Posts Tagged ‘theology’


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep

How important is wisdom? God had it when He created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Lady Wisdom here encourages you to value wisdom highly because God does.

The modern and weak concept of Intelligent Design does not do the LORD justice, for He is infinitely wise with perfect understanding and creative genius far beyond mere intelligence or intellectual capacity. He is wise, and He calls you to be wise.

Intelligence, or fact calculation and application, falls short of wisdom. The only true God arranged and ordained every aspect of the universe when there had never been such a thing before. He also has the power of right judgment to discretely and prudently interact with other rational creatures. He inspired Solomon to write for you to get wisdom.

Who thought the earth was flat? The children of God have always known the earth was round. When the blessed and only Creator God formed the earth’s atmosphere, and when He wrapped it around the ball of water hanging in space, wisdom was there with Him. Lady Wisdom offers you wisdom today by this proverb and the rest of Gods scriptures. Will you accept her gracious offer (Pr 8:1-5,32-36; 9:1-12)?

How great is wisdom? After Lady Wisdom’s introduction and invitation (Pr 8:1-5), she described the excellence and truth of wisdom (Pr 8:6-11), the benefits that flow to those having it (Pr 8:12-21), and the presence and use of wisdom by God in the creation of the heavens and earth (Pr 8:22-31). She then concluded with a further invitation (Pr 8:32-36). Wisdom is the most precious thing you can obtain in life (Pr 3:13-20; 4:5-13; 8:10-11).

This proverb exalts wisdom by showing it was with God in the creation of the heavens and His arrangement of the heavens to circle and encompass the watery globe. God created the heavens, the earth, and light on the first day (Gen 1:1-5; Ex 20:11; 31:17). He created the earth’s atmosphere on the second day, which is the firmament of heaven that separated the water above the sky from the water covering the earth (Gen 1:6-8).

God created the universe. The interstellar and interplanetary spaces and the spherical globe of the earth were formed first (Gen 1:1). The earth was a formless ball covered with water hanging in the total darkness of space (Gen 1:2). God then added light, without light sources for three days, mind you, to complete the first day (Gen 1:3-5,14-19). The only big bang, if there was one, occurred when God said, “Let there be light:” – and there was light (Gen 1:3)! If God has given you faith, you understand it (Heb 11:3).

God created the earth’s atmosphere. He separated waters on the earth’s surface by an expanse called heaven, which we call atmosphere, in which birds and planes fly (Gen 1:6-8,20). He gathered the waters on the earth and under this atmosphere into seas on the third day (Gen 1:9). The waters above the atmosphere remained there for the 1,656 years before rain (Gen 2:5-6; 7:4; Heb 11:7). It was not until the Flood that rain appeared; it was not until after the Flood that rainbows appeared (Gen 7:11-12; 9:12-15).

The Lord compassed, or encircled, the earth with this atmospheric heaven as part of His creative work on the second day. Included in these first two days of creation was the ordination of gravity to hold the waters and the atmosphere around the earth. Though the earth spins at 1000 mph, the atmosphere that compasses the earth moves right along with the earth, so you are not blown away! From the vantage point of spacecraft, you can see the aqua blue ball suspended by nothing in the firmament of heaven. Give God the glory!

The word “compass” in this proverb describes the circle, circumference, curve, arc, ring, or round shape of the atmospheric heaven that God wrapped around the ball we call earth. He set a compass, or a circle, over the watery earth before there was land (Pr 8:29; Gen 1:3-5). Though Solomon wrote these words 1000 years before Christ, he knew the earth was round by God’s inspired revelation to him. Isaiah, writing by inspiration about 700 years before Christ, also referred to the circular or round shape of the earth (Is 40:22).

Eratosthenes (276-195 B.C.), a Greek mathematician who knew the earth was round, calculated its correct circumference and the tilt of its axis. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), who knew the earth was round, developed and promoted proofs for heliocentricism – the earth moves around the sun. Pope Urban VIII spanked Galileo (1564-1642) for endorsing such absurdities. But Newton (1643-1727) confirmed how a ball could keep us all feeling upright with gravity. But they were just refining old news!

What is the lesson of the proverb? If wisdom was with God in His creation of the heavens and the atmospheric curtain around the earth, then it is important enough for you! If God used wisdom to create the heavens and earth, then it would be a great thing to have for your decision-making! Are you committed to pursue wisdom? Is it more important to you than anything else? When was the last time you read the Bible? Heard a real sermon?

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is God in the flesh – the fullness of the Godhead in a human body (Col 2:3,9). He created all things, and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1:3; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2)! He has all wisdom and knowledge as a perfect King, Priest, Savior, and coming Judge. Humble yourself before Him this day! Beg Him for mercy and wisdom!


Under Gods Command

Romans 7:1-6 Do you not know, brothers-for I am speaking to men who know the law- that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man, while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be long to another, or him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released ferom the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul uses marriage to illustrate our relationship to the law. When a spouse dies, the law of marriage no longer applies. Because we have died with Christ, the law can no longer condemn us. We rose again when Christ was resurrected and, as new people, we “belong” to Christ. His Spirit enables us to produce good fruit for God. We now serve not by obeying a set of rules, but out of renewed hearts and minds that overflow with love for God.

When a person dies to the old life and belongs to Christ, a new life begins. An unbeliever’s mind-set is centered on this or her own personal gratification. Those who don’t follow Christ have only their own self-determination as their source of power, By contrast, God is at the center of a Christian’s life. Go supplies the power for the Christian’s daily living. Believers find that their whole way of looking at that world changes when they come to Christ.

Some people try to earn their way to God by keeping a set of rules (obeying the Ten Commandments, attending church faithfully, or doing good deeds), but all they earn for their efforts is frustration and discouragement. However, because of Christ’s sacrifice, the way to God is already open, and we can become his children simply by putting our faith in him.

Keeping the rules, laws, and customs of Christianity doesn’t save us. Even if we could keep our actions pure, we would still be doomed because our hearts and minds are perverse and rebellious. Like Paul, we can find no relief in the synagogue or church until we look to Jesus Christ himself for our salvation – which he gives us freely. When we do come to Jesus, we are flooded with relief and gratitude. Will we keep the rules any better? Most likely but we will be motivated by love and gratitude, not by the desire to get God’s approval. We will not be merely submitting to an external code, but willingly and lovingly seeking to God’s will.

Lets Bring it Home: Are we trying to reach God by keeping rules or looking the part, going to Church, Bible Study and Sunday school, or are we trying to become more and more like Jesus as we live with him day by day. Don’t keep the rules because it’s the American Way, go to Church to gain that personal relationship Jesus and hear and put into action when He has to say.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:9 At twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

Many sins occur at night, especially sex sins. God warns you about darkness and night. Here is a young man out at night looking for sin and is met by an adulteress. In a long parable, King Solomon described the ruin of a young fool by casual sex (Pr 7:6-27).

Young man, be careful and cautious. There is more temptation at night; the duties of the day that keep men occupied are over; you will foolishly think you can hide under the cover of darkness. Wise men go home early; godly men know to stay home after supper.

A young fool looking for a whore begins his search “in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” He does not go near her house in broad daylight, for he would be seen; and she is not as easily found then either, for she must also hide her activities.

Job described adulterers this way: “The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk, he thinks, No eye will see me, and he keeps his face concealed. ” (Job 24:15). In another place, Job goes much further to describe how various wicked men hate the light (Job 24:13-17).

Sin causes guilt and shame, and it brings punishment, so men hide sinful activities from view. Jesus said wicked men love darkness to hide their sins, lest the light reveal their evil (John 3:19-21). Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness with fig leaves and the trees of the garden (Gen 3:7-8). But darkness has always been the favorite cloak for sex.

During daylight, even bad sections of a city look free from sin and vice; but after dark, they are filled with wicked persons using the night to hide identities and activities. Drunkenness, fornication, prostitution, robbery, and murder all greatly increase at night.

Bars used to meet the opposite sex for fornication are called nightclubs for good reason – they would never work as dayclubs! Las Vegas, an American moral cesspool, does most of her business at night. Casinos are experts in human depravity and fulfill the proverb.

Restaurants and lounges at night turn the lights down and the music up, for any woman looks better in dull light after a few drinks with fleshly music. The boldness to pursue drunkenness, fornication, and other sins is greatly encouraged by the cover of darkness.

Television programming after 9:00, the watershed hour, is carefully designed for adult audiences with intense and immoral shows or movies. With legitimate and productive activities over, adults can put the children to bed and fill their minds with ungodly images and conduct to corrupt their souls and thoughts during the night. Movie theaters also are mostly attended at night, and well into the night, with sinful sex a primary theme of both.

Your grandparents had a better routine before electricity brought television, movies, and countless activities at night. They went to bed with the birds and got up with them; there was no time or opportunity for cruising, carousing, or clubbing at night. They started each day early and worked hard, and they ended each day not long after supper.

They kept a schedule that promoted that sober time of quietness and resolve in the morning that is now lost. Their emphasis was on how much they could get done in the morning rather than surviving the day to be able to play at night. Their sobriety condemns this generation, which is addicted to amusements and pleasure, and most of it at night.

It was once an adage of America, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Christians could rightly add godliness to that formula, for it is generally God-approved activities that take place from morning until afternoon. Today’s Americans foolishly make fun of any “old fogey” that would go to bed before 9:00 P.M.

If David had stayed in bed with one of his beautiful and eager wives, he would never have seen Bathsheba using the cover of darkness for a bath (II Sam 11:2). What a foolish choice to leave his bedroom and go out at night from the safety of his house. The consequences of just one night out wandering around haunted him for the rest of his life.

Not all night activities are wrong, as Paul once preached to midnight and beyond (Acts 20:7-11). The Lord Jesus prayed all night on occasion, due to the demands of the crowds during the day (Luke 6:12). Shepherds were abiding in the field at night when they heard the announcement of the Lord’s birth. But these were exceptions and for godly purposes.

Curfews for youth are excellent rules, for the minds of foolish teenagers are more prone to the lusts of the flesh after dark, when their actions will be hid and their consciences emboldened to try things they might otherwise avoid. Getting them up early and requiring them to work hard will leave them tired and craving bed when night finally arrives.

Let this short proverb affect you two ways. First, be more aware of the sexual temptations at night. Second, consider adjusting your schedule toward mornings with a reduction of plans at night. Limit children’s activities after supper and teach them habits to reduce the temptations of darkness. May the Light of the world save you and your children.

Throughout the New Testament, Christians are described as the children of the day, not of the darkness. They are to live and walk as children of light in this dark world – the lesson of the proverb being used extensively by the Lord and His apostles (Luke 16:8; John 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 11:9-10; 12:35-36,46; Acts 26:18; Rom 13:11-14; I Cor 4:5; II Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8-14; 6:12; Col 1:13; I Thess 5:1-8; I Pet 2:9; I John 1:5-6; 2:8-11).

If you are a child of God, you should remember and consider there will be no darkness or night in heaven at all, for the Lamb of God will be the perpetual and glorious light of that place (Rev 21:23,25; 22:5). But the wicked will howl in the black mist of impenetrable darkness forever, for there will be no light or day in hell at all (II Pet 2:4,17; Jude 1:13). They who loved darkness and night will have their fill of both, and then some, forever!


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.