Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1 Peter 2:11-17
Visitation
The LORD’S Visit
And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as He had spoken. Genesis 21:1
The LORD had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son. God had promised them that Abraham would be a father of nations, and through him all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Much time had passed when this promise is fulfilled.
At the age of 86 Abraham had gone along with the scheme of Sarah to have a son with Hagar. This was not what God had promised. Maybe in concocting this plan Sarah thought they would be fulfilling the will of God. God’s promise to Abraham for a son was for Sarah too.
When Abraham was 100 years of age, and Sarah was 99 the promise of God was fulfilled. Sarah gave birth to Isaac which means “Laughter”, because she had been laughing. Just as nothing was too hard for God to do for Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:14), so it is for the Christian today. Also for the lost soul to receive forgiveness and peace and rest.
When God the LORD shows up He will do all that He has said.
He has told us that He loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). That Son is Jesus Christ who died on the cross, was buried, and He rose again. That is the LORD’S visit today. Call on His name repent and believe.
You Knew Not the Time
And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying,
“If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Luke 19:41-44O LORD, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. Psalm 104:24
When the Lord came the first time many who knew the prophecies of His coming did not know Him when He arrived. Prideful of empty religion, their rules and wrong understanding of mercy and grace kept them from seeing “The Desire of Nations” (Haggai 2:7) when He visited them.
Has the Spirit of God visited you and you have not yielded to His drawing you to the Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the cross and lay Himself down on it; He died, was buried, and He rose again. He is speaking to you. Do not reject Him. Call on His name and be saved.
The Promises of GOD are Irrevocable
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.
Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. Psalm 89:28-35And He turned Him unto His disciples, and said privately,
“Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Luke 10:23-24
Blessed are those who see that the promises of God cannot be diminished, overcome, defeated, or destroyed. The word of the LORD stands sure forever.
Arise
“And it came to pass the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and much people.
Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her,
‘Weep not.’
And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said,
‘Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.’
And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, ‘That a great prophet is risen up among us;’ and, ‘That God hath visited His people.’ ” Luke 7:11-16
The LORD, My Portion
“Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them: for He is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: The LORD of Hosts is His name.” Jeremiah 10:14-16 (KJB)
The prophet lived among many people of Judah who were in pretense worshiping the LORD God, and yet they worshiped demons in the form of idolatry the other days of the week.
Some of these people may have even been the idol makers, and sold them for a profit. After all it is only business. Right? Wrong. It is forbidden by God Himself to make or to set up idols.
You may be thinking, “Well people do not worship idols today”. Really? Some of them roll around on four wheels. We call them automobiles. They are only a tool to serve us. What about those things you see attached to peoples hands and ears, called “Cell phones” are they not worshiped? Some worship their children and grandchildren. Anything can be an idol.
I have heard it said, “Man makes god in his own image”. You know kind of a slur on God’s word where He tells us “Let Us make man in our image”. The gods the race of Adam makes are things created by our own hands, by our own minds. These gods are weak. They can be burned. They can be destroyed. They can die.
The LORD, my Portion is not weak, but Mighty; Almighty, as a matter of fact. The LORD, my Portion can not be burned; He cannot be destroyed; and He cannot die. He is the One who made all things; the seen and the unseen; every planet, every star, every molecule that is in the Universe. He bows to no one.
He did come to earth as a Man, the God Man Jesus Christ, and gave His life to redeem Adam’s fallen race unto Himself.
The Visitation
“And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’” Luke 19:41-44 (KJB)
I looked up the word “Visitation” and it is found at least 15 times throughout the Bible; from Numbers through First Peter. Much of the time it is speaking of God’s showing Himself unto His people in mercy; however when they do not hear, and believe Him the visitation is in judgment.
The following is from exposition by Alexander MacLaren…
“Who can venture to speak of that infinitely pathetic scene? The fair city, smiling across the glen, brings before His vision the awful contrast of its lying compassed by armies and in ruins. He hears not the acclamation of the crowd. ‘He wept,’ or, rather, ‘wailed,’-for the word does not imply tears so much as cries. That sorrow is a sign of His real manhood, but it is also a part of His revelation of the very heart of God. The form is human, the substance divine. The man weeps because God pities. Christ’s sorrow does not hinder His judgments. The woes which wring His heart will nevertheless be inflicted by Him. Judgment is His ‘strange work,’ alien from His desires; but it is His work. The eyes which are as a flame of fire are filled with tears, but their glance burns up the evil.
Note the yearning in the unfinished sentence, ‘If thou hadst known.’ Note the decisive closing of the time of repentance. Note the minute prophetic details of the siege, which, if ever they were spoken, are a distinct proof of His all-seeing eye. And from all let us fix in our hearts the conviction of the pity of the judge, and of the judgment by the pitying Christ.” From the EXPOSITION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE by Alexander MacLaren Luke19:41-44
May the Lord always remember mercy toward us. The cross of Christ is the evidence that He does.
Will you repent of your sins today, turn to Him and be delivered from the guilt and condemnation of your sins?
Responsible for Sin
“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, Mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.” Exodus 32:31-35 (KJV)
Moses had been on the Mount receiving instructions of the worship of God for the people of Israel. They had previously received the Ten Commandments in word, having heard the voice of God speaking to them in Exodus 20.
The first Commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me”. The second is “You shall not make for yourself any graven image…”, and that is exactly what Aaron and the people had done. They had disobeyed God the LORD of all glory. They, by making the golden calf, had separated themselves from the worship of YaHWeH. They transgressed the law of God.
Moses, the man of God, the prophet of the Law of God, prays that if someone is to perish for their sin, “…Blot me, I pray Thee out of Thy book which Thou has written”. It is apparent from God’s response that no one is responsible for the payment of sin except the one committing the transgression.
There is the promise of God that “Mine Angel shall go before thee…”, but there is still a visitation of judgment that must be made upon sin.
God has not, nor will He ever forsake His people; but Oh how His people have forsaken Him. Yet, He is merciful. He is forever with us.
We are the ones responsible for our own sin debt, but God has provided a Substitute who has paid the price, by becoming “sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The name of that Substitute is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The Fall of the Crown
Sermon Points –
The Fall of the Crown
Genesis 2:8-9, 17; 3:1-24
1. Trees In the Garden (2:8-9, 17).
2. Examination of the Wrong Tree, and Its Temptation (3:1-5).
3. The Fall of the Crown of God’s Creation (vv. 6-7).
4. God’s Visitation in the Garden – Adam’s Last Day in Eden (vv. 8-19).
5. God’s Provision for Adam and Eve (vv. 20-24).
Through the Bible in a Year – e100613
Peace… But No Peace
Jeremiah 6:10-19
purpose: To reveal what is happening when there is proposed peace, but evil is good, and good is evil; when the people of God despise the word of God, and there is no shame; and to show what will happen if there is no repentance.
1. THE WORD OF GOD BECOMES OFFENSIVE (v. 10).
2. TROUBLE IN THE HOMELAND, ABROAD, AT HOME AND AMONG SPIRITUAL LEADERS (vv. 11-13).
3. A FALSE MESSAGE IS PROCLAIMED FOR PEACE (v. 14).
4. THERE IS NO SHAME TOWARD WHAT GOD CALLS ABOMINATION (v. 15a).
5. THERE WILL BE A VISITATION FROM THE LORD (v. 15b).
6. WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF HIS PEOPLE DURING THIS TIME (v. 16a).
- A. Get into God’s ways He provides; first repent.
- B. Ask direction in the old time ways of living by faith.
- C. You will find rest and peace for your souls.
7. THE PEOPLE TAKE A CHOICE (vv. 16b-19).
- A. Evil comes on the people.
- B. There will be fruit from their thoughts.
1. Today, if you can think it (without any thought of consequences); do it.
2. Fruits of thoughts can be tragic indeed; not only for the “thinker”, but the victims of the thoughts.
-Tim A. Blankenship
God’s Word Today 082212
The LORD of hosts hath sworn by Himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.’ He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding. When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures. Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: the LORD of hosts is His name.” Jeremiah 51:14-19 (KJV)
Also read Psalms 115 and 135.
-T.A.
The Fire and Hammer 