Prov 20:6 Most men will proclaim ever one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

The commandments are written in a particular order such that all the commandments spring forth from the first which states ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’ NO other gods, means that all glory, honour and respect is to be given to God, and not just any god that we have made up in our minds, but rather God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible. He and He alone being God simply must have the pre-eminence. Ever since just before the fall was accomplished in deed, man has the spiritual conflict with this. Our evil hearts are so prone to believe that which came forth of the mouth of the serpent, ‘Yea hath God said?’, ‘Ye shall not surely die’, ‘Ye shall be as gods’, that we do so at the expense of the honour which is due to God.

At the very root of who we are we treat God irreverently by doubting Him, by trusting to ourselves, by exalting our thoughts and imaginations against Him, in essence, by ignoring His power and authority, and doing that which is right in our own eyes. Like the citizens in Luke 19, We will not have ‘this man to reign over us’ not just any man, but ‘this man’ God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the root of all sin. In this both the believer and unbeliever are identical, we both have an ever-present irreverence towards God waiting to spring forth in the next available opportunity. What the believer has, that the unbeliever does not have, is the power of the Son of God continually working through the Spirit of God to subdue this irreverence in their hearts. Though I often see in my own heart that the things of God are taken much lighter than they ought to be (and mourn that this be the case), I am thankful that the natural irreverence of my heart has a power working against it from outside of me to bring forth that which brings honour and glory to God, while at the same time continually subduing my natural irreverence. Seeing this battle gives me a real sense of  who I really am and my ever present need of a Saviour, so that for the glory of God I can say with John the Baptist, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’.

Man without a present knowledge of God naturally lifts himself at the expense of God, whereas upon a meeting with God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (regular meetings of this type are the essence and lifeblood of a Christian), man is humbled to see himself as he actually is. ‘Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?’ Prov 20:6 Man in his natural condition wants to take the place of importance through his own professed and proclaimed goodness, however through many means God continually reminds us that the place of importance belongs to Him alone. There can only ever be room for one God!

Keep an eye out for the irreverence in your heart, because whether you see it or not it is there. There are two sights we really need on a regular basis, 1) a sight of who we are 2) a sight of Christ on our behalf. Though the first is an unpleasant sight, seeing it is a good sign, it causes us to look for the second sight without which we will be left to the demise brought about by our own condition. Have you ever looked for a medicine for a sickness you didn’t believe you had?

Mal 1:6 ‘where is mine honour? …saith the Lord of hosts unto you’

Noah was a relatively unheard preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5); and though carnal with little testimony against sin, Lot was vexed by it (2 Pet 2:8). Neither of these men were well heard nor loved by their generations. Lot did what he could to compromise and paid dearly for it, but even that gained him no fellowship. Neither of these men were loved as famous preachers, both were despised by the multitudes simply because they were children of God. How then do we think we ought to have famous, beloved and well-heard preachers in our day? There might be some generally unknown preachers who are men after God’s own heart out there, but to become famous and beloved in days like unto the days of Noah or Lot one simply cannot preach that which is true. ‘Big name’ preachers of today will have gotten their ‘big names’ by compromise and falsehood.

‘Big names’ have big budgets, and big budgets require big support from men. Neither Noah nor lot had this ‘big support’ because men did not support what they were doing, men condemned it. To have big support to acquire the big budget needed to garner the big name one must be a big ear tickler. Ear ticklers will be popular at this time, but because men are different, there must be different brands of ear ticklers to capture the range of belief systems through the whole spectrum of the seven churches in Revelation. There will be ear ticklers that appeal to Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea, but through it all we are to remember that this is the way it was prophesied to be, and therefore it can be no other way.

These things may concern us but they ought not distress us, they should simply remind us that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. When you look around and see the evil and wickedness abounding both in and out of the church, know these things: 1) Sin defiles and must ultimately bring this present evil world to its rightful evil end, 2) There is a victory which is found in Jesus Christ alone.

1 Cor 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the saved the sting of sin is entirely another matter. The sting of death for the saved has been removed, but the sting of sin still remains. For these future loss or retribution is not so important as present loss of things with eternal value. The sting of sin impedes fellowship with God, it barters discontentment for contentment, it barters sorrow for joy, it barters despair for hope, it barters anxiety for peace, it barters anguish of soul for assurance; in short it wages war against all that is counted valuable to the Christian. A read through the penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) gives evidence to all this. The wicked tend to go around with the idea of how good they are, commending themselves or at least expecting commendation of themselves from others, whereas like David the Christian with a true sight of himself has the best understanding of what he really is, and were it not for the redeeming work of Christ, and the residence of the Holy Spirit in him, there would be nothing of righteousness for him to hold on to. But as all the penitential psalms begin with self condemnation and judgment of self, so they end with pardon received.

Do Christians sin? Yes. But they find no present joy in it, and all that is eternally valuable is attacked, this is the sting of sin for them. It is recognized that all mankind sins and is under the present judgment of sin, however the sin which is the greatest travesty to the Christian is not another’s, but his own. He knows he will die because of it, but that causes him little consternation; the great sting of sin for him is not then what or what next, but what now? He has found this greatest of ailments within himself and gone to the Saviour for the balm of Gilead thus removing the future retribution, but what does he do with his sin now? There is a present sanctification where he puts it away in the power of the blood, but this sanctification is partial at best, and that which remains is still grievous to him. It is that inborn sin nature which he retains and which cannot be gotten rid of until the body dies that causes him such grief. He longs for perfection but cannot find it in himself. THIS is that very thing which throws him back upon Christ, where that sting which was meant to sting has its salve as well!

Sin with its sting and its sting being so grievous, the Lord has provided a balm for sting of sin for the Christian while they remain on earth. We  look beyond this present evil unto the better day which is coming, a day where we will be glorified and without sin for eternity. We can look forward with anticipation to the day when we will be not only with Christ but like Christ, having finally and entirely put off the former things of this world. As the Son of God so beautifully put it in Isaiah, ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.’

Heb 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Sin stings because with it comes the unpleasant reality of consequence and judgment for it. For those who know not God, they seemingly sin with impunity most of the days of their lives, their conscience sometimes convincing and other times not convincing otherwise. There will be times when they wonder why ‘bad’ things happen to them and other people they consider ‘good’, but as a whole they care not much to find out the reason these things happen. The reason is that sin stings, and each sting has an unpleasant consequence. As the sin accumulates so do the unpleasant consequences.

One example of the sting of sin is that ‘sin entered the world and death through sin’. Death happens because of sin, and because ‘all have sinned’, all will die. Now sin is so heinous that not only has it caused mankind to die, but all creation has been tainted with sin such that plant and animal-kind will die as well. There is no need for a coroner investigation, the root cause of every death in the history of the world is sin. Deep inside every man realizes this, and it is this which naturally gives each person a fear of death.

Were we perfect we would live forever, but sin has so corrupted creation that sooner or later all in it must die. What gives us the consternation of soul is, then what? This is what imparts the fear of death to all, this is the sting of sin. Sin has caused all of us to die, proving that the effects of it are indiscriminate, and have come upon all, ‘for all have sinned’, even to the very best! We know that there will be an unpreventable day of reckoning for all and realize that we are poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked. We are without covering, and all will be laid bare before all; that stings.

God also knew that we would be without covering which is why He provided the covering we need in the blood of Christ. Through Christ and only through Him, we can say, ‘O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?’. In Christ, we know that though we must die because of sin, the sting of sin which is the sting of death, has been removed. We know that because He was raised again, He has completely put away the sin of those who trust Him, just as He said He would. Therefore we can say with all joy, ‘Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

1 Cor 15:55-57 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the purpose of this mercy? First we have to understand the purpose of this wrath. It is not intended to be a destructive wrath, but rather a sifting wrath, reserved for those yet to trust in the risen Christ. They are not yet saved but need to be sifted unto salvation! Sifting of itself is somewhat of a violent process, there is an external mechanism which exerts a force on powdered flour such that the finest of flour individually falls through. No lumps of flour fall through and no other impurities fall through, because the sifting mechanism only allows that which is as fine as flour to pass through. Each particle is rubbed vigorously against another and grated, breaking it down such that it can be made to fall through the sifter. In this same way, mankind will be sifted through the wrath of the Lamb and rescued by the wrath of man, such that the finest of flour will come through.

This time of the wrath of the Lamb is the great sifting of that flour which is left behind. Many new believers will be sifted out of that time period, but none will enter it. Sifting is a process reserved for lumpy flour not yet ready for its final use, and need not be used on that which is fresh. In other words, the wrath of the Lamb is not meant to be for those who are already saved, because he ‘hath not appointed us to wrath’ (1 The 5:9), but rather it is reserved for those who are still His enemies (Nah 1:2). Therefore the fresh flour will be raptured, and the lumpy flour (that not yet made fit for its intended use) will be left behind for its sifting. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and He knows those who are left behind that will be sifted unto His own. He knows these will be delivered unto Him by the wrath of man, such that they through this sifting, will be made meet for the master’s use.

This will be a period of wrath, nevertheless it will be the wrath of the “Lamb” which came to redeem those who were His enemies, making it also a redeeming wrath. His way of redemption is still in effect, He still saves “by grace through faith” such that those that are His from the foundation of the world will not be lost, but will be redeemed. If you happen to find yourself in this time know this: The Lamb that was slain also from the foundation of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Saviour, still saves all who come to Him by faith. When you trust Him, you will find yourself subject to the wrath of man whereby you will be delivered from this present evil world, but you shall be saved!

As we watch the world seemingly coming apart at the seams we ought to expect that the wrath of the Lamb is not far off, but as we sorrow over many of the lost, it does us good to remember that though it is wrath, it is the sifting, redeeming wrath of the Lamb which came to seek and to save that which was lost!

Rev 6:16-17 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, and in Him is no darkness. He is the only light of the world, and not only of this world but the world to come as well. What need is there of this Light? Light is the opposite of darkness, and sin is commensurate with darkness, therefore light is the opposite of sin. This light is His holiness and perfection which He shines forth to all men. Some are drawn to it, others prefer the darkness and hide from it. In this world, this Light is that which exposes who we really are, and why we really need a Saviour. In the world to come this Light forever shines forth His perfection unto all who have trusted Him.

The sins, sorrows, pressures of this world are darkness, but once let Christ shine His light upon them and they will flee. With no night and His light being ever-present in the world to come, it means that these things will never enter. What a pleasant thought, the things that trouble the Christian now will never enter the world to come. He will have left them to go to another place reserved for him, in the full light and presence of Christ.

These troubles though do not disappear, but rather are stored up for those who have rejected the Light, and preferred the darkness and all that it offers. They will have their wish, but moments into eternity, their wishes will change. They will lament the Light rejected, they will lament the darkness they preferred, yet it will be the very darkness they preferred that torments them.

It is the Light that concerns us though, for the Light is that which gives life, and that which we have cast all our hopes upon. Without this Light we would be destined to walk in darkness all of our days, but because this Light lighteth the way around us, we can see. This sight, both of the Light and the things which the Light lighteth is what gives us hope for today, but especially our hope of the tomorrow of eternity. Have you noticed this Light lighting your way? He has done so for you to recognize the difference between light and darkness, that you may prefer Him, the Light of life. Trust Him today!

I look forward to, and long for the day when the Lamb is the light of the city.

Rev 21:23, John 1:9 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.…That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

A great deal is said these days about repentance, but when we read verses like Luke 13:3 etc and see that it is so crucial, what exactly is it? It has been around since the beginning of time and is not something new, there are others before us who have dealt faithfully with this word. A perfectly fitting example is H.A. Ironside in his excellent book “Except ye Repent”

Here are a few quotes:

“Repentance is the recognition of my sinnership — the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be in His holy Word.”

“Repentance is the recognition, the avowed recognition, of God’s estimate of the hopeless character of our hearts till renewed by the Word and Spirit of God. Until one comes to this place there is no further word from heaven for any man, except the sentence of doom.”

“Repentance is the sinner’s recognition of and acknowledgment of his lost estate and, thus, of his need of grace.”

Though able to change our minds, or attitudes towards ourselves, by nature we simply do not want to. We are commanded to do something for which it is not possible for us to want to do. This is why the work of the Holy Spirit is required to bring everyone who comes, to repentance. We must have a glimpse of perfection with which to compare ourselves before we will ever look at ourselves as we ought to. It is the work of the Spirit of God to give us that glimpse such that we can see our broken and undone condition. Upon seeing that we are to proclaim with Job, “behold, I am vile”, which is the result of seeing yourself next to the perfection of God. It is not a view that I was vile as is often proclaimed, but that I am vile. It is a present sense of who you really are that is repentance.

Men would fancy that you have to do this, or turn from this or some other such thing, but in reality that is just part of the charade of painting the sepulchre. Until you recognize and fully own the fact that you are plainly without hope in yourself, there can never be hope. You see, repentance is really just the recognition of who we really are, and what strength we have in ourselves to do about it, to which the answer to both is simply “nothing”, and can only be seen when compared to one who is everything. That is why we need a glimpse of Christ. That is what the Holy Spirit gives us. That is what gives us repentance, or a change of mind about who we really are. That is when we are in position to have the salve of the blood of Christ applied to our wounds. That is what causes us to believe on Christ. That is how we are brought into saving faith. That is the repentance that leads to salvation. It is that which, if missing, is what causes us to perish eternally as stated in Luke 13:3.

If this is not present in yourself, ask the Spirit of God to give you a true sight of yourself and sight of the perfection which is found in Christ Jesus, and trust Him to impute His righteousness to you by faith. He was made to be what we are, so that we could be made to be what He is!

2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The Christian is a sojourner, a foreigner, a stranger, to this world, and because this world is not meant to be his home, there will be adversity in it for him. He is opposed to this world and it is opposed to him, and with this opposition comes adversity. He is not alone in feeling the sting of adversity, for there are varying amounts of adversity reserved for everyone. The reaction to adversity is what is different and sets apart not only the Christian from the world, but also defines the strength of the Christian.

When adversity comes upon a wicked man, he is never willingly subject to it, but rails against it as though adversity were never meant to be for him (Psa 10:6). In his adversity, he is like a bell struck by a stick, ever sounding off about this thing that destroys his comfort. Because it is comfort, not Christ that they seek, it is far from the wicked to say with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” He cries out in time of prosperity that he will never be in adversity, and does all that he can to prevent it, thereby becoming even friendlier with this present world. For this reason, the wicked find themselves with less adversity to this world, and more comfort from it, with few ever realizing that it was this very adversity they despised which was being used to cause them to look up to the God of heaven (Eccl 7:14). Most oppose their day of adversity with all their might, and though stayed for a moment, their ultimate day of adversity comes in the full after this world is over; it may tarry, but nevertheless the day of adversity does eventually come to each in all its fullness.

The Christian however, reacts differently in the day of adversity. Rather than ringing like a sounding bell, they are more like a burlap sack when struck with adversity, they yield to it, and make little sound about it, thereby revealing the strength of their union with Christ. They know that this world is not their home, and that they are ‘just a passing through’, therefore their sights are set on higher things than their own present personal comfort. It is this that allows them to say with Job when all comfort is removed, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Adversity is one of the instruments of God that He use for the building of faith and character. In some cases adversity is used to tear down a false faith, and in other cases it is used to build up faith on the foundation of Christ. In any case, the day of adversity in this world is temporary and has rest from it (Psa 94:13), for God mixes adversity with prosperity in just the right measure for our good.

The Lord has redeemed the soul of the Christian out of all adversity (2 Sam 4:9), the same of which cannot be said of the wicked, yet in this world there must come a faith-building adversity to the flesh for the good of all mankind. Some seek comfort in the world from it, and others are drawn to Christ by it. Who will you be in your day of adversity? The one who faints (Prov 24:10)? Or the one who considers (Eccl 7:14)?

Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

None face death with a hope similar to the righteous. Nearly everyone in the world hopes to be counted among the righteous when they die, yet few make any moves to make that be the case. The Bible teaches that there are “none righteous, no not one” (Rom  3:10), yet it also teaches that there are some righteous who have a hope in death that none else can have (Prov 14:32). Whence cometh this righteousness to provide such hope?

The righteousness that justifies is a righteousness that is counted ours and appropriated by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet some may be justified that may not have the hope in death that they would seek. So what righteousness does one have that gives them this hope? It is an assurance of righteousness imputed which is given by the Lord Jesus Christ to them that have walked with Him and love Him for His very person. These are not self-righteous people, but rather they are Christ-righteous, and have an assurance of such directly from Him. They not only have heard and believed the good news of a Saviour, but they have met Christ this side of heaven, and the meeting with Christ assures them of a future meeting with Him under pleasant circumstances.

The righteous that has hope in his death is him who has met Christ and actually walked with Him. He may have stumbled, he may have fell, but he has walked with the Lord such that he loves and trusts Him with all his heart. Many are like Lot, who yet saved, have not that which is called a deathbed hope. Why? Because they have never really taken the time to walk with Christ. It is in the walk where you learn to trust Him in ALL, and He in turn gives an assurance of imputed righteousness that cannot be taken away. It is this assurance which offers the deathbed hope.

The world will consider you weird, the world will consider you strange, the world will despise you because you are not like them. There is nothing you can do about that, it is just fact. What you can do is use the time when you are hated and despised to grow your walk with Christ even more.

The world has hated the righteous while they are here, yet it is hard to say anything bad about them when they are gone. Why? Because the life of the righteous has been a testimony to the power of Christ. Though none is perfect, one has to raise the standard of judgment so high to condemn the righteous, that they must in the same breath condemn themselves. This is one of the things that causes even the wicked to want to die the death of the righteous. They can say nothing against the righteous that does not also condemn themselves. They know the righteous have laid up in store, treasures in heaven, that cannot be removed. They know that they themselves have not laid up such treasure, and will regret it sometime in the future.

Another reason even the wicked want to die the death of the righteous is that peace that passeth all understanding that the wicked see the righteous have as they face death. The wicked face death in fear or apprehension (Heb 2:15), whereas the righteous face it with joy and hope (Prov 14:32, Phil 1:23). In the righteous, there is a willingness to depart and be with Christ which is far better, that the wicked know nothing about. It is not a dying without hope, it is a hope in death as one that sees across to the other side, just like crossing the river Jordan on the way to the promised land.

Prov 14:32 “…the righteous hath hope in his death.”