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A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.
I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
...a surprise gift from another modeler. This thing is a beast...I shall sell all my N and HO scale and start over in O...
Wellll...maybe not but, there's something to be said for a model train hobby with 3 pound plus locomotives...
My guess is that the HO and N units, being made primarily for the low end and toy markets, used equally low end motors, requiring the makers to use a wider hood, thus taking away the space needed for the side hand rails the O scale model has. Other than that, they are essentially identical models.
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
...from a fellow modeler with a great sense of humor and way too much time on his hands...
...yeah, that'll clear the pipes...
BTW...that's Sunny D in the glass...
...you're welcome.
...and the meds that go with it...yuck***...
***I never forget that it wasn't all that long ago that a bout running through my family like this would've put most of us in the grave before it was over.
In His Peace...Br'er Shaygetz
Posted by Brad Gilbert on 2/17/2011
MATTHEW 27:39-44, key vs. 40, 42
As we finish up this study on these three groups of people who were present at the crucifixion of Jesus and how they all wanted Him to come down from the cross, we look at the final group:
SENTENCED ON THE CROSSES – 27:44
The first thing that we notice is that the Two were Critical – 27:44. Matthew’s Gospel account clearly shows us that both of the thieves who were on the cross, suffering from the death penalty for their sins and transgressions against society, were critical and blasphemous when the process of the crucifixion started. Both of these men were just like the scribes and chief priest in that they were under conviction for their sin.
And when we go to Luke’s gospel account, we see that there are two ways to respond to conviction.
One thief was Calloused – Luke 23:39. This thief was looking for what just about everyone else is looking for – some sort of temporal relief from their current situation. Many people come to church, or begin to pray, not because they seek to worship a holy God and repent of their sin, but because they are expecting some magical genie to grant them their wish so they can go back to living their life they way they had before.
This thief was not seeking forgiveness of his sins, but just a pardoning from his punishment. He was bitter at his lot in life – though it was well deserved. Some people are so obstinate to their need of a saviour, even till the bitter end.
But we notice a change in the other thief, he was Convicted – Luke 23:40-43. This second thief shows us a couple of truths:
1. It is never too late to turn to Christ as long as you have breath.
2. When under conviction, we can choose to either get better or get bitter.
Too many people today are under conviction about their sin, yet too prideful, scared, or confused to turn to Christ.
We read both in Matthew 27:50 and Luke 23:46 – HE DID NOT COME DOWN!
A great theologian of old Matthew Henry said in relation to this portion of Scripture - He {Jesus} was, at His death, numbered amongst the transgressors, that we, at our death, might be numbered among the saints.
We are all one of the thieves on one of the crosses because we are all sinners who deserve an eternity in Hell and the Lake of Fire. I am glad that in June of 1999 it was not too late for me and I called out to Jesus in repentance and faith and He saved my soul!
How about you? Which thief are you?
...wearing clothes just like these...
...oh yeah, those Hop Rods weren't too safe either...
HAT TIP: Just a car guy...
...progress but oh, so slowly...
Posted by Brad Gilbert on 2/15/2011
MATTHEW 27:39-44, key vs. 40, 42
In our last post, we took a look at the first group of people who were present at Jesus’ crucifixion. This post, we will study the second group:
SCRIBES & THE CHIEF PRIEST – 27:41-43
The scribes, Sadducees, Pharisees, and chief priest were always at odds with Jesus during His earthly ministry. There are certain characteristics we notice about this group.
The first characteristic we observe was that they were often Copycats – 27:41. These religious leaders were acting more like politicians than they were prophets or preachers. We observe this from the word “likewise.” They were not leading the way like they were supposed to have been doing, but just following the crowd.
It is a sad truth that many preachers and teachers will change, or soften, what they believe in order to gain a larger crowd. Most do not proclaim what they believe based on conviction; but test the wind to see what is the popular and follow after that. Beware of those who claim to be preachers, yet will not stand against anything. It has be aptly said before that, “If you won’t stand against anything, you will fall for everything.”
Another truth we notice is that they were Compassionless – 27:42. We know that they had no compassion on those in need. How? Because they knew of all the people Jesus helped that they themselves often ignored. They did not believe in Jesus while He was amongst them healing the sick and lame; they wouldn’t have believed on Him had He came down from the cross.
The measure of a man’s faith can been seen in how they help others less fortunate than himself. The religious leaders always had to have the attention focused on them, and thus had no time or desire to help others. When the spotlight must always be pointed on us, even while helping others, reveals a real deficiency in our character. It is during those times when we are more worried about our reputations and what we can gain from “helping” someone that we are following the lead of the religious rulers of Jesus’ day in showing our lack of compassion.
The final characteristic we notice is that they were Convicted – 27:43. By making the statement, “for he said, I am the Son of God,” these religious rulers reveal to us that secretly, they were under conviction. They wanted Jesus to come down from the cross because they did not want to admit that they were sinners in need of Redeemer.
When under conviction, you have one of two ways to respond, as we see from the final group in the upcoming post.
Posted by Brad Gilbert on 2/13/2011
MATTHEW 27:39-44, key vs. 40, 42
We live in a world today that is very antagonistic to God and the things of the Bible. I thought about something that recently came across my desk from Answers in Genesis. They are a very successful Science group that promotes Creation and a literal interpretation of Genesis. Their newest project is a life sized replica of Noah’s Ark. There was a feature story on ABC’s “World News With Diane Sawyer, and article in the New York Times, and many other world-wide publications.
With this notoriety came a lot of negative backlash. Much of it came from the secular world, but some of it even came from the “religious” crowd who were against promoting a literal belief in Genesis. Why? Because to believe literally in Genesis would mean that mankind would be held accountable to its Creator and then would have to take the remaining Bible literally.
Most of religion today does not want to take a literal approach to God’s Word, especially to Jesus’ claim to be the only way to heaven. This was never more evident than at the crucifixion of Jesus, as we see in vs. 40 & 42 and the phrase, “let him now come down from the cross…” But if Jesus had not died on the cross, shed His precious blood for the remission of sins, and rose from the grave on the third day, then there would be no hope of salvation.
The sad truth is that the world is filled with people who don’t want to recognize Jesus as dying on the cross for their sins. Are you one of the ones groups of people who wanted Jesus to come down from the cross? This coming week, we notice from the text 3 groups of people who wanted Jesus to come down from the Cross, and we will look at the first group today:
SINNERS IN THE CROWD – 27:39-40
The first thing we observe about this group is that they Spoke Evil – reviled. The word used for reviled here is – blasphēmeō, which means:
1. to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, calumniate, blaspheme
2. to be evil spoken of, reviled, railed at
They spoke all manner of evil and lies about Jesus as He hung there on the cross paying for their sins. We live in a world, and amongst people who can’t wait to blaspheme the name of Jesus. Whether it is taking the Lord’s name in vain out of anger, or making our precious Saviour the punch line of some crude joke on a television show – people are still reviling the name of Jesus.
They try to “tear down” the name of Jesus because the Bible tells us in Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
A second characteristic we notice about them is that they Stirred Emotions – wagging. This was a display of their contempt and a public insult. Job suffered the same response from his so-called friends, as he said in Job 16:4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. David felt the same shame and penned this: Psalm 109:25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
A final characteristic we observe is that they Spewed Error – saying. Here is a group of people who probably never read OT Scripture, or would have anything to do with anything else Jesus might have said, but are quoting Him now OUT OF CONTEXT because it helps their cause.
Just like those today who like to quote (Judge not…God is love…etc) but have no clue on the context of those verses and what they really are saying. There are a lot of “Bible experts” out there who never have even read the Bible from cover to cover before.
These SINNERS IN THE CROWD wanted Jesus to come down off the cross, but He didn’t! Stayed tuned as we will move on to the second group of people who wanted Jesus to come down from the cross.
...can someone who modeled back then please tell me just what this guy is doing to this fine locomotive model with an Xacto knife?
...catalog #751 in 1978-1980. Many thanks to a generous fellow modeler, who gave this to me.
A very intriguing bit of Bachmann's early attempts at low end scale models, a lot of good detail, mixed with awful running mechanisms, making for the well earned nickname, "Botchmann". How else does one explain a freight line's colors on a passenger locomotive...and, with a drive train that sounds like a cross between a dental drill and an electric pencil sharpener, I'm stoked...
Not a half bad effort on the Favely pantographs...they're plastic castings with one stamped metal upright. It's only real shortcoming being that there is no spring to hold it up, it's a friction fit.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. Surely, no creature will ever be able, even when exalted to heaven, to comprehend all the thoughts of the Creator. We shall never be omniscient — we cannot be. God alone knoweth everything, and understandeth everything. But how much more of authentic truth shall we discern when the mists and shadows have dissolved; and how much more shall we understand when raised to that higher sphere and endowed with brighter faculties, none of us can tell.
Probably, things that puzzle us here will be as plain as possible there. We shall perhaps smile at our own ignorance. I have fancied sometimes that the elucidations of learned doctors of divinity, if they could be submitted to the very least in the kingdom of heaven, would only cause them to smile at the learned ignorance of the sons of earth. Oh! how little we do know, but how much we shall know! I am sure we shall know, for it is written, “Then shall I know even as also I have known.”
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Now, And Then."
