Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 90:1-2 NKJV

1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

This Psalm is titled A Prayer of Moses the Man of God Because the titles are not a part of the inspired Psalm, we do not know for sure this was written by Moses. But two things we can say, even in the Psalms which are for the most part of great age, this is an ancient Psalm. Secondly, it is certainly worthy of Moses. There is no other Psalm any more comforting to older people than this one.

In these first two verses, there are three truths the believer must hold as primary to his faith.

1. Vs 1 God alone is and has always been the object of the believer’s faith and the only source of safety, provision, and comfort. The Psalmist never intends any God but He who reveals Himself in the Scriptures. God can only be known by His self-revelation. And the saving knowledge of God is found in Holy Scripture only. Cf Psalm 19:7-8.

2. God is creator. This is a basic truth to the faith of the Church. The date and origin of the Apostles’ Creed may be and is argued. And it is doubtful if it is adequate for an inclusive confession for the believer. But it is ancient and the truth contained is worthy of every Christian’s faith.

This Confession gives as a first article of faith “God, the maker of heaven and earth.” That is the faith of the Church. When there is failure here there is certain to be failure at every point requiring supernatural activity.

God, as creator, is able to do with His creation whatever He pleases. No act of His in His creation is outside the will or power that is His as God.

The words of Daniel 4:35 are simple statements of our faith. ³⁵ All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done? The King’s understanding was returned to him, Daniel 4:34A and in the clarity of that he came to know of God’s dominion. And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. This leads us to our third truth.

3. Our faith is firmly based on the eternality of god. “Before….even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

When God confronted Moses at the “Burning Bush”, He revealed His name as “I Am”, or the eternal one. In Hebrews 11:6 the article of faith is that “He….must believe that God is.” John’s Gospel begins with the eternity of the Word, John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

God is before all things. Whatsoever is not God is created. If the Son is not eternal, He is a creature and is not God. If the Spirit is an emanation, He is a creature and is not God. The whole of all we know, visible and invisible, has an origin. It has a beginning. God is. He is yesterday, today, and eternally. This is our faith. This is our comfort. As God is not the creation of man but is eternal, so He will be when all His works are consumed and only His church remains.

I believe in the Father; I believe in the Son; I believe in the Holy Spirit, one God in Three Persons eternal and the creator of all things visible and invisible. Sola Deo Gloria.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 45:1-2 NKJV

1 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.

Title: The Beauties Of The Savior.

We are told very little in the Scriptures of the physical appearance of Jesus. He must have been of the ordinary appearance of that day because he had to be identified, as he was among a crowd, to those who came to arrest him. Again in John 8:57 the Jews said to Him ‘You are not yet fifty years old’, which is at least an indication he must have appeared much older than his thirty years.

But this physical appearance is of no concern to the believer. The beauty described by the Psalmist (45:2a) draws our attention and interest. The comments on this Psalm by the great teachers of the church capture the beauty of the Savior which truly and substantially thrills every believer.

Treasury of David

Title: For the Sons of Korah “ Special singers are appointed for so divine a hymn. King Jesus desires to be praised not with random ranting raving, but with the sweetest and most skillful music of the best trained choristers”.

A Song of Loves: “Not a carnal sentimental love song, but a celestial canticle of everlasting love fit for the tongues and ears of angels.”

Vs 2. Thou art fairer: “In person but especially in mind and character, the King of saints is peerless in beauty. The Hebrew word is doubled ‘Beautiful, beautiful art thou’. Jesus is so emphatically lovely that words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhausted before he can be described.”

Vs. 2 Thou art fairer: “Thus he begins to set forth his beauty wherein is the delightfulness of any person, so it is with the soul when God hath made known to man his own filthiness and uncomeliness through sin, and that only by Jesus sin is taken away; oh, how beautiful is this face, the first sight of him.”

Vs 2 Thou art fairer: “He first describes the glories, the beauties, the astonishing loveliness, of his person. Though to a carnal eye there was no beauty to desire him, his visage was marred more than any man’s and his form more than the sons of men, yet to the eye truly enlightened, he is the king in his beauty, fairer as the mediator, the Head, the Bridegroom of his church and people, than all the children of men.”

Vs 2 Thou art fairer: “O fair sun, and fair moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers, and fair roses, and fair lilies, but O ten thousand times fair Lord Jesus.”

Matthew Henry

Vs. 2 Thou art fairer: “Those that have an admiration and affection for Christ love to go to him and tell him so. Thus we must profess our faith, that we see his beauty, and our love, that we are pleased with it.”

Perowne

Whole Psalm: “Israel’s true king was not David or Solomon, but One of whom they, at best, were only faint and transient images. A righteous one was yet to come who should indeed ride in truth and equity, who should fulfill all the hopes which one human monarch after another, however fair the promise of his reign had disappointed, and whose kingdom, because it was a righteous kingdom should endure forever.”

James Luther Mays (Modernist)

“Christians have traditionally understood the psalm as a song of love between Christ and his church. This interpretation is also a safeguard against attributing the divine right of rule to any other save Christ in whose hands it is utterly safe.”

II Thessalonians 1:10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. At the great day of our resurrection the beauty of the Savior will be the single object of our admiration. It is to our best interest and his glory for this to consume our admiration and attention now.

O could I speak the matchless worth, O could I sound the glories forth which in my Savior shine,

I’d soar, and touch the heav’nly strings, and vie with Gabriel while he sings in notes almost divine.

I’d sing the precious blood he spilt, my ransom from the dreadful guilt of sin, and wrath divine:

I’d sing his glorious righteousness, in which all perfect heav’nly dress my soul shall ever shine.

I’d sing the characters he bears, and all the forms of love he wears, exalted on his throne:

In loftiest songs of sweetest praise, I would to everlasting days make all his glories known.

Well, the delightful day will come when my dear Lord will being me home, and I shall see his face,

Then with my Savior, Brother, Friend, a blest eternity I’ll spend, triumphant in his grace.

Samuel Medley

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 42:6 NKJV

O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.

The writer of this Psalm presents a different picture than that thought of as representing a believer. He is, in present day terminology, depressed. He questions God, vs 9A, I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”; he accuses his companions, vs 3B While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”, 10B While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”; but more particularly he addressed himself, vs 5A-B. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

In this Psalm and the one following there are some useful lessons for the believer who experiences depression.

1. Believers have in the past, and do now, have the troubling experience of depression. The fact that the Psalmist by inspiration writes of his experience should put to rest all the foolishness the positive thinkers say about this subject.

There are two facts about this problem. First it is not a cause for embarrassment. For one to think he cannot be a Christian and be depressed is put to rest in Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. Secondly it is not acceptable to the believer. Though the believer should be neither embarrassed nor utterly discouraged, they should be determined to put this behind them.

2. There are reasons for depression. The writer is frank in stating

a) vs 2 he has lost his way into the presence of God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? Unbelief in the promises of God and a failure to recall God’s deliverance of himself has overwhelmed him. Vs 9a I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?

b) He has listened to his enemies. vs 9b-10. Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

c) The everyday trials of a life lived amidst the natural world have overcome him, vs 7. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

3. There is a way out of depression.

a) vs 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? Give attention to this question - begin to answer it.

1) Read the Scriptures. Learn again in them the nature of God. Renew the mind in its understanding of the proneness of the human soul to depart from God.

2) Read in the Scriptures of the trials and triumphs of the saints. I personally continually return to Psalm 73 for a lifting up of the downcast. 3) Go again to that place that gave comfort and joy. Vs 4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. There ask God to reveal the beauty, glory, and joy of the church. Rejoice in being a part of it.

3) The depressed saint must determine no matter how deep and dark the hole may be, he or she will not surrender to it. Vs 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

When the final gun is sounded and the race is run the believer must determine as the Psalmist has, Psalm 43:3-4 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. He has the means, the promise, and the provision to give him confidence to pray for and confidently expect deliverance.

You who are experiencing depression say “That is well and good but it is too easy. I have tried it and it doesn’t work”. I know it. But you must, and I emphasize must, go back to that same principle, the word of God, the assured presence of God, and pray. It is only here you will find relief.

It will serve you all well to understand Psalm 87:7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say, “All my springs are in you.”

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Luke 14:18 NKJV

But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

The statement in Luke is in the context of a parable, but the parable is an illustration of the passage beginning with 14:10-14. This demand for humility and charity is met with excuses by one and all. As we look at these who will not assume their responsibilities but confront them with excuses they draw our disgust and rightly so.

In Romans 1:20 Paul uses the universal clarity and perception of God Himself in creation to hold all humankind inexcusable. Again this is basic to the faith of believers. We believe that all men are condemned for their sin and God is just in His judgment. All humankind is without excuse.

Knowing this, why do we so often try to excuse ourselves and others at the expense of God’s honesty and justice? The use of excuses is a part of our life. Schools require excuses for absences. We excuse ourselves to ourselves and to each other for tardiness and failures. We excuse those about us for their willful imperfections. It is easy to see how far we go in our excuses.

But we are without excuse who have the law and the gospel constantly before us. Our responsibility to see ourselves in the light of God’s word and make a right judgment of what we see there is absolute. When we do not do that we are without excuse.

We are told in I John 1:8 we are liars if we say we have no sin. Most believers will never say they have no sins. But when sin is rationalized, ignored, and continued it is excused and though not verbally it is practically said not to be sin.

The believer in order to experience spiritual growth must be as honest in self judgment as he or she is in judging others. This is the intent of Romans 2:1-4. Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? James tells us the Law is a mirror not a telescope. In it we see ourselves for the purpose of self judgment.

This judgment will always bring the Christian to I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is an ancient Biblical principle that is found in Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

God is longsuffering. He is forgiving. He is loving. He pardons the believing, repentant sinner, but He never excuses him. Our excuses are but confessions of our failure to act honestly toward ourselves and toward God.

Let me conclude with the words of the writer of Hebrews. Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 18:1 ESV

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.

Matthew 22:37-38

37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38 This is the great and first commandment.

I John 4:10, 19-21

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

It is both the command of God and the privilege of the believer to love God. God whom the saint is to love is God as He reveals Himself in the Scriptures. Any god other than the one revealed in the Holy Writ is an idol and to love, believe in, or obey any god other than He who is revealed in Scripture is idolatry.

What is the love of God? It is love of a master whom one chooses to serve over any alternatives. It is the love of subject to his Sovereign who is supremely wise, benevolent, and able to protect. It is the love of a child for his parent who fulfills all the offices of a parent to the full extent of what the heart can desire.

There are two elements to this love. There is the element of commitment. This is so necessary and basic it must be said that there is no love without a knowledgeable unchanging commitment. A servant is committed to his master to do his will, to receive his instructions, and depend upon His provision. The love of God, if it is true, has this content.

Secondly the love of God is emotional. The expression of this love in poetry, music, art, and joy are certain indications of the involvement of the heart in love for God. The worship and devotion of God’s people in the Scriptures inform us of the emotional commitment they have.

There is no greater joy which issue in a full emotional release than to know you are in the presence of God who has no other intent toward you than love. These moments may come all too seldom but they do come. Every believer knows the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The question which arises is how is that love best known and explained. First this love is reciprocal. It is not original in the bosom of fallen man. It is a response. I John 4:10, 19. No one ever loves God prior to God’s demonstrated love toward that particular person. This love of God is particular and personal. He knows His beloved by name and personally demonstrates His love to that person. In return we love God. We love Him first and supremely.

Secondly this love has a demonstration that is common to all believers. This is the believer’s love for God’s Word. Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love your law”. This should not surprise us. God has invested His word with an authority and quality He tells that has magnified it above His name. Psalm 138:2D NKJV “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” Those who accuse the believer of idolizing the Scriptures do not understand and have no part in or love for God’s word and confident dependence upon it.

Again this love for God is demonstrated in our love for God’s people. Do not be mistaken on this point. John makes this an unyielding qualification of true love for God. I John 4:20-21 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. What can be clearer than this? There is no wriggle room here. Anyone who can identify themselves to you as a believer is due your affection with all the offices it provides. The believer’s love for his brothers and sisters must be as encompassing as God’s throne of grace. And I dare you to discriminate here. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Finally the believer’s love must center upon the Savior. I Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.” Our Lord, come! Paul states the failure to love Christ as a sure and deserved sign of God’s judgment. As God’s love is demonstrated in Christ‘s cross work (I John 4:10), so our love for him should be the warp and woof of our faith and service to and for God.

To fail to love Christ is to fail to desire heaven, have a true motive for godly service, and to have any love for God’s church. Christ loves the church and gave himself for it. We love him and therefore we love that which He loves.

The believer loves the triune God. He loves God’s way of salvation by grace. And he loves supremely the Lord Jesus Christ who is the image of and the only revealer of the invisible God. Blessed be His name.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Proverbs 23:9 NKJV

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Proverbs are both complex and simple. Try as you might the real sense of some Proverbs will escape you. While others have a simple meaning that none need misunderstand.

Proverbs 23:9 is just such a simple Proverb. When it is broken down the meaning becomes plain.

1. There is such a one as a fool. A fool is one who spurns God. Psalm 14:1A. The fool has said in his heart there is no God”, and will not heed God’s law, Proverbs 10:23A “To do evil is like sport to a fool”. This does not mean he is the class clown. But it does mean he is morally bankrupt.

2. The fool despises wisdom. No argument is complete or sound enough, no plea is sincere enough. No illustration is applicable enough to convince the fool.

The fool has four great loves. He loves himself. He loves his folly. He loves the attention he gets. And he loves the evil effect he has on others.

I, when I was quite young, was swimming in an irrigation canal in Texas rice lands. There were a great number of wasps floating on the water. They looked so peaceful I thought I could pick one up in my hand. I slid my hand carefully under the wasp, raised it us gently, and it stung me. You can be sure commerce with a fool will bring hurt.

3. The wise person is not to waste his time teaching an identifiable fool. There is a very simple reason for this. The fool despises wisdom. He doesn’t despise only the message, he despises the words which contain the message. He doesn’t allow any of the words to affect him in any way.

This is so graphically illustrated by the writer of Proverbs in Proverbs 27:22 NKJV. Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him. Whatever else this means it assures the reader of the permanency of foolishness of the fool.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Proverbs 22:8 NKJV

8 He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow,
And the rod of his anger will fail.

Injustice, persecution, and brutality experienced by believers at the hands of wicked men have long been a cause to question the justice of God. It has been stated by someone, “the wheels of God’s justice grind exceedingly slow but they grind exceedingly fine”. This is in some instances so. But there are other instances in which this justice is swift and final.

The writer of Proverbs sets before us a vital truth, “God guarantees equity in this present life.” This may either be short term or long term. The great image in Daniel 2 teaches this truth. Kingdoms ever so evil and powerful may arise, but they will fall in history. They are not perpetual. They are limited. Some fall quickly. Some last for generations but they all fail.

In the short term, a Diotrephes may rise up in a church, sow iniquity and exercise his willful and malicious way. But he will fail. The Borgias with all their evil failed. Bloody Mary failed. Harry Emerson Fosdick failed. The “God is dead” teachers failed.

Hitler failed within one generation. Communism failed in three. Castro has come on the stage of history. He will exit and his evil with him. There is equity in the present life.

But the end of justice may tarry long. And even in the short term it seems eternal to those who suffer. We can be sure justice will come for God’s saints in the Middle East and Africa. They have for a long period of time suffered the oppression of cruel masters. The unbending enmity of the Muslims toward the Christian is not of a late determination. The primary purpose of the Muslim faith is to destroy Christianity.

Certainly God has both restrained and thwarted them in their purpose. But their purpose remains firm. It is wrong headed and futile to think common cause can be made by Christianity with Muslims.

What does this mean for us?

1. We must be fully aware of the suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters in the areas of the world controlled by Muslims. Their suffering is directly attributable to the hatred of Muslims toward Christianity.

2. We must pray. Pray that God will bring sorrow to the oppressors and bring failure to the rod of their fury. Pray that God will strengthen them to endure in the time of suffering.

Augustine, that great light in God’s church, was a citizen of Africa and God can raise up again from there gifts for His church which will light her in her progress and His purpose.

Daniel 12:8-10 ESV

8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, "O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?"

9 He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.

10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

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Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Proverbs 1:16 NKJV

A man who wanders from the way of understanding
Will rest in the assembly of the dead.

There is a simplicity and sensibleness in the Scriptures that makes them worthwhile to the least educated reader. When a Bible reader looks at the Scriptures its simple message is always somewhat plain and that is the intent of the writer, that the reader understand and is able to apply to himself the truth of the text.

Proverbs 21:16 has three simple truths that are plain to the reader.

1. There is a “way of understanding”. Proverbs 1:2 begins the Proverbs by stating they are to “understand the words of understanding”. Proverbs and the Scriptures as a whole are not a mystery that some favored few are able to discern, the rest being at their mercy.

The believer can understand the Scriptures sufficiently to prepare him in holiness and truth. He fails to do this at his peril. The character of a believer is determined by his obedience to the Scriptures and he cannot be obedient to what he does not understand.

2. Some wander from the way of understanding. The Scriptures are replete with this warning. Beginning with Cain and fast forward to our present time and it is one continuum. This has been and is an ever present reality. But it is not separate from Paul’s explanation in II Timothy 2:19-22. Please read this passage carefully.

19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.

21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

3. Those who wander face certain judgment. The word “rest” is the same as “abide” in the New Testament. The “assembly of the dead” can be no other that those who are presently and for all eternity separated from God.

The division stated is peculiar in that it is not a matter of debate. It is not my way or your way or some others’ way – it is “the way.” The statement “there is a way that seems right unto man but the end thereof is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12) is surely applicable in this instance. This is Paul’s insistence in Galatians 1:6-9.

Let none think there is any other way of salvation or access to a holy saving God other than by faith in the Gospel of a crucified, risen Savior. In the mid seventeenth century the men of the Westminster Assembly stated this with such force and clarity it stands still as the benchmark of Christian faith in the church. Westminster Confession of Faith X,4

The Scriptures are unyielding in their declaration of this truth. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; I John 5:11-12.

How does I John 5:11-12 differ from our Proverbs passage? It does not.

1. Some have the Son – they have life.

2. Some do not have the Son.

3. Those who do not have the Son do not have life. John 3:36 tells the wrath of God “abides” on them

Application:

1. You have a singular task, to be certain you have received Christ as the Scriptures reveal Him.

2. You have the responsibility to the extent of your ability to make yourself into a vessel fit for the master’s use and to persuade sinners to believe the Gospel and receive Jesus as the Christ.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers in my behalf during my shoulder replacement surgery and recovery. I praise God for the quick healing and absence of pain he has given me, plus the relief in my hands. As you might think, I’m looking forward to being back in the routine of my life. I’m happy to be supplying the pulpit once again this coming Sunday. If you’re in this area and do not have a place to worship, I invite you to this service at Mesquite Hill Baptist Church, Madisonville.

Proverbs 20:19 NKJV

He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets;
Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.

The Scriptures without fail point out the importance of the words one speaks. It is an overwhelming thought to a sensible person that they are responsible before God for every word they speak. Added to this is the good or ill done to your fiends and associates by your words. The question arises, is there such a thing as an idle word.

The wise man in this proverb teaches three important truths:

1. The talebearer (NKJV) or slanderer (ESV) is not trustworthy. As he brings his knowledge of others that should remain private so he will take away from the one to whom he speaks the private correspondence they may have. Do not mistake this. This is a certainty. Anyone who reveals secrets will not discriminate.

How this should search the hearts of each of us. Well does James say “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man”. James 3:2. How few there are who are so faithful that they have not, if not often at least occasionally, been talebearers.

2. Every believer is responsible to police their correspondence. “How can two walk together except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3 You are known by your friends. The words “do not” in this admonition bear emphasis. If you fail to heed and do associate with the disallowed person, expect to experience the results of talebearing and evil from this fellowship. It is not easy to refuse to listen to the slanderer or tale-bearer. The means of success is given in this statement. “Do not associate with one” is the provision for success. Just as you cannot accompany a murderer in his evil deed without being guilty so you cannot “associate with” a gossipy slanderer without guilt.

3. The “simple babbler” (ESV 20:19B) is the same one as the slanderer in 20:19A. This additional description informs of the emptiness or worthlessness of the information the “babbler” brings. He does not build up his hearer but he does tear down the subject of his correspondence. Babbling throughout the Scripture indicates an emptiness of content and uselessness of conversation. It falls under the structure of I Corinthians 13:1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. It is only capable of disturbing, never of encouraging because there is no love in talebearing.

God help us all.

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Understanding important truths from the Bible….

II Peter 2:20-22 NKJV

20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

It seems strange that the evangelical church pays so little attention to false teachers and fails any longer to warn its members against prevalent heresies when the New Testament is so replete with the teaching of this responsibility. This failure is not without present ill consequences which promise to be even more destructive to the church’s true interest.

As the southern border of the US is flooded with illegals so the boundaries of Christianity have been overwhelmed with weak, erroneous and deliberately heretical teaching.

Peter in the final verses of this 2^nd chapter describes the nature of the case with false teachers.

2:20 – There is always a good effect to Bible truth. In this verse, Peter states that it furnishes an avenue of escape from worldly conduct. One of the great ends of the law and the gospel is to restrain lawlessness. These false teachers have experienced this benefit. Lawlessness is never without its destructive consequences. But for these men the escape is temporary. They return to corruptive practices and are completely given over to them. They are “entangled” in them or hung upon them.

2:21 – The result of the return is that they are worse off than if they had never known

better. The simple meaning here is though ignorance of the law is no excuse, willful

disobedience is far more provocative and will meet a sterner response.

2:22 – The adversative “but” in vs 22 introduces a cardinal principle of Biblical theology.

Man is a subject of his nature and will always act according to his nature.

The dog in the illustration acts exactly according to his nature. He does what he does

because that is what the nature of a dog is and that is what a dog does. The sow does

what she does because she is a sow and loves to wallow in the mire. It matters not that

she may be washed and have a bow placed on her, give her freedom where there is a

mud puddle and she being a sow and not being at all affected by the bath will return to

the mire.

The certain intent of Peter is that the false teachers, no matter what at any time their appearance may be, when they are discovered to be false teachers they are acting according to their nature.

The Scriptures are concerned with this matter of man’s nature. Peter’s quote is from Proverbs. It is not something new interjected in the argument. The Lord teaches this in His illustrations of the bitter fountain and the briar. Neither of these can give out other than what they are. So do not expect a refreshing drink from a bitter fountain or pleasant fruit from a briar bush.

What is the conclusion? You may change someone’s personality and adjust their emotions while never involving their nature. But two things must be said. The change of personality and emotions have a temporary nature to them. And this will never satisfy God’s demand. He demands a new birth, a new creation, and nothing short of a completely new life. This is God’s changing of the fallen depraved nature to one of life and goodness.

Do not accept anything short of this change for yourself.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

II Peter 2:4-19 NKJV

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

7 and delivered righteous Lot,who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked

8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—

9then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,

14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

Yesterday, 9/15/11, was marked for me by two things. It was my wife’s birthday and the vain babbler from Houston appeared for a short interview on a national TV show. He is in New York City to promote his latest book.

After repeatedly watching the interview it is evident to me that he is intellectually bankrupt. He represents something, Positive Thinking, New Age, or something I do not know. This I do know – he does not in any way represent Christianity. I must say I wonder who ghost writes his books and prepares his sermons for him.

Peter in verse 4 begins illustrating and describing the judgment of God on false teachers and certain characteristics of their activity. The two great judgments of the Old Testament guarantee absolutely the inescapable judgment determined for false teachers.

There are certain characteristics that have been, and always will be, associated with false teachers. They are:

1. Lust and uncleanness – vs 10 A. This is primarily sexual uncleanness.

2. They recognize no authority higher than themselves. Vs 10-11. The fool Benny Hinn is bold and presumptuous in commanding Satan and his followers to act as he commands.

3. They are ignorant and bring about their own destruction by their ignorance. Vs 12

4. They are made bold by their ability to deceive to the extent that practice their deception and impurity openly in the Church. Vs 13

5. They are ruled by covetousness. Vs 14-16 Please read these verses. Some familiarity with what is written here will give you insight into the practices that are prevalent with these evil men.

6. Intellectually they are empty, unstable, lustful, and slaves of depravity. Vs 17-19.

Some men described here will show all of the traits mentioned. Some will show some of the character with its activity. Some will be able to mask and hide most if not all for a great period of time. But by and by the truth will out. Lurking in the Scriptures is I John 2:19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

This fearful passage guarantees disclosure of the heretic to the church.

Beginning with his denial of Christ’s sovereign blood-bought ownership to a wasted life the false teacher is present with us to deceive and destroy. He has no redeeming virtue. His end is destruction. And your responsibility is to know him and avoid him.