Good Morning! - 2010.09.03 - 2Chronicles 20:12 - Our Eyes are Upon Thee

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. (2Chronicles 20:12)

Lest we forget, we did not know the outcome of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I remember that Sunday; unseasonably warm at Medlock. Our government assumed that an imminent attack on our west coast of California might be part of the plan. We were not prepared.

Our immediate plunge into war with NAZI Germany came within days. We knew what they were doing to England, France, and Poland. We were caught unprepared and for a while we were at the mercy of our enemies. That day is an example of a nation in the position of our text for today.

A great host of individuals are in that circumstance every day. As we drive through the streets and see people milling about in "normal" living, we cannot see how many people are struggling with sickness or death or hunger and overwhelming poverty. How many families are overwhelmed by a wayward child who has chosen drugs and deviant lifestyle?

I have lived in the world of "other people" for 57 years and know first-hand that people make one of two choices when they are overwhelmed. Either they focus on "we have no might against this great company that cometh against us" and surrender to despair, alcohol and drugs or suicide—or else they retreat to the presence of the living God and cry from their hearts: "our eyes are upon thee!"

Since I got saved October, 1943 I have been urging everyone I could to turn their eyes upon Jesus. When I began telling the boys in my fourth grade class about getting saved in the bean market, I was surprised that it upset them and caused them to gang up on me. I was not prepared for their mockery.

I suppose most of their resistance was against my disposition and not my position. I was a trumpet in their ear and they saw no reason to be disturbed about God. And so it is that men today will most often have no use for God until they are hurting or overwhelmed with something in their lives. I'm still looking for open doors in the hearts of men but have learned that patient waiting for their "Pearl Harbor" is the better part of wisdom. I've worked a good bit on my disposition but my position has not changed and it will not change.

That's why I say to everybody I meet: "How's your day?" I love to tell them that this is a special day like no other and that God just shipped it in. It won't be here but a few hours and then it will be gone forever. The response to "How's your day?" is very important to me. Sometimes I sense something and will say, "OK…how IS your day…REALLY?" It's surprising how many times that question will bring tears to the eyes and down the cheeks or cause someone to tremble. You see, we've learned that we have to make it through the day and it's easier if we put on a happy smile and a cheery "Fine! Just fine!" speech.

But sometimes you can look past theatrical smiles and see behind the mask. "Have you prayed about it?" Or, "would you like for me to pray with you about it?" It's OK at Walmart to pull your cart over against the paint shelves and bow your head. Nobody will bother you. The Walmart Chapel is a good place to help someone lift their eyes to the Lord for their burdens. You don't have to make a scene. It's amazing how much good can be done with a quiet voice while people scoot by you looking for parsley.

If I get tired and sit down on a bench, I don't waste time wondering who I'm sitting beside. "How's your day?" Would you believe that I have never made anyone mad by asking them "How's your day?" People love to talk about themselves, to look at themselves in a mirror, or look for themselves in a group picture. I do! Don't you? So that's why I love to ask people "How's your day?" And I just love to tell them that God just made this day fresh this morning and shipped it in. But sometime, our last day will be shipped in, then what?

Do you know the song: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus? It goes like this: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim – in the light of His glory and grace." It has verses too but that's the popular chorus. It's in the key of F but I sing it in E-flat. Ω

Good Morning! - 2010.09.02 - 2Chronicles 15:2 - With You With Him

Good Morning!

And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa,

and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with

him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him,

he will forsake you.  (2Chronicles 15:2)

Yesterday as Barbara and I were having our morning devotions the above highlighted phrase came to mind. I had tucked it away many years ago but had forgotten where it was found. The LORD is with you, while ye be with him;

We should not look at the above verses removed from their setting. The people had forsaken God and were reaping bad times. Really bad times! Some had begun to pray and God had begun to respond by sending them the Prophet Azariah who had a message for them. He put it on the line. If they wanted God to help them, they would have to get off the fence and be on God's side. What a great encouragement this is and what a great reminder of their responsibility toward God! It applies no less today for you and me.

Encouragement of Azariah, The Prophet. McGee, the radio Bible teacher also puts it on the line and it may offend some preachers today. "On the road to revival there are three bridges which must be crossed. We come now to the first bridge, which is a knowledge of the Word of God.

"The tragedy of the hour in our day is that there is not enough Bible teaching in the church. I say this very kindly, but we do not need more preachers. You can buy them like bananas, by the dozen. Bible teachers are few and far between; yet they are needed. And they were needed in Asa's day. They did not have a teaching priest. They had priests and Levites—they were knee-deep in priests and Levites—but they did not have a teaching priest. Consequently they were without the Law, without the Word of God." Is McGee too hard on them and on us today? Let's look at the word-for-word text that follows our text in blue.

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.  But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 

 

And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.  And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 

 

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.  (2Chronicles 15:3-7)

 

This last verse strikes me hard! It has to be addressed to individuals. It is the individual who has hands. It is the individual who applies his or her heart to work. It is the individual who will be rewarded. But in the time of great national trouble, the individual is cut off and isolated from the public picture. It was true in Elijah's day. The great prophet of God thought he was the only one in Israel who cared about God or who was taking things to heart or who was praying daily with a broken spirit. God finally told Elijah about the seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1Kings 19:18).

 

So it is today. You may think you are the only one who sees the great moral decline of America and the only one who fears the destructive consequences of God's judgment upon America. But, my friend, I believe at this point in time, there are many thousands of people in America who know God and are bowed in their spirits daily in prayer before God and are praying for an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Be encouraged to seek God with a bowed heart, a bowed head, a bowed knee or however you want to pray. What God is looking for is a bowed heart—a bowed spirit.

 

If you want to do further study in your Bible, here is an excellent study guide from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge. These references are not live links. You will need to look them up.

 

2Ch 15:2 

 

Hear ye me: 2Ch_13:4, 2Ch_20:15, 2Ch_20:20; Jdg_9:7; Psa_49:1-2; Isa_7:13; Mat_13:9; Rev_2:7, Rev_2:11, Rev_2:17; Rev_2:29, Rev_3:6, Rev_3:13, Rev_3:22

The Lord: 2Ch_13:12, 2Ch_32:8; Deu_20:1; Jam_4:8

if ye seek him: 2Ch_15:4, 2Ch_15:15, 2Ch_33:12; Isa_55:6-7; Jer_29:12-14; Mat_7:7-8

if ye forsake: 2Ch_12:1-3, 2Ch_24:20; 2Ki_21:14; 1Ch_28:9; Rom_11:1-2; Heb_10:38, Heb_12:25

 

 

Our text is a great verse to memorize and to live by. Ω

 

This article can also be viewed at www.bibleliving.blogspot.com

 

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Good Morning! - 2010.09.01 - 2Corinthians 5;10-11b - The Judgment Seat of Christ

Good Morning!

 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every

 

one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath

 

done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the

 

Lord, we persuade men; (2Corinthians 5:10-11b)

 

Let us note the words with great care. This is the judgment seat of Christ and not the Great White Throne Judgment, nor the Judgment of the Nations, nor the Judgment of Angels. It is not the Judgment of God's Son for the sins of the whole world. The Judgment Seat of Christ is not to judge sin but to judge the  works done by the redeemed Christians. It is not the judgment for Old Testament saints.

McGee writes: "This is the judgment seat, literally, the bema. There is still a bema in Corinth, and when we were there on tour, we took pictures of the ruins of it. At the judgment seat of Christ only believers will appear. It is not a judgment of the believer's sins, which Christ fully atoned for on the Cross. The judgment is to see whether you are going to receive a reward or not.

When Paul says, "We must all appear," remember that he is writing to believers. All we believers will be judged, that we may receive the things done in the body. We will be judged on the way we lived the Christian life, how we have lived in these bodies down here. When we go into His presence, we will be finished with these old bodies. The question He will ask is how we used these bodies. How did we live down here?"

I was raised on the preaching and teaching that assumed there would be a general day of resurrection when all the dead would be raised at once on the same day. And then there would a general judgment when everyone would be judged on the same day, including the nations. On that day the sheep would be separated from the goats and the sheep would go to heaven and the goats would go to hell. When I got old enough to read the Bible for myself and to study the writings of some very capable men, I realized that the theory of a general resurrection and a general judgment was well-meaning but very much wrong.

The first great judgment was when Christ was judged on the cross for the sins of the world. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)

 

God's wrath burned hot upon the body of His own son who hung upon the cross. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  (Romans 8:32)

 

For years I pondered the phrase: "Knowing the terror of the Lord." If God poured out His wrath upon His own dear Son on the cross, then why should we think about the "terror of the Lord."  This is not the Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20:11-15 where only the unsaved will stand. If you are a believer, your name is written in the Book of Life, and you have eternal life. However, you will stand before the bema, the judgment seat of Christ, to be judged for rewards. We who are saved will stand before Him—every one of us!

 

I have no business looking down on other Christians who are also going to stand before him. You don't like somebody chewing tobacco and sayong tacky things all the time? Well, they are going to have to explain everything to the one who owns them and died for them. That takes a load off of me. That relieves me of the responsibility of going around telling everybody they need to shine their shoes. It is true that God has told us to exhort one another, to love one another, to pray for one another and there are some other "one anothers."

 

When we look in the face of the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we may wish we were somewhere else. We are going to be looking into the face of the One who knows everything we ever did or thought since we gave our hearts to Him and the Holy Spirit moved into our bodies and sealed us unto the day of redemption. We are forgiven, yes! Nevertheless, we are going to be judged for rewards or for the withholding of rewards. These rewards are not based on grace but upon our works. Puts a little seriousness into living the Christian life doesn't it? 2Corinthians 5:10 is a good verse to memorize.

 

The Scofield Reference Bible gives the following references. Look them up in your Bible.

 

The judgment of the believer's works, not sins, is in question here. These have been atoned for, and are "remembered no more forever" (Heb_10:17) but every work must come into judgment, (Mat_12:36); (Rom_14:10); (Gal_6:7); (Eph_6:8); (Col_3:24); (Col_3:25). The result is "reward" or "loss" (of the reward), "but he himself shall be saved". (1Co_3:11-15).

 

This judgment occurs at the return of Christ (Mat_16:27); (Luk_14:14); (1Co_4:5); (2Ti_4:8); (Rev_22:12).

See other judgments:

(See Scofield) - (John_12:31).

(See Scofield) - (1Cor_11:31).

(See Scofield) - (Mat_25:32).

(See Scofield) - (Eze_20:37).

(See Scofield) - (Jud_1:6).

(See Scofield) - (Rev_20:12).

 

This article can also be viewed at www.bibleliving.blogspot.com

 

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