Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro

The Devastation Awaiting Twisted Walkers - Proverbs 28:18

10/30/2012

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He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once.  Proverbs 28:18

There are some who try to walk simultaneously on two divergent paths.  They will find that their hypocrisy and duplicity will betray them in the end.  Like a man standing on both sides of a draw bridge that is opening, they will find that sooner or later they will either have to pick a side - or face falling into the water all at once.  That is what our proverb is about today. 

The crooked man is one who is trying to live two ways at one time.  The Hebrew word for crooked means to walk twisted in two ways.  The idea behind the word is that the two paths are opposite of each other.  There is no way that this man can continue in this indefinitely.  The paths themselves are mutually exclusive and will end badly.  That end is given to us as a warning.  He will "fall all at once."  This is end for those who try to walk in hypocrisy - they will not slip up a litle - they will fall all at once.  The best example of this is in the New Testament.  The person who did it - Judas Iscariot. 

Judas tried to live in two completely different worlds.  We learn that he followed Jesus - and was even one who saw the power of God in Christ up close and personal.  Yet he also wanted to be in power - and he loved money.  He would steal from their money box as the treasurer - and also was angry when the woman with the valuable vial of oil poured it on Jesus rather than sold it for a small fortune.  He wanted money - evident by the fact that in the end he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  But that money would not assuage his guilty conscience.  Judas was an example of a man who fell "all at once."  Unable to handle the guilt for betraying Jesus to crucifixion, he eventually went out and hung himself.  He truly fell quickly and permanently.  All hypocrites can know that this end looms before them.  They can try to escape all they want - but the fact is either by an exposure here and now or by the judgment in the end - they are going to fall - and fall badly.

The one who walks "blamelessly" is the one who will be delivered.  This is an encouragement for all men to live a godly life.  They reject the lies and deception of those who play games with their relationship with God.  By this - and by the grace of God they are delivered from the destruction of sin itself.  But this proverb goes even deeper - and presents to us the gospel.  Those of us who desire to live for The Lord give it our best shot - but in the end we will not be "blameless" before The Lord.  We unfortunately will sin - and that takes us out of the category of the blameless.  But there is One who lived His entire time on the earth in a blameless state - never breaking God's Law - never sinning once.  That One is Jesus Christ - and He is the One who was delivered first - to death - and then in the resurrection - from death.  His deliverance to death was for our sakes - so that He could pay the price for our sin and rebellion required by God's holiness and justice.  His deliverance from death in the resurrection reveals to us that God accepted the payment of His blood for our sins.  Now, here is the tremendous news of the gospel.  Through His blamelessness and His death, burial, and resurrection we can now be granted the same deliverance from the wrath of God against sin. 

The wise man knows that any attempt he makes on his own to get to God will be dogged by his own sinful duplicity.  I cannot tell you how often I tried to clean myself up from my sin and bad character and choices - only to find that I could never finish the job I started.  What was the most disappointing was the fact that often I simply chose sin and rebellion to God.  I did so just because it felt good - or because my flesh wanted something, and I didn't want to "just say no."  The fact is I couldn't "just say no."  And a wise man realizes he can't either.  We all wind up hypocrites who try it both ways only to find we fall all at once when our sinful selfishness rises up and demands its own way.  The comfort to us who are wise enough to see our fallen conditin is that there is One who walked blamelessly before God.  His choice was to always do what pleased His Father.  Jesus is that One - and He will graciously grant us His deliverance from sin by grace.  Thus we are rescued from the twisted way we walk by our very nature.  But that rescue is never self-earned.  It is received as we receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ proclaimed to us in the gospel.  
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The Sluggard's Thoughts: Mindless Muttering of a Mental Midget - Proverbs 26:16

09/27/2012

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The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.
Proverbs 26:16

The fourth verse we come to about the sluggard has to do with how his lack of any work ethic eventually affects his reason as well as his ego. He is wise in his own eyes - even though he does not put any work into what he thinks. He is a stranger to hard physical work - but now we learn he is also one to mental work as well. When he looks to someone for wisdom - he looks to himself. This is because of his ego - which is vastly overgrown while having no real reason to be so. He is too lazy to study - yet he thinks he knows far more than those who do. He is wiser than seven men who give a reasoned, well-studied, well-thought out answer. He is a genius in his own estimation - while his supposed genius is honestly ignorance of anything other than what he himself thinks. A legend in his own mind, he mentally gives himself the Nobel prize for everything.

Anyone who has ever done good academic work knows that this is no place for the sluggard. Good quality academic work requires painstaking study and hours of sacrifice both thinking and writing (not to mention re-writing). Someone who has expertice in a subject area has put in years of effort in order to have it. The whole idea of a "masters" degree is that someone has "mastered" a subject area. The seminary I attended required that we read a 300-500 page text for each course taken. But, this was not all we were required to do. We also were required to do extensive reading while preparing papers as well as do 1500 pages of outside reading on the subject. Even after all this effort, we were just barely beyond ignorant in the subjects we studied. Most areas of theology had literally thousands of texts written on it -some had hundreds of thousands.

The mental sluggard stands against seven men who work hard at honing their minds - and mocks all of them. He will take what little learning he has and string it together so as to think he is a mental heavyweight - when he doesn't even tip the scales of learning at a single pound. He spouts his opinion and then closes his mind to anything other than his highly self-valued moronity. He has no need to listen to others since his own ultimate genius has been voiced. Thus the mental sluggard continues his self-imposed banishment to ignorance in a miniature land of his own making.

A wise man knows that he does not yet know as he should know. He is teachable above all things - and is willing to spend more time gathering information than spouting it to others. He who holds his tongue and opens his mind is wise! He may not agree with what is said to him - yet he takes all things in an effort to become wiser still. He does not see himself as wise in his own eyes. He sees God as ultimately wise - and is actively looking for those who will speak according to God's wisdom. If you are a mental sluggard beware of lacking the wisdom of seeing yourself as not yet wise. Few things can dwarf your intellect and your spiritual acumen like being wise in your own eyes. It is proof that your field of spiritual and mental vision is extremely narrow.

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When a Friend's Heart Doesn't Match His Words - Proverbs 26:24-26

09/21/2012

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He who hates disguises it with his lips, But he lays up deceit in his heart. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred covers itself with guile, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. Proverbs 26:24-26

This proverb is about how people can hate you in their heart while all the time speaking what seem like pleasant words from their mouths. It has to do with deceitfulness, guile, and ultimately . . . wickedness. A wise man read these things and learns that just because someone is "for you" with their words does not mean that they are really with you in the end. There are some who speak wonderful words in public, but their feelings and their support in private is a wholly different matter.

Most people do not speak openly about their hate of another. To do such a thing would immediately characterize them in a very negative light. It would also expose them in such a way that they would have no more influence with that individual - or with anyone who thinks favorable of them. Therefore it is better for the ungodly man to disguise his hatred. This, according to God's wisdom, is done with his lips. He speaks graciously of the one he hates, All this is done for the sake of appearance only. The whole time he speaks graciously and kindly of this man - he has quite another thing going on inside his heart. We are told that he is laying up deceit in his heart. He is deceiving others - and in some ways even deceiving himself. He hates the man he speaks kindly of - and considers him an enemy.

We are warned that when we come to a man like this, we need to look into his heart. There is lying within his heart - and there are also abominations - 7 of them to be exact. What are these abominations? There are a couple of possibilities. Jesus spoike of seven woes in Matthew 23. These were curses on the Pharisees and Saducees for the hypocrisy that they practiced. Here we have a man who hates his friend or acquaintence, being the picture of hypocrisy by speaking well of him and yet hating him in his heart. The seven thing Jesus speaks of may be similar to the abominations in this man's heart. This also may be related to the seven things God says He hates in Proverbs 6:16-19. The list here is full of things God absolutely despises. The way I lean on this is that the number seven used here speaks more of perfection. There is a perfect hate - that leads to a perfectly abominable attitude and heart filled with evil and hypocritical actions and thoughts toward this one who is hated.

The warning here I think is twofold. First of all, don't be a man like this. Don't be someone who speaks hypocritically of another - saying positive, gracious things about them while all the while holding hatred and wicked, abominable thoughts and plans in your heart. To live this way is so harmful to our spirit. It is also to embrace attitudes that are completely foreign to Almighty God and those who are transformed by the Holy Spirit to be more like Christ daily. The second lesson for us is learned as we hear a warning from God. Such a man as this will be exposed in the end. His hypocrisy and his falsehood will be revealed. The assmbly will see the duplicity of this man - for God Himself will expose him in the end.

Consider this one example as we draw our thoughts about this proverb to a close. Judas was the ultimate example of this proverb. He was with Jesus for three years - and yet in the end sold him for a slave's price as he betrayed the Lord. During that time Judas never exposed himself publicly as an enemy of Christ. Even his betrayal was false as he betrayed the Son of God with a kiss. He was unwilling for his heart of hatred and greed to be exposed publically - and yet it was exposed. In the gospels we learn that Judas was a thief who stole money out of their money box. He was a man who criticized the beautiful expression of Mary's love when she anointed the Lord's feet with her perfumed oil worth a year's wages. Judas spoke only because he knew such a stash would have netted him so much more money he could embezzle later. God fully exposed Judas' hypocrisy - revealing in the gospels all the lies, deceit, and guile that he hid for three years. In the end he was exposed - showing both his hypocrisy and his horrific end - hanging from a tree dead and hopeless.

Do not be a betrayer - a liar - and a fraud in your friendships. Speak the truth - and if it is hard truth to hear - speak it in love. Don't hide things by sounding one way with your friend - and a wholly different way when you are not physically with him. This is a lifestyle that God calls an abomination. Be a true friend - an honest one - and one who is the same whether seen or unseen. Such a friend is like The Lord.
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Lying Clouds and Lying Experts - Proverbs 25:14

08/23/2012

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Like clouds and wind without rain Is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely. Proverbs 25:14

Have you ever met someone who boasts of incredible abilities to do something, only to find out when you actually need those services that they were inflated beyond their actual size by the imagination of the person's mind? That is what today's proverb deals with. It warns us about the dangers of eggeration - especially when it comes to skils of abilities that we possess (or maybe don't possess).

I live in Arkansas - and that means that in the months of July and August there is a lot of excitement when any clouds show up to our west. That is because we are hoping that in those clouds there will be a little known commodity called rain. What is truly discouraging is when the sky grows cloudy - and even sometimes dark - and the result is . . . nothing. There is the promise of rain, but the actual wet stuff itself never falls. The clouds come - the winds come - and nothing else comes with it. Our hopes are raised and we become very excited about the propect of rain, only to see dust stirred up and trees bend in the wind, but the main act, rain, just is not going to show today.

This is the metaphor that God uses to describe a man who boasts of skill - who boasts of gift that would help others - only to learn that he is eggagerating and lying of these things. You believe and hope in this man - only to learn that he is full of hot air - and little else. Some folks put their whole hope in such people and are crushed by the truth that their only skill is being able to tell tall tales of their supposed exploits. In the end their promise has as much worth as a 3 dollar bill. It may look good on the outside - even holding promise for being useful - but when you take it to a store, it is worthless. Beware of men who are all talk and little or no action. They will take your for a ride - and then leave you on the curb heart broken. Do not entrust yourself to someone unless they have shown by their words and their actions that they can deliver on what they've promised.

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Overcoming Sexual Temptation, part 4 - Proverbs 7:19-20

12/10/2010

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"For my husband is not at home, He has gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him, At the full moon he will come home." Proverbs 7:19-20

Once the adulteress has caught the fool in the trap of his own ungodly sexual desires - she then informs him of his soon-to-be-committed adultery.  At this point, the man is so entrapped, that he is no longer considering sin - but the ability to not get caught. 

She says to him that her husband is not at home - but is gone on a long journey.  Evidently her marriage means nothing to her.  Long gone are the words of her covenant to God - or any real love for her husband.  Instead she is interested in her next sexual escapade or conquest.  Her words betray her husband - and also betray that she cares nothing for her own spiritual condition, or that of her sexual prey.  Her focus is on neither of them getting caught - in this world.  In verse 19 she even knows the approximate time he is coming home.  Therefore she can sin unfettered until that time.  She even uses her treachery to lure the fool in closer.  She is utterly blind to the fact that God sees all this - and they are caught - NOW!

Think for a moment of David.  He thought no one saw him lusting for Bathsheba on his rooftop.  He thought that only a few knew of her coming to his chambers - and none of them actually knew if they committed adultery.  Then, when she became pregnant, he thought that no one knew of his treachery of bringing Uriah from the midst of a battle to cover his tracks.  When that did not work, he thought only a few knew of his plan to kill Uriah - and try to legitimize his adultery by marrying his widow after murdering him with an enemy army.  But the fact was David was caught the moment he sinned in his heart.  It was along the way that more people knew - and if you understand the nature of gossip - far more knew than he thought.

Covering our sin does not work.  David said after his sin that he who covers his sins will not prosper.  He spoke of how he suffered when he hid his sin - how the work of the Holy Spirit convicting him and sapping his very strength as he tried to keep things hidden was strong.  Sin will try to deceive us of its very existance in our lives.  It will tell us that we have NOT sinned.  It will tell us that we are FINE.  But all along the way are lies.  The wise man is the one who knows that trying to hide sin is the most foolish act in which a person can engage.  God is omniscient and sovereign - that is absolute fact.  This means that there is nothing we can hide from Him - even for a second.  It also means that all our attempts to maintain our sin are superceded by His sovereignty.  Man may plan his steps - but God ordains his way.  While that does not mean that God makes us sin - it does mean that His discipline WILL prevail when we do - no matter what we think we are doing to stop it.

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The Abominable Prayer-Man . . . Proverbs 28:9

10/28/2010

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He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9

So, how does God view the prayers of those of us who are actively disobeying His Word?  That is what we learn today in the proverb of the day.  This is going to be a proverb that confronts those who think God hears their prayers - when they are actively disboeying a command of the Word of God.  It is also going to be a time when we realize that God sees issues of obedience to His Word in stark black and white - not in a plethora of grey.

When we disobey the Word - we are in effect turning our ears away from listening to it.  Here in Christian America, we think that having heard the word with the ear alone is akin to having obeyed it.  The most rebellious places in America are not the bars or the strip joints.  The most rebellious places in America are the parking lots of her churches.  This is where far too many saints of God go after hearing the truth preached by their pastors - and justify letting it go into one ear and out the other.  They hear the Word - but it never penetrates their hearts.  Some will even justify their present disobedience - while praising what was said by the preacher.  Thus the American practice of thinking we've obeyed, when we have only heard something - is continued weekly. 

When we do not obey - we are turning our ear from listening to the truth.  The term here for turn away means that we go away from the Word - we desert it - we quit the Word, meaning that we hear, but do not DO it.  We turn aside from it and do not allow it to do a work in our hearts. 

When we do not obey the Word - God considers our prayers and abomination.  Whoa now!  Did we read that right!  God considers prayers uttered by the disobedient to be an abomination.  We thought that word was just reserved for homosexuals - didn't we.  But God is holy - not just anti-homosexual.  He is pro-holiness all the way.  Thus, when we are not pro-holiness (read here pro-obedience, pro-godly, pro-doing what God says when He says it) - we are in effect, anti-God.  He is shocked and appalled by our lack of listening and obeying.  He is horrified that we would actually turn a deaf ear to what He has said.  He considers such things an abomination! 

There were a group of people that Jesus was hardest upon in the gospel accounts.  To the shock of most people, this group was not the classic sinners.  He was not hardest on the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the scum of society, or the usually suspects we consider when we wonder who a "hell-fire-and-brimstone" preacher would single out in his preaching.  Jesus was hardest on religious hypocrites.  He reserved His most scathing comments for those who practiced religion outwardly, but inwardly ignored the Word.  By the way - this is where the pray-er, but not obey-er would be put by our Lord.  The one who turns his ear from listening to the Law, by not obeying it - IS the hypocrite.  And contrary to our popular habit of thinking that the hypocrite is anyone other than us - it IS us.  Whenever we engage in pious prayers - without having obeyed the Word that God has spoken to us recently - we are an abomination.

Wisdom tells us that we are to hear and heed the Word of God.  This will give our prayers wings that will fly them to the very throne of God.  May we always watch our hearts to make sure that we are hearing, obeying - then praying.  This is the proper order of things. 

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