Out With The Old, In With The New
“…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Philippians 3:13
The symbol for a new year is a new baby, not a refurbished old person. Time and circumstance wear on us for the worse, as well as other things. A new born enters life fresh, without the baggage of past prejudice, completely free to advance into the present.
To say that Christians are not affected in some negative way by passing circumstances, is to ignore the reality of human imperfection altogether. Denying that we pick up any baggage along life’s road is neither the right answer nor the correct solution. To deny the presence of our imperfection is like saying, “we have no sin”. Just as we must confess our sins to God to be forgiven and cleansed, we must also identify and cast off the baggage that we have accumulated along the way due to our imperfection.
We need to enter the new year as a “new baby”, not as an old person carrying the ill effects of the past.
To not seek deliverance and freedom from the imperfect feelings, opinions, prejudices, etc., of the past, will just require that we become more deceitful and pretentious in presenting ourselves as being well, when deep down the malignancy of imperfection continues to fester and grow into more serious stages.
May our prayer for the new year be for sufficient self-denial and submission unto the Lord, for:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 20-21
Our Life’s Recipe
I recently read an article entitled, “Rescuing The Church From The Snare of Good Performance.” It was dealing with the subject along the lines of: “The church at Ephesus had good performance, but left their first love (Revelation 2:1-7). Good performance is no replacement for love for Christ and others.”
How true this is in light of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, which points out that regardless of our talents, our abilities, our knowledge, and, yes, our performance, without charity we are nothing. A love for God and others, the two great commandments on which hang all the law and prophets, is the true spirit of Christianity.
This leads us to the reality that our lives as Christians are a mixture of both the flesh and the Spirit, which are contrary the one to the other – Galatians 5:17. We are not only what we learn in church, but we also have the influences of our culture upon us. What we know to be true, and what we do, may not always be the same. It may be the Spirit of God moving us, or it might be our fleshly passions driving us. Indeed, we are a mixture of sorts!
The Bible teaches us, not to just be content with whatever our personal mixture may be, but rather we are to seek out the formula of God’s will and way for the make-up of our person and our way of life. This involves repentance and faith unto self-denial and the taking up of our cross to follow Christ.
Just as Christ emptied Himself of all His rights and privileges, to take upon Himself the form of a servant, and humbled Himself to die on the cross for our sins, it is our reasonable service to present our body a living sacrifice unto Him, to prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God – Romans 12:1-2.
Sometimes, we need to be rescued from the arrangement of our lives, because the arrangement we have that pleases us, may very well not be pleasing to God, but rather falling short of having eternity’s values in view.
SHARINGThe Mystery Of Iniquity Doth Work
The Pilgrims and colonists, who came to this country, were fleeing religious oppression. They came, as the Mayflower Compact said, “for the Glory of God and the establishment of the Christian faith.” The New England Confederation said, “Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to insure the liberties of the Gospel, in purities with peace.”
Our founding fathers all declared, as well as wrote in their memorials, that this was a Christian nation.
In 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court said: “Our law and our institutions must be necessarily based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise, and in this sense and that our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian…this is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth…THIS IS A CHRISTIAN NATION.”
But now, there have arisen “principalities and powers” that are at war with everything that lends itself to Christianity in our nation. We saw it with the removal of God, the Bible and prayer, from our public schools. There are many social organizations with tremendous financial backing, which gives them great political clout, along with liberal judges, etc., who use the powers of their office to wage war against Christianity.
Some examples: In North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United For Separation of Church and State, obtained a U.S. Circuit Court decision that states even “a solitary reference to Jesus Christ” in invocations before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners’ meetings could do “violence to the pluralistic and inclusive values…of American public life.” In Texas, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs continues to censor citizens. At the Houston National Cemetery, the word “God” is banned at funerals for veterans. Families are required to submit prayers or religious messages for government approval. The Bible and cross, once placed in the cemetery chapel, are hidden. Funerals are monitored by government officials…AND THE BEAT GOES ON!
SHARINGCursed Be Canaan
Genesis 9:22-27
I. THE CURSE
A. Ham Was The One Who Did The Wrong, Not Canaan His Son, v22. If this was a curse upon the person, rather than a prophetic overview of what the effects of Ham’s attitude would bear on his posterity, then the curse would have just been pronounced upon Ham.
B. Canaan Was One Of The Four Sons Of Ham, Genesis 10:6-20. Why would the curse rest only on Canaan and not on the other three sons? If this was about Ham’s sin creating a subservient race of people, Canaan was the same race as Cush, Mizraim and Phut.
–For example, Egypt is referred to as the land of Ham: Psalm 105:23 & Psalm 106:21-22.
C. “Canaan Shall Be His (Shem’s) Servant”–In What Sense? Did Canaan actually wait on Shem as a household servant? NO!
–Canaan was to be Shem’s servant, not Japheth’s (the Gentiles). But in what sense?
–The nation of Israel descended from Shem. The sense in which Canaan served Shem, is that God subdued Canaan under Israel. The Canaanites were a strong people, until God subdued them before Israel, and gave Israel possession of the Canaanites’ land. Exodus 15:14-16 & Exodus 23:28-33
–This was prophesied, as it was God who made the difference in Israel conquering Canaan: Numbers 21:2, Nehemiah 9:24, Judges 1:27-30, Judges 4:23. This was not about the Canaanites being a subservient race, but about their being conquered by Israel, and their land becoming Israel’s inheritance–this was a judgment of God against the Canaanites because of their iniquity, as well as God’s gift to Israel as their inheritance: Psalm 135:8-12, Zephaniah 2:5-7.
–This curse was a prophetic view of Canaan’s servitude to Israel, as a conquered people, rather than a curse that would make a subservient race unto other Gentile races.
II. IS THIS CURSE GREATER THAN GRACE?
Romans 5:20-21 – Grace is greater than the curse of sin; if the curse of sin is greater than grace, then we are all doomed. Galatians 3:10,13 – The curse of sin was laid upon Christ, and because He bore it all, Galatians 3:14, those under the curse, who accept Christ, come into all the entitlements of Christianity, by grace through faith.
A. In Defining Man’s Relationship Or Standing Before God, God says it all goes back to Adam, not Canaan, or anyone else. Canaan is not a capital figure in how any or some men stand before God, only Adam – Romans 5:12,18,19. In God’s sight, “there is no difference” Romans 3:22-23.
–God sees the whole human race as “one blood”, Acts 17:26,27,30. God sees our sin condition as being that of our human nature, which comes to us inherently and internally from Adam only, and not from any external curse placed upon us due to Ham’s misdeed.
B. The Blood Of Jesus Doesn’t Just Wash One Of Some Guilt, Some Curses, And Leave Others Remaining, But Rather Completely Cleanses Of All Sin & All The Curses Of All Sin: Acts 13:38-39, Isaiah 1:18. Every believer’s standing before God is the same – 2 Corinthians 5:21 – due to the fact it is the standing that Christ gives, the same unto all – Romans 8:32-34.
C. God Is Not A Respecter Of Persons; He Does Not Have A Double Standard In Redemption: Acts 10:15,34,35,43,47,48, Acts 11:18.
–Thus, the inclusion of all; Christ, having died for all, affords all the full benefits of all the New Testament privileges: Ephesians 2:13, Ephesians 3:6, Galatians 3:27-28 – the old distinctions do not apply to membership in the New Testament Church.
—Matthew 28:19-20 – Any and all who believe the gospel, are under God’s command to be baptized; and all who believe and are baptized, are to be taught to observe all things that Christ commands, which necessarily includes the right and privilege of New Testament Church membership. There is no such thing as God saving someone, but denying them the opportunity to be baptized and become a part of the New Testament Church, because of some curse of Canaan being upon them. Thus, the Ethiopian eunuch was saved and baptized and went on his way back to his country as a witness of what great things Christ had done for him, Acts 8:37-39.
—1 John 2:2 – The blood of Jesus Christ is what gives the believer their entitlements, not the curse of some sin. Romans 10:12
**A Canaanite Was One Of The Twelve Apostles! Matthew 10:2-4
SHARINGPrinciple Before Passion
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censor, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:1-3
God’s call unto those involved in upholding the sanctity of God’s order, was to put principle before passion. Aaron respected that call, and did not let his grief over the death of his two sons override the need to respect their deaths as being a righteous act of Divine judgment for their transgression.
There is no doubt that Aaron, being their father, could have let his passion get the best of him, unto going off the deep end by lashing out with bitter and harsh words that would vent his feelings of grief.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them” Numbers 20:12. Thus, God will not even excuse His faithful servants for allowing their passion to override correct principle. Moses let his passions get the best of him and it disqualified him from leading Israel into the possession of the promised land. “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:20
When it comes to taking our stand for the truth, Christ requires that we honor the principles of God’s Word above our human passions – “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37-38
If we do not honor God’s principles over human passion, then every hurt we feel to our pride and self-esteem, may very well throw us aside from standing with and for the truth. In all our dealings, whether secular or spiritual, there is always the need to deny ourselves, in order to keep ourselves in line with honoring what is right above all else.
“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28
SHARING
