I'm Following Jesus – Page 1167 – Mark 8:34 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.

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: Tuesday, February 09, 2021
Chapters: Exodus 30-32
Message: Without Repentance

Hello My Friend,

There are three forms of repentance, [Repentance; 1. Sorrow for any thing done or said. 2. The pain, regret or affliction which a person feels on account of their past conduct, because it exposes punishment. 3. Real penitence; sorrow or deep brokenness in the heart for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God.]. Real penitence (sorrowfulness from the heart) springs from a conviction of guilt and ingratitude to God, and is followed by amendment of life. In other words, we understand what the punishment for sin is when we discover what Jesus did to save our soul, and turn our minds away from our own righteousness trying to save us, and to Christ for our salvation. [Matthew 9:12b-13 They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.]

Repentance is the first step to salvation, until we admit that we are sinners, there is no salvation. Even if we only sinned one time in our lifetime, we have sinned, and no one is without sin, except Jesus. Which is exactly why He was able to stand in our place on the cross to make atonement for us once and for all. Now, God gave Moses the instructions for the place where people could come to worship and do business with Him, there was just a few more things He wanted to address before sending him back down the mountain. The Altar of Incense is exactly what it sounds like, a place to burn incense. Not just any incense, a special blend of spices including stacte [myrrh], and frankincense, that would remain burning in the Tabernacle, along with the menorah.

[Exodus 30:1,6-10 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.]

[And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering] [Atonement; Agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or hatred.] Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, one sacrifice would be made, a sin offering, and it was to make an atonement for all the sin offerings made that year. Today, we do not have to wait a year to reconcile with God, we just need to go to Him in repentance, feeling deep sorrow for the pain we caused God for sinning against Him. [I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.]

We should all have an altar that we can meet with God daily, we can pray all day long, but we still need that one on one time with Him without any distractions. As God continues, He enforces the census tax, a ransom paid to God, and directed for the service of the tabernacle, after a count had been made of the congregation.

[Exodus 30:12,14-16,20 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:]

[that there be no plague among them,] Death is the punishment or plague for sin. [The rich shall not give more,] For all of those who think that the rich are to pay more taxes than everyone else, think again. We are all the same, each and every soul is of equal value, equally in danger, and all equally in need of ransom. [that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD,] This was a reminder that they were God’s people, they sinned, the ransom was paid for their soul, and were now reconciled with God. We must all pay a ransom for our soul to escape the plague, and only one payment is acceptable to God, and that is Jesus. He shed His blood, He bought the souls of those who believe in and receive Him, and makes the atonement for us. [I Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.]

You see, since we were bought with a price, it is important that we keep ourselves in a way that glorifies God because we belong to Him. Of course, salvation does not keep us from sinning again, and until He brings us home, we are going to sin. And that is where repentance again comes in. Yesterday, I talked about Jesus telling us that we need to wash our feet. Well, that is what repentance does, it washes our feet of the filth of sin, even if we have to repent ten times a day. This is why we need to be in church or have a day solely dedicated to God, which is why He enforces the Sabbath, and is so adamant about it.

[Exodus 31:13-15,18 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.]

[Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore;] [Sabbath; A day of intermission of pain or sorrow from sin, a time of rest to reflect and reconcile with God.] Over the years this has gotten extremely distorted, the Jews will not even flip a light switch on. There were times when God did end someones life because they tempted Him on the Sabbath, but since Jesus is the Sabbath, we are to rest in Him. [Matthew 11:28-29 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.]

And here is the reason why we need a day solely of worship and repentance to God, the longer we go without it, the more we fall. While Moses was up on the mount, something was going on down below, the people were tired of waiting for him, and go to Aaron with a request. [Exodus 32:1-2,5-6 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.]

[and rose up to play.] First of all, Aaron was their leader until Moses returned, he should have been encouraging them in the LORD. And how foolish was Aaron to do all of this, then proclaim a feast to God? How many Christians are guilty of this? They do not really take time for God, then when nothing seems to be happening, they create idols as though they are God, and become entangled in the world. God was so angry that He was going to destroy them all right there, but Moses reasoned with Him, and sent him back down to handle it.

[Exodus 32:7-11 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?]

[why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people,] Moses is reminding God, not that he needed to, of His promise, and they, are well, sinners. I can honestly say that I spent about three years serving God without recognizing His presence in my life, day after day I struggled with depression, temptation, and my faith. I do not know how I got through it, only that it was by the mercies and grace of God. Moses was able to calm God down and this time He repented. [Exodus 32:14-19 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.]

[And the LORD repented of the evil] God repents too, meaning He had sorrow over what He had said, and changed His mind about killing them all. Moses went down the mountain, saw what was going on, and did something strange with the golden calf. [Exodus 32:20-23,26 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.]

[and made the children of Israel drink of it.] There is nothing like drinking the sludge that sin consumed us with to realize that there is only one God, and that consequence comes to all unrepentant sin. [Who is on the LORD’S side?] Three thousand people lost their lives over this, the truth to their faith in God was shown, all who do not stand with God will die in their sin. This is confirmed at the end of this chapter.

[Exodus 32:30-35 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.]

[him will I blot out of my book.] Yes, even they knew that there is a book, and it contains the names of every saved soul, all the way back to Adam. Salvation has never been about obedience, if that were the case then, we would all be in hell, it is about trusting God and letting Him be LORD of our lives. Jesus is our mediator, the only one who can stand before God and plead with Him to save our soul. He only saves those who come to Him by faith, and this has always been the case. [I Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Exodus 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?]

Today’s Prayer: God, I will never understand why You chose me to be one of Your ministers, but help me to remember that my labor is not in vain, and that my faithfulness to You is critical to the mission You have called me to do. As I remain faithful to You, let me always keep the Sabbath, and wait patiently for You in doing so, I know that You are perfecting me and getting me ready to receive what I have been waiting so long for. Thank You, Lord for Your patience and longsuffering, and for doing a great work in me. Nothing good that I do or happens to me is possible without you. I love You and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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