Tag Archives: forgiveness of sin

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WHITER THAN SNOW

 

Now that we’ve admitted that not very many can lay claim to the titles of “Patty Purity” or “Captain Celibate” and in reality it would be more along the lines of ” A Randy Dandy” or “Backstreet Barbie” but there is hope, so much hope!
The moment that we realize our sins, mistakes and failures, when true conviction comes and suddenly our minds and spirits are faced with the realization of what miserable creatures we really are. Once that takes hold, real change soon follows and the spiritual “brain damage” due to “sin”trifugal force of this world is both reversible and completely curable.
But it requires a most awesome physician, Jesus is that physician.

He heals mind, spirit, body, and soul.
He is the great potter, taking the old, marred and cracked vessels, gently re-firing them, he then shapes those lifeless, lumps of clay into  beautiful, new creations that don’t even resemble the broken mess they  once were.
Each one a vessel strong and new that can now hold the goodness of his spirit and also has the strength to withstand the wear and tear of this world.
He takes minds that were completely broken and renews them to such clarity that his very mind can now be in us.
He takes all the shame, guilt and pain, and he casts it into his sea of forgetfulness, never again to be remembered by him.
As he flung the stars into the sky at creation, he flings all those sins as far as the east is to the west.
“COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD; THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW; THOUGH THEY BE RED LIKE CRIMSON, THEY SHALL BE AS WOOL.” Isaiah 1:18
He doesn’t care where you have been, or what you did while you were there, he died to save us from all of that. He knew our sins would be worthy of a price that we could not afford to pay. He only cares about where you are going and wants to help you every step of the way, His promises are “Yes” and “Amen”. He has never been up there with a chalkboard, keeping score, just waiting to send you to hell and he will do everything within his power  to keep you from going there. BUT WE HAVE TO ACCEPT HIM.
Most make their fatal mistake in believing the lie that Satan tells them, that they have gone too far that God would never accept them now or that they have to be able to change themselves.
Number one, if a person had gone too far to be saved, then conviction, or a conscious knowledge of the need for salvation would never enter their mind!
Number two, WE CAN NEVER, NEVER, EVER CHANGE OURSELVES! So put that to rest right away. That is why we must be washed in the blood of the Lamb, He changes us!
You will not even think the same or have the desires you once had. He allows us to be able to live a life holy and pleasing to him through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit, which leads us and guides, gently nudging us in our spirit as to what we should do and most importantly what not to do.
Think of  “Rahab, the Harlot” her name being referenced in many sermons, she is actually referred to in the Bible as “The Harlot” but because of her kindness to the servants of God and her desire to repent, the Lord saved her and her family while everyone else there were destroyed.
Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus cast seven demons out of went on follow him faithfully, never looking back but pressing forward and she was the first that he appeared to upon resurrection.
And how can we forget our favorite trip junkie Samson, who after a lifetime of running wild and doing his own thing, finally, this great warrior of God, saw the light.
God never belittled any of these or countless others, who were as prodigal sons and daughters that once they realized they were wallowing with pigs, they longed for home and the Father eagerly welcomed them back in.
He cleansed them, healed them, answered their prayers and never once put the burden of their sin on their own shoulders, now that is why he gave his life.
How did they receive God’s mercy, peace, and forgiveness? They confessed their sin to him, asked for forgiveness and never looked back.
Remember, you never have to tell a church house full of people your darkest secrets, and you certainly are not required to tell it to any man, you are only required to ask Jesus, and Jesus alone to forgive you of your sins.
So whatever you’ve been through, leave it right there, get yourself to the cross and let his precious holy blood wash you whiter than snow.
Original Post Date:11/29/2014. All rights reserved.  Φλογίζω/ Nina BrownJohnson 2015

REVISTED and linked 06/27/2021 NBJ 2021

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“David, Bathsheba, & Putting it behind you”

Romans 3:23.-26:”For all have sinned, and come (fall) short of the glory of God. Being justified freely (without any cost) by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.;

Whom God hath set forth to be a propriation (a mercy seat) through faith in his blood, to declare (demonstrate) his righteousness; for the remission (passing over) of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the JUSTIFIER of of him which believeth in Jesus.”

We all dig Romans 3;23, it is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible, but when you go just a bit farther with it you can really see how we can use that verse to put the enemy and self condemnation to flight.

We all have sinned and sometimes we can fall off that boat as the saying goes but God’s grace is so perfectly described in that passage.

And we never want to be of those who abuse grace or rather their concept of it being a free ticket to sin at will, as often as you will, those people are not saved, they do not know Jesus, and if the refuse to see the truth and repent they will be in for a very sad awakening.

But this post is not about all that, we want to talk about the true covering of grace when we have fallen short, and we are very aware of it, be glad of that, when we feel conviction, when we feel remorse, and we feel repentance, that means we can still feel!

Let me remind you of a passage, Ephesians 4:17-24:”This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth (from this point forward) walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity (futility) of their mind. 

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (hardening) of their heart.

Who being PAST FEELING have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in him.

That ye put off concerning the former converstaion (conduct) the old man, which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

And that ye put on a new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Lusts can be many things, sin can be many things and satan knows what buttons to push, if he can get us mad and we lose self control and say or do things that we later regret.

He can send temptation in many forms, alcohol, drugs, sex, or by getting you run with the wrong crowd, or an attraction or an affair with another person, which is what happened to King David, which we will get into in a bit, but it can literally be anything and the fact that we feel that remorse, that regret, that repentance means that our hearts are still toward God.

The devil loves nothing more that sending something your way and then raking you relentlessly over the coals after you have fallen into the trap that he set for that very reason. That is how he causes so many to needlesslessy forfeit their salvation.

A very wise child asked me once what was the difference between Judas, who betrayed Jesus and Peter who denied Jesus, the difference as this child could even see as they pondered their own question, is this, Peter repented.

Judas, who was never right with God and was even stealing from their money bag, and in his greed, allowed the devil to use him and sell Jesus’ very life for thirty pieces of silver and when the devil left him, and his conscience kicked in and kicked hard, he choose to commit suicide instead of asking forgiveness.

That is what I wanted to point out in that passage, the mind that is blinded to truth not only commits sin but does so with “greediness”, meaning they wallow in it, love it, can’t get enough because they can no longer feel conviction.

And that passage was written to remind us that we are to forego the old ways and allow God to make us new and that is by having our minds renewed in him, his love, and his mercy.

Think about this, Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy time seven, so how much more will he forgive us when we are truly sorry for whatever it is that we have done, which gets us to God’s faithfulness, 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And confession there is to God, you never have to tell your darkest secrets to any human, we are to have trusted prayer partners that we can confide in and talk to about anything we are having trouble with, but we are only required to confess to God, who already knows it anyway.

We have to admit our shortcomings so that we can be forgiven and healed, and with each hurdle we jump in life, the stronger we become and the faster we can run.

God uses everything to make us stronger for the kingdom and there is nothing that ever shocks God, he knows every single trip, stumble, or outright face plant that we will have to get back up from on our journeys but that’s the thing, he is always there and will always pick us back up

As you see it is pointed out in that passage that the new man is created after God and God said that David was a man after his own heart, which is why, I believe, it was on my heart to do this post with this story, David was after God’s heart but David was also human and David like all of us , messed up we all make mistakes and some are more severe than others, it is a good reminder that none are perfect and when we stumble or heaven forbid, even fall, we have to get up and go on.

Most have heard and if you have, please just bare with it, but if you haven’t, “listen” carefully.

“And it came to pass. after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children (people) of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah, But David tarried (stayed) still at Jerusalem.

And it came to pass in at eveningtide (evening) that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house; and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness (had already had her monthly cycle); and she returned unto her own house.

And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite, And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded (asked) of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat (gift of food) from the king.

But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house (Are you not on leave, why did you not go home)?

And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord, Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as my soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

And David said unto Uriah. Tarry (stay) here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk (got him drunk): and at even (evening) he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

And it came to pass in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest (fiercest) battle, and retire (retreat) ye from him, that he may be smitten (struck down) and die.

And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew the valiant men were.

And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died there also

The Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, And if it be taht the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee,Wherefore approached ye so nigh (why did you go so near) unto the city when ye dd fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

So the messenger went, and came and shewed (told) David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into a field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.

And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants, and some of the king’s servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for sword devoureth one as well as another; make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.” 2 Samuel 11:1-25

Notice a recurring theme here? It came to pass, sin and progression of sin is often slow and insidious, David could have stopped this at any time, he should have been out in battle, he could have turned and walked back into his house when he saw her nude, He could have gotten the point to back off when he was told this was married and married to one of his own men.

He could have resisted the temptation to have her fetched, which was a bad deal because him being king they all had to do as he said, and the truest telling in it all was once he found out that she was pregnant he had Uriah brought back,making small talk and buttering him up, just hoping he would go home and sleep with his wife, and when that failed he tried the old get him drunk routine, but Uriah was too loyal for any of it.

And David, for all he was, all he had done, all his compassion, and all that he had been and his almost unparalleled devotion to the Lord, had in this season of his life turned but for second and that devotion had now became to himself, at this moment, all he cared about was what he wanted, he did not care about Bathsheba, that was lust, he did not care, at that moment about the baby, because his plan was that Uriah would think he had fathered the child, all David had on his mind was cleaning up the mess. 

So he sent one of his most loyal soldiers into battle carrying his own death warrant.

And good old Joab, he didn’t quite retreat as he had been told, and not only Uriah, but others also died, gave their lives in simitude of battle, but this battle was only carry out David’s deception.

Battles that God had been allowing them victories in, victories for their kingdom and now that battle was used as a weapon against one of their own, killing others in the process.

Joab even covering David’s back with his message of how the battle had went wrong, that they just got too close, dressing it up with old war stories to prove how things like this can happen, he made it quite the show, knowing in his heart and GOD knowing, that they only did this to get Uriah killed.

And David in reply that equates this sentiment, “Oh well, people die” and  go back and tell Joab it’s okay, don’t feel bad, just be safe next time.

They laid it on thick with this, talk about manipulation and deception…

I apologize that this is lengthy, but it is a complex story and rather than ask you to read the rest of it on your own, or make this a two part post, I’d rather give it to you here all in one post,

“And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

And when her mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, the other poor,

The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

But the poor man had nothing, save (except) one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat (food), and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared (refused) to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress (to slaughter) for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him,

And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that has done this thing shall surely (deserves to) die.

And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 2 Samuel 11:26,27 & 2 Samuel 12:1-6

Sometimes we don’t even realize….

“And Nathan said to David, Thou art (You are) the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things (much more).

Wherefore hast thou (Why have you) despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and taken his wife to be thy wife, and hath slain him with the sword of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil (adversity) against thee out of thine own house, and I will take wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour. and he shall lie with them in the sight of the sun.

For thou didst it secretly; but  I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, and Nathan said unto David, The Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.” 2 samuel 12:7-13

That’s the lesson for us, David did not even realize how far he had gone because he was so caught up in it, but once he was enlightened by the prophet, he repented.

God forgave David, he still faced the consequences of his actions because of the severity in killing Uriah and taking his wife, and those who died with him in that battle.

But David pressed on, so if sin starts coming your way, don’t let it “come to pass”, stop it, right where it is, just stop right there and be quick to repent, turn away from temptations before they have a chance to turn you away from God and if you feeling remorseful, repent, go on, and don’t look back.

You know that baby died, but God blessed David and Bathsheba with another son Solomon, who had everything his heart could have desired, but still he fell into pagan worship, BUT repented and wrote one the most beautiful books in the Bible, Ecclesiastes, all about the lessons he had learned on that journey, and the most predominate is that, is this… God “makes everything beautiful in his time” and he does, So get up and go on,, put yesterday behind you and have joy in a brand new tomorrow!

Love & Peace till next time! thank you for reading!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2021/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

 

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“And neither do I…”

“PLEAD my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.” Psalm 35:1,2

I love the fact that the word “plead” is already capitalized in the text, relating to us the urgency and desperation in which David’s heart CRIED OUT to the Lord.

Really a PLEA we hear echoed through the New Testament in the many VOICES that CRIED out to Jesus whenever and wherever he passed by.

We are given the account of Bartimaeus in both Mark 10 and Luke 18.

I decided to go with this passage and underline and highlight what we will look at later.

Luke 18:35-43: “And it came to pass, that as he (Jesus) was come nigh to Jericho, a certain blind man sat 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 that went BEFORE rebuked him, that he should hold his peace (basically just told him to shut up), but HE CRIED SO MUCH THE MORE,THOU SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME. 

And Jesus stood, (stood still), 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. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and ALL the people we they saw it, gave praise unto God.”

The striking note with this story is how badly this man was treated, treated by those who should have been voluntarily taking his hand and walking him to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore him on his behalf! 

But instead as he cried out to Jesus, they tell him to “Be quiet”.

Did they maybe just want to keep him “begging”?

Did they want to keep others at “arm’s length” away from Jesus, while they themselves were constantly privileged to sit at the table with the absolute King?

But as the cry grew louder JESUS HEARD, and you know Jesus probably heard him the first time and was just letting it play out, considering he commended the man on his faith, as he did others who lifted their cries over the voices that told them to cease and those who suffered rejection by their peers in order to gain an audience with the King.

Jesus stopped, stood still and granted him his petition to the glory of God and the key word there, ALL who saw it, glorified God!

Matthew 20 gives us an account of two men who desired sight from the Lord crying out for him to “Have MERCY on us, O Lord, son of David.” 

These men ALSO were told to “Be quiet” and AGAIN they CRIED that much louder. AGAIN, Jesus stood still, asked their request and granted it and I love this verse:

Matthew 20:34:” “So Jesus had COMPASSION on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.” 

John chapter 9 tells of the divine restoration of sight by Jesus that ENRAGED the Pharisees and Jews so much that the man and his parents were brought in to be questioned because they did even believe that he had been blind, nor did they believe that he had been healed and STILL debated Jesus power and questioned his deity.

And the parents were so AFRAID of being “put out of the synagogue” so AFRAID of excommunication by the “church” that they said the man must speak on his on behalf.

CHOOSING  the”church” crowd” instead of Christ.

CHOOSING to crumble under the threat of condemnation rather than to follow after blessed spiritual consummation.

Talking about CONDEMNATION, the VERY FINE LINE between winning people to Christ and destroying those who ALREADY belong to Christ.

Let’s take a cold hard look at the word itself and think of it in terms of PROPERTY.

We ALL belong to God.

Period, and yes, that is period, 🙂 

The words of GOD, Ezekiel 18:4: ” Behold, ALL SOULS ARE MINE; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

We know that  Jesus came into the world as a perfect, sinless, lamb to be a ransom for US. ALL those souls that ALREADY belong to God, but through sin had became enslaved.

The enemy having us all held hostage in bondage to him through those sins.

And as with most hostage situations a ransom is required.

1 Timothy 2:4-6: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

For there is ONE mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL, to be testified in due time.”  

We know from this verse that God is telling us, HIS desire is that ALL should be saved, and we are told in another scripture concerning Jesus, that he is “NOT WILLING that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.” 

The other key word there is repentance.

We have to repent, 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh (produces) repentance to salvation not to be repented of (regretted) but the sorrow of the world worketh (produces) death.”

To try to wrap this up and put a bow on the thought I’m trying to bring with this all hinges on this next verse:

Philippians 1:15-17: “SOME indeed preach Christ EVEN of ENVY and STRIFE: and SOME of GOOD WILL:

The one preach Christ EVEN of CONTENTION, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:

But the other of LOVE, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel.”

The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, the Holy Spirit urges people to their need of salvation, as ministers and representatives of Christ, our job and our job alone is to be a LIGHT to those people and to show those people the way as we have been shown.

But often we engage in a war among ourselves as to how that should be done, just as the disciples and the crowds that tried to silence those who cried out when JESUS ears are open to those cries!

We often engage in “ministerial” war of those who do PREACH the Gospel but with contentions and anger CONDEMNING those whom God has set apart that they should be saved.

And in those painful damning condemnations while they verbally hammer and bash “sins” and verbally spew out THEIR own personal thoughts of what the punishment for those sins should be, they are failing to remember one major fact… WE WERE ALL SINNERS, and it WAS HIS WILL THAT WE ALL SHOULD BE SAVED.

And as Paul so eloquently described those differences, we understand the truth of how so many who profess Christ and profess to be his agents can attack others with such CONDEMNATION.

And it truly can be compared to a “building or property CONDEMNED through the practice of “EMINENT DOMAIN” the property is already OWNED of God, but through the guilt and shame of sin, that “property” is LEGALLY CONDEMNED, so that the EVEN after having been “purchased” and paid for, that property can STILL be taken from the rightful owner by having it declared UNFIT and held under the domain of another.

And in the Spirit world, we know WHO wants that domain, and as those in our stories above, for whatever reason, would rather rebuke another while they are helpless than to SHARE that good news of the Gospel.

It is a sad state and is really fueling the battle against false teaching, making all who preach mercy through repentance clumped in the category with those that teach of envy and strife.

That is what often happens, if we are not ever aware of who we listen to and what voice we choose to hear.

Maybe today you are battling with that same old feeling of condemnation, EVEN after having received Christ.

Maybe through something said or done the enemy is trying to take that “domain” over you, trying to drag you back, telling you that you are “unfit”.

Don’t listen, ONLY listen to Jesus, even you have “fallen short” and WE ALL DO, repent, talk to him, get whatever it may have been under his blood, because what is so often failed mentioned, is the fact that JESUS IS MERCY, His MERCY is unsearchable, and the word tells us that mercy is renewed EVERY single morning.

That godly sorrow leads to us to forgiveness but that constant screaming of condemnation leads us to spiritual death.

YESTERDAY is DEAD, gone, only alive in your mind and those who would use your yesterday against you, don’t fall for it!

Be like those WHO CRIED ALL THE LOUDER! The more “they” tell you to be quiet, the more you should call out to him!

And stay away from those who try to scream “CONDEMNED” at you and over your life, their ONLY desire is to exercise religious snobbery and false superiority over you, and believe me those who preach in that will receive the greater condemnation.

We are warned by James 3:1 that as teachers of the Gospel we WILL receive the GREATER condemnation because we are HELD to the standards that we hold others to. So we will have that STRICTER rule to be measured by. 

The best example of the TRUE mercy of Jesus that should always be remembered whenever you may wrestle against the feeling of condemnation is the very familiar story of the woman who was brought to Jesus, her accusers HOPING that he would CONDEMN her to death by stoning, were met with met by something the were not quite ready for, their own thirst for her blood being given them to drink when he QUESTIONED their own sin, as Jesus told them “whoever among them” that was WITHOUT sin should cast the first stone.

And we may know these verses well, but we will read them again,

John 8:9-11: “And they which heard IT, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

And she said, No man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  I love that!

He WAS and IS the standard lifted up against the enemy!

He stands and he stands ALONE in the face of all that rises up to condemn us, condemnation from real enemies, enemies from our past, or that enemy of guilt within ourselves, or even the enemy of our own sinful flesh, as this lady who was snared in sin.

He is quick to forgive but we are also REQUIRED to go, but SIN NO MORE. 

We started with David, let’s end with David. 

David had sinned in “numbering” Israel, once he fell under conviction for that sin, he was given a choice of penalties for that sin and while weighing that decision, this was David’s answer to the prophet, Gad.

2 Samuel 24:14: “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait (distress): let us fall now into the hand of the Lord;FOR HIS MERCIES ARE GREAT: and let me NOT fall into the hand of man.”

Always, always wait for the last word to be from the Lord, his mercy and his mercy alone has the final say!

God Bless you and thanks for reading! Have a wonderful mid-week and know above all on this earth that Jesus Christ LOVES you and He WANTS to save you. 

If you have already accepted that precious gift of his salvation, and maybe have stumbled just a little or even a lot,  Get up and GO ON!

GO ON to know him more!

He died for YOU, ME, and ALL of us and in that glorious resurrection He gave us victory, this world is not the end and this world is not forever!

One day we will be in His glory eternal and forever at his feet…  and as his word tells us, “LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU” AND “LET NO MAN TAKE YOUR CROWN”!

Concerning the kingdom of God, no one can take from you what you will NOT surrender!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NB 2018