King James Bible Study – [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.]
Date: Sunday, June 05, 2022
Chapters: PROVERBS 7-9
Study: Jesus’s Investment
Hello My Friend,
I did not eat very well over the past few days and not only is my stomach feeling it so is the rest of my body, and it does not matter how many supplements I take to help me stay healthy, if I am not eating right the only thing I am doing is wasting my investment as the good stuff is not cheap. Now, with this odd revelation as I am typing this, God has given me the perfect example as to why every saved, born again Christian needs to be not only in His Word, but applying it to their lives.
[James 1:19-24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.]
Think about it this way, the investment that Jesus made for us was His very own life, and it was certainly not cheap. The pain, the humility, I mean, no one wants to die, but when my time comes, I hope that it is just of old age and is peacefully in my sleep, but Jesus hung on the cross for us. And to go as far as receive Him, and do nothing more, is quite frankly a waste of His investment that He made in you. As we continue in the reading of Proverbs, we find the importance of keeping God’s commands after we are saved, and why it is the wisest decision we will make next to asking Christ to save us.
[Proverbs 7:1-7 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,]
[a young man void of understanding,] We are the apple of God’s eye, if we have accepted His Son as our Savior, then why would He not want us to improve on the quality of our lives by keeping His commands? When we first get saved we are babes in Christ, and pretty void of understanding of God’s Word, but as we read it and apply it to our lives we become more mature and better equipped to handle the temptations that come. However, the sad truth is that most do not and end up suffering in their sin, unknowingly realizing that even if you are saved, sin leads to death, [James 1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.]
Surely our salvation is not based on our works, and nothing we could ever do would change that, but that does not mean that God will not judge us. We can think of the world, and quite frankly most religions, as an adulteress woman or man, seeking to keep us entangled in it and from living the way that God wants is to live.
[Proverbs 7:9-10,13-15,18-21 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.]
[with the flattering of her lips she forced him.] Whenever I use to read this I would think, “How can anyone force us to do something?” Well, I learned the hard way that given the right words, state of mind and spirit, and circumstances, we can be force into submitting to them. No one thinks, especially when they have a strong faith in God and are faithful to Him, that they are capable of submitting to the adulterers, but no one is that strong on their own. We need the strength of Christ, every single day, He is the only one who can give us the strength to not only resist that temptation, but not even put ourselves in that position to begin with, [1 Corinthians 10:11-13 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.]
God’s Word, is more than a history book about Israel, or a book about God’s commands, and what the future holds for all the earth, it is about teaching us to live in a way that not only reflects the life of the person studying it, it reflects the Son of God. Yes, Jesus loved the world that He made the greatest investment of His perfect life to give eternal life for those who believe in Him, but He is also just, meaning He did not save us so that we can be free to live a life of sin. He saved us so that He can make the best investment in us, and there is nothing that He asks us to do that is one; grievous, two; vain, and three; that He would not do Himself.
[Proverbs 8:4-9 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. 5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. 7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. 9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.]
[and right to them that find knowledge.] The knowledge of Christ dying to save our soul from the depths of hell ought to send us running to both, the altar and His Word. Jesus, can tolerate our slow progression and those relapses of judgment, but what He will not tolerate is our receiving Him just to go on living in sin, and He will call everyone out who does, and well before they stand before Him face to face, [Proverbs 8:13-17 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.]
[pride, and arrogancy,] Pride, is the very drive that keeps people from accepting Christ in the first place as they do not want to admit that they are sinners. Pride, is also what keeps those who are saved from submitting to the will of God. And as for being arrogant, well, that is like telling yourself that you are God, [1 John 5:3-4 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.]
As you study the true Word of God you discover some amazing things that you might not have known had you never read it. Everyone knows who Jesus is, but unless you read about Him, in the only infallible book of truth, you would never have known that He is actually much more than a man who walked the streets of Israel preaching about God, and was martyred for defending His faith. Jesus, was here from the very beginning, has always been, and is in fact, God in the flesh. It may have been Solomon who penned down the Proverbs, but you can definitely see that this is Jesus speaking, [Proverbs 8:22-27 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:]
[When he prepared the heavens, I was there:] When God created man on earth He said, [Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.]
Do you understand that it is God who made this huge investment in us in creating the entire earth for us? And what does man do to thank Him? They destroy everything that He worked so hard to make. And did you see what he made a point to say, [male and female created he them.]. God, made everything simple, man is the one who complicated things. And while God can certainly take away every bit of freewill that we have, He gives us the choice to choose Him, all He asks that if we do choose Him that we keep His Word.
[Proverbs 8:32-36 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. 36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.]
[Blessed is the man that heareth me,] Remember, obedience is better than sacrifice. If we lean on God’s understanding instead of our own, we will find that we will not have to work so hard. Our strength to live the simple life, and prospering as we do, is listening to Jesus. Jesus loves all, after all, He died for all of us, but He takes extra special care of those who love Him, and He is not hard to find. In fact, you will find Him in the midst of the biggest obstacles, and when we truly seek Him we will discover that he does really keep it simple.
[Proverbs 9:6-12 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. 8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. 12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.]
[but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.] When I was looking up information about gold it has been documented to have been used since about 5500 BC. For some reason (and this is what I get for looking it up from a godless society) it is documented that it was brought here by meteorites some five thousand million years ago. People really are fools to believe all that nonsense when even history proves otherwise. When we spend valuable time trying to convince the foolish what God’s truths are we really are wasting our investment in Christ as we lose sight of why Jesus sends us out into the world in the first place, [Titus 3:8-9 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You, for making the greatest investment in giving Your life to save my soul. We are not saved by any of our works, only by grace through our faith and acceptance in what You did on the cross. Our faith in You needs to go beyond our salvation, we need a continual walk with You to conform into an image the resembles You and makes Your investment in us worthwhile. Part of that walk is in reading Your Word, and applying it to our lives. We are not always going to make the right decisions, and You will try us in order to put Your investment to good use, but You will also show us that You are our greatest investment as well. Lord, lead us and guide us, give us Your wisdom, understanding, and strength to invest wisely. And fill us with Your mercy and grace so that we may endure the obstacles that come as You make good on Your investment. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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