The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

There is an old saying in the Navy, “Once over dust, twice over rust.” The idea is pretty simple: when you are painting, slap one coat of paint over a dusty surface, two coats over a surface which has rust. If memory serves, this method of painting onboard the ship was generally employed prior to inspections, when department heads, the Executive Officer, or perhaps the Commanding Officer himself would come through your division spaces and conduct a visual inspection for cleanliness and appearance. Everything was a quick surface glace, and the “once over dust, twice over rust” method typically ensured that your spaces would pass the visual exam. The problem is, unchecked rust onboard a ship is like a cancerous sore. Not only is it unsightly, but it can also impact the structural integrity of the ship if not dealt with properly through rust removal. To deal with the rust in a way that ensured  soundness in the metal structure involved the use of sandpaper, wire brushes, grinding wheels, paint primer, a keen eye, lots of sweat, time, and persistence. Likewise, unconfessed sin, sin which we attempt to cover up, sin which goes unrepented of, will be costly to you, your family, and the Church.
Adam, in the garden of Eden attempted this “once over dust, twice over rust method” when dealing with his sin. “Where are you Adam?” asked God. “In the bushes, wearing a fig leaf, hiding from You” replied the man. “Who said you were naked?” God asks rhetorically. What follows is a perfect example of the blame game: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit, and I ate.” In one breath, Adam managed to blame everything and everyone else in the universe, for his sin. He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Achan sought to conceal his covetousness, and it resulted in Israel's defeat in battle, and he and his whole family being stoned, thrown off a cliff, and set on fire. King David attempted to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba by murdering her husband Uriah, and it cost him his son. Ananias and Sapphira tried to hide their greed behind a veneer of feigned worship, and they were both struck down dead. Whether it is sin committed for everyone to see, or sin that you toy with in the dark recesses of your mind, it all lays bare and exposed before God. Psalm 139:1-4 says:
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
Brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father knows all of our works, all of our thoughts, and every word we will speak before it is on our tongues, and we will have to give an account for these things on the day of judgement, For God will bring every act to judgement, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil (Ecc 12:14). How can we respond? Shall we be like deathscorts, who seek to hide their blood stained hands behind orange vests? Will we be like the religious masses, who attempt to tilts God’s scales of justice in their favor through the performing of “good deeds”? Will you seek to feign ignorance on the great and terrible day of the LORD, all the while knowing that His Law is written on your heart and you are without excuse? The wages of sin is death, is it not? Jesus said that we must repent or likewise perish. How can we possibly stand before a Holy and Just God whose eyes are too pure to look upon evil, believing that we can somehow cover or hide our sins from Him? Why do you tarry? Why do you seek to test God’s patience? Are your sins too numerous? Are your sins too great? Are your sins too ingrained, too much a part of your identity? Will confessing your sins cost you too much? Brother and sister, you cannot afford not to confess your sins.
Psalm 103:1-18 NASB
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.  He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.
  David, in response to his grievous sins, cried out to God “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgression” (Psalm 51:1). Dear sinner, do you recognize that you are at war with a Holy and Just God this morning as you seek to cover your sins and hide them from His sight? Your attempts will fail. Your ways will not prosper. As you continue in sin, rather than grace abounding, wrath is being stored up.
If God has struck you with a Godly sorrow this morning over the state of your sin tainted soul, won’t you throw yourself upon His lovingkindness and find mercy? Cry out with the tax collector, please be merciful towards me, a sinner! Do not harden your hearts as in the days of rebellion, His word pleads. Or, harden your heart, and join those who will be judged by God without mercy.
 
Let us kneel and pray to our God, against whom He alone we have sinned.
Heavenly Father, we come before You this morning, knowing in our hearts that we have sinned against You alone, and that at times, our sins are as high as the heavens. Father we plead the blood of Your Son Jesus this morning, knowing that only His sacrifice can atone for our sins. Father please forgive us for seeking to wash away our sins with the filthy rags of unrighteous works. Please forgive us for seeking to hide our sin behind fig leaves formed with human hands. Father, Your Son is called Faithful and is full of Grace and truth. Help us to cling to Him, and look to Him for our righteousness before You, trusting in Him and His finished work. It’s in Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 12/30/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church.  Written by Aaron Sabie.)

 The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

“I pray every day”.
“Me and God got a thang….we talk all the time”.
How often have we heard this sentiment from young ladies going into the abortion clinic to murder their child? How about the homosexuals at the gay pride rallies wearing their leather chaps gyrating in front of a bunch of children? They claim to speak with God, and say that He approves. Drunks at derby, are very, very strict about their praying: “Oh Lord, please let my horse win”, as they throw back their 10th shot of bourbon in the last half an hour. Surely your coworkers, friends, and extended family are people of prayer. Prayers to Mary, prayer requests for sick loved ones, prayers for a promotion, prayers for kids, prayers for health and wealth. We know that at our core, Americans love to pray: after all, it’s in God we trust. Live a lifestyle of open rebellion against Almighty God, don’t sweat it, ask and ye shall receive. Hate God, His Son, His bride, and the Word? No biggie, seek and you will find. How many people do we know, in every corner of our lives, who reject sound doctrine, yet trust their faithfulness in prayer to leverage God into showing grace? Jesus did say knock, and it will be opened to you. We have loved ones living in fornication. We observe coworkers slandering and backstabbing mercilessly. We look around at the world, and at times, it seems like they are literally trying to rebuild the tower of babble. Yet everywhere we turn, prayer. Our government, which sanctions transgenderism and child sacrifice, frequently holds prayer vigils that sound like the beginning of a bad dad joke: “A Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, and a Wiccan step up to the podium to pray”. People want the benefits of a prayer answering God, however, it must be a god that they can control like a genie in a bottle. No one wants the death to sin and self that a relationship with Him demands. No one wants the God Who said “Be Holy for I am Holy”. Prayer has become the bottle which people stroke to receive their 3 wishes. Our Proverb today tells us that “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination”.
Matthew Henry says this regarding the prayers of the lawless:
It is by the word and prayer that our communion with God is kept up. God speaks to us by his law, and expects we should hear him and heed him; we speak to him by prayer, to which we wait for an answer of peace. How reverent and serious should we be, whenever we are hearing from and speaking to the Lord of glory! If God’s word be not regarded by us, our prayers shall not only not be accepted of God, but they shall be an abomination to him, not only our sacrifices, which were ceremonial appointments, but even our prayers, which are moral duties, and which, when they are put up by the upright, are so much his delight. See Isa. 1:11, Isa. 1:15 . The sinner whose prayers God is thus angry at is one who wilfully and obstinately refuses to obey God’s commandments, who will not so much as give them the hearing, but causes his ear to decline the law, and refuses when God calls; God will therefore justly refuse him when he calls.
Oftentimes it is easy to see how “those people out there” abuse prayer with their open warfare against God. When we observe a person living contrary to sound doctrine and loving it, yet making claims to a rich prayer life, it is easy for us to dismiss them as misguided and proclaim that their prayers are abominable in God’s eyes, and we should do this. What is difficult for us, is to recognize when our own prayers are treading on treacherous ground. Do you approach a Holy God with a flippant attitude? Is there some hidden sin in your life where only God can see, yet you persist in making your requests known to God as if all is well, unrepentant in your sin? In your prayer life, is it “Your will be done Lord”, or “my will be done”? Have your prayers become mechanical, robotic, and rigid, like those of the muslim who must face the exact direction towards Mecca the prescribed number of times per day, or Allah won’t hear? Has your prayer life become a type of formula where if you pray for x + y, then God will grant z? Have your prayers become dissertations in which you seek to lay out before God all the ways you have sought to obey him, thanking him for not making you like other sinners, or do your prayers echo the sentiment of a person crying out “Lord! Be merciful to me a sinner!” It is only the prayer of a person with a broken and contrite heart that God will not despise. Only a person filled with the Holy Spirit can cry out “Abba Father!” Jesus said “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”. Keeping His commandments demands that we hide His Word in our heart, and is a sign that we do in fact love God. When we set aside His Law, and seek to use prayer for our own ends, we show that we hate God, and our prayers are abominable in his sight. As we come before a Holy God and lift up prayers to Him, let us do so humbly, soberly, recognizing that He is a Holy God and not to be trifled with. I heard a preacher give a feeble attempt to describe prayer one time, essentially saying “Imagine prayer like this- praying to God is akin to kneeling next to an f4 tornado, thinking that your words of eloquence and your flowery language may shield you from His sight and omniscience. What can you possibly bring to the table that might bend His will to yours? As you kneel there, what can you possibly do to shield yourself from His presence? Everything, especially the lawlessness of your heart, is exposed before Him”. When we come before a Holy God in prayer, we are coming before the creator of the universe, not a figment of our imagination. When we come before the throne in prayer, we come as God’s children, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, as He has seen fit to reveal to us through His Word, or we do not come. Our prayers must issue from a heart of love and obedience to God, or they are abominable in His sight. Let us kneel in prayer.
Heavenly Father, please forgive us for a sinful approach towards You in prayer. We plead with You for mercy and grace through the blood of Your Son, in whom You are well pleased. Heavenly Father, please remember our weak frames of dust this morning. We are often distracted, dejected, and anxious, and forget that we can cry out to You. We frequently stumble into sin and neglect coming to You to be cleansed, because we haven’t hidden Your Words in our hearts. Some of us may be in open rebellion, praying abominable prayers to You and seeking to use You, rather than worshipping You. Father, we deserve nothing but Your wrath, but we beg for mercy and grace. Please create within us clean hearts full of Your Word, and steadfast spirits which cry out to You for mercy. Please illuminate our hearts and minds that we may see how we sin against You in our prayers. For those walking in darkness, we pray you would cause them to be born again that they may cry out Abba Father, calling on the name of the Lord. Father, we thank you for Your Son Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross and makes intercession for us. It’s in His name that we pray, Amen.
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 12-23-18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church.  Written by Aaron Sabie.

When Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the promised land, He was commanded by the Lord to take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River to set up in their camp to be a memorial of God’s faithfulness in leading them from the wilderness to the promised land.   They were to remember God’s lovingkindness to all generations and to be thankful.   Our God is a faithful God.

Psalm 100: 4-5 says Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. 

The Lord God is a loving Father who cares for and protects his people throughout all of history.  He keeps his covenant promises to his children.  We should give thanks to him for his faithfulness throughout all generations.   We want to be a people who do not forget the faithfulness of our Lord. Jesus Christ preserves his people, the Church.   He has and is building his church on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles.   We are being built upon that foundation and we have a great cloud of witnesses who surround us.  Therefore, in order to remember this lovingkindness and give thanks to our Creator, we think it is important to retell the stories of the lives of faithful men and women used by God in history in the building of his church.  We want to remember the martyrs who faced tyrants, torture, wild beasts, and death in order to make the good confession.   Like memorial stones these accounts remind us that God is the covenant keeping God who has been faithful and will be faithful to us and our children.  They remind us to lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith.
 
Today, we are reminded of the work of the early Christian apologists.  An apologist is someone who gives an apology for the faith.  And no they are not saying sorry for the faith.  Rather they are giving a defense of the faith.  They are as scripture says destroying "arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." Christians have always had to respond to the philosophies of their age. The first in a long line of Christian apologists was a man named Justin.   As a well-born Roman, Justin received a classical education in Greek and Latin. Searching for truth, he studied various popular philosophies. But none of them filled his hungry heart.  At last, about A.D. 130, after a conversation with an older Christian man, his life was transformed.  Justin wrote, "A fire was suddenly kindled in my soul. I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ; I reflected on all their words and found that this…alone was true and profitable.”   Justin continued to study and was well versed in philosophy but he was more than just an academic. He wrote defenses of the faith and addressed his arguments to the Roman emperor himself.
Christians in his time were being arrested and charged with, believe it or not, atheism.  They were atheists because they refused to bow down to the false gods of the age.  Justin answered that charge by writing: “And we confess that we are atheists, so far as the gods of this sort are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity. But both Him, and the Son … and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in reason and truth, and declaring without grudging to every one who wishes to learn, as we have been taught”
Justin plead with the Emperor to stop murdering Christians and to submit himself to Christ.  Justin argued that Christians are, in fact, the emperor's "best helpers and allies in securing good order, convinced as we are that no wicked man ... can be hidden from God, and that everyone goes to eternal punishment or salvation in accordance with the character of his actions.”  Justin called for the emperor to receive the faith and to protect Christians and if he would not, Justin said “We forewarn you, that you shall not escape the coming judgment of God.”  That is boldness preached to civil magistrates.
One interesting aspect of Justin’s written work is that he describes the early church’s worship.  He did this to counteract the rumors from the pagans that Christians were cannibals or having wild parties.  Here is his description and as you read it notice how similar it is to what we still do today.
He writes: 

"On the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district. The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then when the reader ceases, the ruler in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things. Next we all rise together and send up prayers. When we cease from our prayer, bread is presented and wine and water. The presiding officer in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people sing out their assent, saying the 'Amen.' A distribution and participation of the elements for which thanks have been given is made to each person…  Those who have means and are willing, each according to his own choice, gives what he wills, and what is collected is deposited with the ruling officer. He provides for the orphans and widows, those who are in need on account of sickness or some other cause, those who are in bonds, strangers who are sojourning, and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need.”

Justin recounted the reading of scripture, the preaching of the word with practical application, prayers, singing, giving, and the Lord’s Supper.  These are the foundations of all Christian worship.


Justin was given the name Justin Martyr because in addition to writing a defense of the faith, he ended up pouring out his life in a courageous defense of the faith.   Justin was arrested and brought before Rusticus, the Roman prefect, Rusticus demanded that he “obey the gods at once, and submit to the kings.” "To obey the commandments of our Saviour Jesus Christ should bring neither blame nor condemnation," replied Justin.  

With Justin were several other Christians.  Rusticus tried to turn them against Justin but they all refused to blame him.  Instead of agreeing to the accusation that Justin had put them up to it, they boldly said they were standing for Christ by their own desires. They reused to throw Justin under the bus.

Finally, The prefect spoke to Justin Martyr. "Listen, you who are called learned and think you know true doctrines. If you are scourged and beheaded, do you believe you'll ascend to heaven?" "That is my hope," Justin replied.   The Prefect asked again "So you suppose that you will ascend into heaven to receive some payment for your faithfulness?" "Not suppose, I know and am fully convinced of it," Justin Martyr replied. Rusticus then shrugged and said  "Let's get right to what matters, then. You've been brought here to offer sacrifice, all of you together, to the gods." Justin said  "No one in their right mind leaves godliness to take up ungodliness."

"You're aware that unless you obey, you will be mercilessly punished?"
Justin answered, "Through prayer we can be saved because of our Lord Jesus Christ, even after we have been punished. This will become salvation and confidence to us at the much more fearful and universal judgment of our Lord and Savior." The other martyrs echoed his sentiment. "Do whatever you want. We are Christians, and we don't sacrifice to idols." Rusticus stood to make his pronouncement, "Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to yield to the command of the emperor be scourged, then let them be led away and beheaded, according to the laws." Justin and the other Christians were led away and beheaded.  God had seen fit to grant them to suffer with Christ. 

Today we give thanks for God’s faithfulness to raise up men like Justin and others who set a good example and made a good confession.  It is Christ Jesus who gives boldness to his people.  He is the one worthy of our devotion and praise.  As we have remembered those who came before may we be encouraged by their boldness.  May we refuse to bow down to idols and worship vain things.  May we be found ready to give a defense of the faith at all times to those who would besmirch the glory of God.    But most importantly may we be pointed to Jesus Christ who is worthy of all our praise.  He, who hears the prayers of his martyrs, is worthy.    Amen
Let us now pray for our brothers and sisters working for God in various places.


(From the 12/16/18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church.  Compiled and Written by Joseph Spurgeon.)

 
 
Sources: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/death-of-justin-martyr-11629602.html
https://www.christian-history.org/justin-martyr-martyrdom.html
http://baptistmessage.com/justin-martyr-defending-the-faith-in-life-and-death/
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/how-we-christians-worship
http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/1969/1333.01_Bk.pdf
 

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

I watched a video put out a couple of days ago by evangelist Tony Miano. In the 13 minute clip, you can observe Mr. Miano utilizing God’s Word in presuppositional fashion, quickly pointing out the other gentleman’s folly. He does this over and over. His refutation of the lost man’s assertions were laser like. It was a very clear example of how we are to answer the fool, lest they be wise in their own eyes. What really impressed me, however, was how Mr. Miano repeatedly pointed this man to the cross, the forgiveness of sins found in Christ, and the fact that there was no other name given under heaven that can save us, only Jesus Christ. He didn’t just point out the man’s error and leave him hanging; he wasn’t engaging in verbal judo just to exercise his debate skill. He was truly concerned for the soul of this image bearer of God. At the very end of the video, Mr. Miano, after seeming to get absolutely nowhere in the conversation, politely disengages, recognizing that the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. Satisfied that the gospel had been shared, believing that God’s Word does not return void, and that he had been faithful to point this man to Christ, he stepped aside before the conversation became about him and his ability to argue and debate. I contrast this encounter with how I have often approached evangelism. If Tony Miano was using God’s Word as a sword, probing with precision, getting to the heart of that man, it would be fair to say that oftentimes, I use God’s Word as a bludgeon, not to pierce a heart, but to crush the opposition. Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me. Is that a true statement? Liberals, in an attempt to squash debate and criticism, are employing a tactic to silence their foes in which speech, language, words themselves, are being portrayed as instruments of violence. Speak truthfully about the border, get painted as a racist that must be re-trained. Agree with 99% of the rest of human history that marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman, you are a homophobe that must be sued into submission. As bible believing Christians, we scoff at the idea that words equal violence. But is there some truth to it? We see in scripture that God’s Word is referred to as a sword, an instrument of violence. We frequently use language to suggest that our prayers, words spoken to our Heavenly Father, are our most potent weapon, an instrument of Holy violence. Let’s be real, we know that God’s Word is active, and sharper than any two edged sword, and when we swing it around, it has the ability to lop off heads. Why then, are we so often careless with how we employ it? I think of the pistol on my hip, sitting securely in its holster. Locked and loaded, ready to rock and roll if the situation warrants. This means, I have to use some serious discernment on when this weapon gets deployed. If I am careless with it, innocent people may get hurt, and I will have to bear the penalty for that. How much more so with the word of God? How often do you engage with foolishness, whether online, on the sidewalk, at work, or within the heart of your own child, and instead of using the Word of God lawfully, as a sword to pierce, it gets used instead as a whip, or a bludgeon, to silence debate and foolishness. The proverb today tells us that this is simply not going to work. Exasperating our children, verbally hammering a fool till they run off with their tail between their legs, crushing you opponent in that online debate, when done apart from God’s Word and the appropriate application of it, is sinful. It’s pride, and arrogance, that believes that our words, apart from God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, can lead fools to repent of their foolishness. 
2 Timothy 2:23-26 NASB
But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. [24] The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, [25] with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
Far too often I find myself attempting to utilize Jesus’ righteous anger when table-flipping or calling out pharisees, to justify harshness towards opponents. To be sure, we are not called to shrink back. We are not called to run from a fight. Truth is worth fighting for. Our God is a Man of War, and being created in His image means that we are called to the fight too. However, we are called to fight as Christ fought: to the glory of His Father, saying “Your will be done, not mine”. Observe the encounters that Jesus had with critics and those seeking to argue and debate. They were typically brief, to the point, and when those in opposition were ready to stone Him or throw Him off a cliff, He departed. We do not have to endlessly back and forth with a fool. Remember, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. Let us use God’s Word lawfully, as an instrument of precision, with faith in Jesus Christ to give men and women new hearts, and turn from using God’s Word as a pestle and mortar, seeking to smash and grind the foolishness out of the lost and those who are ignorant. Let us kneel and  confess how we often mishandle the Word of God.
Heavenly Father, it was with words that everything was brought into existence. Our salvation is through One who is called the Word. Father, You have given us language, written and spoken word, to be able to communicate with one another, and lift up prayers to You. With our tongues we bless You, and with them we curse those created in Your image. Father, we know that it ought not be this way. Far too often we forget that it is Your wrath, Your fury, and Your anger that awaits the unrepentant fool, and in our forgetting, we seek to supplement that with our own wrath. Father, help us to remember that our wrath does not produce the righteousness of God, only the work of the Holy Spirit. Help us to remember that Your Word is a sword which pierces, while our words are merely blunt instruments which fall on deaf ears. Father, please grant us repentance; please help us O Lord in our weakness. Please grant us discerning hearts and tongues which glorify You, elevate Your Son Jesus, and boast only in the cross. Please forgive us for the sins of our mouths, which reflect the abundance of our hearts. It’s in Jesus name that we pray, Amen.
 
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!  

(From the 12/16/18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church.  Written by Aaron Sabie.)

When Daniel reveals the dream and its interpretation to King Nebuchadnezzar, the King is elate. He calls for all the pious things to be done. Bring out the incense. Bring out the offerings. He knows Daniel is a man of faith, a man of religion and so what would be more appropriate than to bring out all the religious stuff. It reminds me a bit of when people find out I am a pastor. I am out at the bass pro store and I strike up a conversation with one of the men there. Before you know it he is just talking about fishing and the whole time he is weaving in profanity like its nothing. He is like how Ralphie from A Christmas Story movie describes his dad "He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master." A women walks by and he comments on her. And then the conversation will come around to "so what do you do?" "I am a pastor." "Oh really, I give to this charity and I try to help at school fundraiser." Before you know it he has given you a list of everything good thing he has done for the last year like he’s filling out his tax forms for a write off. And I’m like "do you want me to give you a receipt for that." He even start’s dropping in thees and thous into his language. "Oh I didn’t know we were going to start talking in King James." I kid a bit but it is interesting how people begin to change as soon as they find out that you are a pastor. They bring out all the religious talk. That's what happens here with Daniel.Daniel has revealed this dream to King Nebuchadnezzar by the power of God, and now King Nebuchadnezzar realizes its time to start with the religious fervor. In pure emotional euphoria at having this dream interpreted, He proclaims to Daniel, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” He begins to speak the praise of God. This pagan King has the praises of God on his mouth in this moment of emotion but is it real praise? Is this genuine heartfelt praise from a broken and contrite heart or this someone caught up in the emotions of the moment. Is this someone praising God or feigning praise?
It is really easy to get caught up of the emotions of times when things seem to be going well or when you get what you want. Its really easy to be carried away by the moment instead of being carried away with the Holy Spirit. It is really easy to have some kind of mountain top experience and to mistake that for what it means to be repentant and have true lasting faith. I am sure we have all had times when perhaps the music or something spoke to us in a worship service and we “felt” like we are closer to God. At that time we cannot but help praise God. And then perhaps we make vows or promises about all the things we are going to change and then we leave and the high is over and we are right back into the grind.
I can remember going to church camps growing up. Yeah those church camps. I benefited greatly from it in some mighty ways. God used the camp to help spark in me a desire to read scripture. I am not belittling church camp in and of themselves. But the camp I went to always had this bonfire at the end of it. And it was a wonder that the bonefire ever stayed lit because of all the waterworks from the boohoo fest. People would be crying and hugging each other. And what would really get the water works going were two songs “thank you for giving to the Lord.” I will admit I cried. And then the other was “friends” by Michael W Smith. You know, “Friends are Friends forever. And a Church camp’s not too long to live as friends.” We would make promises and leave the camp on such an emotional high. But I would tell you that within a few weeks when school started many of the people crying and making promises were already back to acting like pagans.
We are not called to be Spocks where our emotions are never engaged. The Christian faith is not just about head knowledge. God wants us to love him with all our hearts, all our soul and all our might. He wants us to feel love for him. He wants our emotions to be geared towards him. But the Christian life is not found in emotional highs. It is not found only on the mountain peaks. The Christian life is found when you walk through the valleys. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Too many Christians are seeking to go from mountain top to mountain top experience. They want a worship service for example that hits all their feels. And I know what you are thinking! "Yeah, that’s all those people going to the churches with fog machines and light shows." But don’t you think for a moment you and I are not capable of this. We might just be more sophisticated. We might want our liturgy to be of a higher class because it just gives us the right feels. We have great moments where we are so ready to praise God because maybe we just did abortion ministry or we were at the nursing home but on Tuesday evening after a few days removed from the worship on Sunday and the ministry of the weekend are we struggling to praise God.
Now we are human beings and we do have moments where God’s glory and grace are seen by us more clearly. We do have moments where are sin is made more aware to us than other times. We do have times where God seems to be working around us in ways that are more visible than other times. God does give us sometimes in our very hearts unspeakable joys. There are times when the lyrics of the music or the sermons speak to us and move us. We need these times and God gives them to us as we need them. But we aren’t to be chasing these times as if this is what the Christian life is all about. We are not measure our faith by how we feel.
Listen, your faith is not to be built on a certain feeling but upon the sure promises of God that cannot fail. Your feelings can fail. You can lose that lovin feelin but your salvation when established on the firm truth of Jesus Christ’s work in his life and on the cross cannot be lost. Your hope is not in how you feel but in how Christ felt the nails pierce his hands and feet on the cross. You’re forgiveness is not bound to you feeling a certain feeling of sorrow. Repentance is not bound to how bad you feel about what you have done. Certainly, we are to hate our sin and to despise what we have done to offend God. We are to come into agreement with God about how wicked our sin is but some of you I know will hold on to your sin and say I just haven’t felt bad about it long enough for God to really forgive me. I can’t be forgiven because I just havent felt like I have been forgiven yet and so let me hold on to this and stew over this. Now I am not saying you should be flippant but repentance is not about you paying for your sin by how long you have can have worldly sorrow over them. There is difference between godly grief and worldly sorrow.
When King Saul sinned by not obeying the Lord’s command to completely destroy the Amalekites and was confronted by Samuel, he eventually admitted his sin but first, he denied that he was sinning. He tried to say that he obeyed God. And then he made excuses and shifted black to the people by saying it was their idea and besides he was doing it to offer sacrifice. When Samuel said “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice," Saul finally, because he was busted, admitted he had sinned. He had worldly sorrow for his sin. He made a great show of it and then at the same time asked Samuel to still honor him with the elders. He needed to save face. He needed to keep up his public persona. His sorrow was selfish and self-centered.
Now contrast this with King David. When David sinned, his attitude was not about saving face or honor. He was undone. He said “I have sinned against the Lord!” He cried out to the Lord to forgive him and he fasted and prayed. He did not care what others thought but he cared about what God thought. And then when he finished fasting, he got up and praised God. He did not stew in it forever. His sorrow was not selfish and it was not worldly.
Notice what he didn’t do, he didn’t spend time trying to figure out if he felt a certain way. He didn’t keep checking in within himself to see if he had a certain feeling. The feelings came naturally because he knew that his sin was grievous against God. There was no need to make it about his emotions. That followed.
True repentance is not about you feeling a feeling. It is about you coming into agreement with God about your sin and seeing it for how wicked and sinful it is and then pleading with God for forgiveness. And then trusting by faith not by your feelings but by faith that he forgives you. And then praising him for his forgiveness.

Doug Wilson says about the difference between wordly sorrow and godly sorrow is that “One dissipates strength and the other restores it. One kind of sorrow rakes you over the coals, and the other is the word that speaks comfort. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10). Listen, You can feel sorry today, feel sorry tomorrow, and you can die feeling sorry. Christ did not Christ come just to give you a feeling.  He came to forgive your sins and to set your free. 

 As I said earlier some people chase feelings in the worship.  It is all about how it makes them feel.  And therefore they haven’t worshiped if they didn’t feel a certain way.  People go to great lengths to get this feeling.  We got to have the right music playing.  Maybe if I lift my hands at the right time I can drum up in me the right emotions.   That isn’t worship of God that is worship of you.   God doesn’t want drummed up emotions by the mood set with music.  That is what pagans do.  Notice in chapter 3 of Daniel what happens at the dedication to the statue.  There is every type of music played.  This was to drum up within the people emotion.  While this is in one sense internal because it involves powerful emotions, in the true sense it is rote external worship that God does not care about.  It is worship of self.

The point I am making is not that emotion is an unimportant part of worship but that it is not the focus.  Rather it accompanies the focus which is the glory of God.  The truths of God are what should move us to experience all the range of emotions, fear of God, sorrow for sin, joy at salvation, hope at his promises, gladness for who he is.  Therefore, we don’t raise our hands in worship and squeeze our eyes real tight and work something up within us.  That’s worthless.  Instead we focus our minds on the truths of God.  And we seek to obey him in worship.  We know God’s word says that God desire’s men everywhere to pray with holy hands uplifted.   We lift up our hands because we desire to obey him.    We praise him because we love him not because we are tossed to and fro by emotions.   Our worship is built on truth.   Our emotions will be appropriate as we grasp and treasure the truths of God.

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

A few months ago my coworkers and I found ourselves sitting in the breakroom on the receiving end of a verbal tongue lashing from our newly hired shop manager. Now, on the spectrum of rebukes I have received in my life, this was mild. It was lighthearted, gentle, and well deserved. As a shop we were slacking in our responsibilities and the standards he had set for us, so we were pointed back to the standard. One person had the audacity to speak up and take issue with this correction and a previous rebuke the manager had given this person in his office. The feather ruffled, now former employee, said they felt the manager was being “mean”. This type of response to correction, a prideful indignation, an open mouthed expression of incredulity, is where we are in American culture. Keep your scarf and gloves handy, because we live in a perpetual state of winter with all the snowflakes that come with it. Correction of any kind, especially that which comes from the Word of God, is met with responses like “Judge not lest you be judged”, “God knows my heart”, and “only God can judge me”. The desire to live autonomous, apart from any overarching authority governing our lives, will make the “coexist” preaching, secular humanist, and the cultural, fake christian sound exactly the same: like whiny children who are accustomed to getting their way and never being told no. How well do you accept correction and reproof? Do you accept correction as a humble servant of Christ, or as one who has “arrived”? A proper understanding of the purpose of godly correction may pave the way for us receiving it more humbly. Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. For one piece of iron to sharpen another, logically, one of the two must be made up of iron that is harder than the other. This is what will allow for sharpening to take place. Hebrews 4:12 says
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God's word is the harder, sharper iron. It is the Word of God, not our opinions, our slick rhetoric, or our best impressions of our favorite preachers that will sharpen our brothers and sisters in Christ. Opening up the Martin Luther insult generator online to look for phrases meant to correct and rebuke, while relatively satisfying and entertaining , will not sharpen. I have noticed that my words and opinions tend to make the hearers dull, and calloused towards correction, but the Word of God ALWAYS pierces. Let us be humble, welcoming the correction of brothers and sisters from God's Word, knowing that this correction is from the hand of our loving Heavenly Father Himself, who disciplines the son whom He loves. Let us also remember that our attempts to sharpen others will only be effective if it is the Word of God being used. The world is full of opinion givers, may we as Christians stand firm on a solid foundation, and point unbelievers towards Christ through His Word, the sword, the One with eyes like a flame of fire, who melted the hearts of a bunch of former snowflakes like you and I and brought us to repentance. Children, when corrected by your parents, or other adults who may have some level of authority to correct you…..do not grumble and dispute. Accept the correction knowing that you are loved, blessed, and being shown God's grace through that correction.  As we are corrected by other brothers and sisters in Christ, let us give thanks that God has seen fit to discipline us from His Word. When our Pastor preaches from God’s Word, and you experience the sting of godly sorrow, remember that pastors and teachers are gifts to the Church meant to build up and equip the body of Christ for the battles we face. Let us not harden our hearts as in the rebellion, but cry out to God for hearts of flesh that are teachable. If you are able, let us kneel at this time, and confess how we have fallen short of God’s glory.
Most Gracious, Merciful, Heavenly Father, we cry out to You at this time, asking for clean hearts, and steadfast spirits. Father, we are often stiff-necked and rebellious, desiring our ways over Yours. In our weakness, we elevate our wisdom above Yours, trusting in our fallible understanding of things, rather than in Your infinite wisdom and knowledge. We have attitudes built upon a foundation of pride and arrogance, believing that we have arrived at a complete understanding of the truth and Your will, needing no further guidance. Father, please be merciful towards us, and help us see our frailty, weakness, and utter need for Your discipline and correction. Help us to remember that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Your Son Jesus. Please forgive us for being unteachable at times, and for failing to love our brothers and sisters by correcting them from God’s Word. It’s in Jesus name we pray, amen.
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 12/9/18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church.  Written by Aaron Sabie.)

A criticism that I have heard about the optimistic view of eschatology (post-millennialism), the view seeking to see Christ’s kingdom built up here in on earth in time and history, is that this view somehow diminishes our hoping for and longing for the return of Christ and the final consummation of all things.  Somehow believing the promises that Christ will place his enemies under his feet through the growth of his kingdom now and in the future will keep us from longing for and looking forward to the blessed return of our savior Jesus Christ.  I think that this criticism is hogwash.  It mistakes the post-millennial view for utopianism which is a common straw man that critics of post-millennialism like to burn.    

Somehow the argument is that if one believes that Christ is building his kingdom and he is using his people to do so that his people will take their eyes off of the future hope of glory.   They might think that establishing a utopia on earth is all that we need therefore there will be no need for Christ to return.   They can have their paradise without Christ.  I think it is fair to say that a common temptation to man is to seek to build a paradise apart from Christ but this isn’t particular to or even a part of biblical post-millennialism.  It is the common temptation of all sinful men to love the world and the things of it. 

But Christians are to be different.  We are to seek the kingdom of God.  If post-mill theology is about anything it is about seeking the kingdom of God.  It is about praying “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Secondly, this critique seems to imply that by seeking to be used by God to build his kingdom and by having faith that Christ will actually use his people to accomplish this in time, we are not able to also long for and hope for Christ’s return.  Again, this is the accusation of wanting paradise without Christ.   This is false.   Christians long to see their master face to face.  We love and treasure Christ above all things.  He is worthy of our praise, adoration, and love.  The Kingdom cannot be complete without our King and yet we also long to see his name made much of in the earth.  We long to see his gospel obeyed throughout all the ends of the earth.  We long to be obedient to him.

Let me give an analogy from scripture.  Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land because he had faith that God had given them that land.  He had faith that they would battle and be victorious by the power of God.  It was the generation before him who lacked faith that God would do what he said. They died not every seeing God’s temporal promise come true.  Their lack of faith was disobedience to God and they wandered in the desert until they died.  But Joshua had faith in God that he would do what he said.  Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land.   

Joshua 21:43 says Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the Land which he swore to give to their fathers; and having taken possession of it they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

But notice what the book of Hebrews says in chapter 4 verse 8: 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.   There was still more to come for Joshua.  There was still the glorious future with Christ.  Joshua still had something more to hope for even though God had given him victory in Canaan.  Joshua believed the promises of God all the way through to the end.  There was no competition between the faith in completing the taking of the promised land and faith in eternity with Christ.   Joshua’s faith that God would accomplish what he promised on earth did not deter his faith in what God would do through the coming Messiah.  
This is the story of Joshua, Abraham, Moses, and David.  Faith in God’s promises during their lives and faith looking forward to Christ, faith looking for the final glorious consummation of Christ.   Their faith to do what God had set their hand to did not lesson their hope in Christ.  

The hope that Christ is building his kingdom in time and history and that he is using his church to do so does not in any way take away from or diminish our hope in the glorious return of Christ.   We long for the day when He returns.  We long to see our Master.  We long to see death defeated.  We long to see him face to face.   All the while, we also believe his promises that the gospel will be victorious on the earth.  We long to see this true as well.  We long to see nations and kings come to Christ.  We long to see his law obeyed in the land.   And we believe that he will do it.   Therefore, with faith we cross the Jordan and go into the land of the giants and by the grace of God we take dominion.  We live by faith in the Son of God all the way through.  This faith that Christ will defeat his enemies in time and space and that He will then return to defeat death is our motivation.  It lets us know that our suffering is not in vain.  The deaths of martyrs are not wasted. They are precious to God and to his saints.  They are some of the blocks Christ uses to build his kingdom.  Our suffering is not meaningless.  This life isn’t just a game we play until we get to the big leagues.  In Christ, our lives, our suffering, our sacrifices matter.  They matter for the here and now.  They matter for the future.  They matter for the kingdom. 

No, the post-millennial hope is not at odds with the blessed hope of our inheritance found in Christ.  No, these are not two competing hopes.  We have hope that Christ will build his kingdom and we have hope that Christ will complete his kingdom.  We hope all the way through all of God’s promises.  That is why we don’t sit around waiting just to be rescued out of here.  We have a battle we have been called to.   We also don’t sit around grumbling and complaining that we would rather be back in Egypt.  We have work to do.  And therefore , my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

Retired Admiral and former Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, William McRaven, has a book titled Make Your Bed: Little things that can change your life…..and maybe the world. An alternate title could probably be Have your best life now. While I do not subscribe to self help antidotes to address problems of the heart, I do believe there is some wisdom found in the overarching premise of his book, and it isn’t new. Are you ready for it? DON’T BE A SLUGGARD. That’s right, don’t be a sluggard. Take care of your responsibilities. Be disciplined in how you approach your day. Wow. The Admiral is really enlightened. Profound, isn’t he? Let’s be honest about a couple of things: 1) this book probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day had it not been for the Admiral’s scathing criticism of President Trump; 2) We know number 1 is true, because no one, and I mean no one, is promoting the idea of being responsible in our culture right now without getting shouted down and demonized as a dinosaur of puritan days gone by. In fact, a sluggardly approach to life and the rejection of responsibility that goes along with it is the new norm: reject your manhood, reject your parents teaching, reject authority, reject any semblance of growing up, reject any notion of living life with a gentle and quiet spirit, reject God’s Word while embracing watered down philosophies like “Make your bed”. Sorry Admiral, but in 2018, in our nation, our churches, the workplace, the marketplace, and in our homes, sluggards are now permitted, even enabled to operate out in the open and this fact does not bode well for the future of our nation, lest it repents and seeks Jesus as Savior and Lord. What does scripture say about the sluggard? Four things: the sluggard is a coward, the sluggard is lazy, the sluggard won’t receive God’s goodness, and the sluggard is wise in his own eyes. Listen to the Word of God:
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!” As the door turns on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.
The sluggard is a coward who will not confront the dangers which act as stumbling blocks to his faithfulness to God. The sluggard in this Proverb perceives danger in the street and uses that as an excuse to shirk his responsibilities. We would never do that, would we? Asks the guy who chronically suffers from fear of man. The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!”
The sluggard is lazy, and probably sleeps until 930,10, or noon every day. They love sleep and rest to the detriment of their responsibilities. In sleeping till noon, half their day is gone, and now have built in excuses for why they couldn’t get done the things they needed to. “I’m not a morning person”, they say. The Admiral would be disappointed. How can you make your bed if you never get out of it? As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.
The sluggard is so lazy, they won’t even embrace God’s gifts and blessings towards them. They waste their earnings on lavish toys. They shove their kids into indoctrination centers so they can make a better life for them, unless they kill them in the womb first. They go to church, hear God’s Word, and never apply it. They grumble about manna and quail. As the proverb says, they are so lazy, they bury their hand in the dish, but grow weary of bringing it to their mouth.
And lastly, the sluggard is wise in his own eyes. Tell me, you who the Bible compares to a worm, you man of dust: in your 7, or 15, or 18, or 30, or 42, or 50+ years on this earth, how did you get so wise? Tell me, you who depend upon God for the movement of every single molecule of oxygen floating through your veins, and every single brainwave fluttering through cerebral cortex: are you the foundation of all wisdom? Did Jesus sit down at the right hand of the Father and hand wisdom off to you? Children, do you think that your parents hatched from eggs fully grown, and it’s up to you to teach them all of your accumulated wisdom? Please. Sit down and stop being a slug. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer.
Let us cry out to God for mercy, and repent of our sluggardly ways, knowing that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Please kneel if you are able as we cry out Abba Father!
Most gracious Heavenly Father, we are but men and women, boys and girls of dust. We are often cowardly, lazy, ungrateful, and wise in our own eyes. Please grant us soft, repentant hearts, which are aware of our sins before You. Father, please grant us illuminated minds, which recognize how our sluggardly approach to life is an affront to Your Holiness, and is contrary to the image we are created in. Father, please give us courage. Please help us find our rest in Christ. Please help us to worship You with a spirit of thanksgiving. Please Father, help us to be humble, trust in You, and lean not on our own understanding. Father, we come before You this morning, by the precious blood of Your Son, in the power of Your Holy Spirit, and plead,  be merciful towards us sinners. Father, Your Word says to ask, seek, and knock. Your Word says to be persistent like the widow seeking justice. Father, please bless us with persistent hearts that desire to ask, seek, and knock, because often we are too sluggardly to even do that. We ask these things in the name above all names, Jesus Christ. Amen.
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe:

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!  

(From the 11-18-18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church. Written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received. This is the word of God. It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

In preparation for today’s Law reading and time of confession, I enlisted Madelyn’s help with the development of an illustration. So, I had her make me some chocolate chip cookies. Fresh out of the oven, hot, gooey, melty, and delicious. The smell of them was amazing. Getting them off of the cookie sheet and into my mouth, involved nothing less than selecting my target, and grabbing it with reckless abandon. Burning my fingers, and anything it comes into contact with, this blob of delicious goo was thrust into my mouth, and for a moment, there was pure bliss. Then follows pain, excruciating pain, as this molten cookie began searing the nerve ending in my mouth. It still tastes delicious, but it is painful. Instinct kicks in: “I am not going to lose this cookie” I think to myself, so, I swallow. Swallow it down. As it begins to slide down the old gullet, the heat begins transferring from mouth, to esophagus. It’s a really good one, because now I have the aftertaste of that delicious liquid hot magma in my mouth, with the pleasant sensation of warmth sliding down into my belly. It was painful, but the flavor and my craving masked the damage being done. The nerves in my mouth were punished, and I know that after all of the desserts of thanksgiving, this cookie was unnecessary, and unwise. But it was delicious, and satisfied my craving, for about 10 seconds. So I grabbed for another, knowing the pain that awaits, but not caring. Our appetite for, and consumption of, gossip, often follows the same trajectory as the eating of a freshly baked cookie. We know it’s gonna burn, but we do not care because it tastes so good. It’s why we like fake news, and soap operas. There is something satisfying about hearing someone else’s business isn’t there? It allows us to elevate ourselves above another, and say from our exalted position “Can you believe the nerve? Why I never? Who would do such a thing? How can a person be so ignorant? Thank God I am not like that!”. Back to soap operas for a second. Soap operas? Ridiculous, I don’t watch soap operas, that’s for bored housewives. Soap’s are so 1980’s. Really? You don’t like soap operas? Then why do you spend so much time scrolling through facebook, looking for little snippets of drama to gobble up? The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body. It would be real easy for us to point to the gossip and say “shame on you”, and would be right in doing so. But there is an oft overlooked aspect to gossip that we conveniently overlook: the appetite of the one consuming the gossip. In the proverb today, the writer drew a parallel between the words of a talebearer, and dainty morsels. What are dainty morsels? Well, after some searching, I discovered that dainty morsel carries with it more than simply the idea of a tasty little treat. There is some motivation attached to this word. Dainty morsel refers to food, or in our case words of a gossip, which are consumed greedily. You see, without the greedy appetite of a listener, a talebearers tales have no audience. Effective communication involves a couple of elements. There is a speaker, a message, a receiver, and feedback. If a talebearer doesn’t have a person greedy to hear his gossip, guess what? The destructive words of gossip are stopped in their tracks. Proverbs 26:20 says For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Oftentimes we are complicit in flaming the fires of talebearers and slanderers aren’t we? Post a certain topic on facebook, watch the ensuing trainwreck, knowing the whole time that people will come out of the woodwork and attack you, then feign indignation when they do. Us Christians like to use the prayer request as opportunities to gossip, don’t we? “Did you hear about so and so? Well bless her soul. We need to pray for her. Why, the nerve of her deadbeat husband to do such a thing. I heard from so and so that he…………..” and on and on it goes. Wood added to the fire. Dainty morsels being gobbled up. We must repent of our consumption of gossip, and our utilization of it to stir up strife. It is wicked, sinful, and destructive. James tells us that the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. There was an old proverb of sorts in the Navy that says “Loose Lips sink ships”. Gossip spreads fast on a ship, and can have serious consequences for teamwork and moral. Unchecked gossip is destructive. It can wreck friendships, it can create chaos in your marriage, it can damage your position in the workplace, it tears Churches apart, and ultimately, it ruins your witness for Christ. Let us throw ourselves upon the mercy of Christ, and seek forgiveness for how we often engage in talebearing, and are the greedy consumers of it. Please kneel if able as we call upon the name of the Lord.
Heavenly Father, Your Son Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life. No one comes to You, but through Him. Yet as Your children, we frequently find ourselves peddling in half-truths, lies, slander, and gossip, things contrary to You, and our new nature. We still  find ourselves with an appetite for spinning stories and consuming the tasty morsels of gossip. We forget that our tongues, and by extension, our fingers on a keyboard, are capable of defiling us. We desire to have our cravings satisfied by tales, rather than by Your Word. Father, please be merciful towards us sinners, and fill us with Your Spirit, that we might speak words of peace, words of encouragement, words to build up and point people to Your Son, rather than words meant for our own greedy appetites. Help us to bear the fruit of self control in our use of words. Father please give us wisdom to recognize a talebearer, and the strength to turn away from this wicked practice. Father please forgive us when we sin with our mouths. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 11-25-18 liturgy of Sovereign King Church. Written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

Last week, my family and I had a conversation about the incomprehensibility of God. We discovered that being creatures, we have minds that are finite, weak, and very limited. We can only know what God has permitted us to know, what He has revealed to us. We have the ability to remember the past, we can use reason in the present, and the future remains largely unknown to us, except in our imaginations. This is not so with God. He transcends time. He knows all our thoughts and actions currently, those in the past, and the thoughts and actions that have not yet occurred. God has a nature that is infinite. He is not constrained by our creaturely limitations. God, in his infinite nature, is incomprehensible to us, save what He has revealed to us through creation, and His Word. God knows all things, sees all things, and ordains all things that come to pass. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. So, what am I driving at here? We humans seem to have built within us a desire to shape the future. We make plans. We scheme. We like to plot out our lives on a twenty year plan. Planning is a good thing. The Proverbs (20:18) tell us to Prepare plans by consultation, and make war by wise guidance, and,  The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty (21:5). To not be diligent in planning your actions is sinful, because we are called to make the best use of our time, for the days are evil. However, there is a planning, a speculation about the future, which God hates. Proverbs 27:1 states Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth. Boastful claims of the future are those which say “My will be done”, rather than “God’s will be done”. Boasting about tomorrow amounts to you pursuing the desires of your heart, without wise guidance from the Counselor. Boasting about tomorrow, however innocent you may think it is, seeks to usurp God’s ordination of all things that come to pass. This boasting arrogantly presumes that we know what is best for us, and seeks to shape the future according to our wishes, leaving God and His infinite, all-knowing wisdom sitting in standby, just in case our plan doesn’t work out. This boasting is evil. James states it this way:
James 4:13-16 NASB
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." [14] Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. [15] Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." [16] But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
One way this type of boasting may transpire is in how our current generation of 20 and 30 somethings have approached the institution of marriage and being fruitful and multiplying. God said a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:24). Modern reasoning sounds like this: “I am not ready for marriage. I want to get my education first. I want to experience life before settling down (in other words, I want to fornicate)”......all of this is code word for “My will be done”. In terms of raising children, God’s Word says “Be fruitful and multiply”.  Modern family planning sounds like this: “This baby will grow up poor and needy, so I will just kill her instead”, or “ I have to be well established in my career, then I will squeeze in time for a family”, or the popular “ I don’t want children, I would rather live my life and have fun”. As a Pastor once said, selfishness is pretty common these days, and that is what much of this boasting boils down to. “ME ME ME”.
Brothers and sisters, if we are to boast, let us boast in the Lord. If we are to plan for the future, let us say “Your will be done Lord, not mine”. Let us seek wise counsel before going to war. How might you be boasting about tomorrow? Your career choice? Your after high school planning? Maybe whether or not you will get married, have children, or have more children, if already married? Let us recognize that we are the creatures, and He is the Creator who knows all things, and ordains all things. Let us remember that it is He who directs our steps, and pray to our Heavenly Father “Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Let us kneel and pray to God that he might show us mercy in our arrogant boasting.
Dear Heavenly Father, it is You and You alone Who holds the future. You are infinite in wisdom and knowledge, and You order all things according to Your purposes, for Your glory, and for the good of those who love You, who are called according to Your purposes. In our arrogance, we exalt our very limited knowledge and understanding above Yours, and sin. We boast of the future, while failing to make the best use of the time You have already given us. Father, we are foolish to think we might know better than You. We are foolish to think that it is our wishes and desires which shape the future. Help us to be humble Lord, and remember our station in life. We are the clay, You are the potter. Creature to Creator. Please be merciful towards us sinners O Lord, and help us to submit to Your will in all areas of our lives. Please forgive us for our boasting of tomorrow and our plans which exalt our will rather than exalting Christ. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts! 

(From the 12/2/18 Liturgy of Sovereign King Church)