The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.

Proverbs 12:19-21

The Gospel Is A Mystery

Twenty-seven times in the New Testament the Gospel or some aspect of the Gospel is called a mystery. A mystery is that which cannot be known apart from revelation. A mystery is not to be confused with mysticism. Mysticism is supposed spiritual light or knowledge given by direct revelation or intuition. The written revelation of God is not necessary for this supposed knowledge. Such knowledge is not true knowledge at all. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them " (Isaiah 8.20). A mystery is that which could not have possibly been known unless God was pleased to reveal it. We cannot fully comprehend the mysteries of the Gospel. But we fully believe them! We stand in awe of them! We worship the one who has revealed them. We praise Him who has "Given to us to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 13:11). Pastor Todd Nibert

HE NEVER CHANGES

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

I am so thankful that as I grow older and things change, inside and out, that there is One who never changes (Mal. 3:6).

1. His love never changes with time, for He loved me with an everlasting love that knows no change (Jer. 31:3).

2. His power never changes. He is just as able to keep me from falling today as when I first began (Jude 1:24-25).

3. His Word never changes: “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). Has He not magnified His Word above His Name? (Psalm 138:2).

4. His election of me shall never change. He will never cast off those whom He has chosen, for they will never do anything that He did not know about and has not already taken care of (2 Thes. 2:13).

5. The power of His blood shall never change. It still cleanses from all sin. No matter how deep the stain has gone, His blood washes it away (1 John 1:7).

6. His Sacrifice will never change, it will never lose its effectiveness because it is always fresh in the midst of the Throne of God: “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain…” (Rev. 5:6). We have a living sacrifice standing in the midst of the Throne of God. When we rise out of our beds in the morning and go through our changes, just remember that there is One who remains the same yesterday, today and forever: The Rock Christ Jesus. John Chapman

Jeroboam’s Worthless Idols

(1 Kings 12:25-31; 13:1-6; 14:1-12)

The king of Israel, Jeroboam, forsook the living and true God and made golden calves, idols of his own imagination and idols that could not save (Isa. 45:20). Yet, he proclaimed that those worthless idols delivered Israel from 430 years of Egyptian bondage (1 Kings 12:28). Aaron and Israel did the same sinful and foolish thing in the wilderness (Ex. 32:4).

But when the man of God from Judah came and confronted Jeroboam for his idolatry and condemned it; Jeroboam reached forth his hand to maliciously lay hold on the prophet of God, his hand was paralyzed by the power of God (1 Kings 13:4). But Jeroboam did not cry nor look to his idols for help! But rather he cried unto the prophet of God to intercede for him and restore his hand. “Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.” (1 Kings13:6).

Likewise in 1 Kings 14 when the son of Jeroboam, Abijah fell sick, again he did not cry unto his idols for help but rather told his wife to seek help from the prophet of God, Ahijah (1 Kings 14:2-6). The prophet of God gave her the bad news, the Lord was going to kill their son and He did (1 Kings 14:12).

Ungodly sinners know that when their trouble is bigger than their puny idols they unwillingly and reluctantly forsake them and turn to the Almighty God that is bigger than their troubles and problems. Like Jeroboam they go on in their religious idolatry of freewill works until the Lord is pleased to stop them in their madness and turn them from their idols (Jer. 31:18; Psalm 80:3).

Oh, that the Lord our God and Saviour would deliver all of us from any false notion of salvation by our works or idols. May He be pleased to turn us unto the true and living God to cry for mercy (Luke 18:14; 1 Thes. 1:9-10), cause us to look to the God of all power for deliverance (Isa. 45:22; John 17:2; Heb. 12:2), the God of all grace for salvation (2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Peter 5:10) and the God of all mercy and comfort for help in our time of need (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).