Tag Archives: The Law

Why don’t people consider cleaning their insides? We clean the outside don’t we?

Posted on by under Christianity, Faith, Jesus Christ, Jews & Gentiles, The Word

We know how to clean our bodies by showering or bathing, but do we understand that we also need to have our insides cleaned? Our hearts, our minds, our souls? How do I know this? Because I have been confronted with this myself. What in the world do I mean? Bear with me and read these words.

Luke 11:37-44, ‘And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him; and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him,’ “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgement and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” Psalm 5:9 states, ‘For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.’ …They gave no thought to the condition inside themselves and how spiritually distant they really were from God. They were passing over God’s love for them and passing over what God really thinks of them in their condition. The most important thing to Jesus, to God, about each one of us is our spiritual side, and what we are truly like on the inside.

We need to ask Jesus to help us, and we need to take action about how our insides are to be kept by reading his words. He wants all our corners cleaned out. He would like us to desire holiness and his righteousness and to be like him. We as people can spend an exorbitant amount of time on our outside appearance and status and the like can’t we? But what about the inside and what about our conscience? Jesus desires for us to see our insides as the most important, not the outside. Our thoughts are most important to him. It’s opposite of how the world thinks isn’t it? If we don’t start looking at Jesus, the one who made us, reading his word to help us understand what he thinks, we will never learn all there is he wants us to know about him, ourselves, our insides, and this world. Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, look inside yourselves and at your sins and what you are doing… you are living not from me but from yourselves. The Pharisees desired only to lift themselves up in their own eyes and other people’s eyes, to be seen, to be recognized, be pointed to, and revered. They cared so much for the outside and their power, but never took the time to look deep inside within and see the lack thereof. The Old Testament had laws that said if a person touched a grave he was unclean. Jesus said because of the Pharisees corruptness they were guilty of making everyone else who came into contact with them unclean also. Innocent people became contaminated themselves with sin and got caught up in uncleanness too, because of not staying close enough to God, and staying away from these truly ungodly leaders. Sin keeps a person separated from God. But Jesus has provided a way for us.

Please read more. In Luke 11:45-54: ‘Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master; thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said,’ “Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” ‘And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.’

How blind can a person be right?! The Pharisees wanted to be known for building tombs for the prophets but didn’t look at how their forefathers could possibly be wrong in killing the prophets? This is because they refused to even consider Jesus. Jesus talked about the load people had to carry on the inside because of all the Pharisees’ rules, and how the ‘experts in the law’ didn’t do anything about it… uncaring, selfish and truly blind that they were because of no empathy here in their lives. And even after Jesus leaves, the Pharisees continue to conspire against Jesus instead of having a look inside themselves and trying to understand even a little of what Jesus was talking to them about. Attack and do not look inside to see if there might be even a grain of truth inside! And in reality if they had they would have seen that Jesus was telling them the whole truth. He was their long awaited Messiah! We must take time for our inside, our conscience, to be thought about. God wants us to compare ourselves to what we see and hear about in his word. Why? Because our thoughts and feelings can be wrong unless we compare them against the truth of God’s word. He gives us the straight story about ourselves. Just ask him to help you. You can change and be better for it!

Jesus tells us we cannot change from the inside out without his help and grace. We are dependent upon him, and he wants us to depend on him for this and ask for his help. No one can truly understand about God and that they need him, without him, and him drawing you to him. So if you are reading this, this is a sign, that he is drawing you as you read this. It is very exciting! His grace is truly a free gift given for each of us and that only, Jesus Christ himself, can give to someone. It is personal and it is from Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ We may try to change ourselves on our own but we will always fall short because it is beyond our ability. Coming to Christ for salvation is not a work. You can do nothing without him. For you must become born again to be changed and cleaned on the inside, as God’s word says in John 3:1-8. Read it for yourself. We need Jesus Christ. And he created us for relationship with himself. Only Jesus can cleanse us from our sin from the inside out. Jesus gives us this hope in the true story of his gospel; coming into the world born of the virgin Mary, death on the cross, shedding his blood for each of us, and rising from the dead on the third day thereby destroying sin’s power over death and us being able to live with Jesus while on this earth and for eternity in heaven. Jesus Christ is the free gift in what he did for you and is given to any who sincerely desire to have a new and changed life in him, for those who desire with whole hearts to repent fully of their sins and believe in him and what he’s done for them. Come just as you are if you desire to have this new life and believe he did this for you. No need to ‘clean up’ before you come, because Jesus loves you right where you are at right now. In John 14:6 Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Glory be to God for providing a way for us!

Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, Jesus is coming back one day!

Israel’s Unbelief.

Posted on by under Christianity, Faith, Jesus Christ, Jews & Gentiles, The Word

The Jews expected Jesus Christ to be a different sort of king than he was. They figured Jesus would be a regular type of king that would be of this world, so that he would rescue them from Roman rule, and then they would be independent as a nation with Jesus as their true king and messiah. And because of this most Jewish people don’t believe who Jesus Christ truly is. But Jesus came as a servant to the whole world, to physically show his love to you and me by actually dying for each and every one of us on that cross. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh to us, so he would not be thinking as the Jewish people expected. Jesus Christ was to come into this world to save all people from their sins, which he has done by physically coming into this world, dying on the cross, and rising three days later. He’s defeated sin and death for each of us. He’s provided a way for this whole world, every person/sinner to come in repentance to him to have the relationship with God himself restored to us now. In Hebrews 3:19 states, ‘So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.’ Israel lost their total dependence on God that it had had before sadly. We all need Jesus and he wants us to be dependent on him. We all need to keep our eyes and thoughts on Jesus Christ and his word to decipher what he is thinking and telling us to know. Over 300 prophecies told the Jewish people about their Messiah and some of those stated that he also would be persecuted and killed. It was foretold. Paul writes in Romans 9:4-5, ‘Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.’ Their heritage was the most blessed of any in the world.

To have been chosen to just be in the Jewish lineage… what a privilege it was and still is!

Let’s look quickly at just a few of those 300+ prophecies that have verses corresponding  both from the old and new testaments. The Messiah would be a sacrifice for sin: Isaiah 53:5-12 & Romans 5:6-8. The Messiah rejected by his own people: Psalm 69:8 & John 1:11. The Messiah silent before his accusers: Isaiah 53:7 & Mark 15:4-5. The Messiah buried with the rich: Isaiah 53:9 & Matthew 27:57-60. The Messiah resurrected from the dead: Psalm 16:10 & Matthew 28:2-7; also Psalm 49:15 & Acts 2:22-32.

In Isaiah 41:14 the LORD refers to himself as ‘thy redeemer.’ Redeemer means rescuer. Jeremiah 31:31-34 states, ‘Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was and husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’ This can only happen by the power of the God and from his free gift of grace to you through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the new covenant. Jesus came to save you from your sins. Ephesians 2: 8-9 states: ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not by works, lest any man should boast.’ Humbly and truthfully confessing all of our sins before him, desiring to change with true repentance, and acknowledging Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection for you are included. This is a new covenant that is made with Israel and with all mankind. He desires you to be born again spiritually so you are able to see things as he sees them, from God’s worldview and not only from your human standpoint. Hebrews 11:6 states, ‘But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’

Matthew 5:17-20 talks of how Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; but to fulfill them. In Verse 20 Jesus states, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And how can this be done? Only through Jesus Christ and his righteousness. Read God’s word. It cannot be from ourselves, good works of any kind, or anything we think we should do to get us into heaven because why would Jesus had to of died on the cross for us then? Here again we see God’s words pointing only to Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. We must keep our eyes and our heart on him and be in his word if we are to understand. The Pharisees were studious in the Law, and pious on the outside. They believed strict obedience to the Law would get them into heaven. But their hearts were far from God and his kingdom. The Pharisees allegiances were on themselves. God wants our dependence on him, not ourselves. We are not the key, Jesus is himself. Read the word, you will find out for yourself. As Jews and Gentiles we can’t do anything to make ourselves right with God. And there is only one way. In John 14:6-7 says, ‘Jesus saith unto him,’ “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

Romans 9:30-32 talks of how the Jews pursued a law of righteousness and were not able to attain it, but how the Gentiles obtained righteousness because of their faith. It states how the Jews thought they’d be able to attain it for themselves by their works. Again, why would we need Jesus Christ if we could get to heaven by something we ourselves could do? Romans chapter 11 talks of the remnant of Israel. Verses 5-7 states, ‘Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for: but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.’

Galatians 3:23-26 says, ‘But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.’ Galatians 3:29 states, ‘And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’

Jesus Christ is the new covenant. Given to us as a free gift from God the Father above. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Only by God’s grace through faith can you receive him if you want to be born again from above. Repent and trust in him. Ask him to help you to understand.

You will know if you have truly received Jesus Christ as your savior as he gives you the Holy Spirit to guide and give you direction in this new life. Stay in the word of God to be continually fed, you will need this! And you will have a new purpose along with new eyes to see, new ears to hear, and a deep faith that pleases God! Praise Jesus! His word is true life. Praise God!

Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, Jesus Christ is coming back one day!