Text: “Wherefore (as the
Holy Ghost saith) Today if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts, as
in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your
fathers tempted Me, proved (tested) Me, and saw My works…”
Hebrews 3:7-9.
Good morning, Obedient
Christian! Each day, in disciplined Bible
devotions, when you read the inspired Word of God, you hearken to the Voice of
the Lord God without rebellious murmuring.
When God speaks to your regenerate soul through the medium of His
written Word - your heart is immediately made willing to obey. Praise God for faithful and obedient
Christian believers! Hallelujah! Our Lord reigns in the hearts of His people!
“But He, (Christ
Jesus) said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep
it.” (Luke 11:28)
“Thy people shall be
willing in the day of Thy power…” (Psalm 110:3)
Straight, forthright, Bible
teaching will always be met with fierce opposition and disobedient
murmurings. During the past forty years
of serving Christ, I have found this principle to be all too consistently
true. Mankind’s heart can often be all too proud and self-sufficient
and will sometimes ‘murmur’ at the plain message of written Scripture.
A Bible Study rule to follow,
therefore, might go something like this: IF the Bible makes plain sense, don’t seek to make it plain nonsense!
The Jewish Nation had been
waiting for their promised Messiah for centuries. His coming was clearly prophesied throughout
the Spirit-inspired books of the Old Testament.
There had been no revelation from Heaven for over four hundred years. The last book of the Old Testament ends with
a ’curse’. Darkness, in
the Spiritual sense, descended upon the earth.
Only true God-given faith
could continue to wait with expectancy the coming of Messiah in the face of
such a four hundred plus years period of Heavenly silence. Religious rituals were not enough! Faith lasts!
Kings and nobles were
faithless, but true faith was found in mere shepherds at the time of Christ’s birth as the incarnate Jesus - God in human form.
“And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly host praise God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” (Luke
2:13-14)
At last, thirty years later,
the Heavens were again opened unto sinful man.
“Now when all the
people were baptized (by John the Baptist), it came to pass, that Jesus also
being baptized, and praying, the Heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost
(God the Spirit) descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice
came from Heaven which said, Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well
pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)
The Jewish Nation had
therefore no excuse. The coming of their
Messiah, Jesus, had been well foretold.
However, when He did come, they murmured among themselves and received
Him not. What a National tragedy!
Christ Jesus ‘…was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own (the Jewish Nation), and
His own received Him not.” (John 1:9-11)
“The Jews then
murmured at Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from Heaven.” (V.41)
True God-given faith does not
murmur in opposition. True faith just
obeys the Word of the Lord. God’s will matters, the fallen will of man means nothing
in Eternal and Spiritual terms. Trust
and obey.
Murmurings always quickly turn
to oppositions, which quickly turn to back-biting; that promptly turns to
slandering and ridicule. That’s a fact.
Paraphrased, these murmurers
were saying, ’We know this guy, He is Jesus,
the son of Joseph the carpenter; we know the story of His strange birth, and we
know his mother and father. We want
nothing to do with this guy.’
However, look at the great
truth that their murmurings brought in response from the Son of God, Christ
Jesus: ‘Murmur not among
yourselves. No man CAN come to Me,
except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the
last day.’ (V.43-44) Wow!
Think on this truth!
True faith is God-given ‘sola fides’ faith; faith alone
that is given to us of God Himself and will never murmur, but seek at all times
to trust and obey. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Thought: Will you murmur at
this plain truth, or be encouraged by it?
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