Destitution and Despair

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Instead of fragrance, there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding. Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground. In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, ‘We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!’”
Isaiah 3:24-4:1 NIVUK

Jerusalem and women in despair. The men of Judah killed in battle. Destitution everywhere. Isaiah’s vision was a dire account of what could be the end of Judah, an end that had not yet arrived but was imminent unless the people changed their ways. The people who had so much were going to lose it all. There would be few men left to do the manual work. And the sad situation would arise in which there were so many widows in the land that they had to take drastic steps to assure their future.

The future of a society can never be taken for granted. Yes, all my life I have been fortunate to live in a country without wars or other instability affecting my or my family’s life, and I pray that this will continue for my children and grandchildren and beyond. But it is something neither I nor anyone else can take for granted. With the spectre of another Cold War with Russia emerging on the horizon, perhaps already with us, and the war in Ukraine in its fifth year, with political instability everywhere, the very foundations of our societies in Europe are perhaps under threat. We here in the UK take much for granted, but instead of looking to God, people look to their politicians. And inevitably disappointment will follow.

There was a vast Assyrian army threatening Jerusalem in 701 BC but the king, Hezekiah, declared to the people, “‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said” (2 Chronicles 32:7-8). Soon after, we see what happened to the Assyrians, and things didn’t end well for Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. “And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword” (2 Chronicles 32:21). Because they turned to God, the Judahites lived, and God resolved the situation. 

The people of Judah and Jerusalem were facing judgement from God because of their sin, rebellion, and idolatry, but they still refused to return to God. Nineveh was faced with the same challenge when Jonah was sent to them with a prophetic message of destruction. Jonah prophesied “ … Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4b). The people responded with a fast, and God relented and did not destroy them. But the people in Judah were stubborn, and those who survived were exiled.

We pilgrims have the benefit of the Bible, showing us, as it does, a limited view of the future. But with the Psalmist David, we declare, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). In the First Century AD, there were reportedly many false prophets, and with the spirit of the antichrist present, the Apostle John wrote, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood” (1 John 4:4-6). Even today, God will help us because His Spirit gives us the strength and direction we need, whatever we are facing.

Dear Heavenly Father. We know that in You are all the resources we need for life in this world. So, please help us to turn from our sins and look to You, as we pray for our nation and our leaders. Soften our hearts, we pray. Amen

The Consequences of Sin: Lessons from Isaiah and Sodom

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For Jerusalem will stumble, and Judah will fall, because they speak out against the Lord and refuse to obey him. They provoke him to his face. The very look on their faces gives them away. They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves.”
Isaiah 3:8-9 NLT

A very serious accusation appears in Isaiah’s vision. The Judahites are speaking out against the Lord, refusing to obey Him and “[provoking] Him to His face”. And “the very look on their faces gives them away”. Isaiah continues with a reference to the sin of the people of Sodom.

In a conversation with Abraham, we find the Lord confiding in him one of the reasons why He was calling that day. “So the Lord told Abraham, ‘I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know’” (Genesis 18:20-21). Flagrant sin. Sin so visible as to be abhorrent. No shame. No morality. In Genesis 19:5, we read what the sin of Sodom was: “They shouted to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!’” Was every male in Sodom guilty of that sin? We don’t know for sure, but what we do know is that Abraham had a conversation with the Lord about it, even saying, “Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” (Genesis 18:25). 

Do we pilgrims ever have a conversation with God in that way? It seemed almost irreverential on Abraham’s part to speak to God like that. But we do pray, and we do ask God to change things, and for the better. Some people even pray that God would indeed destroy all the wicked people in the world, a prayer probably rooted in a personal experience of a crime as a victim, or someone looking at the wars started by evil men. But the reality is that there would be no one left in the world if God answered that prayer affirmatively because, as Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). God always answers our prayers, but not always in the way we ask him to.

But back in Isaiah’s vision, we find that the Jews are heading, like lemmings, to their destruction. They had forgotten the fate that they were warned about through their ancestors. There were plenty of examples of God’s judgement on those who did wrong. As an example, I’m reminded today of the sin of Achan, who had taken certain items from Jericho, even though he had been expressly forbidden not to do so. We can read the story in Joshua 7. Things didn’t end well for Achan, and he and his family and all their possessions were burnt and ended up under a “great heap of stones”  in a place called the “Valley of Achor”, which means trouble. Sooner or later, God’s judgement will fall on sin.

In the Judahites’ case, and because of their sin, their destruction was coming, because they had “brought destruction upon themselves”. So sad that they had treated God in that way. Do we pilgrims treat the reality of sin positively? Or will we make excuses for ourselves or others, perhaps referring to “white lies” or “boys will be boys”, thereby rationalising the sinful behaviour? Will we think of convoluted reasons for behaving in the ways we do, perhaps deferring remedial action before God until later? The problem with sin is that it creates a barrier between God and us, thereby destroying the relationship we were meant to have with our wonderful Creator. And there is always the ultimate question – will we bring “destruction upon ourselves? Sins are not gradeable, meaning some are less serious than others. That was the trap the Pharisees fell into. Yes, they may not have committed adultery, or committed the sins of Sodom, but did they look lustfully at another man’s wife? (Matthew 5:27f).

But I’m sure we pilgrims know all about this, and we are diligent to maintain short accounts with God, so that our sins never create a barrier to our wonderful God. “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8). Our forgiveness cost Jesus His life at Calvary. We must never forget that sacrifice He made so that we could spend eternity with Him one day.

Dear Lord Jesus. You died so that we might have life, and life with You forever. Thank You. Amen.

Walking in the Light: Lessons from Isaiah 2

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord! For the Lord has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans.”
Isaiah 2:5-6 NLT

Following an invitation for the “descendants of Jacob” to “walk in the light of the Lord”, we find about their parlous state because the Lord has rejected them. Why is that? Because they have “filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers”. And the reason for the Lord’s rejection of them? Because “They have made alliances with pagans”. The Jews were supposed to be a nation set apart and holy for the Lord. God had provided them with instructions for how they must live under the Mosaic Law, and He made a covenant with them to ensure their prosperity as a nation. God promised them a land that extended all the way from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates river, as the Lord promised Joshua, “I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites’” (Joshua 1:3-4). The exact boundaries encompass all or parts of modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, so Israel today only possesses about 10% of the land that God promised them. And they lost it all at various times in history due to their continual rebellion against the Lord.

Isaiah was one of several (many?) prophets who emerged in history to warn the Jews about the consequences of their idolatry and sin, and here he presented another prophetic vision, warning the people that, because of their behaviour, the Lord had rejected them. Was God’s rejection of His people permanent? No, as we see time and again how He continued to fulfil His part of the covenant that he had made with them. Over successive generations, it seemed as though one would return to God only for the next to lapse into sin and rebellion against the Lord.

What can we pilgrims learn from all this today, if anything? We live in the days of the New Covenant, which is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned toward Him. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross is the basis of the promise. Jeremiah prophesied about the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-33, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”. But regardless of living in the new, there is still a place for sin, rebellion and idolatry. The same choice facing the Jews is facing us today. The difference is that God has delayed judgement until a future time rather than bringing about immediate calamities, such as punishments from the peoples and nations around them. 

Of course, there are people today who claim that certain human ailments or national disasters are the result of rebellion or disobedience to God’s precepts, such as the AIDS or Covid epidemics, or floods and earthquakes, but I’m not so sure. His grace prevails, as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”. So there is an opportunity for all to repent of their sins even with their dying breaths. But one day there will be a time of judgement and people will face the eternal consequences of their sins. 

But the main takeaway from Isaiah 2 must be that God will reject those who fail to follow His ways. Does that include those who once had a relationship with Him, but who have subsequently turned their backs on Him and returned to their lives of sin and rebellion? Some would say, “once saved always saved” but in Hebrews 6:4-6 we read, “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame”. This is perhaps a sober reminder that we pilgrims must stay the course and complete our journey with Jesus. Yes, we will have times of doubts and difficulties. Yes, we may even lapse into times of sin. But God is patient and kind, and He sees the end from the beginning. We grow under God’s grace and produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives day by day, always in the light of God who helps us every step of the way.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. Please forgive us for our waywardness and tendency to drift into places where we shouldn’t be. We declare again, “I have decided to follow Jesus”. Amen.

The Refining Process: Purity Through Pain

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says, “I will take revenge on my enemies and pay back my foes! I will raise my fist against you. I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all your impurities. Then I will give you good judges again and wise counsellors like you used to have. Then Jerusalem will again be called the Home of Justice and the Faithful City.”“
Isaiah 1:24-26 NLT

The previous verses in Isaiah 1 paint a picture of a corrupt Jerusalem. In the prophecy, Isaiah wrote of a series of comparisons between the Jerusalem of old, “Once the home of righteousness and justice” and now instead being “filled with murderers”. The Lord said that Jerusalem was “Once like pure silver, [but had now] become like worthless slag”. It wasn’t, of course, the bricks and mortar of Jerusalem that had become corrupt, but it was the people who lived within its walls. They “loved bribes and demanded payoffs” and refused “to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows”. The leaders were a morally flawed people who selfishly lined their own pockets and neglected the social needs of the people. But that didn’t let the ordinary inhabitants of Jerusalem off the hook because they were all pursuing an agenda that was in conflict with God’s and found themselves vulnerable to judgement and punishment.

So with that background, the “Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Mighty One of Israel” was warning then that a time was coming when He would take revenge on these corrupt and Godless people so that Jerusalem could be restored to what it should have been, “the Home of Justice and the Faithful City”. The process would involve much pain, the Lord said, with the inhabitants going through a refining process and all the dross, the useless rubbish, being removed. And the corrupt leaders would be replaced by honest judges and wise and capable leaders, all of them God-fearing and tasked with restoring Jerusalem’s reputation.

When was this going to happen? That was up to the people. If they repented of their sin and returned to the Lord, then God would not have needed to take any action at all. That was why He chose Isaiah to be His messenger to the people. It was always better for people to change themselves rather than force God’s hand.

A prophet called Zechariah emerged in Jerusalem about 200 years after Isaiah, and he spoke the Lord’s message to the people in Jerusalem, which had been rebuilt after the exile. He had a similar warning to the people as Isaiah’s, and in Zechariah 13, he warned the people that a time was coming when two-thirds of the people would perish. Of the remaining third, the Lord said, “I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’” (Zechariah 13:9). The refining process was something that was going to happen under God’s control. A skilled silversmith will carefully refine the silver, watching what is happening closely. The purpose of the process is to remove all the impurities so that the silver becomes pure, and when the silver has been fully refined, the silversmith can see his reflection in the surface of the silver. If we spiritualise that we can see that “silver” is the people, and the impurities are the sins and evil they committed. Once refined, God can see His reflection in the people, meaning that all their sins have been dealt with, and they reflect God to the people around them.

So for us pilgrims today, God’s refining process continues. Through life’s journeys, God carefully and gently deals with our sin. The Holy Spirit within us brings to the surface situations and behaviours that need to be dealt with and cleansed. Sins are skimmed off one by one as we clean up our lives under God’s gaze, until our lives truly reflect the One we love and worship. It can be a painful process, particularly for those stubbornly entrenched in a life of sin and who are reluctant to let go. But God loves us too much to allow us to continue in a life of sin. 

When we find ourselves going through the “crucible of silver”, we need to allow the Master Silversmith His way, no matter how painful that might be, so that one day we will be in His presence, pure and holy, the people that He created us to be.

Dear Heavenly Silversmith. Thank You that You care for us so much that You don’t want us to languish in our sins. Through Jesus, You supplied a remedy for our iniquities, and we come before Him today with deeply grateful hearts, responding to Him in worship. Amen.

Finding Redemption: The Message of Isaiah 1:18-20

Posted on by Adrian Clark

““Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!””
Isaiah 1:18-20 NLT

After a hard-hitting message that included a comparison between the Israelites and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, God offered the Israelites a way out from the impending destruction that was getting closer and closer. The problem, though, was that the people didn’t recognise God for who He is anymore. Isaiah 1:3, “Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognises its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognise my care for them”.  So what was the point of all the burnt offerings, the blood of bulls, the ceremonies and meaningless gifts that we read about earlier? The Israelites were just going through the religious motions without any understanding of what they were really doing or why they were doing it. They were even praying, but to no avail, “When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims” (Isaiah 1:15). 

But God is always merciful, and He offered a way out for the Israelites. Our verses today start with “Come now, let’s settle this”. Other translations read, “Come now, let us reason together”, but the meaning is the same. The human race has always had the capacity and mental ability to look at the facts and draw a conclusion. And the facts for the Israelites were stark. In Isaiah’s day, the political situation in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was one of instability, and the Assyrian empire was expanding its horizons, starting to encroach on its borders. It wouldn’t be long before Samaria would fall, and many Israelites would be deported to a foreign land. But they had, as a people, one last chance to avoid a fate that otherwise seemed inevitable. Isaiah’s vision was directed at Judah in the South with the warning that unless they changed their ways, they too would follow into captivity.

The Lord effectively said to them, “Look at your circumstances, look at what is about to happen, and turn to Me so that you can be saved”. And He then said, “But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies”. The problem for the Israelites was that they didn’t want to change their sinful and idolatrous practices. There is something seductive about sin, that makes repentance so very hard. The deeper the Israelites were engulfed in their evil ways, the harder it was for them to turn their backs on all that they were doing and instead turn to God. God told them they must use their rational minds and consider their future. It seems simple to us, looking on with the benefit of hindsight, but, sadly, as events turned out, they failed to make the right choices. God had the power and mercy to forgive them for their sins, and if only they had made the right choice, for Him rather than against Him, they would have been returned to His protection, and world events would have been different. 

Sins like scarlet and red like crimson. Colours that had stained their hands and hearts, leaving the people indelibly inked with sin for which there was only one solution. God offered to make their hands and hearts white like snow or as white as wool. There was no human solution. No chemical in a bottle on the shelf with the power to bleach out the redness. No other god or idol was available to forgive their sins. They had only one solution, and God was holding out His hands, pleading with them to turn from their wicked ways and return to Him. 

We pilgrims made the right choice when we turned to God from our lives of sin. We came to the Cross at Calvary, and bowed before the Man crucified, believing Him and His message of salvation. That was the moment when our crimson-red hearts were made as white as snow. King David made the right choice after his affair with Bathsheba when he wrote, “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). He then wrote, “Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me”. David could see the same choice before him three hundred years before that of the Israelites. He wrote, “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Psalm 51:16-19).

There are many people around us who are heading toward destruction and a lost eternity. The same choice that Godless people face today is the same as the one before the Israelites in the 7th Century BC. We pilgrims must be diligent in telling them about the consequences of a life spent in sin. God is holding out His loving arms to them, just as He did to us, and we are His messengers responsible for dispensing His message of love and hope.

Dear God. Only You have the remedy for sin and guilt. Please help us, we pray, to be diligent in telling others of Your love and grace at every opportunity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Burden of Guilt

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Oh, what a sinful nation they are— loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. You are battered from head to foot— covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds— without any soothing ointments or bandages.”
Isaiah 1:4-6 NLT

The burden of guilt. It is a heavy burden to bear, and many are bearing it in our world today. God has created mankind with a conscience, designed to be aligned to Him so that their lives are without guilt. Man was never able to carry the burden of guilt. The psychiatrists may come up with band-aid solutions that might make someone feel better for a short while, but the issues are still there and before long the burden of guilt returns. Some people turn to some form of distraction, such as alcohol or drugs, “retail therapy”, or sexual gratification, but the burden of guilt remains in the cold light of the morning. 

Isaiah, bringing the Word of the Lord in our verses today, called out evil, corruption, God-rejection, sickness, and punishment, all self-inflicted conditions because of one single cause – the people had turned away from God. How had it come to this? As the previous verse in Isaiah 1 recorded, “Israel doesn’t know its Master”. They had become complacent in their land. The crops continued to grow. The rain came at the right time. Children were still being born. Affluence had dulled their spirits, and the effort of keeping a relationship with God had somehow become crowded out by living. 

The root of the problem was, of course, sin. The current generation in Isaiah’s day had been brought up without a knowledge of God, because their parents didn’t know Him either. This was because their parents were Godless as well. But this wasn’t a sudden decision, made one day to forget God and His ways. The sin and evil had come into their lives as God was forced out, getting worse generation by generation. Now, the storm clouds of war, famine, pestilence were starting to emerge on the horizon, and Isaiah brought a warning straight from God Himself. 

There was a remedy to their condition and David wrote about it in Psalm 32:5, “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone”. 

We pilgrims are not immune to the same problems the Israelites faced. It starts on a Sunday morning, with the thought that we might skip church just once. Then we find ourselves too busy to pray or read the Bible. Then sinfulness creeps in, and we finally find that we are well and truly on the slippery slope that leads to destruction. Yes, there are those who say that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. There are even those who claim eternal life from the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, and then proceed to live out the rest of their lives in a world full of sin and depravity. But always in the background is our loving Heavenly Father, calling out our names, warning us of the consequences of sin. We pilgrims know all this, of course, but somehow we can find it easy to rationalise our return to a world that invites the punishments the Lord warned the Israelites about in 740BC. 

Sin is rebellion against God. Pure and simple. And as sin builds, so does guilt. The burden gets heavier and heavier, bringing sickness, mental ill-health, and ultimately death. But today, should we find that we are carrying a burden of guilt, we come before God with a repentant heart, believing as David did, that He will forgive us. In 1 John 1:9, the Apostle John wrote, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. And so, we return to our knees once again, feeling His forgiveness wash away our burden of guilt.

Father God. Please forgive us for all our sins and for trying to hide our guilt. As we roll our burdens off our shoulders before Jesus, Your Son who died so that we can be forgiven for our sins, we experience an inner peace that cannot be found anywhere else. Thank You for saving us. Amen.

Paul’s Third Visit: Testimony and Warning

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“This is the third time I am coming to visit you (and as the Scriptures say, “The facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”). I have already warned those who had been sinning when I was there on my second visit. Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before, that next time I will not spare them.”
2 Corinthians 13:1-2 NLT

We begin the last chapter of 2 Corinthians considering what Paul is intending to do in this, his third visit to the church in Corinth. The sinning amongst the believers will be his focus when he arrives, and he issued a warning in advance, probably in the hope that all would be sorted out by the time he gets to Corinth. Paul had obviously heard things about the goings-on in the church and reassured them that he wouldn’t act just on one person’s testimony. Paul quoted Deuteronomy 19:15, “You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”. This common-sense principle still underpins our legal system today, and the prosecution of anyone in the “dock” accused of a crime will need evidence that is backed up by a variety of factors, one of which is the importance of multi-witness testimony.

There were twelve men who spent three years of so in the company of Jesus, and in that time they were convinced that Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of God. And they continued through the rest of their lives suffering greatly for their testimony about who he was. Before the Sanhedrin, Peter said, “Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10). This was a testimony that silenced the High Council, and we read, “But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say” (Acts 4:14). In this case, Peter was the witness and his testimony was boldly proclaimed and backed up by the miracle that had taken place. We can just imagine the religious hierarchy staring at Peter open-mouthed, for once silenced by such indisputable evidence. There was nothing in their law book that could cope with this. And Acts 4:33 recorded “The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all”. 

The Gospels are full of the works and sayings of Jesus, and they were witnessed by His disciples and many others at the time. Paul wrote, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Lawyers today have examined the available evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus and have concluded that there was sufficient to meet the threshold of achieving a positive confirmation of the truth of it. So why is it that people still won’t believe in Jesus? Evidence from far more than the required “two or three” exists.

People don’t believe in Jesus because it is a deliberate act of their will to deny the truth. They know that if they do believe in the evidence, then they will have to make some changes in their lives. Big changes for some, if not most, and in the verses we are considering today, the biggest issue is that of sin. Sin is defined as rebellion against God and His ways, but mis- and disinformation conspires to cover it up, or call it something else. Blame for sinful behaviour is apportioned to a number of factors, such as upbringing, social circumstances, or a popular one today – mental health. These are all valid to a greater or lesser degree, and they play a big part in defining who a person is, but they only mask the fundamental problem. I met a man the other day with a bright yellow sweatshirt emblazoned with the strap line “ADHD is not a lifestyle choice”. It probably isn’t – I’m not qualified to express even an opinion – but I worship a God who is bigger than any human condition, and we pilgrims know that He can take the weakest human being and turn them into a mighty man or woman of God. Paul wrote, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). God uses people who are weak, powerless, inadequate, uneducated, even sick, physically or mentally, to witness for Him. I have a dear friend who was hospitalised for some weeks recently with a heart condition, but even in his distress, he made sure that all the doctors and nurses knew about his faith in Jesus.

We pilgrims are counted amongst the “two or three” swelling the numbers who witness for Jesus into an uncountable multitude. And yet there are many more who do not know Him, and we have to tell them that they will perish in their sins unless they make the right choice to follow and believe in Jesus. What else can we do, other than tell people about God’s love and grace, about how he sent His Son, Jesus, to die for everyone, taking on their sins and taking on Himself the punishment for what was legally ours? 

Dear Heavenly Father. We understand that we are Your witnesses here in this sad and dying world, and we pray that we will get opportunities to declare “the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” whenever we can. In Your precious name we pray. Amen.

Confronting Sin in the Corinthian Church

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Perhaps you think we’re saying these things just to defend ourselves. No, we tell you this as Christ’s servants, and with God as our witness. Everything we do, dear friends, is to strengthen you. For I am afraid that when I come I won’t like what I find, and you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarrelling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behaviour. Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence. And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins. You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.”
2 Corinthians 12:19-21 NLT

The Corinthians must have been a rowdy lot, if Paul’s fears were realised. In fact, it is a surprise that there was a church there at all. Perhaps they were trying to realise the best of both worlds, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, but as we know, the two are incompatible. Earlier in this letter, Paul wrote, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15). Perhaps they had heard about the Laodiceans, suffering from the same apostasy, and we read what Jesus said about them, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” (Revelation 3:15-16). The same incompatibility was in Jesus’ mind, I’m sure, when he said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (Matthew 6:24). If the Corinthians were in fact trying to still live in their old, sinful ways, as well as pursue the things of God, then they were in for a shock, because Paul would have to confront it when he arrived for his third visit. 

Of course, in our churches today, the people would not have the same dichotomy, being “nice” people not guilty of any of the “crimes” Paul wrote about, such as “quarrelling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behaviour”. I’m sure the believers in Corinth knew that such behaviour was wrong and sinful, just the same as we would, but there it was bubbling away in the background, under the surface, but still visible to the Spirit-led gaze of Paul and his colleagues. One of the behavioural problems Paul wrote about was sexual immorality. In those days, without access to pornographic material, either in print form or internet-based, sexual sins would have been very visible, although largely accepted, or even encouraged, by the pagan societies in Greece. Today, the same sin exists, even within men of God, either in leadership or in the pews, who act out their secret lives, hoping that they will never be caught. So on a Sunday, the “nice” people worship together, but terrible things can happen when no one else is around. 

Another sin Paul mentioned was gossip. The sin of talking negatively about another person, criticising them, and even making up things about them that aren’t true. And gossip is not just a thing between people who know each other. It also takes place on social media, with sad people hiding behind a keyboard and the relative anonymity offered by pseudonyms and hidden accounts. 

So, in a nutshell, the problems Paul feared in the Corinthian church were no different from the problems that lie beneath the surface in our modern churches today. I have been in a public meeting when sinful behaviour was called out from the pulpit, but it is a rare occasion today. 

Paul’s complaint was that many of the Corinthians “[had] not given up [their] old sins. [They] [had] not repented of [their] impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure”. As believers in Jesus, there was a time when we came to the foot of the Cross and repented of our sins. So started a journey we call sanctification, as we gradually, and painfully slowly at times, cleaned up our lives with the help of the Holy Spirit, and under God’s Fatherly gaze. It was the same with the Corinthians, but it seemed that their journey was having a problem getting off the starting blocks. I’m sure that this was not a universal problem with the Corinthians, but there was still a worldly element in the church there. 

Today, there are some denominations that have allowed worldliness to enter their churches, as they preach a liberal doctrine that, in some cases, even denies the truth of Scripture. We pilgrims all know what that is and how it is leading to the decline of once-proud and effective beacons of light for the Gospel and our wonderful Jesus, with worldly doctrines that are dividing and destroying fellowship and subverting the purity of the Word and the Good News about Jesus. 

Paul had no choice other than to confront the sinful behaviour of the Corinthians, and through the Holy Spirit gifts that he had access to (as we all do), he would have been able to put his finger on those who were the culprits, not with a view to putting them out of the church (even though that had happened before), but with a view to restoring them back into the fellowship of believers. Paul’s advice to the Corinthians in his first letter was in fact to evict a blatant sinner from their midst: “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. … God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you’” (1 Corinthians 5:5, 13). But Paul was after restoration and repentance, so that the church could be strengthened and able to continue in the way of the Lord. 

Today we pilgrims must always try to align our lives to that of Jesus, adopting the Biblical truths that set out God’s ways rather than man’s. There is no other way. Liberal doctrines and worldly practices have no place in our churches and fellowships; all that matters is God’s truth.

Dear Father God. We proclaim Your Gospel message of repentance in a world of sin and evil. We want to be pure and holy in Your sight, now and forever. Amen.

The Eve Syndrome

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the snake’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NIVUK

The human mind can be easily deceived by arguments and propositions that sound right but are not true. The situation with Eve is the classic example. God gave Adam a specific instruction: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). But along came the serpent, saying, “… Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden””? (Genesis 3:1b). Eve initially made the right response, “The woman said to the snake, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die” ’” (Genesis 3:2-3), although she failed to identify the specific tree to be avoided. Then, in the next two verses, came the serpent’s lie, “‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’”. Then came the very verse that sealed their’s, and mankind’s ever since, doom: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it”. Yes, neither Adam nor Eve physically died because of that act, but spiritually, mankind has been dead ever since. God’s design and order were destroyed through a single piece of fruit, but thankfully, He didn’t give up at that point and decide to let Adam and the human race get on with their sinful lives, instead creating another planet somewhere and starting again. As we read the Bible, we find a love story of God wooing back His rebellious and sin-ridden creation, even to the extent of sending His Son, Jesus, to be the ultimate Saviour. 

Paul was concerned that the Corinthians had let down their guard and had allowed any random person with a seemingly plausible message to occupy their pulpit. It didn’t matter what “Jesus” they preached as long as the message sounded plausible. The same with the Holy Spirit they claimed to know. Perhaps the Gospel message being preached by these men was also plausible, as they, with the serpent’s cunning, twisted it, even subtly, to appear and sound plausible to the Corinthian ears. Paul warned Timothy about such a thing as well, as we read in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”. I heard of a funeral service that took place in a crematorium in Glasgow some years ago, where the officiating Presbyterian minister used as his text John 3:16. Somehow, he managed to distort this verse to become a platform for Universalism, by saying that Jesus said that everyone would get to Heaven, including, by extension, the people gathered for the service and the unbelieving lady who occupied the coffin before them. The phenomenon of men and women preaching a false Jesus and a false Gospel wasn’t just a problem in Paul’s day.

How do we pilgrims guard ourselves from such aberrations? As the wars in different parts of the world rumble on, and as different global events continue to disturb the world order, it is easy to find preachers who deliver a message that sounds right but is instead of the wrong spirit. Just open YouTube and all sorts of strange and fictitious messages will appear if searched for. The same with other social media platforms. And before we know it distortions will creep into society in the form of ideologies and theories that will lure away even people of faith, even reaching new forms of social policies. There is only one remedy for such lies, and that is to recognise them for what they are. We pilgrims know that when faced with the Eve syndrome, we turn to our Heavenly Father and His Word where we will find the truth. We turn to the Words of Jesus because we know that He is “the way the truth and the life” (John. 14:6). Through prayer and the armour that Paul taught about (Ephesians 6), we stand firm, recognising that someone preaching a different Jesus from the one in the bible, or promoting a different spirit to the Holy Spirit, or encouraging us to accept a different Gospel to the one we find in the Bible, are all ploys of the devil. And if we find a false preacher in our pulpits, we immediately find somewhere else where the purity of the Word is sacrosanct.

Heavenly Father. Please “lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil” we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Giving Ourselves to God: Understanding True Sacrifice

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Not only [did they give materially] as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us [as His representatives] by the will of God [disregarding their personal interests and giving as much as they possibly could]. So we urged Titus that, as he began it, he should also complete this gracious work among you as well.”
2 Corinthians 8:5-6 AMP

There is an order of priority to be followed in our Christian walk, an order that may not always align with our own desires and inclinations. We can experience a degree of conflict between our sinful natures and the Spirit of God within us. But in our verses today, Paul writes that they seem to have got the order of priority correct. The Corinthians were eager to give money to help the poor in Jerusalem; in fact, they were quite insistent. However, Paul could see that their first priority was to give “themselves to the Lord”, and, as well, give themselves to “us” – Paul and his colleagues, as God’s representatives. 

Any human being starts life not thinking about others but instead thinking about themselves, motivated by a desire to please themselves. As we grow, that usually doesn’t change much. Our focus can become more dispersed among areas that are important to us, such as relationships, careers, or goals. But the bottom line is almost always a desire to please ourselves. The quest for happiness is a universal journey. But that is not how God created us, as we know from Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. So, comparing ourselves to God (if that were even possible!), Do we think He would be so selfish as to focus solely on himself? We know otherwise, because he sent His Son to die a sinner’s death, but even more, he took on the sins of the world, from everyone who has ever lived, past, present and future. Would we have been so concerned by the plight of others that we too would forget ourselves and instead shift our thoughts and actions to them and their needs? Being made in God’s image perhaps highlights where our true focus should be.

So, giving ourselves to God means adopting His ways in living our lives. It is said that within us is a God-shaped hole that has to be filled by God Himself. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ”. As we said earlier, human beings are more interested in filling this “hole” or “vacuum” with created things, human relationships or ineffective and useless philosophies. There is a plethora of “things” available for those who seek self-gratification, such as alcohol and drugs, pornography, and similar dark devices, but we mustn’t forget sports and hobbies, all of which can attempt to fill the void inside. Others seek a remedy on a psychiatrist’s couch or pursue religions and philosophies that pander to the ”me” inside us, rather than look upwards to God Himself. It is amazing the lengths to which human beings will go to avoid contact with their Creator. 

The Shorter Westminster Catechism starts with the question, “What is the chief end of man?”, to which the answer is “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever”. Paul wrote, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This immediately shifts the human focus to God, but provides a problem for those who do not believe that He exists. They continue to live with a vacuum inside that can never be filled, no matter how hard they try. Some people dream of unimaginable wealth, believing it would make a difference, but research shows that lottery winners are among the unhappiest people in the world. Nothing in this world can get close to what God intended.

When we come to the place of recognising life is not about ourselves, we are ready to stop running from God and allow Him to take over. The only way any of us can have a relationship with a holy God is to admit that we are sinners, turn away from that sin, and accept the sacrifice that Jesus made. There is no other way. Picture an altar dedicated to the only true God. Then imagine crawling onto it, lying down, and saying, “Here I am, God. I’m a sinner, but you love me anyway. Thank you for dying for me and rising from the dead so my sin could be forgiven. Cleanse me, forgive me, and make me your child. Take me. All of me. I want to live for you from now on”. 

Paul wrote, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

Before the Corinthians could give to the poor, they had to give themselves to God. There are nominal Christians today who go through all the motions and even generously give of their money to their church and its ministries, but without first having that relationship with God, it is all pointless. Following a liturgy won’t get them to Heaven. A pass to gain entry through the pearly gates cannot be purchased with human gold. There is only one way to Heaven, and that is to believe in Jesus. Simple but profound. We pilgrims today perhaps are looking inwards instead of upwards, but there is a remedy: once again, we turn our eyes upon Jesus and look into His wonderful face. We then find that all the created objects and methods come to nothing “in the light of His glory and grace”. 

Dear Father God. Our lives are here to provide You with the glory You deserve. Please forgive us for our waywardness, as we dip into the things of the world rather than into the things of Your Word. We worship You today. Amen.