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: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Chapters: Luke 18
Message: Jesus, Thou Son of David, Have Mercy On Me!
Hello My Friend,
There is a news story going around this week about Joe Biden being refused communion by a priest at his church because of his stance on abortion. I do not know if it was made public to make the church or him look bad, but either way, they both are wrong. First of all, there is only one judge, and that is Jesus Christ (John 5:30). Second, we are all sinners, we are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23). And third, unless you have personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour you cannot partake of communion, which is to be done only by Christ’s saints in remembrance of what He did for them (I Corinthians 11:24-27). In fact, people keep referencing these verses, but they are not referencing the most important that come after. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” – I Corinthians 11:28-32.
“we are chastened of the Lord,” The judgment, saved born again believers get is not the same judgment the unsaved will get, we are judged while we are here for the things that we do. Religion or the work we do in the church does not save us, Jesus saves, period. To live in sin while we are saved, is in fact eating and drinking of Christ unworthily, and those who do will be chastened for their sin until they either repent or He takes them home. And let me tell you, the suffering they face while in their sin is their judgment (I Peter 4:12-19). Everyone wants the blessings of God, they want atonement for their sin, and to be forgiven of them, that is why we come to the altar of God. God’s mercy endures, that is, if we are saved, and repentant, then we can come to Him every single second, confessing sin, and He will hear us (Luke 17:3-4). If God hears us, then we can ask Him for anything (God willing) and He will give it to us. Jesus explains this with a parable.
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” – Luke 18:1-8.
“lest by her continual coming she weary me.” We are to continually talk to God, communicate with Him, ask Him for the things we have need of, sincerely. Do you think God is going to listen to us if we are unrepentant? While we are not forsaken, He will block His ears from the prayers of those who come to Him unworthily, that is until we repent, start confessing sin. “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;” – Isaiah 1:15-16.
There is a huge action that every person, saved or not, needs in order to get God’s attention, and that is humility. We need to be humble, we cannot just go to God with this attitude that we are all righteous and have done nothing wrong. Jesus explains this with another parable.
“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” – Luke 18:9-14.
“this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:” You cannot go to God with this holier than thou attitude, and expect Him to listen to you. That priest condemning Joe Biden had the same attitude of the Pharisee. Apparently, Joe Biden did not go to “confession”, for if he had, the priest would not have reacted the way he did. And this is exactly why a priest has no authority to listen to, and forgive sin, he picked and chose the sin he wanted to condemn him for, he is not Jesus. Unless we humble ourselves before God in true repentance, He will not listen to us. “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” – James 4:9-12.
“thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.” While we are not subject to the Law, that does not mean that we should not keep it, for in keeping the Law, no one can judge us. Keep in mind that anything we do after we are saved has no bearing on our salvation, we do not keep the Law for or to maintain our salvation as that was bought and paid for through our faith in Jesus Christ. What we are doing through our obedience is showing Christ in us. If, Jesus, who humbled Himself to follow the Law, who, by the way is the Law, we very capable of doing the same thing. You can tithe all the money you have, follow every one of the ten commandments, if that is even possible, unless you follow Christ, none of that will do you any good. Jesus explains this further.
“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” – Luke 18:18-24,26-27.
“none is good, save one, that is, God.” Good means perfect, and since no one is perfect, following every one of the ten commandments will not save you nor will it bring God’s blessings upon your life unless you are truly following Christ. Think about it, would you want to keep helping someone who never appreciates or thanks you for what you have done? God has great mercy and grace toward us, but if we take it for granted He will start to withhold things, and even worse, take them away. Last Wednesday, my church kids were plain awful, and took away their treats for the day. This past Sunday, every one of them obeyed, even the instigator who gets all the rest going. Perhaps, that is why Jesus tells us that we are to receive Him as a little child. “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” – Luke 18:17.
Okay, so, we humble ourselves, we admit we are a sinner, we pray and ask Jesus to save us, and we choose to follow Him. We do all these things, and still something is missing, we feel we are not getting God’s attention. What is missing? Perhaps, it is confession. We need to confess our sins, it is not enough to admit you are a sinner, you need to confess your sin daily, or as I learned last night, weekly. We sin daily, and I am not talking about habitual sin, just every day things that we do not realize we are doing. Like getting angry and screaming at someone else who did nothing wrong. Or that little white lie told to get out of doing something. Remember, Jesus is always with us, all we have to do to get right with Him is call Him. Watch what Jesus says to a blind man when he heard that Jesus was passing by, and the response he got from Jesus for his faith.
“And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.” – Luke 18:35-42.
“but he cried so much the more,” The religious will do whatever it takes to keep someone from coming to Jesus, in fact, telling them that they cannot get to Jesus because they are a sinner. Well, Jesus loves sinners, He died for us, and let me tell you, Joe Biden has a better chance at receiving salvation through Christ through humble confession, over a priest who thinks he is without sin (Romans 10:9-10). We, who are saved, are saved solely by the grace of God, through our faith in Jesus Christ, instead of using that as a crutch to live a sinful life, give it over to Jesus so that through your good works others might see Him through you and get saved. And if you mess up, suck it up, cry out to Jesus, admit your sin, and He will turn it all around. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” – I Timothy 1:15-16.
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for saving a sinner like me, I know that there is nothing I could have ever done to merit salvation apart from receiving You as my Saviour. You have called us to be Your witness, after all, You did give Your life, and by grace alone we are saved through our faith in You. You do not expect us to be perfect as You have perfected us with Your blood. Amen! You do expect us to be faithful, to take up our cross, and follow You, and that includes prayer, adoration, confession, and obeying your commands. And Your commands are not grievous, in fact, you tell us to love our Father with all our heart, and to love others as we love ourselves all the while leading lost souls to You. Lord, Lead us and guide us, keep us humble, obedient, seeking Your will for our lives, and coming to You daily in prayer and confession with every breath that we take. I love You, Lord, and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. 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: https://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.