King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Friday, May 10, 2019
Chapters: I Chronicles 18, Psalms 50, 53, 60, 65
Message: Our Awesome And Jealous God
Hello My Friend,
When you stop to think about how God created us in His image, and the more you study His Word, you begin to realize that God has the same emotions that we do. He loves, cries, and grieves, gets happy, sad, and angry. He wants to feel loved, be adored, and praised, by His people, and He is a jealous God. We should find it a great honor that God is jealous over us, after all, if we are saved, we belong to Him, and if we belong to Him then there is nothing He will not do for us. And since God is jealous that means He will not share us with anyone.
“I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” – Deuteronomy 5:6-10.
“which brought thee out of the land of Egypt,” Do you understand that the second you received Jesus Christ as your Saviour He brought you out of bondage to sin and the world? That means you are free. Now, whether or not you choose to walk in the freedom of Christ or stay bondage to the world that is your choice, but it is a decision you must make, and since God will have no gods before Him that means should you choose Him He expects you to be faithful to Him. Many born again Christians living in the world, want the security of life after death, but refuse to keep His commands, and therefore, chastisement comes.
“Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” – Psalm 50:5-8,13-17,21-23.
“those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Do you understand that the second you receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour you make a covenant with Him by sacrifice? We came to Him willingly, we believe in the Gospel, and have accepted Him willingly. We are not human sacrifices, Jesus bought and paid for our souls with His blood so we do not have to be, we are living sacrifices, or we ought to be, until He brings us home to Him. “lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” And this is why God has not destroyed the whole earth yet, if He eliminated everyone who is guilty of sin there would be no one left. Many who reject God question His existence and love toward man because of His judgments and evils in the world. Well, let me tell you, God is not to blame, man is. Yes, since creation, both corrupt man, and angel too, are to blame for the evils in this world. When God created creatures in His image He made them perfect, but their desire to fulfill their lusts made them imperfect, and thanks to their trying to overthrow God, we all have to suffer the repercussions of it.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God. There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.” – Psalm 53:1-5.
“there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” For years I have read, and quoted this as it is often used to witness to people, and today I finally understood it, God is referring to unbelievers here, reprobates. Children of men are those who know God exists, and yet reject or out right deny His existence, a great example is Satan, he certainly knows God exists, that he was created by him as well, and that salvation is through Christ alone, but he is a reprobate, beyond the hope of salvation because he refuses to accept Christ. Until we acknowledge Christ, and accept Him for who He is, we are children of men, and of the devil, it is only when we choose Christ, and receive Him as our Saviour that we become children of God or in other words, believers.
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” – II Peter 2:4-6,9-10.
“making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;” You see, all the diseases, natural, and man made disasters, are warnings of what is to come of those who never choose Christ. We may have to deal with some suffering as we are exposed to God’s judgment on the ungodly, but He will deliver us from the ultimate judgment. As Christians, God expects us to do what we physically can do on our own, then depend, and trust Him to do the rest. If all of our victories were self sufficient then we would think we did it all on our own, and since God is jealous He will compete with out attention until we acknowledge that He is the one who led us to success. David knew this, and because he depended and trusted God most of the time he was able to defeat every nation that came up against him. I Chronicles 18 gives more insight about David successfully defeating, and winning the respect and honor of several nations, including the Edomites.
“Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah; He sent Hadoram his son to king David, to enquire of his welfare, and to congratulate him, because he had fought against Hadarezer, and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had war with Tou;) and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass. Them also king David dedicated unto the LORD, with the silver and the gold that he brought from all these nations; from Edom, and from Moab, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek. Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand. And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went. So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people. And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder. And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Shavsha was scribe; And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief about the king.” – I Chronicles 18:9-17.
“and all the Edomites became David’s servants.” This Psalm was written in reference to what took place prior to their battle with Edom, who by the way, were cousins, descendants of Esau. “To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh. Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me. Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” – Psalm 60:1-5,10-12.
“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,” The chastening we go through as Christians does not always come from disobedience, it is often used to show His Son through our faith and endurance. Of course, we do not like to suffer needlessly, but it is actually the suffering that brings us to depend on God more, which is the only way we can resist falling into the temptations of the world. David comes to realize that it is more blessed to be approached for God. “To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea: Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power: Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.” – Psalm 65:1-7.
“By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us,” Terrible is another word for awe or reverence. It is the terrible things that we go through that actually bring us to Jesus in the first place. Think about it, before you knew Christ as your Saviour, how did you handle the trials and tribulations of life? I know I did not do so well, and often made things worse. I had to hit rock bottom before I could see that Christ is my only option, as do we all since, if we are honest with ourselves, we tend to not depend on God so much when things are going well. It is not as though we forget God or do not thank Him for all He is doing, we just do not turn to Him for every little thing like we do when we are being afflicted. And this is often why God shakes things up a bit, He wants our attention. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” – I Peter 4:14-16.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” – Psalm 50:14-15.
Today’s Prayer: God, I know when You have brought me to a places that I do not understand, my heart wants to go one way, but You want me to stay put. I have finally realized that You are the only one who can direct the paths You have chosen for me, and in time You will bless me as I walk through the curvy roads, hills, and valleys. Thank You for loving me and not giving up on me, and for Your mercy and grace to see me through. You know what is best for me, and I have to accept that Your way is the only way to see it all come to pass. Lord, You are a jealous God, and since I belong to You, you will not share me with anyone else. I do want to live by Your Word and walk the path You have chosen for me, give me Your power, wisdom, guidance, mercy, and grace. Help me resist the temptation to do things my way, to walk down my own path, and let me lean not on my own understanding, but trust You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2019 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.