God to meet with you.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
Genesis 35:14
Pour your life out before Him.
The Deep End 
The Danger of Slandering God
March 30, 2016 at 10:49 am | Posted in Biblical Danger, Hebrews | 11 CommentsTags: chastening of the Lord, church attendance, church membership, commentary on Hebrews, drawing back from God, drawing near to God, Hebrews 10, John 10, perdition, Sunday School lessons on Hebrews
Hebrews 10:19
Entering into the “holiest” is the ultimate in “drawing near” to God. Under the New Covenant, and its superior Sacrifice, we are allowed to come this close to God. “Drawing nigh” creates the image of pulling up forcefully and quickly and suddenly stopping – of getting as close as possible without becoming that to which we are drawing near. As Christians, we spend time preparing to draw near to God, and, even in our preparations, we are already “near,” but, as the shadows of the Old Covenant are fulfilled in the New, the sprinkling of the blood of animals becomes the sprinkling of our hearts from an evil conscience.
Hebrews 10:22
The washing in the laver becomes the washing of our bodies with obedience to the Word. We are motivated to try to keep ourselves clean (holy) in preparation for entering His presence, and abiding in His presence every minute of every day.
Hebrews 10:23
If he said we could do it – if He PROMISED – then we CAN.
The next verses exhort us not to forsake some things: do not forsake considering each other; do not forsake provoking each other; do not forsake assembling with each other. That’s one reason why it’s so important to attend a local church. Three things that help us to abide in God’s presence are His Word, His Spirit, and His Body, the local church. If you forsake any one of these three, you are on a dangerous path, and are placing yourself at the mercy of one of your three enemies:
1. The devil, who we fight with the Word.
2. The flesh, which is fought against in the power of the Holy Ghost.
3. The world, which we fight against with the local church.
This brings us to the fourth admonition in Hebrews:
1. Don’t slip.
2. Don’t be suspicious.
3. Don’t be stunted.
4. Don’t slander.
Slandering God is slandering His Word. It is living as though what He has said will not come to pass. It is living as if disobedience will produce no consequences.
Hebrews 10:26
The Old Covenant provided no sacrifices for deliberate and willful sins.
Hebrews 10:28
The punishment was execution.
Hebrews 10:29
Who is more accountable? The lost person who slanders God? Or the saved person, who knows the truth about God, yet slanders Him anyway? Even forgiven sins have consequences.
We are saved through faith, and the victorious Christian must also LIVE by faith.
Hebrews 10:38-39
The opposite of drawing near is drawing back. “Perdition” in Verse 39 is not eternal punishment or damnation, but it is a serious and severe punishment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He’s a living and a loving God. A saved person will never fall out of the hands of God – nothing shall pluck them out (John 10:28-29) – but a believer who slanders God by repeated willful deliberate patterns of sin – by drawing back farther and farther – WILL be dealt with by God.