I'm Following Jesus – Page 1481 – 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: Sunday, April 05, 2020
Chapters: Judges 16-18
Message: They Have No Deliverer

Hello My Friend,

Since God created man, freewill has enabled us to do what is right in our own eyes, and there are thousands of religions out there to prove it. As I have been writing my study on Jehovah’s Witnesses I have discovered something, people want God in their lives because they fear death and hell, the problem is, they want to worship Him in the way that is right in their own eyes. Do you think that writing versions of the Bible that only appear to your eyes as true is going to make them true? It does not, and all it does is create a false god out of God, and send those who follow them to hell, which by the way, is a place that many refuse to acknowledge is real. Let me tell you, ignorance saves no one, those who choose to follow these religions are just as guilty as the ones who created them. “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” – Acts 17:29-31.

Speaking of gold, silver, and the like, it truly is the root of all evil, as much as I know that we need money to enjoy the things we have, I despise it, and can understand why God only lets me have so much. The lust for the money is what is truly the root of the evil, people will do anything, and I mean anything, to get it. We have been reading about Samson’s life, the Philistines despised him because they could not stand against him, and so many of them were killed by him alone, no army needed. However, they knew he had one weakness, and that was women. Samson went down to Gaza where he met up with a prostitute, the men of Gaza, thinking they could use that opportunity to kill him, but that did not go as they planned. Samson ends up in Sorek, where he met a woman named Delilah, whom he fell in love with.

“Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” – Judges 16:1-6,16-17.

“Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth,” Delilah wasted no time in trying to get him to tell her where his strength lies. If there is one thing I am learning in my new relationship is that women do have a great deal of influence on a man, and we are their weakness. We can also be their strength, a godly woman is truly a blessing from God to a man, she can be his help meet as God calls them. And if she is not godly, she can be the death of him. Delilah, shaved Samson’s head, called for the Philistines and they were finally able to capture him. They did not kill him, instead they gashed out his eyes, chained him, and turned him into a slave. However, Samson was going to discover that he strength never came from his hair, rather from God. These proud Philistines gathered together, drinking and partying to their god, and brought Samson out to show him off.

“And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” – Judges 16:24-30.

“Let me die with the Philistines.” For the first time in his life, Samson discovered that his life was not his own, that it belonged to God. I believe he knew that his death was not final, and it is not final for those who put their faith and trust in the LORD, Jesus Christ. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – I Corinthians 15:56-57.

Remember that money Delilah got paid? Well, and man named Micah, stole it from her. And here is where things start to make sense as to what Israel was doing in their own eyes that brought God to sell them into the hand of their enemy. His mother took some of the silver he had gotten back, and had an idol made from it, actually dedicating it to God. “And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son. And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.” – Judges 17:1-5.

“I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son,” It is one thing to make up a god, it is another to use God to make up their own. Okay, as much as people like to believe that God picks and chooses who gets saved, the truth is that He would save all, but that is not how it works. God give every single soul the opportunity to be saved, it is their unbelief or rebellion that sends them to hell, (Revelation 21:8). Not only did they have this false god they now worshiped as thou it was from God, they made things worse when a Levite, remember, these were ministers of God, showed up at his doorstep. “And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.” – Judges 17:9-13.

“Now know I that the LORD will do me good,” Micah thought that a Levite priest, was a sign that he was doing right and God was going to finally bless him. Okay, God gives all a choice, and if you do not want Him, then so be it, He will accept that. If you do choose Him, you better not have any other gods before you, then that will be your own fault for ending up in hell. God will have no other gods before Him, He will not share your soul with other gods, and He will not stand for anyone dedicating an image to Him, and worshiping it. We worship God only, not a statue, not a cross, not a person, not an image, nothing, but Him. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto 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 water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 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.” – Exodus 20:3-6.

How many people do you think get caught up in religious cults because they think they are hearing from God. What they really are is lost, and who they really need is Jesus Christ. Contrary to what people do right in their own eyes, there are not several paths that lead to God, there is only one path, and that is Jesus Christ. Until we discover that we really are like lost sheep, we walk around searching for a place we can call home. When the promised land was distributed by Joshua, considerable territory was allotted to each tribe, including the children of Dan, but they were not very faithful to God, and as a result they had been run out of theirs. Now, they were in search of their own and came upon Micah, and his false gods. “And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.” – Judges 18:11,13,18-20.

“And the priest’s heart was glad,” Do you see what was happening here? They were all lost, and followed whatever path that got them the better deal. They had no clue who God is, how to worship Him, and they certainly did not have His Word to guide them. Oh, and this was not the end of the story, remember Micah? All he could do was whine and cry that his gods was taken away from him. “And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” – Judges 18:23-24,27-28.31.

“and what have I more?” Do you see how this compares with what we are going through right now, in fact, the entire world? Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. They are looking for security in the government. Their gods have been taken from them, they have nothing else to all their own, and are taking everything and anything they can get their hands on. “And there was no deliverer,” Fools, that is what they are, and let me tell you, the one who trusts in the false god, is the bigger fool than the one who does not know God at all. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” – I Corinthians 1:18-21.

Today’s Prayer: God, You have given us an example of how You want us to worship You and that is first by receiving Your Son as our Saviour, a man who was tempted at all points just as we, a man who gave His sinless life so that we can live with You forever. We are not required to be perfect, just to believe in Your perfect Son, but You would like us to be a reflection of Your Son so that others can worship You in truth. Lord, give me Your power, mercies, and grace to walk by faith, and not by sight, lead me by the example of Your Son, guide me in how You want me to show Your truths, keep my heart tender and open to You, so that I can bring others to You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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