Deuteronomy 3 - ARMED FOR BATTLE

 NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD

ARMED FOR BATTLE

“And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.”

—Deut. 3:18

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Canaan, or “the promised land,” is often confused in type with heaven. That is, of course, a mistake. Canaan was God’s objective for Israel, but it was a territory that had to be taken in battle and held against innumerable adversaries. It was a pleasant and productive place, corresponding to the center of God’s will, but it demanded a conquest to enter it and constant vigilance to hold it. That is not a picture of heaven!

In Biblical “type” Canaan corresponds to the believer’s position as “abiding in Christ,” where we are counseled to take up and maintain residence, once we are saved, but still this side of heaven. (Cf. John 15:1-11 e.g.) It is a place of joy, for it represents the center of Gods will for us in our present state. It is a fruitful land, but always contested by “many adversaries.”

If Satan fails in his objective to keep us from trusting Christ in the first place, his next objective will be to discourage us from taking the position Christ intends for us. Few things help his cause more than those who “profess that they know God, but in works deny Him.” “Unbelieving believers.” When the Israelites saw evidence of the fruit of the land, they were enthused, but when they heard about the “giants,” they were dismayed. The envisioned price was too high. Ah, how many have been their descendants!

At this point in the narrative our text finds a new generation ready at last, after forty years of fruitless wandering in the wilderness, to face the foe and enter the land. The interesting thing is that God reminds them again that there will be battles to be fought for the ground that is to be taken: “Ye shall pass over armed…” The divine plan has not changed. Victory in New Testament terms is always the same. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me [Mt. 16:24].” 

What is interesting in our text, however, is something deduced from the context. The words were uttered by Moses in this instance, in his farewell address to Israel, with specific reference to the Ruebenites and the Gadites, who had already been granted their territory on the east side of the Jordan. However they were not to settle down until the rest of the people had claimed their possessions. In other words, establishing themselves in the will of God was to be a cooperative venture in which the children of God would engage until all enjoyed the blessing. 

One of the key phrases in the New Testament is “one another.” While each of us carries individual responsibilities, Christian experience is not, in God’s intention, a solo venture. The church is described as the body of Christ, in which all the parts constitute the whole, and no individual is sufficient of himself. (See I Cor. 12:12-27) Tragically, that is not the picture of the average “church,” nor of the church as a whole. To say nothing of the church at large, the average congregation (“local church”) is a collection of individuals who have little to do with or for one another with respect to spiritual matters. To be spiritually armed for battle with the Enemy in order to help other believers win God’s high ground is a concept foreign to most professing Christians. How different would the average church be if every member waged war with the adversary until all were established in abiding fellowship with Christ! The apostle Paul exemplified that spirit when he wrote to the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you [Gal. 4:19].” 

With these thoughts for starters, we need to note one more thing, suggested in the context. Even under the best of circumstances, the nature of the battle is such that it takes more—much more—than concerted cooperative effort on the part of the whole congregation to successfully take the ground God intends for us. “Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.” (v.22) As always, “It takes God to be godly.” Whether as individuals or collectively, we cannot take our true position in Christ in our own strength nor by our own resources. Programs, plans, procedures of man’s devising will not suffice. There must be faith in and conscious dependence upon God Himself if we are to win the victory over sin and satan. 

We have His promise that when we “trust and obey” His word, following where He leads, we will come to enjoy the satisfaction, peace and joy that He has promised. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand [Eph. 6:12-13].” Individually and together!

—"Pastor" Frasier

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7/28/12

Deuteronomy 2 - THE GOD WHO IS THERE

 NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD

THE GOD WHO IS THERE

“…the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.”

—Deut. 2:7

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Israel’s unbelief did not cost them their relationship with Jehovah; it caused them to fall short of the objective God had for them and robbed them for forty years of the “rest” He would have had for them in the land of Canaan.

“For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”  (Heb. 3:16-19)

In the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews this bit of history is employed as an instructive lesson on the importance of exercising faith not only to obtain salvation, but to make it practical in everyday life so that the peace and power of salvation becomes the believer’s environment; we are urged to “enter…into His rest.” (Read Heb. 4:1-11) It is sad, but true, that most professing Christians know little of that “rest,” and hence little of the real joy of salvation. They are wandering in a spiritual wilderness, having, perhaps, faith enough to get out of sin’s bondage but not enough to enjoy salvation’s blessings; what used to be called ‘the victorious life in Christ.’

Today, however, our purpose is not to dwell upon that, profitable as it might be, but to note that in spite of that truncated faith and its consequent “daily grind,” God remains faithful. “If we believe not, (as was the case with these Israelites) yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” In other words, God will be true to Himself, even if we refuse to trust Him. Our text and its context illustrates this truth.

Consider first, how the situation illustrates God’s patience. First let it be carefully noted that unbelief angers the Lord and will result in discipline. “… the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and swore, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I swore to give unto your fathers [Deut. 1:34-35].” In this case that discipline lasted for forty years!

The second evidence of God’s faithfulness, in our text, is His consistent presence with His disappointing people. “He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee.” We are all familiar with the great line in the twenty third psalm, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” We generally apply this passage to end of life experience. In fact, it applies to all of life, for as believers, even under the best of circumstances, our whole journey is through the valley of…death. And, whether our faith flourishes or languishes, we have the promise of the Savior, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” So it was with wayward Israel. God consigned them to the discipline of the wilderness, but He did not abandon them in it. As the poet put it, “He was there all the time.”

And their unbelief notwithstanding, He sustained them and blessed them—whether they recognized and praised Him or not: “Thou hast lacked nothing.” 

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.” (Deut. 8:2-5)

Incorporated in His patience was this remarkable provison. Every fundamental need was supplied, in spite of their unbelief, “food and raiment” God consistently provided. (See I Timothy 6:8!)

For these rebellious Israelites, however little they realized it, understood it or recognized it, God had not abandoned them. The same hand that in faithfulness and love chastened them (see Heb. 12:6) was the Almighty hand that sustained them. Well they might have—indeed, should have cried, “Great is Thy faithfulness; Thy mercies are new every morning!” And so should we!!

—"Pastor" Frasier

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These "Nuggets," including past issues, are now available online at

 http://wmf14227.blogspot.com/ - or - http://pastorfrasier.blogspot.com/ prior to 4/1/12

7/21/12

Deuteronomy 1 - FAITH

 NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD

FAITH

“Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.” 

                                                                                                                                  —Deut. 1:32-33

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Faith is foundational to Christian experience. And, it is as critical to saving the life as it is to saving the soul. In other words, faith is fundamental not just to becoming a Christian, but to being one. The Spirit of God exhorts through the apostle Paul, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving [Col. 2:6-7].”

The old testament book of Deuteronomy (“The Second Law”) includes a rehearsal in broad strokes of Israel’s history, under the leadership of Moses, from deliverance from bondage in Egypt to the threshold of the promised land and the transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua. A journey which could have been accomplished in less than two weeks was extended to thirty eight years of “wilderness wandering” because of unbelief. It is a graphic illustration of the cost of defective faith, or “unbelief.”

“Faith” and “belief” are often confused in the minds of many professing Christians, at great cost. Faith includes belief, but belief does not always incorporate faith. To believe in God is one thing; to believe God is another. An able preacher of my acquaintance used to speak of “unbelieving believers;”  those who believed in God, but who did not believe Him in specific areas of life or experience. The most telling example of this is, of course, the case of Adam and Eve. Created by the hand of God and enjoying fellowship with God in the garden of Eden, they  certainly believed in the existence of God. They could not have denied it. But when it came to the issue of the “tree of life,” they simply did not believe the God whom they knew. “In this thing [they] did not believe the Lord [their] God.” The result was catastrophic then, and it still is.

The principle is illustrated again in this history of Israel. There is no doubt the Israelites believed in Jehovah, the “God of the bible.” But when His word directed them to go up and “possess the land” of promise, they did not have a functioning  faith that would prompt obedience to His directive. Many have been their descendants throughout history, including church history. 

When God declares “the just shall live by faith,” He is embracing not just obtaining life, but living it. It is the divine intention that sinners should not merely be justified by faith as an act, but sanctified by faith as an attitude governing all life in terms of His word. This comprehensive nature of faith is indicated in the fundamental statement, “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 [Heb. 11:6].” The implication is that faith involves not merely a decision, but devotion, and it is in the latter that many professing Christians come up short. They profess that they “trust Him” for eternal life, but fail to “diligently seek Him” for living that life. In the specifics that follow justification they do not believe the Lord. As a result if, in fact, they are “saved,” they are wandering in a wilderness that yields nothing in their lives like God intended, nor the testimony He desires. They are in a spiritual ‘no man’s land’ somewhere between where they were in sins’ bondage and where they really Abelong now that they have been redeemed.

Many seldom open their bibles and give attention to His purpose to “show…by what way [they] should go.” And if they hear it from the pulpit, or stumble across it by chance, they simply thrust it aside in favor of their own agenda, as did Israel at Horeb. The result is an anemic “church” that has neither peace nor power. “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (Titus 1:16a) 

When on the road to Damascus the apostle Paul was converted through faith in Christ, he “trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do [Acts. 9:6]?” That should be the constant inquiry of every believer, with the intention to “trust and obey.”

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [Heb. 11:1].” Saving faith not only determines destiny, but it defines deportment. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts [Gal. 5:24].” 

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”     —II Cor. 13:5

—"Pastor" Frasier

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These "Nuggets," including past issues, are now available online at

 http://wmf14227.blogspot.com/ - or - http://pastorfrasier.blogspot.com/ prior to 4/1/12

7/14/12

Mark 16 - ALONE (III)

 NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD

ALONE! (III)

“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” —Mark 16:19

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There is much in this chapter that would lend itself to our purpose and is worthy of our meditation, but there is here one more aspect of the Savior’s “alone-ness” that seems to surpass them all, so we continue with that theme and on this note conclude our quest for “nuggets” in the gospel of Mark. 

As we follow the Son of God through chapters 14 and 15 we are taken to the depths of His solitary journey, one He made “alone” because there were in all creation no others who could make it with Him. No one else was qualified, no one else had anything to contribute to the task He was undertaking. He, alone, endured the cross, “despising the shame” and the desperate solitude it required.

But, the writer of Hebrews concurs with the author of this gospel: Having “[despised] the shame, [He is] set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Heb. 12:2].” In our emphasis in chapters 14 and 15, He is alone in what has all the appearance of tragedy. Emerging from the tomb and whatever transpired in the three days prior, the Son of God experiences a new solitariness; a solitary triumph that has no parallel in earth or heaven. He, alone, sits “at the right hand of the Majesty on high [Heb. 1:3],” occupying as “the last Adam” the highest position in earth or heaven. 

Condescending to become “sin for us” in order to save us from our sins, He is now and forever “exalted” on high, having conquered at an immeasurable price sin and death, and hell and its grand master. Now—

“…we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man [Heb. 2:9].”

ALONE

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage [Heb. 2:14]”

ALONE 

The triumphant consequence is best described by the Spirit inspired apostle: 

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father [Phil. 2:8-11].”

ALONE!!

We bring nothing but faith to our salvation, and even that is “the gift of God!” (Cf. Eph. 2:8) Our “religion,” our “good works,” contribute not one iota to our salvation. We have nothing to bring to the cross but the ragged ruins of our old sin nature, the refuse inherited from of the first Adam and confirmed by our own sin and rebellion. Eternal life is not earned nor obtained by any merit whatsoever on our part. It flows down from the “river of life” He opened for us when He volunteered for Calvary—alone!

What can you and I return for “so great salvation?” We can trust Him for the redemption He paid so much to provide. And, by the same grace that saves us, we can obey His will, as revealed in His word, to make our lives a thank-offering for the incredible journey He made to set us free. And, like the “four and twenty elders,” let us “fall down before Him that [sits] on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, saying, Thou art worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power…” (Rev. 4:10-11)

Lifted up was He to die;

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in Heav’n exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

—Pastor Frasier

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7/7/12