KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Tuesday, April 03, 2018
Chapters: Judges 10-12
Message: The Danger Of The Lukewarm Christian
Hello My Friend,
Mercy and grace go hand in hand, they are the backbone of our faith. Mercy; Pardon from the punishment deserved. Grace; The free and unmerited love of God. The more time you spend with God the more you understand how merciful God is toward all, not just His own, and to understand grace we just have to look to the cross. While God is full of mercy and grace, we must not be careful not to take these things for granted because what angers God more than an unbeliever is a believer who is lukewarm, meaning they only follow Him when they are in trouble and need help out of it. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” – Revelation 3:15-16.
If you learn anything through reading the Old Testament about God as He dealt with Israel it ought to be that He truly is merciful and graceful. As Christians, we must not be lukewarm to our works, while our salvation is only given to us by grace, our works are what define us as Christians and bring others to Him. While God is a God of mercy and grace, He will not be mocked, He knows who are sincerely following Him and who only appear to be. Israel went through the same pattern of following false gods, getting oppressed, crying out to God, then remaining faithful to Him only while they had a godly leader, it happened again and now Israel is severely oppressed under the hand of the Philistines and Ammon, once again they cry out to God, but this time they did not get the answer they expected.
“And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.” – Judges 10:7,10-16.
“And they put away the strange gods from among them,” It was only when they put actions to their words that God took action to help deliver them from Ammon. While salvation is given to us by grace alone, there comes a time in every born again Christians life when they must decide whether or not they want to follow God’s law or under the oppression of worlds law. God will not have it both ways, we must choose Him or the world, and if we say we are going to choose Him we need to put action to what our mouths speak. “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: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” – James 1:23-25.
As Christians, we must not be lukewarm to the way we treat fellow Christians, we cannot be kind to the ones who come from the traditional family and not the ones who are different. Jephthah was not your typical believer, he was a God fearing man, but the son of a harlot, therefore, he was rejected by his half brothers and pushed away from living among them. God was about to use this man to show Israel that He accepts all who come to Him regardless of who their parents are, but He also puts us to the test as well to see if we are going to follow through with our vow to follow Him after He delivers us from our troubles. Jephthah prayed to God and asked for His help in delivering them into his hands, but he also made a vow to God, one that God tested him on the second He helped him.
“Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.” – Judges 11:29-31,34-36.
“and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” This was not literally to kill a person and offer them as a burnt offering, it was a vow to give whoever walked through that door over to God. God would never take the life of a human being to save someone else, which is why He came here himself through His Son. God loves us so much that He does not want to see one soul in hell, no human sacrifice is acceptable except Jesus Christ. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” – Hebrews 10:4-6,10.
After Jephthah led Gilead to victory over Ammon here comes Ephraim once again arguing that they were excluded from the battle. This time there was no reasoning with them and a civil war broke out, forty-two thousand men needlessly lost their lives because of a foolish feud.
“And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.” – Judges 12:2-6.
“I put my life in my hands,” There are times in our lives when we let the LORD take the reins, after all, our lives are always in His hands, but then there are times when we must take our lives into our own hands and fight. Our best defense in this world is our faith in Christ, He will always lead us to victory when we turn to Him, but He does expect a little effort on our part. It is like this, we do what we can physically do on our part then let God do the impossible, which He does when we fully live under His mercy and grace. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” – James 2:17-18.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.” – Judges 11:27.
Today’s Prayer: God, Than You for Your mercy and grace to save a sinner like me, I know there is nothing I need to do to repay You for my salvation, but I do not want to be someone that You just save, I want to be a witness and a testimony of your mercy and grace. I do want to be successful in all that You call me to do and know with Your help that all things are possible. I know that my failures in this life You have blessed me with are partially because I had lukewarm faith and did not do my part to let You do Your work. Lord, You are my leader, help me to walk the path You have given me, with the utmost faith, fill me with Your mercy and grace, show me how to give mercy and grace, and to love all as You love me. Let me grow and become a reflection of Your Son as I become completely dependent on You, and trust the decisions that You have for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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