Smiting, Slander, Strife
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Psalms 133:1-3
Christ’s body should relish, edify, exhort, admonish, teach, and to nurture one another as much as is possible. The opposite would be to rail on another member of Jesus’ body. Railing is listed 9 times as a sin in the Bible.
Beating and betrayal instead of unity clearly reveals who are the wheat and who are the tares among us (Luke 12:45).
May God bless us to afford to others the same grace we personally need in working out our own salvation with fear and trembling before our God (Philippians 2:12-13).
Do you truly love God’s people? To the degree you love God, you love His people. Prayerfully read, repent, and relish 1 Corinthians 12-13 this week.
Recently, I was abruptly attacked by a man I have tried to help and fed God’s Word to for a few years now. I was always there for him. He used to come to our home fellowship. When others shunned him, I was there for him. When he kept backsliding, I was there to tell him the truth and pray for him. I never attacked him but dealt with compassion towards him. It seemed that the LORD had me to be patient with his sinful living, seeking to help him by giving him God’s Word and praying for him. Yet, last night, perhaps because he had been drinking alcohol, he found something small to nit-pick and attack me with. He didn’t come to me in gentleness to just make something known that I may have overlooked. No, he shot with both barrels up front about something that wasn’t very important. So, I gave him the following passage and he kept attacking, so cut him off (Titus 3:9-11).
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
One of the signs of an apostate heart and/or generation is being merciless or “unmerciful.” (Romans 1:31)
We are not fit to condemn. When we do usurp that mantle, only evil can result.
“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:20
You see, there’s only One qualified to judge and that One is God, not us.
“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” James 4:11-12
Who, Who, Who?
“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8:33-34
As I reflect upon the problem this guy had concerning something small he thought I was compromising about, I think of just how simple it would have been to hear his concern and do something about it. Actually, I would have been glad to be corrected and sharpened if only he had approached with concern and not condemnation. The approach is important. We must walk with God’s wisdom which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” (James 3:17-18)
The main reason I share these things is:
1) Just as Jesus predicted, the love of many is waxing cold before our very eyes and God’s love is the key fruit that proves we are still in Christ or not (Matt. 24:10-13; 1 John 4:7-8). Without love we are nothing (1 Cor. 13). Some are now smiting or railing on the servants of the LORD which proves they have fallen away and are no longer saved (Matt. 24:48-51).
2) If you have a question about another believer, DO NOT attack them! If you do, YOU are the sinful one who needs to get right with God and your lack of concern and care (love) prove it. We are to be restoring agents, not attack agents. Like the sons of thunder, we do not know what spirit we are of (Lk. 9:49-56). If we don’t yet understand and walk in God’s restorative love, perhaps we don’t yet have a clue as to who Jesus is and why HE came (Lk. 9:56; John 3:17). If this is our hardened, depraved state, we have forgotten what manner of man we once were. – “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:9)
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual (mature), RESTORE such an onein the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3For if a man think himself to be something (pride), when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Galatians 6:1-3
What did the LORD mean to communicate to you when He said this?
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure (perhaps) will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy 2:24-26
In fact, the LORD told us that He is coming soon and that we are not ready to meet Him if we are grudging against one another:
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” James 5:7-9
As we treat His people, so are we treating Him, literally. Jesus taught:
“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:40-41
To mistreat one of His children, is to mistreat Jesus. Those who have done or do such without repenting, are as sure for the lake of fire as if they were already there!
The utter necessity of love and walking in love must be declared without ceasing.
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
Love is an essential. Anyone who does not possess and is not possessed by its fruits, does not know the One who “is love” and is hell bound as sure as your eyes are reading these words.
If we truly serve Christ, we shall, like Paul had an Alexander and many “false brethren,” also endure our betraying Judas’. God is able to comfort and bring us through and teach us His wisdom. We can “count it all joy!” (James 1:2-4)
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Abiding
The Song of Moses: God’s Favor upon His People [podcast]

“And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.” Deuteronomy 31:30
Everything we read of the children of Israel was pointing to Christ and to His perfect salvation He would later come and accomplish and bestow upon His beloved people, the body of Christ which is “the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16) And so this song is written to us (Romans 15:4; Corinthians 10:11).
At the end of his days, at the end of the 5 books he penned, God gives us through Moses a summation of His salvation work among His beloved people.
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.” Deuteronomy 32:10-14
“32:10-14 The birth and childhood of the nation of Israel are described in verse 10. After the Exodus from Egypt, God guided, instructed, and preserved His people with the love of a mother eagle (v. 11). There was no foreign god who had a part in Israel’s preservation. Why then should the nation turn to idolatry and ascribe the goodness of Jehovah to another? Beginning in verse 13, the song is prophetic. He brought them into the blessings of the Promised Land.” Believer’s Bible Commentary
“Deuteronomy 32:10
a [He found him in a desert land …] The sevenfold preservation of Israel:
1. God found (literally, sustained) him in the wilderness (Deu_32:10).
2. He led him around (Deu_32:10-12).
3. He instructed him (Deu_32:10).
4. He kept him as the apple (pupil) of His eye.
5. He preserved him from idolatry (Deu_32:12).
6. He exalted him among the nations (Deu_32:13).
7. He gave him material prosperity (Deu_32:13-14).
b [apple of his eye] Hebrew: ’iyshown (H380), the dark pupil of the eye; the hole, gate, or door of the eye (Psa_17:8; Pro_7:2)” Dake
“Deuteronomy 31:30-32:14
MOSES’ SONG: THE LORD’S FAVOR UPON ISRAEL
The song of Moses, like the fabled song of the swan, was his last and sweetest. It is probably the noblest ode in the whole compass of the Bible, and is the source from which subsequent singers derived suggestions for their noblest outbursts. The marginal references prove how deeply it dyed the national sentiment.
It excels in the names and designations of the Almighty. He is the Rock: Deu_31:4; Deu_31:15; Deu_31:18; Deu_31:30; Jehovah: Deu_31:6; Father: Deu_31:6; the Most High: Deu_31:8; God: El, the strong, Deu_31:15, etc. What a study are the names of God, scattered through the Bible! Each was coined to meet some need of the human soul. What the rocks of the desert are to its shifting sands God is amid the changes of this mortal existence.
This earlier part of the song is very tender. We are God’s portion; the apple of His eye; as young eaglets, whom the mother-bird is carefully teaching to fly, the favored recipients of God’s richest gifts, Deu_31:13, etc.” FB Meyer
Notice the descriptive language, the metaphors—how the LORD illustrates how He loves, protects, and provides for His people. In Scripture, the LORD uses imagery to communicate truth.
“Moses’ song and what our LORD reveals in this message, is such a beautiful picture of God finding us in our hopeless, miserable, and lost state. He pulls us out of the miry clay and gives us His supply of grace. He then clothes us with His righteousness, seating us in heavenly places in Christ and surrounding us with His care and protection. God’s love and goodness to us.” Karen Cochran
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will
say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my
God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall
be thy shield and buckler.” Psalms 91:1-4
Read Psalm 91 often so this truth permeates you. Here the LORD uses the imagery of His “winged fowl” creation (Genesis 1:21). GOD made this very creature/bird for the express purpose of showing us how much He loves us and how He comforts, cares and provides for, guides, and protects His own (Psalms 91:1).
“The Song of Moses is recorded in Deuteronomy 32 of the King James Version (KJV), spanning verses 1 through 43. It is a prophetic poem given by Moses to the children of Israel just before his death, serving as a witness and a reminder of God’s faithfulness and Israel’s potential turning away.”
Prayer: Father, please grant that I know and understand You more and more. I love You LORD. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Articles
Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

First and foremost, God’s Word was written to reveal Christ.
The Bible is said to be “The only Book where the divine Author is present every time you read it.”
He’s divinely encoded and present on every page of His Word.
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Luke 24:44
Every book of the Bible is about the LORD Jesus, who is the central theme, the sacred substance of all of Holy Scripture. If we miss Him, we miss everything, we miss the grand subject and revelation of God’s Word.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40
This makes it clear that we can “search the scriptures,” we can know them, and yet not know the Author.
They knew the Word of God but did not know the God of the Word. They made the choice not to “come to” Jesus thorugh His Word. They made it about themselves, not Jesus.
The Bible is one Book from one divine Author. The divisions are there to help us navigator His Word. – Old and New Testaments, chapters, verses, etc.
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psalms 119:18
The supreme and most important “wondrous” thing we are to behold in Holy Writ, is Jesus Christ.
Amen. Jesus Christ is King of all kings, LORD of all lords.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:7-8
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Articles
Redemption Through Christ’s Sacrifice [podcast]

The Glories
of the
Scarlet Thread
(Few things could be this important to your spiritual life)
Of the scarlet of redemption, one writer notes:
“The Wonder of Redemption: The blood is the power of redemption and you will see this as we follow through the Bible from the beginning to the end of God’s revelation of Himself to man as recorded in the Bible.”
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Colossians 1:12-14
The great apostle of Jesus declared the Gospel to us:
“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
The Fall of Man
The Good News is so good due to the very bad news of our fall.
“Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: … Therefore as by the offence of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” Romans 5:12, 18
When the man and woman whom God had created chose to sin against Him, He separated them from His presence. They attempted to cover their nakedness by sewing fig leaves together and girding them around their waists (Genesis 2:7). This was man’s attempt to cover his own sin and shame.
“The aprons of fig leaves speak of man’s attempt to save himself by a bloodless religion of good works.” William MacDonald
God did not honor the fig leaves so He shed the blood of animals to make them “coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). Because He had already foretold that His Son would be sent to redeem the fallen race (Genesis 3:15), God chose to depict the sacrifice that the coming Redeemer would make by the sacrifice of innocent animals. The atonement for the man and woman by the sacrifice of these animals pointed to the prophesied Savior who would later come and personally shed His blood to atone for the sins of His creation which had been contaminated by sin.
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30
This Scripture above speaks to the utter need and absolute divine exclusivity and uniqueness of Christ.
From the cradle of creation through the dispensation of the Mosaic law, in Christ’s redemptive blood on Calvary’s cross, and throughout eternity future, we see that in the Creator’s economy it is blood that quenches the fire of His holy vengeance.
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is NO remission.” Hebrews 9:22
God obviously instructed Adam and Eve to sacrifice animals to continue to cover their sin because their son Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock” at the time of sacrifice (Genesis 4:4).
The blood sacrifice that Abel offered to God was accepted because it demonstrated faith in the coming Redeemer.
When Israel was in bondage God informed the nation that each family was to shed the blood of an unblemished lamb and place the blood upon their doorposts before He delivered them from Egypt (Exodus 12). He said that this blood would save them from His wrath. The unblemished lamb was a type of the spotless Lamb of God which was to come to be slain (1 Peter 1:19), saving those who would receive Him, from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9).
Not Just Any Blood
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem…” Galatians 4:4-5

Sin separated men from their holy Maker and God (Isaiah 59:2). Under the law God instructed the nation of Israel to approach Him by the sacrifice of animals. The sins of the people were atoned for by the blood of animals because this demonstrated faith in the prophesied and coming Redeemer (Leviticus 16:34, 17:11). In Leviticus 16 there is a twofold typology of Christ found. Aaron, the priest of Israel, was to take two goats to atone for the sins of the people (Lev. 16:8-10). One of these two goats was used as a “sin offering” and the other for a “scapegoat.” The “sin offering” goat that was sacrificed was a type of Christ who would later shed His blood, “offering Himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14). His blood, which was depicted here in the blood of the animal, was to be the ultimate price for atonement (at-one-ment) that the Father required for the removal of the sins of the fallen race. The word “scapegoat” here literally means the goat of departure. Concerning this live goat of departure, the LORD instructed Aaron to lay both hands upon him and confess all the sins and iniquities of Israel upon him and then send him away into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:20-22). This goat, the scapegoat, was a type of Christ in that it would carry the sins of God’s people away from them. It would separate them from sin so that their sin wouldn’t separate them from God. This is a type of Christ in that He was to come and shed His perfect blood to “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Jesus cried: “Why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalms 22:1; Matthew 27:46)
“It was the human body which God had given Him. It was the sacrifice that cried-the Lamb about to die! The Son of Man knew Himself forsaken. God dumped that vast, filthy, slimy mass of human sin on the soul of the Savior-and then backed away.” A.W. Tozer.
“Wow! All that filth was ours! Jesus was our ultimate sacrifice! And Isaiah says in 53:10 that it ‘pleased the Lord to bruise Him.’ This was God’s divine plan that Jesus would be the sacrifice for our sins so we could have redemption and reconciliation with God. We cannot understand the depths of this kind of love for us! All we can do is praise Jesus! And love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37), and obey and follow Him all the days of our lives! All praise to You Jesus for loving us this much!” Karen Cochran
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This prophetic pattern continued to cover the sins of His people from the time of the fall until the One whom these sacrifices foreshadowed appeared (Hebrews 10). Those in Israel who truly loved the LORD fervently anticipated the arrival of the prophesied Messiah a Lamb of God. About 4,000 years after man had fallen, a prophet named John the Baptist, saw Jesus approaching and declared “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It was the fullness of time and the Father had sent the promised Redeemer into the earth to “take away the sin of the world.” The sacrifices that once atoned for Israel would now be superseded by the one sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son (Hebrews 10:1-23). His pure and spotless blood would now be shed to remove the sins of the world. The Lamb which was slain before the foundation of the world (in the mind of God) was now manifest in the flesh to redeem mankind from his sinful and separated state (Revelation 13:8; John 1:14). He became the “propitiation” (atoning sacrifice) for our sins (1 John 2:2).
Just before He went to His ordained altar, the cross, to be offered up for the sin of the world, Jesus said;
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28
As is clearly announced in the God-breathed New Testament records, redemption, remission, and the forgiveness of sins comes only from the blood of Jesus, the one and only Redeemer of men (Ephesians 1:7).
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7
THE ULTIMATE AND FINAL SACRIFICE
He who knew no sin became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21).
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” John 19:30
It was out of the riches of His mercy and grace that our sins have been remitted by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Note the finality of language He uses to convince you of this in the following passage:
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God…For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified…. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” Hebrews 10:12-22
Not only does the blood of Jesus take away/remove the sins of the one who personally receives Him, but also the guilt that is always coupled with sin (Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:9). What great salvation!
“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” Revelation 1:5
His blessed sinless divine blood is available to those who will simply “Come” to Him as He invites them to do … before and in order to be saved AND afterward, that fount is always available during this season …. (Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 4:14-16)! Anyone else thankful and happy about “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” today? (1 Peter 1:18-19)
For a topical study of deeper proportions on this subject, see The Blood of Jesus.
Where is YOUR Christology friend? What know thee of Christ? Have you sought and studied Him? Go here: Christology (the study of Christ)
If you will be planted deep into Christ, your Christology, your study of, your personal knowledge of Christ must be deep, not shallow (Colossians 2:6-10).
If you truly desire to know more about how to really know the LORD, go here: Born Again: What is It?
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“Amen! Words cannot express our thanks in what our Lord Jesus has done on the Cross for us, His suffering. We thank You Lord for all you have done, though we are undeserving, we thank you so much. Otherwise I would be lost, on my way to hell w/out your salvation.” Paula L.
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