I'm Following Jesus – Page 1142 – 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: Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Chapters: Deuteronomy 17-20
Message: Every Hair Is Counted

Hello My Friend,

Well, I had another study in mind, but then, I am not the one doing these, it is God, and after spending over an hour looking up Scripture about being anointed by Christ through His blood, God sent me in the direction that I was supposed to be in and that is judgment. Jesus said, [John 8:15-18,24,26,29,32 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. 29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.]

[Judgment; 1. The righteous statutes and commandments of God. 2. The sentence of doom pronounced in any cause, civil or criminal, by the judge or court by which it is tried. 3. The spirit of wisdom and prudence, enabling a person to discern right and wrong, good and evil. 4. The final trial of the human race, when God will decide the fate of every individual, and award sentence according to divine justice.].

As you can see, there are several meanings to the word judgment, and there are many more. I pointed these four out for us to see that judgment is more than someone forming an opinion of others, it is the act or process of examining facts and arguments in order to obtain justice, and or what is due them. God is our Judge and He decides what is right or wrong, regardless of whether or not we agree with Him. Every law made by man ought to line up with God’s Word, and at one point the American Constitution was written with it to some extent, and so were the laws. Although the Constitution does stand, over the years mans laws do not, and because of that conflicts arise. Let me tell you, God’s Law will always trump mans, that does not mean that man does not try to overthrow God. Nevertheless, this why God instituted the courts, the judge shall decide the matter.

[Deuteronomy 17:8-11 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; 9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: 10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: 11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.]

[thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee,] God is our judge, Jesus stands before us in God’s courtroom, He is the one who presides our case. If we have accepted Christ as our Saviour, then our sentence is revoked, and we are set free from the doom of eternal death. Amen! On the other hand, while our salvation saves us by grace alone, we are still responsible for our actions while we are here. So, whatever chastisement we receive we must accept it as all of God’s chastening is used to create us into an image that reflects His Son, [Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.]

You know, we are appointed two things in life, that is the day we are born in the flesh and the day we die in the flesh. We have no idea when our last day will be, therefore, everything we do in between determines where we will spend eternity. What I mean by that is our faith, of course, we cannot earn eternal life, that is a gift given to us through our faith in Christ. However, our faith determines how successful we are in this life. God may appoint earthly rulers in order to keep things in order, but He is our ultimate authority, if these rulers go against God, then they will be held responsible for oppressing His people. God actually warns what happens when the rulers get too big and start making up their own rules.

[Deuteronomy 17:14-18 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:]

[thou mayest not set a stranger over thee,] Notice that it warns of what happened if the king multiplied his wealth, or married women that would turn their hearts from God, or cause the people to go back to Egypt. All of those things happened at one point with the kings, Solomon was the one who let women turn his heart away. Christ is our KING, we are to have no other ruler over us. While we are to respect our nations leaders, they do not have precedence over us, God is our authority, [John 5:26-27 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.]

Again, God does not stress it enough, we are in the world, not of the world. Do you know why a group of Christians decided to leave Britain in the first place to find America? They wanted to be free to worship God under His authority, not mans. This is why God gave the Israelites the land He gave them, it was a place for His believers to go where they were free to worship Him. We are not to be like the heathens who follow every god there is. We are not to be like the immoral who follow every lust of their flesh. We are to be like Christ. And if you think that the people who were here did not know that Christ was coming, think again, they were well aware of Him. In fact, Moses tells tells the Israelites that He is coming.

[Deuteronomy 18:9-10,12-15,19 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.]

[God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee,] This reminds me of the question that Jesus asked His disciples, [Luke 9:18-20 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.]

[like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;] How interesting is this? This is not Moses speaking about God sending someone like himself or of Joshua, this is someone that God is sending that is like Him. It is God who requires us to listen to what Jesus has to say, [Luke 9:34-35 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.]

[But whom say ye that I am?] Jesus has the same question for all who say they believe in Him, if we are going to believe in Him, we must believe in all that He is. He is more than just a Prophet, He is the Christ of God, the anointed one, and oh my goodness, if this does not line up with what I had started to write about this morning. And I know we talked about this a few days ago, but Jesus is also our refuge, the one who keeps us from death. God thought that this was so important for them to have cities of refuge that He had Moses repeat it again.

[Deuteronomy 19:3-6,10 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. 4 And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; 5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: 6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. 10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.]

[and the head slippeth from the helve,] You have to wonder sometimes why God had specific ways of saying certain things. Would it have been easier to just say that the city of refuge was a place where those who killed someone accidentally could hide out until they get a fair trial before being judged with death? Sure, but there is a reason why everything is written in His Word as it is. Just think about the time they were in, axes were what was used to cut down trees. God gave them a scenario that they could relate to. How we would apply this to a scenario that we could relate to would be to replace the ax with a chainsaw. And do not dare say that this does not apply to us today, all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is necessary, [II Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.]

[Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer,] Remember, we are all under the same judgment, death by sin. Sin will forever be the death of us, but Jesus is our refuge, not only from the death of our soul, but life itself. When we put our faith and trust in Him, He is our shield from all the dangers in this world. We cannot be afraid to speak about Jesus, yes, we are going to face battles because the world hates Jesus and everything He stands for, but we are not alone, He is with us and will help us fight these battles, and actually win. We only lose he fight when we do not fight. This is the message that Moses gives to Israel as they are going to have to fight for the promised land.

[Deuteronomy 20:1-4 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, 3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.]

[For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you,] Think about it, America is a divided nation, and let me tell you that division, unlike the first Civil War, which battled for freedom, this Civil War that we are headed straight for is a battle for good. The immoral and wicked are attempting to take over this country in the worse way, it is just like Jesus said, [Luke 21:16-19 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. 18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls.]

When we are kids we strive so hard to be adults, then when we are, the struggle is real, it is not easy when we get older and life gets a hold of us, you truly start to understand what the Bible says about sin being the death of us. And what I mean by that is the curse of sin, it takes a toll on our flesh as our body ages, the joints do not move so freely, food does not digest so easily, the hairs on our head become less and less, and yet those who are anointed by Christ only have to endure the pain for a little while, each and every hair is numbered and when we do stand before Christ in judgment, every last hair will be accounted for. Amen! [Luke 12:6-9 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. 8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;]

Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for sending Your Prophet to guide and show us Your ways so that we not only live a life in Your Kingdom, but here as well that is pleasing to You. Lord, as the days approach to the return of Your Son it is going to get harder to tell the truth from the lies, but it is apparent that the truth be told as we know it from Your Word. Lead us and guide us, fill us with wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and Your power to get through this battle. You are our strength, You are our victory in this wicked world, and as long as we stick close to You we will win this battle. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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