King
James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning
Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Monday,
October 05, 2015
Chapters: Matthew 12-13
https://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-278.html
Message
Title: Embracing God's Gift

Hello My Friend,

God's
commands are simple, they keep us living a moral, decent life. If you
have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour than you have
been brought out of the bondage of sin, and are no longer bound to
its chains. Praise God! Christ has set you free! How hard is it then
to make a little effort to live in a way that God wants us to live
rather than our own. “What then? shall we
sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?
for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Romans 6:15,21-23.

Back in chapter 10 we read of Jesus
sending His disciples only out into the cities of Israel to preach
the Gospel, now we learn of why He did that. He could not go anywhere
without the Pharisees waiting to catch Him into something that would
prove He was a fraud. One Sabbath day they did everything they could
to catch Him going against the laws of the Sabbath, including healing
a man. It was then that they plotted to kill Him, but that did not
stop Him from being who He was, and yet another prophecy was
fulfilled by Issiah. “But when Jesus knew it,
he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him,
and he healed them all; And charged them that they should not make
him known: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved,
in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and
he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry;
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he
send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles
trust.” - Matthew 12:15-21.

Till
he send forth judgment unto victory, what is the victory of
judgment? Christ's sinless death, burial, and resurrection. Christ
died to be the sinless, unblemished blood sacrifice needed to redeem
a soul from the fiery pits of hell. He was buried, taking every one
of mans sins to the grave with Him, He arose three days later to show
that even death cannot separate a saved soul from His God, we will be
alive with Him for eternity. “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.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:56,57.

The sting
of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Sin
always bring death, and I am not talking about a physical death,
which actually can if the person does not take control of their
actions. If there is anything I have learned over the past couple of
years, it is this, every person who calls themselves a Christian has
their own reasoning as to what sin is, the majority of the time it is
man made religious laws that they follow and not God's Word. People
are quick to throw Scripture in your face and tell you that this is
what God says, but these are the same people who need to work on the
very things they are preaching to you about. Referring to fruit
again, Jesus confronts the religious people, and calls them out for
their idle words.

“Either make
the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and
his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation
of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good
treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out
of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you,
That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” -
Matthew 12:33-37.

That every idle
word that men shall speak, idle, useless; vain; ineffectual.
Useless words of no profit, they are often brought on by religious
people who do not follow their own rules themselves, but every idle
word will be judged by Christ. True Christians live godly lives, not
because it is required by the law, because they want to please God.
We are not perfect, we are all sinners and have something that we
need to work on, that is why we need to embrace God's gift of eternal
life, not put it to the side like some gift we have no use for. It's
not about following a set of rules, it's about living to please God
and no one else.

“And thinkest
thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But
after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law:
and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;”
- Romans 2:3-6,12.

A parable is a short story that
contains a great meaning, people often use parables or illustrations
to explain something that one might not understand outright. Since
the world is somewhat ignorant, or the better word would be skeptical
of the supernatural, at least in God's case anyway, Jesus only spoke
to the world in parables. The disciples finally come out and ask
Jesus why He spoke in parables. “For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they
seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which
saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing
ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your
eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” -
Matthew 13:12-16.

But blessed are
your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. Jesus knows that those who really have no interest in
what He is saying are not really listening, but those who do not only
hear what He is saying, but see and be converted. Convert means to
believe in Jesus and understand that only His finished work on the
cross is necessary. “Repent ye therefore, and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” - Acts
3:19.

Today's Prayer:
God, Thank You for Your simple plan, You do not make us follow a
bunch of rules that we have no way of keeping, You just want us to
embrace You and let the Holy Spirit be our guide to live in a way
that pleases You. I embrace Your gift of eternal life that You have
given to be for believing in the finished word of Your Son on the
cross. I may be weak, but Your Word is powerful to fight off the
temptation to sin and reassure me that You are with me even when
others may forsake me. I can do this because I know that Christ, who
lives in me gives me the strength to do so. In Jesus' name. Amen.


God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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