The Carpenter's Chapel

Tuesday, 20th April, 2004

Christian has begun making his way up the hill called Difficulty. We have been reminded that difficulty is part of the Christian life. It is not “all over” when we get saved. There is a long road ahead which we are called upon to “run with patience.

Here Christian reminds us of the importance of diligence in the Christian walk. As he climbs the hill he finds a place of refuge which the Lord provides. Tragically, he lets down his guard and falls asleep at the task. We will see more later about the fact that he left his scroll on the ground.

For now, my thoughts are stirred by the danger of falling asleep spiritually. I think of the disciples, asleep in the garden despite Jesus’ call on them to pray. A few other thoughts on spiritual sleep.

Proverbs 6v10-11 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
1 Thessalonians 5v6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

My thoughts are especially drawn to Romans 13v11, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

Satan would love to lull us into spiritual slumber and sleep. We live in troublesome days for God’s people. Christ promises spiritual refreshment and rest. Let us be careful that we are not lulled into sleep like Christian was. If you have been lulled to sleep spiritually heed these words from God’s perfect Word

1 Corinthians 15v34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
Ephesians 5v14-16 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Now is not the time for us to be asleep on the job!!

 

Great messages guys, thanks!

 

Jim and Roger - thank you!

 

Excellent lesson Jim - thanks!

 

Thursday, 22nd April, 2004


Christian continues his climb up the hill called difficulty. We has waken from a spiritual sleep and now hurries on his way. At the top he is met by two men, Timorous and Mistrust. After he tells them that they are going the wrong way they tell him that the path just keeps getting worse and worse. They have seen two lions and have turned back in fear. He is troubled by their words, but knows that he must press on, for he cannot go back to the city of Destruction. Then tragedy strikes. He reaches for the scroll given him so that he might find comfort.

It is clear that because of his spiritual lethargy he has forsaken the Word of God as his daily guide. He bewails the fact that he has fallen asleep spiritually and is reminded in his mind of 1 Thessalonians 5v7,8 – “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” He is aware that he has forsaken that close fellowship that he had had with the Lord – Revelation 2v4,5 – “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

Christian had the wisdom to realise that his walk with the Lord is not what it once was. This is where we can learn our lesson. As soon as he realised his distance from the Lord he runs back to where he had lost it. The tale goes on to tell how he labours and searches to re-establish that fellowship. Finally he finds the scroll and heads back in the right direction. Bunyan tells us that the scroll was “the assurance of his life and acceptance at the desired haven.”
Where are you today? Is your fellowship with the Lord what it once was? We have our greatest battles spiritually when we, like the church at Ephesus, leave our first love. We must strive to keep our fellowship with the Lord. When that falls away we lose all assurance of our salvation. We are powerless to fight the battles of this spiritual life when we forsake that sweet fellowship with our Lord.

 

Ps 51:12 - Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.


Thank you Roger!

 

Thank you Roger.

 

Thank you Jim!

 

That is something that I find is true everytime I look into the Bible, even to the point os saying to myself, "When did God put that in there?"
Thanks Jim.

 

Saturday April 24, 2004

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." (1Peter 5:8)

It would be nice to only speak of pleasant subjects, but, every once in a while, one must look at very unpleasant subjects and such is the case this weekend. Today it is, and note the pronoun, YOUR adversary the devil and tomorrow a look at those who do his bidding: false teachers.

Now as to this being I do not think that if he were to appear in front of us now that he would look anything like the stereotype you have seen; that is, a hideous creature with horns wearing a red suit and carrying a pitchfork. No, he would, no doubt seem to be very pleasant to look at; and that makes him all the more dangerous. In Ezekiel 28 God is speaking to the king of Tyre, but, in the context He cannot be referring to a man:
"You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." vs 12b
"You were in the garden of eden, the garden of God;" vs 13a
"You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you." vs 15
You were, You were, You were, Till. What happened?
Another passage gives us a glimpse of just what this iniquity was:

"How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,
I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north,
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the most high." Is. 14: 12-14
Pride, the thinking of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Pride is, no doubt, the number one thing that keeps people from God. People say, as it were:
I will make it on my own.
I will be able to approach God because I am "good"
I will do this and do that to earn my way.
Sound familiar? Lucifer was separated from God because of this thinking, and anyone who thinks this will be separated from God as well.

The solution is to stop working and start trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. I go back to a passage from last week:

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Acts 4:12

 

Thank you Watchman!

2 Corinthians 11:14-15, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

 

Sunday April 25, 2004

Then He said, "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He', and, 'The time is near.' Don't follow them." (Luke 21:8)

Yesterday we spoke some on the number one adversary and deceiver: Satan. but this adversary, this deceiver, does not carry out his work of deception that he perpetrates on mankind all by himself. No, he has others that seem to be all-so willing to spread his lies so as to keep men and women from the knowledge of the truth.
God has placed in His Church people who are to teach the truth of His word:
"And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers." (Eph. 4:11)
And, so it is, you have Satan with his minister's of falsehood. In the Old Testament, you see them there as false prophets, but in this, the Church age, we call them false teachers.

There are many little deceptions that are usually harmless enough, though sometimes embarrasing to the victim.
But there are also many big deceptions being perpetrated against Christians, as well as the lost, and the Scriptures warn us not to be deceived by them. The Lord Jesus in particular has said to be aware of false religions.
Now, as I said in my first post on this forum last week, I do not feel that it is my duty to be a teacher here, this is a devotional. But I wish to present here, from the word of God directly, what it says on the word "deceive" What I implore the reader to do is to do what the Beroeans did as we see in Acts 17:11:
"The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these thing were so." Sound advice for all of us!

"Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God's Kingdom? DO NOT BE DECEIVED: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals...will inherit God's kingdom." (1Cor. 6:9-10)
"DO NOT BE DECEIVED: bad company corrupts good morals." (1Cor. 15:33)
"DON"T BE DECEIVED: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap. (Gal. 6:7)
"No one SHOULD DECEIVE HIMSELF. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God..."
(1Cor. 3:18-19)
"If we say, 'We have no sin,' WE ARE DECEIVING ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1John 1:8)

Thanks be to God, we can always repent when we have been tempted to follow such deceptions, and God will forgive.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1John 1:9)

 

Thank you Watchman.

We all need to be reminded of God's truths to us be they good or bad. All our actions have consequences and we can't say we haven't been warned.

God Bless

Sheila

 

Pardon the early posting I will be up and gone early tomorrow.

Monday, 26th April, 2004

Having retrieved the scroll which was his comfort and assurance of salvation, Christian resumes his journey.

Mistrust and Timorous had been turned back by their fear when they saw tow lions along the way. Now Christian encounters those same two lions. Like the two false professors Christian does not see that the two lions are chained.

When we face the lions of opposition in our lives, what do we do? Are a regular basis we face trials during which we are tempted to turn back. However, the lions of our lives are also chained – (1Corinthians 10v13 - There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.) God will not allow more opposition in our lives that we are able to handle. Satan is chained and his opposition cannot overcome us, for God has provided a way to escape that opposition.

What keeps us from moving on when we face those trials? The answer is simple – it is a lack of faith. When the disciples were in the boat they faced a massive storm. When they woke Christ He calmed the storm has asked them, “Why are you so fearful, and why is it you have no faith?”

Christian handled the situation properly – he was shaking in fear, but in faith kept on going and the lions could not touch him.

What lions of opposition are you facing today? Satan can go no further in your life that God allows him to go. Even though you may fear, take good heed and “Walk by faith, not by sight” and you will be able to walk past those lions of opposition.

 

"I am able to do all things through Him Who strengthens me." Ph. 4:13

Thank you Roger.