Times

Discerning the Time

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

And He said also to the people,
“When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, ‘There cometh a shower;’ and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, ‘There will be heat;’ and it cometh to pass.
Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Luke 12:54-56

It is for God’s people; those who have been born again; to discern the time in which we live. It is for the child of God to speak of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the love of God; and the judgment that is on us.

Call on the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.

The Temptation

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“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But He answered and said,
‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’
Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.’
Jesus said unto him,
‘It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’
Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, ‘All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.’
Then saith Jesus unto him,
‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’
Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.”  Matthew 4:1-11  (KJB)

If we will look at the above encounter Jesus had with Satan we could learn much in dealing with temptation.

First of all we need to understand Jesus had gone into the wilderness and was many days without food and water, so in His flesh He was weak. He needed to survive. He longed to survive. When that old devil presented Him with the idea o turning stones to bread it would have been quite the temptation for Jesus to do so; but He did not

Jesus realized and knew that for Him to do so would be making Himself a pawn of the devil, and would be yielding Himself to the will of the serpent. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” was His answer. The word of God must be our main source of sustenance and survival.

Secondly, the devil tempted Jesus with security by tempting Him to throw Himself off the highest point of the temple to prove He was the Son of God. In doing so, again, He would have been submitting to the devil’s snares.

Security is very important to people of all times and stations of life. Jesus told the devil, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” and to do so would be to lose the greatest security ever given to the redeemed.

The last temptation  was one of success and worship. If Jesus would bow down to the devil, then He could have all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus knew that He was going to redeem them unto Himself anyway on the cross some three years later, and He said to the devil these words, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus knew that the only worship He could give is to His father or He could not and would not finish the task the Father gave Him to do.

If Jesus would have yielded to temptation then the world would be lost. When you and I yield to temptation we lose our fellowship with God when we are His children, we lose power with Him, and we lose peace, and feel greatly vexed by our lives.

Let us follow the witness of Jesus’s temptation, and greatly depend on the Holy Spirit and the word of God.

If you do not know Jesus as Your Lord and Savior, then  when you realize you are lost in sin, apart from God, then hear that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, was buried and He rose again – then call on His name and He will deliver you from sins condemnation. Call on His name today.

 

The Signs and Times

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I read the Scriptures this morning, and the following verses were what have rested in my heart.  So probably more for me; but I am pretty sure others will be able to hear God speak through them too.

“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.” Genesis 41:1-8 (KJV)

“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired Him that He would shew them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said unto them, ‘When it is evening, ye say, ‘It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.  And in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring.’ O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?  A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.’  And He left them, and departed.”  Matthew 16:1-4 (KJV)

As you can see; one from the Old Testament book of Genesis, and the other from the Gospel of Matthew.  Following Pharoah’s dream he could not find an interpreter of the dream until Joseph was revealed.  In the Gospel of Matthew the Pharisees and Sadducees had the word of God, and had the Son of God standing in their presence; and they too were oblivious to the signs of the times they were in.

Pharoah received Joseph, and his interpretation, and Egypt was delivered from the famine that could have come on them all.  Joseph is a shadow, type, or picture of Jesus Christ.  Just as Pharoah received Joseph, though he had been rejected by his brothers; so to must the people of today receive the message of Jesus and Jesus Himself in order to be delivered from the slavery to sin.

One fear that I have is that many who profess Jesus as Saviour of their lives do not recognize the signs that tell us the time here is short.  Let me give you a few; 1.  Rampant sin and rebellion;  2. Universal approval of sinful behaviors;  3.  Things which use to be wrong are now right, and things once right are now wrong.  Is that enough?  Lift up your heads your redemption draweth nigh.  Put another way; Jesus is coming soon.  No I am not talking about “The end of the world”.  I am talking about a true change.

-Tim A. Blankenship