Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category


Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:20-23 when you were slaves to sins, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at the time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are free to choose between two masters, but you are not free to adjust the consequences of your choice. Each of the two masters pays with his own kind of currency. The currency of sin is eternal death, That is all you can expect or hope for in life without God. Christ’s currency is eternal life-new life with God that begins on earth and continues forever with God.

Lets Bring it Home: What choice have you made?

Eternal life is a free gift from God, if it is a gift, then it is not something that we earn, nor something that must be paid back. Consider the foolishness of someone who receives a gift given out of love and then offers to pay for it. A gift cannot be purchased by the recipient. A more appropriate response to a loved one who offers a gift is graceful acceptance with gratitude. Our salvation is a gift of God, not something of our own doing (Ephesians 2:8,9). He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any righteous things that we have done (Titus 3:5). How much more we should accept with thanksgiving the gift that God has freely given to us.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 5:3-11 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, her soft words are oh so smooth. But it won’t be long before she’ gravel in your mouth, a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart. She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death; she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her, She hasn’t a clue about Real Life, about who she is or where she’s going. So, my friend, listen closely; don’t treat my words casually, Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don’t want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted, why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what they told me?

Whores are expensive! At best, they want you and your money; at worst, they want your money without you. Even when they do not take your assets or income directly, they are expensive to entertain and support. If you needed another reason to avoid them, here it is.

King Solomon in this proverb gave his son another reason to stay away from the strange woman (Pr 5:3), which is any woman he had not married – whether prostitute, whore, or adulteress. It costs a lot to buy their favors or keep them happy; his assets and income would go to those outside his family, even though they do not provide any lasting benefit.

Here is the wisdom of God! To combat the powerful lusts in a young man and warn him thoroughly of the folly of fornication and adultery, you need to say more than, “Flee fornication,” (I Cor 6:18) and, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14). There are many other threats and warnings you can give to help him defeat this powerful lust.

You would hope and wish a young man could be kept sexually pure simply by knowing God has forbidden such sins, like Joseph was with Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:9). But that is neither realistic nor wise. Many young men are not even born again to have a heart that fears God, and those that are may not be at Joseph’s level of spiritual maturity and zeal.

Most of Proverbs shows the natural consequences of sins. While some of God’s laws are stated and applied, much of the book is observations of pain and suffering caused by sin. Wise parents will take note. They can do a much more thorough job of training their children, if they follow Solomon’s lead and explain all the painful consequences of sin.

Fornication and adultery have painful consequences, no matter what the world may say positively about casual sex. Solomon knew about the costs: he had witnessed them in his father’s life after adultery with Bathsheba. He warned often against this destroyer of young men (2:16-19; 5:1-23; 6:23-35; 7:1-27; 9:13-18; 22:14; 23:27-28; Eccl 7:26-29).

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly visits a prostitute, the price is very high for mere seconds of pleasure. She gives no discount for guilt, a grieved conscience, or an STD! His hard earned money is split between a woman who does not care about him and her pimp, who is the lowest scum of the race. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly takes an adulteress, he must give gifts, since she expects liaisons that flatter her, or he must outdo her husband. Caught in the deceitful trap of imagined and feigned love, the young fool will do all he can to pamper this wicked and unfaithful wife, forgetting that she is taking his living with no commitment, while staying married to another man! Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Other young men choose the party scene of clubs and bars, where they must maintain a successful image or lose popularity and draw. Expensive cars, clothes, accessories, housing, entertainment, and lifestyle – all for merely an appearance of prosperity and power to seduce women with a soul no deeper than a dollar bill – will eventually put a man in the poor house. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Think, young man! What if your wife, friend, and lover worked with you to build a family estate of children and property, instead of taking your assets and income for the estates of others? What a difference! Solomon wrote you about it in the context (Pr 5:15-19). Think how much faster you would get ahead, how much farther you would get ahead, and how much more secure you would have. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Even pornography can rob a man, for whores and publishers, whether in magazines or the Internet, want a return for their destructive wickedness. Many visual and mental adulterers have squandered money and time, let alone peace and happiness, by funneling money to whores at a distance and/or losing their professional zeal and productivity by the distraction of the addicting and consuming iniquity.

Build your own estate, young man, rather than another’s. Love the wife you have, and be satisfied with her breasts and ravished by her love (Pr 5:19). Do not even think about dipping into a sexual cistern or well that does not belong to you (Pr 5:16). Have children, legitimate children, and a lot of them, and rejoice with your wife, as your family tree becomes a happy and powerful influence in the earth (Pr 5:17-18; Ps 127:3-5; 128:1-6).

For the man who has already fallen like a fool to a Delilah, save your life, and revive your soul, by running far from her and repenting like David did (II Sam 11:13; Ps 51:1-19; 32:5). There is mercy with the Lord of heaven, even for men foolish and wicked enough to chase whores of any variety. Repent! God is faithful and just to forgive those who truly repent, no matter the greatness of the crime (Pr 28:13; I Jn 1:9; Job 33:27-28).

Let every reader consider the application of this proverb to spiritual adultery. Any man or woman commits spiritual adultery when they befriend false religion or the world. Your affection, attention, time, energy, emotion, and/or money are then given to another god or entity that is an enemy of the true God of heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible is full of warnings about God’s great jealousy and His severe judgment of those who take what belongs to Him and give it to others (Jas 4:4; Ezek 16:1-59; II Cor 11:1-4; etc.).

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:13-17  Hold on to instruction; do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked, or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it, turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot sleep till they do evil; they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

Even friends can make you fall. It is difficult for people to accept the fact that friends and acquaintances might be luring them to do wrong. Young people who want to be accepted would never want to confront or criticize a friend for wrong plans or actions. Many other people can’t even see how their friend’s actions could lead to trouble. While we should be accepting of others, we need a healthy skepticism about human behavior. When you feel yourself being heavily influenced, proceed with caution. Don’t let your friends cause you to fall into sin


Under Gods Command

 Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:16-19 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever –increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 

It is impossible to be neutral.  Every person has a Master-either God or sin.  A Christian is not someone who cannot sin, but someone who is no longer a slave to sin.  He or she belongs to God.

Lets Bring it Home:  Who is your Master?


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 1:22
How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

In the book of Proverbs, a “simple one” or a fool is not someone with a mental deficiency but someone with a character deficiency (such as rebellion, laziness, or anger). The fool is not stupid, but he or she is unable to tell right from wrong or good from bad.


Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you WHOLEHEARTEDLY obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

To obey wholeheartedly means to give yourself fully to God, to love him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). And yet so often our efforts to know and obey God’s commands can best be described as halfhearted.”

Lets Bring it Home: Are you still serving your first master, sin? Or have you apprenticed yourself to God?


Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:16-18 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

In certain skilled crafts, an apprentice works under a master, who trains, shapes, and molds his apprentice in the finer points of his craft. All people choose a master and pattern themselves after him. Without Jesus, we would have no choice-we would have to apprentice ourselves to sin, and the results would be guilt, suffering, an separation from God. Thanks to Jesus, however, we can now choose God as our Master. Following him, we can enjoy new life and learn how to work for him.

Lets Bring it Home: Are you still serving your first master, sin? Or have you apprenticed yourself to God.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 31:1-3 The sayings of King Lemuel-an oracle his mother taught him “O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.

The queen mother appealed to her son King Lemuel as only a mother can do and warned him against the greatest threat to his life and reign – women. Kings, due to their power and riches, were great objects of seduction by whorish women. Kings, by their power and riches, lived luxuriously, which promoted lascivious living and the lusts of their eyes and flesh. This great mother despised whores and warned her son against them.
Kings ruled nations, raised armies, and conquered empires. Kings are the greatest rulers in history. They made weighty decisions that affected the lives of those in and out of their kingdoms. They had absolute authority of life and death over every citizen. To influence a king was to influence nations and the lives of millions. For a king to become infatuated with a woman was to give his strength, duty, and honor to the base lusts of his loins!
How many kings have been destroyed by evil women affecting their decisions? Or would it be easier to ask how many kings have not been so affected! The threat was real; the historical record bleak; and the consequences terrible. Kings, and all men in authority, must be stricter and stronger in resisting women than other men. Power is an aphrodisiac and an opportunity for the flesh. On these two counts men in leadership roles must be vigilant. They must deny the flesh to keep themselves, their offices, and their charges.
King Lemuel’s mother knew good women, for she wrote the loftiest description of the most perfect woman ever imagined (31:10-31) She wanted her son the king to have one woman – a virtuous, God-fearing woman – to be his wife. She did not desire a harem for him. She did not allow thoughts of mistresses. She despised concubines and courtesans. She knew his success depended on one great woman as his wife. Consider it well, men!
Samson was judge of Israel, but the conniving whore Delilah brought him down to terrible destruction. David had a harem of wives; but taking the wife of one of his best friends brought him sore trouble, nearly destroyed his kingdom, and cost him dearly for the rest of his life. His son Solomon followed David’s horrible example against his own wisdom and is left in ignominy and shame in the Bible (1 Kgs 11:1-11; Numb 13:26).
What are the lessons? Great mothers warn their sons plainly about the danger of whorish women. Great men, especially in positions of authority or leadership, must take extra precautions to be vigilant against this dangerous threat. And if women can destroy gifted rulers, common men should be even more careful. Great women will realize their sexual power and restrain it diligently for righteous purposes only with their husbands.
There is only one King never moved by evil. David wrote of his distant Son, “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain” (II Sam 23:3-4). Jesus Christ is that perfect king. Tempted in all points like other men, He never sinned (Heb 4:15).


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 29:3 A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

Children can make or break parents. A son loving wisdom brings great joy to his parents. A foolish son befriending whores grieves their hearts, as they watch his ruinous lifestyle.

This proverb should demand your close attention. There is much more here than just an observation by Solomon. There is a lesson and warning for both parents and children.

Parents should fear this painful disappointment and great waste of their lives. They should soberly and faithfully fulfill their duties to commit their children to the Lord, pray for their children, exemplify godly living, and never relax Bible methods to train them.

Children should consider the terror not stated in this proverb. From the rest of Solomon’s proverbs and the rest of the Bible, God clearly warns of horrible destruction coming to children that grieve their parents (Pr 20:20; 30:11,17; Deut 27:16; Eph 6:2-3; I Tim 5:8).

The warning that children affect parents – bringing them joy or sorrow – has been repeated in other proverbs (Pr 10:1; 15:20; 17:21,25; 19:13; 23:15-28; 27:11; 28:7). But there are details given in this proverb that expand the lesson for your learning.

As with many of the proverbs, there are two clauses that should be compared and contrasted, carefully and completely, in all their details. A hasty reading without due consideration will cost the reader the full lesson and warning that God gave Solomon.

A son pleasing his father loves wisdom, is sexually pure, and financially prudent. These three things are intended, though two are unstated, by reading the second clause. A son that hates wisdom, hangs out with whores, and is a spendthrift grieves his father, where hating wisdom and grieving his father is understood by reading the first clause.

A son that loves wisdom is a prince. Loving wisdom is as high as the bar can go – it proves a noble son and brings God’s favor in his life (Pr 8:17,21; Eccl 12:1). Wisdom is the principal thing, and it is a good man’s chief goal (Pr 4:7; 16:16; Eccl 7:12; 9:16-18). If a father wonders about his son’s heart, he only needs to measure his love of wisdom.

What is wisdom? It is the power of right judgment, including the knowledge that eternal things of heaven far outstrip the temporal things of this life. What is the love of wisdom? It is the aggressive zeal to sacrifice the things of this life so esteemed by others in order to obtain the better things of the next life despised by others (Pr 18:1; Heb 11:24-26).

What is wisdom? It is an independent, active, zealous fear of God (Pr 1:7; 9:10; 23:17). It is to hate evil (Pr 8:13; 16:6; Ps 97:10; 119:128). It is to study God’s word (Ps 19:7-11; Ps 1:1; 119:11; II Tim 2:15). It is the love of Christ, the Man of wisdom (II Cor 5:14-17; Col 2:3). It is to hate foolish and evil men (Pr 13:20; 29:27; Ps 15:4; 101:3; I Cor 15:33).

A young man’s wisdom will result in a disciplined and temperate approach to sex and money. He will be a virgin when he marries; he will marry only in the Lord; he will wait for his father’s approval; he will be faithful to one wife for life. He hates foolish and whorish women, and he avoids them with great care (Pr 2:16-19; 5:8-13; 6:20-26; 7:1-5).

He will work hard, give liberally, save frugally, avoid debt, and build his estate with a prudent eye to the future. Wisdom includes financial understanding, though by itself it proves nothing beyond ants and squirrels. But coupled with the fear of the Lord, strong men retain riches (Pr 11:16). He climbs professionally by godly methods (Pr 22:11,29).

Parents rejoice at such a life, knowing God is glorified, the kingdom of heaven served, and their family tree in good hands. They rejoice in heart; they praise him; they share their joy. They live confidently with his life defending them (Pr 27:11; Ps 127:5). They thankfully approach their departure from this life, knowing they have left a godly legacy.

On the other hand are parents stricken with grief and guilt – a calamity of pain and shame for them (Pr 17:25; 19:13; 29:15,17). The fool they created and formed hates wisdom, loves folly, rebels against authority, hangs with whores and whoremongers, and wastes his living and theirs. He is a shame to them and a stench to others. He breaks their hearts.

This young man rejects instruction and scorns those that try. He lasciviously approaches life, thinking he can pick his friends, including girlfriends, and live any way he chooses. He does not care what pain or shame he causes his parents, for he cannot think outside his own little worthless life. He does not fear God, and he mocks those that do. He is a fool.

This fool proves his ignorance by befriending whores, no matter what his IQ, for a wise man would not (Pr 7:7). One sin leads to others, in this case financial trouble, because whores seek a man’s money (Pr 5:10; Luke 15:30). If whores can destroy kings, they will surely destroy this ignorant simpleton (Pr 31:3). He wastes his assets and damns his soul.

Consider Esau. He grieved his parents Isaac and Rebekah by marrying Hittite girls (Gen 26:34-35), so they sent Jacob to their home country to get a real woman that feared God (Gen 28:1-5). On his way there, he promised God 10% of anything God gave him (Gen 28:20-22). But what did foolish and profane Esau do, wanting to please his parents in his perverse way? He married an Ishmaelite (Gen 28:6-9)! Amazing ignorance and folly!

Parents can rank children by wisdom, sexual temperance, and financial discipline, which ought to be of concern to children. They should realize they can easily rise in approval of God and parents by being wise. Child, let nothing hold you back from loving wisdom, from sexual integrity and marital faithfulness, and from financial prudence (Pr 23:15-28).

One Son gave His Father perfect joy – Jesus Christ (Matt 3:7; 12:18; 17:5). He perfectly loved wisdom, sought it, and obeyed it His entire life (Is 11:1-5). He only dealt with harlots to demand repentance, which He did with great success (Matt 21:28-32; Luke 7:36-50). He also demanded financial integrity of friend and foe (Luke 21:1-4; John 2:13-17; 12:1-8). Let Him be your example and ambition of pleasing your Father in heaven.


Under Gods Command
Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:14-15 (14) For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (15) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

If we’re no longer under the law but under grace, are we now free to sin and disregard the Ten Commandments? Paul says, “By no means.” When we were under the law, sin was our master-the law does not justify us or help us over come sin.

Lets Bring it Home: But now that we are bound to Christ, he is our Master, and he gives us power to do good rather then evil.