Sin Is Never Private

But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel. (Joshua 7:1)

• One person’s actions can affect an entire group.
   
• What happens to one happens to everyone.
   
• We learn from the story of Achan that sin is never private.
   
• After the great victory at Jericho, God gave Joshua specific instructions on how to deal with the city and its loot (Josh. 6:18).
   
• The people were to abstain from the accursed things.
   
• They were to put all the silver and gold into the treasury of the Lord.
   
• But they disobeyed His command to them.
   
• The interesting thing is, not all of Israel sinned.
   
• Only one person did — Achan.
   
• But because of his actions, everyone was affected and God was dishonored.
   
• As followers of Jesus, we belong to one another.
   
• Our individual actions can impact the entire body and God’s name.
   
• Let us be careful so that we may individually and together give God the honor He deserves.
   
• Our sin is never private, though we may try to hide it.
   
• We belong to God and to one another.
   
• What we do individually may grieve God and impact fellow Christians.
   
• Private sins will inevitably have public impact.
  
  

Internalizing The Word Of God

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)

• The prophet Jeremiah expressed a way of letting the Scriptures nourish our hearts.
   
• The Holy Scriptures was written for our learning.
   
• We are to internalize the Bible.
   
• We are to know the Word, obey the Word, and share the Word.
   
• We are to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest passages of Scripture through prayerful meditation.
   
• We are to ask the Lord to help us apply the Bible to our heart today.
   
• We are to take time to ponder the meat and milk of the Word (Heb. 5:12).
   
• As we quiet our heart, God will teach us about Himself through His Book.
   
• Let us meditate on God’s precepts and contemplate His ways.
   
• Let us delight in His statutes.
   
• Let us never forget His Word.
   
• Some books are to be tasted.
   
• Others to be swallowed.
   
• And some others are to be chewed and digested.
  
  

Do You Want To Be Well?

John 5:1-1

The Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem when there was a religious feast.

He came to the pool of Bethesda.

A great crowd of sick people were sheltering under the 5 porches around the pool. They were hoping for a miracle when an angel stirred the waters.

The Lord Jesus singled out a certain man who had been an invalid for 38 years.

He knew all about this man and he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

The man recognized his own helplessness.

The Lord Jesus told him to take up his bed (a mat which could be rolled up) and walk.

The man was instantly healed!

The Jews (probably Pharisees) were angry that The Lord Jesus healed the man at the pool on the Sabbath day.

They saw the man carrying his bed and this broke their man-made Sabbath laws.

The law forbidding the carrying of burdens was to do with trading on the Sabbath.

These people lacked compassion and did not share the man's joy on account of his healing.

The man did not know that it was the Lord Jesus who had healed him until the Savior sought him out in the temple.

There are some important principles to learn from this passage:-

• Jesus knows all about us and our needs. 
• Just as the man was unable to heal himself, we cannot save ourselves from our sin. We are enslaved by our sins. We can do nothing to save ourselves. We are dead in our sin until God works mightily in our lives through the Holy Spirit. This should fill us with joy and thanksgiving for the grace of God in our lives! 
• We have no need to be enslaved by sin.

If you are struggling with sin in your life, do you really want to be delivered from its bondage?

Some love their sin and refuse to submit to the Lord Jesus.

Do you want to be made well?

Worship In Spirit And In Truth

Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth - John 4:15-30

The woman misunderstood the Lord Jesus.

She thought He had some kind of water that once taken would quench her thirst forever and do away with the need to draw and carry water.

People often misunderstand our message, but we must persevere!

The Lord Jesus told the woman to fetch her husband.

When she denied having a husband, the Lord Jesus amazed her by revealing that He knew all about her immoral life style.

This embarrassed the woman and she started to talk about religion in general. Was He a prophet? Where should we worship God? On this mountain or in Jerusalem?

The Lord Jesus told the woman, “You worship what you do not know”.

The Samaritans did not know God and were ignorant in their worship of Him.

There are many worshipers in the world who do not worship the only true God who is revealed in the Bible.

Though salvation is of the Jews, God the Father seeks true worshipers.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Spiritual worship does not require special places of pilgrimage or magnificent temples. It comes from a heart which loves and adores God, and is obedient to His Word.

Spiritual worship is in truth as it is set forth in Scripture. We can only come to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no other mediators. We are not at liberty to worship with those who claim that there are other ways to come to God apart from the Lord Jesus, our great Mediator.

The astonished woman confessed that she knew that the coming Messiah would tell them all things.

The Lord Jesus replied that He was that very Person.

The woman forgot about water. On the arrival of the disciples, she hurried back to Sychar, saying to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” The woman discovered the surpassing greatness of our Lord and Saviour. Have we?

You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-8

The work of the Trinity is displayed in the salvation of sinners.

In John chapter 3, we see the love of God the Father, the sacrifice of God the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to new birth.

Nicodemus, a respected Jewish teacher, came to see the Lord Jesus at night to find out more about Him.

He discovered some very important truths that night. He learned that being religious does not guarantee a place in heaven. The Lord Jesus told him that to enter the kingdom of God, a person had to be born again.

Why must we be born again?

• Because of our sinful human nature.
  We are born of the flesh and we are all sinners by nature. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 
• Because of our spiritual blindness.
  Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
• Because our eternal destiny depends upon it.
  Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
  To be in the kingdom of God means to have eternal life and inexpressible joy.
  To be out of the kingdom means to perish, having the wrath of God upon us.
  On the Day of Judgment, those who are not born again will wish that they had never been born at all!

There is good reason to believe that Nicodemus became a follower of Christ. His attitude to the Lord Jesus in the face of hostile Jewish leaders and the fact that he assisted Joseph of Arimathea in the burial of Jesus indicate that he became a Christian.

The new spiritual birth is vital for salvation.

Have we been born again?

We must be born again.