The BIBLE VIEW #959 — Conviction

In This Issue:
Obstacles God Puts Forth
Out of the Cave
Troubled Thoughts

Volume: 959     May 27, 2024
Theme: Conviction

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Obstacles God Puts Forth
Bill Brinkworth

Many natural things are prickly. The thorns are the natural defense for many roses, orange trees, and weeds. Grabbing hold of a prickly stem results in one letting it go and coming up with another plan. The “pricks” are the plant’s protection.

God uses the “pricks” of uncomfortable circumstances to change our direction. He did this in Paul’s early life, as the unsaved but religious man traveled on the Damascus road.

“And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”  Acts 9:5

Paul had spent much of his life trying to serve God his way. Unfortunately, he did not detect nor heed the “pricks” God sent in His life to turn him in the right direction that God desired.

“Pricks” that Saul ignored:
“Pricked” ears – When Paul heard the preachers of the Gospel, he did all he could to stifle their preaching. Instead of pricking his conscience so he could change his wrong path, it angered him and encouraged him to do more to silence Christians.

He even held the coats of those who stoned the deacon, Stephen. While standing there, he probably heard the Word of God, as he did when he was around Christians. Still, he held to his religion, even when the people of God preached and warned against his false beliefs.

“Pricked eyes” – Undoubtedly, he saw Christianity in action. He saw families split, people die, and heartaches inflicted. Yet, the Christians would not waiver in their obedience to God’s commandments. In all the trouble he instigated against Christians, he saw that they had a peace that he surely did not understand. He was like King Saul, who persecuted righteous David.

“Pricks” that others ignore:
Pricked by circumstances: Hard times, sickness, failures, tests, aggravating situations, disasters, etc., are often meant to draw us closer to God and to cause us to trust him more. Instead, folks many times grow farther from the source of strength they need during those hard times. They do not examine themselves and what they are doing in God’s eyes nor get the message that God is trying to send them through their trials.

Pricked ears: Perhaps God sent a godly parent, grandmother, neighbor, friend, or Sunday school teacher to us or let us hear a preacher on TV, but still, His invitation was ignored. People often do not “hear” what God is trying to tell them.

Pricked eyes: Many have seen bits of the Word of God in tracts and good Christian testimonies, yet His words and the godly examples allowed to cross our path are ignored. Too often, we do not heed God’s “pricks” to our hearts.

When examining your life, do you see any obstacles God may have put in the way to change your direction?  Is it possible you are fighting or ignoring the barriers God has allowed to be placed in your life to get you to turn in the direction He desires?

Are the “pricks” allowed in your life not changing your direction to where God wants you? If so, what will you do next?

“’Conscience’ is a faults alarm!” — Author Unknown

Out of the Cave
Spencer

Suppose a traveler, on a stormy night, should take up his lodging in a cave with serpents and venomous creatures.  Because he sleeps, he sees them not.  He sleeps as soundly as if at home in his bed. 

When the morning comes, he sees what companions are about him.  He uses all means possible and haste to escape that cave.

In the same way is every sinner.  Beset with many “serpents” of his sins, he cannot see them and therefore fears them not.  He goes through life without their bothering his conscience or lifestyle.  He is “asleep” as soundly as if in Solomon’s bed.  (He certainly is not ‘woke” as many factiously claim to be today).

However, when he is “awakened” to see the sins that beset his life and see them as God sees them, he sees the dangers around him that his sins have exposed him to. Hopefully, after God opens his eyes, he will run away from his old, sinful life as fast as possible.

“Be quiet enough to hear God’s whispers.”



Troubled Thoughts
Dr. Robert G. Lee

One morning, when I was a boy, a preacher preached a sermon I believe must have been on “The Gates of Heaven.”  In the sermon, he asked, “If the gates of Heaven were opened, would you enter in?”

The question startled me.  I knew that if the gates of Heaven were opened that day, I could not enter because I could not claim to be a Christian.

That night, the preacher’s text was, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?”  He said very simply that to accept Christ as Saviour meant Heaven and that to reject Him as Saviour meant Hell.

I went home that night with the most wretched feeling.  I could not sleep.   I got up in the night, slipped out of the window that opened on the back porch, and went down to the moonlit watermelon patch.  It was a beautiful, clear night, and I thought of Heaven beyond the stars and Hell somewhere in some vast region below.

At the next morning’s breakfast table, my mother said, “Son, you look like you didn’t sleep much last night.”

“No, ma’am,” I said, “I didn’t.”

“What was the matter?”

“I feel awfully sinful,” I admitted.

I had to plow that day.  My misery grew until I finally drove out to the end of a long row and dropped the plow by the side of my old white mule.  I got down in the fence corner and told God how bad and sinful I felt, and I wanted to be saved.

“If one must accept Jesus to be saved,” I prayed, “then I accept Him.” There, in a fence corner, the Lord saved me.

I do not remember the text of the preacher’s sermon that night.  I walked down the church aisle and let it be known that the Lord had saved me.  I do remember the hymn they sang.
“Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night;
Jesus, I come!  Jesus, I come!
Into thy freedom, gladness, and light;
Jesus, I come to Thee.”

The peace that came to me in the fence corner is in my heart to this day.

“Failing morally is bad.  Failing to repent is worse.

The Bible View #820 — Guilt

In This Issue:
A Different Person
Always Looking over His Shoulder
No More Guilt!
None Guilty?
The King’s Pardon

Volume: 820    July 26, 2021
Theme: Guilt

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A Different Person
Bill Brinkworth

King David never forgot his sinful past. However, he did not go around with guilt and not forgiving himself, as some do.  He encouraged himself by remembering, because of God’s help, that he did some things that were “righteous” in God’s eyes.

David recalled he had:

  • A godly testimony and character (“integrity”) — Psalm 26:1.
  • To the best of his ability, obeyed God’s commandments — Psalm 26:3.
  • Not associated himself with people of false self-worth — Psalm 26:4.
  • Done his best to not be in the company of those that portrayed themselves as they were not. Today, we would relate those to people that appear like Christians on Sunday but live the same as the ungodly the rest of the week — Psalm 26:4.
  • Not associated with those doing evil — Psalm 26:5.
  • Been grateful and had given God the glory for the great things He had done — Psalm 26:7.
  • Loved to be in the Temple and to be around the things of God — Psalm 26:8.

The closer to God we try to be, the clearer we see the defects and sins in our lives.  Sometimes, the hardest critic we have to deal with is ourselves.  If we have asked God to forgive us, He has. Unfortunately, sometimes our guilt remains, and many are not free from their past.

Rather than dealing with guilt, David moved forward.  He knew he had done all he could by asking God’s forgiveness of his sins. 

Not out of pride, but as an encouragement, the king reminded himself of the great changes God did in his life.  He recalled what he had become, not what he was.

We also need to have the same attitude about our past.  If we have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, then His blood suffices to cover all our sins.  God has forgiven and forgotten them. 

We, as did David, must not dwell on our old life.  We must remember and brag on God for all the changes He has done in us. We are new creatures in Christ.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. — II Corinthians 5:17



Always Looking over His Shoulder
C. H. Spurgeon

A man was constantly in debt and continually being arrested for his failure to pay his bills.  Once, when going by some railings, he caught his sleeve on one of the handholds.  He instantly turned around and said, “I don t owe you anything, sir.”

He thought an arresting bailiff was tugging on his sleeve.  So, it often is with unforgiven sinners. Wherever they are, their guilt hauntingly follows them, and they are continuously cautious of being found out. They enjoy little.

When a man is forgiven, he can walk anywhere. There is no guilt. His conscience is at rest.

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.”   Isaiah 32:17


No More Guilt!
Bill Brinkworth

Before Paul’s salvation, he did all he could to serve God his way.  In so doing, he unknowingly became an enemy of God and Christians.  He was responsible for having many Christians killed and did much to slow the spreading of the Gospel.  When he was saved, Paul became one of the sincerest servants for Christ. 

No matter what he did after salvation, he still had a past.  There was no way to undo what he had done.  All he could do was go forward by doing the right things after being forgiven and do all he could for the cause of Christ.  He did that with all his heart.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” I Corinthians 15:1

Many are plagued with a guilty conscience of their past, even after they are saved. Years ago, I remember listening to a Christian radio program where the host answered live scriptural questions.  One caller, choked with guilt, called and told the host, “I am saved, I know I am forgiven, and my sins are forgotten, but I just cannot forgive myself, and that is why I am going to take my life.”  Immediately, the program was changed over to music, while I imagine the radio preacher dealt with the man’s guilt and desire to take his own life. Sadly, many will not forgive themselves and still live a defeated life, even after salvation.

We all have pasts. No saved person should have any joy in the wrong he has done.  If we could do it over, most of us would choose never to have committed the sins we have, but we still had done them.  No remorse or guilt is going to change our past.  When we trust Christ for salvation, our sins are not only forgiven by God but they are forgotten (Psalm 103:12).  Our sins are under His blood.

Even though God knows all we did, He still offered us a way, by His grace, to His Heaven. Since He has forgiven and forgotten our past, we must also forgive and forgot what we have done.

When people remind you of your past, remind them that Jesus dropped the charges. — Author Unknown



None Guilty?
Sunday School Times

Paul Loizeaux once said, “Oh, how hard it is to find sinners! If only I could find one, I have a marvelous message for him.” Of course, he meant sinners who know themselves to be sinners.

To be a sinner is one thing. To know it is another. But, whether or not we realize it, God knows our sinnership and knows if we go on without His saving help, we will perish. To deliver us from perishing, He sent us His Son to prepay for our sins.  He offers us the great gift of salvation because of His great love for us and because He knows of man’s great need.

“… the righteous are bold as a lion.”:  If a man is not guilty, he can stand up and speak out.  If his own mind is free from guilt, he is not afraid of the thoughts and minds of other men.”  — J. Vernon McGee


The King’s Pardon
D. L. Moody

A man was once being tried for a crime, the punishment of which was death. The witnesses came in one by one and testified to his guilt, but there he stood, quite calm and unmoved.

The judge and the jury were surprised at his indifference. They could not understand how he could take such a serious matter so calmly.

When the jury retired, it did not take them long to decide on a verdict of “guilty.”  After the judge passed the sentence of death upon the criminal, he told him how surprised he was that the criminal could be so unmoved by the prospect of death. When the judge had finished, the man put his hand in his bosom, pulled out a document, and presented it to the judge. He then walked out of the courtroom a free man.

Ah, that was how he could be so calm. He had a free pardon from his king, which he had in his pocket all the time. The king had instructed him to allow the trial to proceed and produce the pardon only when he was condemned. No wonder then that he was indifferent to the result of the trial.

That is just what will make us joyful on the great Day of Judgment. We have a pardon from the Great King, and it is sealed with the blood of His Son. We that are saved will miss that White Throne Judgment!  We have the King’s pardon!