Tennessee

Heart and Life Directions

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

Heart and Life Directions – Proverbs 21:1-8

It is a staple of life to know that God can take the heart of a king and turn it the direction He chooses.  Even when the king is evil, from an evil empire or kingdom God uses kings to fulfill His will and purposes.

Verses 1 – 4 –  Streams of water are often changed in their courses due to flood waters.  In the early 1800’s [1811-1812] the Mississippi River flowed backwards for a period of 10-24 hours filling, forming the Reelfoot lake.  Even streams as massive as the Mississippi can be changed by the hand of God; so too can a king’s heart.
Examples of king’s hearts being changed can be seen in Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Ahaseurus, Darius, Cyrus (Exodus 12:31;  Daniel 4;  5;  6;  10;  Ezra 1, 4;  Esther 9-10).
The Lord looks on and knows the hearts of mankind. Even Jesus is said to have known what was on the hearts of some people who wanted to force Him to be king (John 2:23-25; 6:14-15).
The “High look” and the “Proud heart” go like peas in their pod.  The plowing of the wicked, leads to the sowing of sin.  “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7)

Verses 5 – 8 –  There is contrast in v. 5 between the diligent and the hasty.  There is reward for diligence; while there is waste and want to the hasty.

“The getting of treasures by a lying tongue,…. By telling lies in trade; by bearing false witness in a court of judicature; or by preaching false doctrines in the church of God: is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death: such treasures, though ever so great, are like any light thing, smoke or vapour, straw, stubble, chaff, or a feather, tossed about the wind; which is expressive of the instability uncertainty of riches ill gotten; they do not last long, but are taken away and carried off by one providence or another; and they are likewise harmful and pernicious; they issue in death: and those that seek after them, and obtain them in a bad way, are said to “seek death”: not intentionally, but eventually; this they certainly find, if grace prevent not; see Pro_8:36. Jarchi reads it, they are the “snares of death” to him; and so the Septuagint version.”  From John Gill Commentary

and the MacArthur Study Bible note

“21:5-7 These verses address the evils of ill-gotten gain.  They show three major defects in the way this gain is acquired: 1) hastily (v. 5; cf. 19:2;28:20);  2) deceitfully (v. 5 cf. 13:11); and 3) violently (v. 7; cf. 12:6).”

Verse 7 –  NKJV

“The violence of the wicked will destroy them, Because they refuse to do justice.”

ESV

“The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.”

Verse 8 –  People without God, and walking in His paths live lives which are perverse, crooked, criminal, and guilt riden lives.  The path of those who walk with God, are pure through the purity of Christ Jesus and do right through Him.

Raging Waves Of The Sea

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

“These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Jude 12-13 (NKJV).

Anyone who has ever seen the ocean waves, and heard them crashing down on the beach know that they put on a good show. They can however reach no further than the bounds set for them by God. They serve no purpose except to be try and reach beyond their God ordained bounds, speaking loudly, deceiving many, with their undertow and riptides, sending many to their death. They are beautiful to see, and to hear, but destructive.

Today I will give you a quote from Dr. B. Gray Allison from his study of Jude. Dr. Allison is the founding President of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee:

“Jude further describes those of whom he writes as ‘raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame.’ Isaiah wrote: ‘But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace’, saith my God, ‘to the wicked.’ (Isaiah 57:20,21). What a picture of the mouth-professor who is not a heart-possessor! Never any peace! An outward show of tranquility, O yes! Many times a smile is on the face, but the heart is yearning, the heart is ill at ease. There is never any real peace, never any real joy, never any real happiness, never any real satisfaction. Never at peace–always disturbed, tossed to and fro as the raging waves of the sea. This is the condition of the mouth professor who is not a heart possessor of Jesus.”

From “NOW UNTO HIM, Messages From Jude For Our Day”, p. 52, by B. Gray Allison.

The false teachers make a lot of noise, sometimes put on a good show, oooh and awe you, but they possess not the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. They possess instead the presence of the spirit of demons. They seek to fill their own pockets with the hard work of others, and finally fill others only with dread, fear, and destruction.

When you are a follower of Jesus and you are studying His Word, are praying, and living according to His Word and the Spirit you can quickly identify the false from the truth. Remember Jesus’s own words. “Do not be deceived.”

-Tim A. Blankenship