Servant of the Lord – Page 25

Final Exhortations

Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Hold On To Instruction, Do Not Let It Go!

Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
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 evildoers.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
Proverbs 4

Freedom In Christ

Galatians 5

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Lead Me In The Way Everlasting

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139

I hope you gain from my short testimony about The Lord working in my life. I closed my business at the start of this year, it was very tough decision to make and it is a difficult time to experience.

Although our company started trading over 12 years ago in 2011 we were struggling to make sales and my accountants and I haven’t sorted out the tax issues to get the needed clearance certificate for 2024

I could have “winged it” and lived in the flesh and tried to “make a plan” on my own but thankfully…

On Saturday 6th January while following my daily reading plan, My wife and I read from Romans 13 (Submission to Governing Authorities) and The Lord spoke to me through the following verses:

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves.”
Romans 13

Further to this, still during my time with the Lord that evening, while continuing with my daily reading plan (my wife and I read one chapter from the Old and New Testament every day), I also read from Ezekiel 33 (Renewal of Ezekiel’s Call as Watchman)

“Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offences and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Ezekiel 33

Praise God our Loving Father! That night and the following day (Sunday) while at church, I felt in my spirit that I was being chastened by The Lord and thankfully I submitted to Him. I decided not to open for business (the following day) on Monday 8th January.

Please understand that I didn’t and do not want to be a hypocrite by praising the Lord but not obeying Him. Nor do I want to tarnish the name of The Lord or the church by not following His instruction. It was clear to me that I had little option but to close the business and sort out the issues with Caesar.

So I had made my decision and my wife and I had prayed for wisdom and His leadership but I have to admit that I still lacked full conviction, I was going to upset a number of people and this upset me. I had a very busy mind that night and I found sleep (the night of the 7th) hard to come by. All I could think about was that the following morning, I had to let the others who were coming back to work from their Christmas holidays that I had decided to close the business… This news was going to shock them to say the very least!

In an effort to get some sleep that night and to distract myself, I started listening to podcasts; mostly the news… but it didn’t work and I kept feeling in my spirit that I should open a sermon which I had downloaded. Thankfully I took notice and played it… Tim Keller was preaching about gaining wisdom and he was preaching from Proverbs 4. The Lord spoke to me so clearly through this scripture:

Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
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 evildoers.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
Proverbs 4

Wow!! These verses from Proverbs gave me all the wisdom I needed! Our Father is so amazing – I thank You Lord for Your continued love, grace and mercy on my life. This word from The Lord gave me all the conviction I needed to close the business and sort out the tax affairs… which I am now in the process of doing 🙂

I praise God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The Author of our eternal salvation. Thank you, thank you, thank you Lord Jesus!

The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else

Some months ago, R. C. Sproul was asked which doctrine he struggles with most. He replied: “Hell.”

It’s comforting to know a theological giant like Sproul still wrestles with something I’ve struggled with my whole Christian life.

The doctrine of hell is uncomfortable for most of us. However, our understanding of hell shapes our view of the gospel, God’s holiness, and our depravity. If we don’t accept the reality of hell, we won’t rightly understand the glory of the gospel.

Reality of Hell

A friend once challenged me to show her where Jesus talks about hell in the Gospels. Even a cursory read-through shows Jesus talked about it plenty. In fact, Jesus talked about hell more than any other person in the Bible. In Luke 16, he describes a great chasm over which “none may cross from there to us.” In Matthew 25, Jesus tells of a time when people will be separated into two groups, one entering into his presence, the other banished to “eternal fire.”

Jesus doesn’t only reference hell, he describes it in great detail. He says it is a place of eternal torment (Luke 16:23), of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48), where people will gnash their teeth in anguish and regret (Matt. 13:42), and from which there is no return, even to warn loved ones (Luke 16:19–31). He calls hell a place of “outer darkness” (Matt. 25:30), comparing it to “Gehenna” (Matt. 10:28), which was a trash dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where rubbish was burned and maggots abounded. Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more vividly. There’s no denying that Jesus knew, believed, and warned about the absolute reality of hell.

Reason for Hell

Jesus has to talk about hell because it is the fate that awaits all people apart from him. Because of Adam’s sin, we’re all guilty and deserve God’s eternal punishment. Contrary to popular belief, hell is not a place where God sends those who have been especially bad; it’s our default destination. We need a rescuer or we stand condemned.

So we’re left with two options: stay in our state of depravity and be eternally punished, or submit to the Savior and accept his gift of redemption.

Goodness of God

The one truth that allows me to accept the justice of hell is the indisputable certitude of the goodness of God. While the notion of hell is difficult for me to grasp, Jesus (with nail-scarred hands) is worthy of my complete trust. His goodness causes me to look ultimately not to hell, but to the cross.

God is both great and good. His greatness causes us to bow the knee, cry out in awe and wonder, and fear him. We realize we don’t deserve salvation; we deserve punishment. His goodness, on the other hand, causes us to rise up in endless praise, grateful for a Savior. His mercy allows us to enter into his presence boldly and without fear. Because he is good, we can have a relationship with him as a child, dearly loved, snatched from the flames of hell.

In his classic Knowing God, J. I. Packer writes of the goodness and severity of God: “The character of God is the guarantee that all wrongs will be righted someday; when the ‘day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Rom 2:5) arrives, retribution will be exact, and no problems of cosmic unfairness will remain to haunt us. God is the Judge, so justice will be done” (143).

One day, all that is wrong will be made right. We’ll see all God’s ways as good, including the demonstration of his eternal justice. For now, we walk in humility and faith, trusting with the apostle Paul: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33).

Article Source: thegospelcoalition.org