In Full Thanksgiving Now We Come

 To be Sung to the Tune of
“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
(Alternate Tune)

O Lord our Father and our King,
Your gracious Name we gladly sing;
Our minds and hearts to Thee we raise,
And lift your Name in glorious praise!

In full Thanksgiving now we come,
Where worldly tongues are sadly dumb.
With grateful hearts for all Thy grace,
The favor of our Father's Face.

His blessings many, showered down,
The chief, to see our Master's crown!
To walk with Him, as one made pure,
Secured in mercy through God's Door

That Door is Jesus, God's blessed Son,
God's precious Lamb, His Only One!
He took our sin, and made us clean,
So we may worship unashamed.

His Kingdom here is but a taste,
Of glory all we hope will haste!
But until realized then we stay,
And work and serve, and live and pray.

We thank you Father for Thy Love,
And for all else sent from above.
But yet we long for that glad day,
When in You presence we will stay!

O Lord our Father and our King,
Your gracious Name we gladly sing;
Our minds and hearts to Thee we raise,
And lift your Name in glorious praise!

 Original Words by
Pastor Bill Farrow
Valley Forge Baptist Church

God's Eternaltiy & What It Means To Us

   At the beginning of all things. At the beginning of all we know, God already was and thus can be said to have had no beginning. There was never a time when God was not, because He already was at the beginning.
   There is a strange logic and yet an illogic in the thought. One might consider that this is speaking of the beginning of our existence alone, and that it says nothing beyond that about God's eternality. In the strictest of senses, I suppose that one would have to conclude, on the merits of this verse alone, that it says nothing about whether God had a beginning or not.
   What it does say is that that alleged beginning, if there was one, was "before" our beginning. Thankfully, we are not left with this verse alone, but have the rest of the testimony of the Scripture to rely on for more information.
   The short list of verses in the Bible that speak of the Eternality of God would include: Gen. 21:33; Deut. 32:40; Deut. 33:27; 1 Chron. 16:36; Neh. 9:5; Job 36:26; Ps. 29:10; Ps. 33:11; Ps. 41:13; Ps. 45:6; Ps. 48:14; Ps. 90:1-2, 4; Ps. 93:2; Ps. 102:25-27; Isa. 26:4; Isa. 40:28; Isa. 41:4; Isa. 44:6; Isa. 57:15; Lam. 5:19; Dan. 4:34; Hab. 1:12; Hab. 3:6; Rom. 1:20; Rom. 16:26; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4; 1 Tim. 1:17; 1 Tim. 6:15; Heb. 1:10-12; 2 Pet. 3:8; Rev. 1:8; Rev. 4:8-9.
   That our God is eternal is of little doubt to any real believer in the Scripture. There are some interesting implications to this idea that bear considering. If God is indeed eternal, that the God we know cannot have ever been mortal, and hence, have never been a man as the Mormons claim. Their position is that God as he is now, is as man can some day be. Not if the Bible is true! God is eternal and had no beginning! Every man is mortal and had a beginning.
   That God is eternal also speaks of His essential difference from us. He is eternal and we are immortal. He and we share the fact that we will have no end. Yet, He had no beginning while there was a time when you and I were not thought of, except in the mind and purposes of God Himself. There a real security, in my mind, I knowing that there is a Being Who is greater than I am, in essence. With other men, we share the bottom line that we are all creatures and that we share a common nature, handed down from Adam over the years.
   While we are related to God by faith, there is also that real difference between us. That comforts because I can know that I am in the care of One whose experience and wisdom transcends that of myself and my compatriots. There is indeed a God Who is eternal and Who's knowledge and understanding far outstrips my own! It is good for me to put myself in the place of a small son and take comfort from the knowledge that my Father knows how to fix what is wrong!
   We should also note that the verse indicates that all that the chapter reveals happened at THE beginning, no A beginning. There were not multiple tries at starting things as some would suggest. God did not create and then allow His first creation to be destroyed, and then remake the earth. There was "the beginning" and no other beginning. It is into that frame that we must fit the details of the chapter, not alter the basic frame of reference to fit what we would make of the details of the chapter.
   You might wonder why this is important? Let me suggest a couple reasons.
   First, it is important because it is what the text says. These are clear and simple words, easily understood. We need not stretch to allow them to fit some other understanding that we bring with us to the text. It is folly to pursue the "well, it could be this way or that" method of interpretation.
   Secondly, it is important because of the directness with which it speaks to man and his origins. We are not an evolved creature, a happenstance meeting of amino and other acids in a primordial sea. God set out, a particular moment and He created. The results of that creation came to be in an instant and not over millennia.
   Thirdly, it is important because it lays the foundation, in the very first verse of the Bible, of trustworthiness and clarity of understanding. This phrase, and the greater concepts of the following verses all appear to say one thing. If they do not, indeed, say those things, then we have some problems, do we not?
   Occam's Razor applies here I believe. the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. We need not try and explain these words in any other fashion other than what the clearly intend to say. That is an important precedent to get straight, and God gets it straight in the verse first few words of the Book.
   The reference to the beginning also implies and ending. Not an ending to your and my existence, but an ending to that which gives the verse and the chapter a frame of reference, the creation of the world.

Abraham Made His Mistake...

 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. (Genesis 26:2)

   Abraham made his mistake, but God did not specifically warn him against it. Isaac is in the process of making it and God is warning him against going down that part of the world. That is an interesting and, I suspect, profound difference. He demonstrates the "like father, like son" tendency that has plagued mankind all throughout mankind's history. Yet, Isaac takes it a step further and does what his father did in a deliberate and knowing fashion.
   As fathers we must be aware, beforehand, that our will do this. They will repeat our sins. They will not only repeat them, they will "improve" on them. The only way that we can, that Abraham could have, prevented this, was with a different home life for Isaac. It was the life in the tent and all that transpired there that prepared him for this moment.
   Now, fortunately, as in all else in life, this does not catch God unprepared, as we see in the following verses in which the covenant wi Abraham is renewed with Isaac despite this deliberate disobedience. What a gracious and merciful God we serve!

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. (Genesis 26:3)

   In spite of deliberate disobedience, a gracious God renews the covenant with Isaac. This is not simply a matter of "if you obey, then I will...". God goes far further and enumerates the details of the tremendous covenant that He had made with Isaacs father. It does not seem as though there can be a great demonstration grace or a more marvelous presage of the coming ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. ” (Genesis 26:5)

   In all of this Isaac stands in our stead...he is blessed, not for his son sake, or because of his own goodness or merit, but because of his father's. It was the righteousness and the merit of another that brought Isaac all that he had, else he would have been lost and wandered under judgment.
   Likewise, you and I stand in precisely the same position. It is not our own goodness or merit that wins us our position of blessing and favor before God, but rather it all of grace and mercy. We must consciously and deliberately choose to remember that. If we fail to

Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca and God's Intentions

     It is difficult to believe that Abraham was motivated by anything other than the normal desires to keep the blood lines pure and what not. It is clear God used this to bring Rebecca into the picture, but Abraham's motivation must be held suspect here. He is sending back the homeland from God called him. He is refusing to take a bride from the land to which God has called him. Though it is clear that God used Rebecca and blessed the union of she and Isaac, the trouble that results is clear.

...that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, (Genesis 24:3)

     But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there. ” (Genesis 24:8) 

     I understand his unwillingness to allow his son to go back to the old land, for God hand brought him out of that land in no uncertain terms. There is no question that Isaac could not go back there, this is good and solid thinking on Abraham's part.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. (Genesis 24:10)

     But I've always had a question about the return to Mesopotamia for the wife of Isaac. God had called Abraham out of that land with the full knowledge and intention.

Bacon &Self-Discipline

Bacon-Flavored!

My wife and I sometimes go out for a breakfast these days.  I'm often only good for half of an Omelet, but we quite often debate whether or not to get an order of bacon with the eggs; an interesting debate considering the fact that we are both trying to watch our weight (me especially) and SLICE of bacon has 110 calories (4 slices to an order).

I came across an interesting item a day or so ago.  They’re pushing for a special new product to sell big during the holiday season, so they’ve packaged it accordingly in one tidy little bacon-centered gift bag.

For about $10 a pop, you get two bottles of bacon-flavored soda, one bag of Cheddar “BaconPop” popcorn, one tube of bacon lip balm and a packet of brand-new bacon-flavored country gravy.  And 2 bottles of Jones Bacon-Flavored Soda - Yummy!

What an indulgent culture we live in! I can see the gravy surely. The popcorn, perhaps. Lip balm - not so much. But Soda? Oi! You gotta really, REALLY like bacon!

But this is modern culture isn’t it? We indulge ourselves. If it isn’t available naturally, to satisfy our cravings, we’ll make it. And that’s OK!, because, after all, it’s just natural right? It’s not hurting anyone?

We never realize until far down the line, almost too far many times (too far for many folks) that they indulgence is so very debilitating. Discipline and self-denial is far more beneficial to the body and to the spirit than indulgence can ever be (Believe me, I know from the really, really bad end of experience - as many of you used to know I used weight well up into the 500's pound-wise) and can take an immense amount of time to recover from (again, IF it can ever BE fully recovered from).

This is why Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 9:27:

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Both of the terms “discipline” and “disqualify” are from the arena and are fighting terms. Discipline is from a term literally meaning to “hit under the eye”. Paul “punched out” his bodily impulses to prevent them from keeping him away his mission of winning souls to Christ. In light of all that was going in Corinth, that was quite a statement (he would have been moved, for instance, to a good bit of irritation, frustration, etc.)

“Disqualified” is another metaphor from the athletic games. MacArthur notes:

“A contestant who failed to meet basic training requirements could not participate at all, much less have an opportunity to win. Paul may be especially referring to such fleshly sins that disqualify a man from preaching and leading the church, particularly being blameless and above reproach in the sexual area, since such sin is a disqualification” [John Jr., MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, electronic ed. (Nashville: Word Pub., 1997). 1 Co 9:27.].

Indulgence thus is in direct contrast to that which facilitates use by God as it is displeasing to Him. We are here to serve Him and not ourselves. Let’s be sure that we are going about doing just that, I suspect that it involves other than Bacon-flavored soda!

Continuing on with the Covenant

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. (Genesis 17:7)
Note that here, and elsewhere, the phrasing that marks the possession of the covenant usually lists God first, as the initiator of agreement.

14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant. ” (Genesis 17:14)
This is the statement of the symbolism of circumcision, at a part of it. Those who did not submit to the command of God, and yield to His covenantal promises, symbolized by the "cutting off" off the foreskin of the male member. If that foreskin is not removed, if that symbolism is not fulfilled, then the picture is not completed.

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? ” (Genesis 17:17)
The "laughing" here is distinctly different than the laugh that Sarah will do in just a chapter or so. Her laugh is one of doubt and ridicule. Abraham's is one of joy. Note that this is so, even though he SMS virtually the same question!

18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you! ” (Genesis 17:18)
I've always been fascinated by Abraham's love for Ishmael. Not merely favoritism, as we will see in the case of Jacob and Esau; but a genuine love that we see put forth here as he cries out to God for his salvation as a primary manifestation of the Covenant! What is wonderful is that Abraham is not primarily interested in what he reaps as benefit from the Covenant; but rather his primary concern is for his child Ishmael (remember that Isaac is not yet alive) and for the glory of The a name of the Lord (...that he might live before You!).

"Blameless" Before the Lordd

 1 When Abram was ninety- nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, (Genesis 17:1)
     Though the Law of Moses had not been issued yet, the Law of God has been in effect from eternity past. Men have always been responsible to walk "blameless" before the Lord and thus be acceptable before Him. It is important to realize that that this "blameless" is not necessarily the holiness required of the sacrificial lamb in the law. We're told, for instance that both Noah (Genesis 5) and Job (Job 1) were, indeed, blameless before the Lord. David, in Psalm 119:1, urged believers to seek this practical blamelessness. The Lord Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, told us to be "perfect" as His heavenly Father was perfect. The point of the command was to drive Abram to look to God and not to himself.

2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” (Genesis 17:2)
     The condition of "blamelessness" set forth in the prior verse is here demonstrated as to it's purpose. It is a condition of fellowship with God, here put in terms of the Covenant made with Israel. Without "blamelessness", no fellowship can be enjoyed. This is because of the character of God and the need for man to measure up to that character in order to have an more than evangelistic contact with Him.

Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael

 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her. ” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 16:2)

Sarai makes the common mistake that all men make when they are considering their lot in the light of self instead of in the light of the plan and purpose of (as He had revealed time and again). When we fail to see that which occurs in life in that light, and instead interpret those occurrences in the limited and finite context of our own happenstance, we dramatically cripple our ability to rightly see and understand the workings of God our world. Here, like so many others, both before and since, Sarai interprets God as the cause of her "misfortune". Whether or not her condition actually IS a misfortune is another matter altogether.

There is a very, very large difference between God causing a thing and He not doing anything to forestall a thing. Men that are focused on self ace little ability to focus on anything else.

11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. ” (Genesis 16:11-12)

The Covenant made with Hagar, and thus with Ishmael, is prophetic in at least two ways. First, it speaks of Ishmael's nature as a "wild donkey" of a man who will fit against every man and thus, as a result (or perhaps not) every man against him. Second, it is, indeed, a covenant. God did, indeed, listen to her affliction. As a result, He (God) has preserved her (and thus Ishmael) from destruction. Hagar knew this and thus called God "El Roi" or the The God Who Sees".

13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. ” (Genesis 16:13)

Note at this point, she is worshipping and and calling on the Name of the One true and Living God. Departure from the Lord began to occur, apparently, during Ishmael's lifetime or shortly after. It is interesting to note that experiences such as these, wonderful experiences, that I'm sure Ishmael heard full expression of, are not sufficient to guarantee obedience. It takes more than seeing and hearing about what God has done to act as the foundation for a life of obedience and service. It takes redemption and regeneration. Though we see Hagar interacting with God, there is no evidence that Ishmael followed suit and was a redeemed man.