Some Will Believe - Some Will Not - Acts 27-28

Acts 28:24-28 (ESV)

And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

“‘Go to this people, and say,

“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed;

lest they should see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, and I would heal them.’

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Some heard and responded in faith to Paul’s presentation of the Gospel and some did not.  That might be the results of every preacher, teacher, speaker and/or teller of truth could say every time they finished speaking.  This is a hard truth.  This is even harder when you consider the content of the message Paul is telling them in the above passage.  We can tell people stories in an entertaining way and they typically believe them.  The news can paint an actually event with the political twist they want and people will believe it.   We can make up and fabricate a complete lie, tell it with convincing passion and people will believe it.   Yet, Paul speaks the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and some of these Jewish hearers do not respond in faith.  Why?  Because God, the the prophets, prophesied that they would not.  Some would and some wouldn’t.   Remember this is a spiritual battle.  Note what Paul will later write about this very aspect of not responding:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (ESV)

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan does not want people to see the glory of the gospel.   The combination of man’s hard hearts and Satan’s blinding their eyes equates to what we read above.  God wants to reveal Himself to us, but man and Satan want to close our eyes to see Him.  

He Is Coming - Revelation 18-22

Revelation 22:18-21 (ESV)

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

These are the last four verses of the Bible.   They come with a warning and a promise.  That is the story of the entire 66 books of Scripture:  Warnings and Promises.   They come with warning that is very clear: Don’t mess with the content of this book (the immediate context is the book of Revelation, but in theme, the entire books of the Bible).   John is telling us that the prophecy found in The Revelation of John are to be both believed and not twisted and denied and messed with.  That is true about any of God’s prophecy, but in specific everything read in this book.  This is not to say we properly understand all the words written in it, however.  There is much debate about a lot of the book.   However, John has just written that the book is not sealed:

Revelation 22:10 (ESV)

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

This means it is open for all to see.  Spoiler Alert: God, in this book, is revealing to mankind His entire game plan.  He has no secrets.   This plan ends with the greatest promise anyone could hope for.  Jesus is coming again.   Jesus is coming to rule the new heaven and new earth.   God is in complete control and tells everyone the ending of the story in the ending of the book.  

Our prayer should simply be, a stated throughout the book: Christ is the Coming King - all mankind will see him!

Revelation 1:7-8 (ESV)

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Rev 3:11

[Indeed] I am coming soon.

Rev 16:15

Indeed, I am coming like a thief.

Rev 22:7

Indeed, I am coming soon.

Rev 22:12

Indeed, I am coming soon

Revelation 22:20 (ESV)

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Be Satisfied With The ONE You Love - Song of Songs 7-8

Song of Songs 8:11-12 (ESV)

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he let out the vineyard to keepers;

each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

My vineyard, my very own, is before me;

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,

and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

In the above text we have a puzzle to solve because we don’t know who is speaking.  These are the last words of the Song’s message and we are left with the task to determine what it means without knowing who is talking.  Remember, this is a love story between two lovers.  In the last two chapters there seems to be a complete consummation of their love.  As the poem ends there seems to be a comparison going on between something Solomon had and My vineyard (whoever my  is).  But we don’t know who my refers to.   Is it the woman? Is it the man?   Apparently Solomon had something that compares to what these two have.  We know Solomon had an entire harem of women.   It might have been in this unknown location of Baal-Hamon.  We don’t know anything about the place other than it means possessor of multitudes.  This would probably be referring to Solomon’s many wives.   If this were true it would probably be best to believe that man is speaking here and his comparison is quite vivid.  Solomon had all these women (wives and concubines) and many took pleasure in them for money.  But I have you (his lover) and you are all I need.   The man seems to be saying, “Solomon, you might have a thousand women, but of those thousand others are enjoying them for pleasure, but I have my own and she is with me and only mine.   The point of these couple of verses is that the many are nothing in comparison to the one you have.   He is in love with this woman.  She is his.  He is hers.  There might be people who have more, but we have each other.   The exclusiveness of their relationship is magnified over that of another who had many, but no one who satisfied him.   This is a great reminder in our marriage is meant for each other.  We find our satisfaction in the one we love.  That is this couples joy.  Solomon actually said that in his proverbs:

Proverbs 5:18-20 (ESV)

Let your fountain be blessed,

and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated always in her love.

Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman

and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

Boast About God - Psalms 149-150

Psalms 150:6 (ESV Strong's)

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

There is much reason to boast about God!!

It is fitting that the Book of Psalms would end with such statements as the one above.   The entire book is about singing out praise to God and why that praise is both commanded and a natural out-pouring of the life of a believer.   The book would be better named Book of Boasting about God!!    The Hebrew word for praise in the above verse is the word "halal".   The first time in the Old Testament we see the word is in Genesis when Abraham arrived in Egypt and the princes of Pharaoh "boasted" to Pharaoh of how beautiful Sarah was.   The word is used in the O.T. more that 165 times.  Almost half of those times the word is used in Psalms.   What the writer is saying is that everyone who has breath should "boast" about God.   In the early parts of this particular psalm the writer tells us to use certain types of instruments to "halal" about God.   The English word, "hallelujah" is the combination of "halal" and "Yahweh," the Hebrew word for God.   So, hallelujah means, "boast about God."   Throughout the entire book of Psalm the writers are telling us the way and reason to boast bout God.    So, to end the book, in this manner, is to realize that the very breath we have is to be spent praising God and boasting about what He has done for me and will, yet, do for me!!   What a way to spend the day!!

God Orchestrates Our Events In Life For His Plan For Our Lives - Esther 6-10

 Esther 7:1-6 (ESV)

So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Exposing evil is a risky business.  It is tough to navigate.   In the above story we have the demise of Haman unfolding.  To know the context would help the lesson to learn.   Haman had come to hate Mordecai, who was Queen Esther’s legal guardian, the daughter of his deceased brother.  It appears as though Mordecai had adopted her.   Haman didn’t like Mordecai because he  showed him great disrespect:

Esther 3:1-2 (ESV)

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.

As a result, Haman made it his life’s mission to destroy Mordecai.    Haman, in his anger, knew nothing about the relationship between the Kings wife, the Queen Esther and Esther and the Jews, who Haman had convinced the King to kill.   The entire plan is fraught with peril.   God had orchestrated this entire plan in order to both save the Jewish people and to promote Mordecai and Esther in this kingdom.   Remember, Mordecai and Esther were captives in the country.  This is the time of Israel’s captivity.   God gives Esther wisdom to expose one of her captors, to the king (who was the leader of her captors).   God put Esther, despite her captivity, in the exact place she needed to be to both rescue her people and her “uncle” Mordecai.   She was emboldened to expose Haman.  She took the risk to do so because she operated in faith to God for the results.   She throws the party to create the moment she would be in the exact favor of the king.  We should never underestimate how God wants to use us in the master plan of His doing.  God put Esther in this position before Mordecai ever was in Haman’s sights.  Mordecai’ s obedience to God to not bow down to a foreign god was the right thing to do and it was rewarded by God putting Esther in the right place to save him, even before He did it.  Pretty amazing.  

Be Warned If You Don’t Walk With God - Deuteronomy 32-34

Deuteronomy 32:44-47 (ESV)

Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

What were the words that Moses recited before the people via a song?   Chapter 32 of this section is the last testament of Moses.  He is telling the nation what is about to happen to them as they enter the Promised Land.   The message he gave them is not good.  He is now not speaking as their leader.  He is speaking to them as their prophet.   He is forewarning them as to their plight because of their failure to walk in faith after they enter the Promised Land.  A main summary of his long song/poem is:

Deuteronomy 32:18-20 (ESV)

You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

“The LORD saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

Moses’ song/poem was not an inspirational you are going to do so great speech.  No, it was a you are going to fail miserably and God is going to see it and punish you speech.   The people heard it.  Joshua, their next leader of Israel, heard it.  This had to be disheartening. Moses was fearful they would ignore it.  Hence the above closing statement.  He may have gone back and recited some of the Law, as well.  Israel was in a place where if they obeyed the Law they would have blessing.  But if they didn’t they would have cursing.  Their obedience to the Law as the key to their outcome in the land.   Moses prophesied that they would not keep the law and suffer the curses.  We know this to be the outcome of their journey in the Promised Land.   The same holds true today.  Although our obedience is in faith to Christ, our lack of faith in Christ and our lack of walking by faith in the Spirit, will result in the same ills befalling us.  Notice Paul’s words:

Galatians 5:16-17 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Romans 7:15-18 (ESV)

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Without the Spirit of God working in us we have not power to walk in the Spirit with Him.  The warning of Moses carries forward today:  Without God working in us, we have not power to walk with Him.  

Three Men In The Church - 3 John

3 John 1:1 (ESV)

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

Three men in the church!  That could be the title of this book.   Let’s look at the three John pulls out of this home church he is writing to.  

Gaius:

1. What we know we read in this book. 

1. He was beloved by John. (V. 1)

1. He walked in truth. (V. 3)

1. He brought John joy. (V. 4)

1. He was faithful in his work. (V. 5)

1. Others testified about him. (V. 6)

1. He supported those who were preaching the gospel. (V. 7-8)

Diotrephes:

1. He liked to put himself first. (V. 9)

1. He does not acknowledge authority (V. 9)

1. He is talking nonsense about John. (V. 10)

1. He refuses to help those who come to preach the gospel. (V. 10)

1. He uses his position and power to remove people from the congregation. (V. 10). 

Demetrius:

1. Was a person everyone should imitate. (V. 11)

1. Had a great testimony before others. (V. 12)

1. Had a great testimony based upon truth. (V. 12)

1. He had a great testimony based upon John’s own observations. (V. 12)

1. He validated John’s own testimony. (V. 12)

Which of the three are you? 

1.