How does this affect us: “All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”

This is a devotional I ‘broadcasted today to a special email group’…that ‘when I write something like this…(which is when I feel God puts it on my heart)…I send it to them…

I am NOT trying to invade your privacy… nor am I trying to convince anyone of anything…rather stimulate your heart to consider these things…

If you would like to be ‘added to my email broadcast list’ for spiritual things I may write or forward…let me know…if not…I’ll not send you this type of devotional…

I was reading this devotional (that I am sharing with you)…written so many years ago by Charles Spurgeon…and it struck my heart …pierced it to the very core… two major ways…

    1. Israel…God’s chosen people… and how they are still being treated today…(they have been abused more than any race or nation… over-and-over genocide has been attempted on them… to eradicate them from this earth)… 

and I fear now…even by the US government behind the scenes of our state department and by our President…takes actions not ‘in Israel’s best interest’…in fact…very dangerous to Israel’s very existence…as they seem to side with those against Israel in the Middle East…all under the political agenda of ‘for the better good’…

    2. And certainly ‘my own heart’…how ‘hardened it becomes’…

how ‘rebellion’ (which any sin against our Holy and Righteous God is)…

how rebellion so easily creeps in…invades me…until my flesh so easily succumbs…

and at first when I willfully sin against Him… the Holy Spirit in me (as He dwells in the heart of every believer)… pricks my heart…

but then…as I continue in rebellion (instead of immediately prostrating myself before God and in full remorse…repent and ask His forgiveness)… as I continue in my sin…my calloused and hardened heart can ignore the Holy Spirit’s warnings…

and I feel less and less guilt before God… and my prayers become ‘a forgive me of my sins’…instead of me taking each one of them before Him ‘individually’…(as certainly I sinned them individually)… and asking His forgiveness…

Yes…I am covered by the shed blood of my Savior, Jesus Christ… and I am forgiven…and forever saved… Yes… my salvation here is NOT the issue!

Rather it is ‘my daily walk’…my ‘fellowship with God in Christ’…that is what is broken when I sin…

That is why He gave us these wonderful verses:

1 John 1:8-10
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Spurgeon’s reference verse:

“All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”
Ezekiel 3:7

Just below, I have included more of today’s Scripture referenced from the Bible – but have used the New American Standard Bible translation. ***red highlighting mine for emphasis

Ezek 3:4-11
4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
5 “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,
6 nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you;
7 yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.
8 “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
9 “Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.”
10 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I shall speak to you, and listen closely.
11 “And go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’”
NASB

Another powerful and empowering devotional to stimulate our hearts and minds in Christ The author is Charles Spurgeon (1834-92) – you can tell by the way he uses language, it is from much earlier times — but also timeless — and also, again reveals that the Holy Spirit has illuminated the revelations of God to the saints preceding us……and is faithful to illuminate God’s Word for us. 

Are there no exceptions?

No, not one.

Even the favoured race are thus described.

Are the best so bad?–then what must the worst be?

Come, my heart, consider how far thou hast a share in this universal accusation, and while considering, be ready to take shame unto thyself herein thou mayst have been guilty.

The first charge is impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of holy shame, an unhallowed boldness in evil.

Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no compunction, hear of my guilt and yet remain unhumbled, and even confess my iniquity and manifest no inward humiliation on account of it.

For a sinner to go to God’s house and pretend to pray to Him and praise Him argues a brazen-facedness of the worst kind!

Alas! since the day of my new birth I have doubted my Lord to His face, murmured unblushingly in His presence, worshipped before Him in a slovenly manner, and sinned without bewailing myself concerning it.

If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder than flint, I should have far more holy fear, and a far deeper contrition of spirit.

Woe is me, I am one of the impudent house of Israel.

The second charge is hardheartedness, and I must not venture to plead innocent here.

Once I had nothing but a heart of stone, and although through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart, much of my former obduracy remains.

I am not affected by the death of Jesus as I ought to be; neither am I moved by the ruin of my fellow men, the wickedness of the times, the chastisement of my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I should be.

O that my heart would melt at the recital of my Saviour’s sufferings and death. Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone within me, this hateful body of death.

Blessed be the name of the Lord, the disease is not incurable, the Saviour’s precious blood is the universal solvent, and me, even me, it will effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the fire.

First my dear friends…NEVER THINK GOD HAS ABANDONED ISRAEL!

Rom 11:25-33
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in;
26 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.
32 For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
NASB

Let’s go back to the Old Testament…and God’s promises to Israel…(and though ‘the world’ may change…God’s Word NEVER changes! And His promises are kept.) God deals with His chosen people…but NO MAN — or nation is ever supposed to curse them…

Gen 12:2-3
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Num 22:12
12 And God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people; for they are blessed.”

Num 23:7-8
7 And he took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab’s king from the mountains of the East, ‘Come curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!’
8 “How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce, whom the Lord has not denounced?

Throughout the OT this message is revealed…only God can deal with Israel…for they are ‘His chosen people’… and through them…in Christ… He deals with us… for in Christ was our salvation perfected in His merciful grace…

As I look back on each nation that has cursed…or tried to annihilate Israel… or mistreated them because of their race and faith… each of these nations has ‘been dealt with by God…

look at Egypt in the OT…when God said… they would never be powerful again… look at the Roman empire…its gone… look at Nazi Germany… even look at Russia in recent times…

more even look at England…the most powerful nation on earth prior to WWII…and they first supported Israel ‘re-establishing their homeland’… but then…due to Arabic pressures…they ‘reversed themselves’…and instead ‘blocked Israel from immigrating back’…(even fought…jailed and killed them)… and the fortunes of England…ever since have declined…

Thus… I fear for our nation now… and the events that seemingly show us no longer being trustworthy as allies with them…maybe even becoming ‘like England’… more politically allied with the Arabic states in the Middle East against Israel…certainly we try to ‘restrain them’…

This speaks to us…(we are the Gentiles)…

Rom 5:8-11
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
NASB

Eph 4:17-20
17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
NASB

And the theme of Spurgeon’s devotional… here in strikes directly at my own heart… My Lord and Savior paid such a ‘dear price for me’… as ‘He took my place’ on that cross in judgment for ‘my sins’ (and yours)…to pay the supreme price to a holy and righteous God for my sins…because He knows I cannot ‘measure up’ to ‘achieve redemption by my own performance’…

Rom 11:6
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Eph 2:1-22
2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, 
7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands — 
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
20 having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord;
22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Again…repeating…it is ALL BY HIM AND OF HIM!

Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

I have ‘no merit’… I am NOT worthy… it is all based upon Christ’s performance on the cross…as He suffered all judgment and punishment for my (our) sins there…

But it is ‘conditional’…in order to ‘be covered by His shed blood’…ie… FORGIVEN… we must ‘accept Him as Savior and Lord…

John 3:14-18
14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Praise Him…He has done it all for us… there is no requirement (nor can we) add one single thing to it…or take one single thing away from it… IT IS SUFFICIENT! It is complete…

and I am His…forever…

sinner that I am… my heart is broken ‘when I grieve His Spirit in me’ and willfully sin against Him…

Bill Watts.. .

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

I found this devotional in the Oct. 2004, In Touch. Any comments added by me will be in this red script.

God gave Israel the Old Testament to instruct the nation and to offer her hope.

I feel the Old Testament is so significant for us today, as it records the ‘personal history’ of the saints, giving us insight into their lives, struggles, and challenges. For me, it helped tremendously in understanding ‘God’s grace.’ As you read the Old Testament, you will find they too were saved by grace—–not performance. (The Law became the visible standard declared by God for righteousness, but it was ‘their belief’ that made them to be declared righteous in the eyes of God as illustrated in Genesis 15:6 in His relationship with Abram.) The Old Testament also reveals Israel’s corporate history as a nation——and how they were blessed when they were obedient to God, and to the moral principles of God, and how they were punished and suffered the consequences of their rebellion and sin against Him. I feel today so often we do not spend enough time in the Old Testament to gain from it the sweet insight of God’s personal relationship with Israel and His saints of that time. It gives such an insight to the revealed nature of God. He left the Old Testament for us today too.

The Father’s commands were designed not to ruin His children’s fun, but rather to help them avoid harm.

In Deuteronomy 8:19, in fact that whole chapter is so powerful, but especially starting with verse 11 through 20, it really speaks to us—–but we see that God holds believers accountable: He will bless and protect them, but if they turn away, they can expect His hand of judgment. Were He to operate in any other way, He would be permissive and unreliable. But we can count on God to do exactly what He says because the Bible records that is just how He interacted with His beloved nation of Israel. In fact, their history was a continuous cycle of blessing, waywardness, judgment, repentance, and blessing. If God deals with the ‘apple of His eye’ this way, what can we expect?

Although our country was not created as a Christian nation, the Founding Fathers did structure our government on biblical principles. As a result, we have experienced abundant blessing. But as we drift and turn a deaf ear to God’s instructions, how can He continue to pour out His favor? The principles of Scripture work whether or not people heed them. God’s law is absolute truth. We cannot ‘break His laws, but we can be broken when we trespass them.’

The Lord is longsuffering, but if we as a nation reach a certain stage of moral depravity and cross a ‘divine line,’ we can expect His judgment. Is it too late? Second Chronicles 7:14 encouraged believers of that day to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from wickedness. We must do the same. Only then will God hear from heaven and heal the land.

Bill Watts

As those of you who know me realize, I struggle with my spirituality and my carnality.

And, possibly you do too, but, in me, I just feel my struggle is greater, or my will is weaker, in that I seemingly give in to my carnality so easily. Do you feel that way too?

But, God is faithful—–in all ways. His timing is also perfect. When I am struggling, He is confronting me—-through His Holy Spirit, His Word, and His Body, the church of believers here on earth, and He uses some instrument, trying to get my attention, my focus back on Him, and His Holy Word to guide me——lately, it has been Charles Stanley, a servant of God, who is Scripturally solid, and preaches as a teacher, a Scriptural teacher, by using God’s Word as the blueprint. This is the culmination of what is on my heart,——-and, I use much of what I heard brother Stanley say, as the central basis for this writing. The Lord always “gives us choices”——to “follow Him,” or to follow our carnal self—-but “the struggle,” to me, shows me that He is in me.

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Last week, I sent out an email to those of you whom I love and care about, of things on my heart about our nation, and our laws, and our highest courts recent rulings, which I believe are against God’s precepts. Maybe, it read too harsh for you. But, to me, the consequences are worst. And at 64 years of age, I have witnessed, and yes, sorry to say, have participated personally in the destructive path we are on that has gained such speed and momentum——-and is against God, and His precepts. I can see the dramatic differences. And so can any of you who are near my age. The question is, do you believe God allows this? Do you believe we have a national or corporate responsibility toward God——–do you believe we have a personal responsibility toward God?

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We have recently seen a huge interest in the “prayer of Jabez” along with many sermons and books on it.

But in the recent events we have witnessed and that are impacting America and our lives as never before since World War II, I am drawn back to the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple he built in Israel for God.

Here follows verses that really speak to my heart, as I feel our nation was “birthed” as a Christian nation, and we had All-Mighty God woven into the very fabric of America. We acknowledged Him in every aspect of our nation, and He blessed us. This was “One nation, under God.” And we even printed on our every form of commerce, “In God We Trust.”

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The dictionary defines it as: 1. Free from imperfection; complete, perfect: absolute liberty. 2. Not mixed or adulterated: pure. 3. Complete; outright: 4. Free from restriction or limitation; not limited in any way. 5. Unrestrained or unlimited by a constitution, counterbalancing group, etc., in the exercise of governmental power, especially when arbitrary or despotic: an absolute monarch. 6. Viewed independently; not comparative or relative; ultimate; intrinsic: absolute knowledge. And so on, and so on.

In the early 1900′s, Albert Einstein announced his “theory of relativity” in physics. A unit of radiant energy, equal to the energy of radiation that is capable of photochemically changing one mol of a photosensitive substance, i.e.; E=MC2 (squared.)

The “world” was so enamoured of his genius, that they expanded his “theory” into all areas of our life. He was so alarmed by this, that he said, “Relativity is for physics, not ethics.”

The only “absolute” is God. Thus, God’s law is “absolute.” His law is His “intrinsic being.” And, since He is God, that is the only way it can be. (How could He be God, and His laws not be “absolute?”)

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