Mackinac and Sleeping Bears

If you travel to Michigan, two must-sees are Mackinac Island and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Ruth and I thoroughly enjoyed both sites.

Cars are not allowed on Mackinac Island. It can be reached solely by Ferry Boats. Horses and bicycles are the order of the day. I think it has the largest concentration of bicycles I have ever seen. The horses there are huge, as big as Clydesdales. They do all the transporting of goods on the island. It is truly a step into the past, well worth every penny and minute spent there.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park is an American treasure. It sits on Lake Michigan, and consists of a sand dune 450 feet tall. Warning signs abound, trying to convince people not to try to descend the dunes. It takes maybe 10 minutes to get to the bottom of the dunes, but about 2 hours to ascend them. And if you can’t make it back up, the rescue fee is $1200. Ouch! Ruth and I decided to stay at the top and enjoy the view.

Ruth and I enjoyed Michigan. The cool weather was especially nice. One cold morning Ruth said, “This is the way summer is meant to be.” Huh? I bought a coat while we were there.

Matt. 24:44-51

Matthew 24:44-51

We Must Be Ready

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 24:44 (Holman) This is why you also must be ready, because the

Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

 

"Be ready." Jesus "may come at any time and must come at some time" (Maclaren). We don't know precisely when. In light of death and the Second Coming, we can be assured we have a relatively short time to live. We may have more time than we expect, but we also may have less time.

The way to stay ready is to live in unbroken friendship with Jesus. Our best hope of enjoying Him in the future is to enjoy Him in the present.

When we regularly contemplate Jesus' coming, we are forced to think of Him every day. If we are staying ready for Him, every day is a Jesus day.

Let me illustrate. Many people visit Springfield. I rarely ponder their arrival. But if my parents come, my life suddenly kicks into high gear.

My relationship with them makes their coming important. At the same time, knowing they are coming heightens my relationship with them.

Do we think on His Coming? Is it having a kickback effect of keeping us close to Jesus? Do we remember a time we were closer to God than now?

Do we feel ourselves faltering a bit? By God's grace we do not totally stumble overnight. We go from doing things in the spirit to doing them in the flesh and then fall. God gives us time to examine ourselves. Do so.

Stay ready. Keep God's work ever before you. Enoch walked with God to the end. Elijah was mentoring Elisha when the chariot of fire came.

Augustine wanted to die praying or preaching. Livingstone died on his knees praying. Latimer wished to die a martyr; he did. When Calvin was old and sick, friends told him to rest a while for his health. He replied, "What! Would you that the Lord, when He comes, should find me idle?"

 

Matt. 24:45-47 Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his

master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the

proper time? That slave whose master finds him working when he

comes will be rewarded. I assure you: He will put him in charge

of all his possessions.

 

Paul echoed our text, "It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2). "Faithful" denotes loyalty to the Master; "sensible" refers to dealing with people wisely. One slave was usually chosen to have general oversight of the family. A faithful, sensible slave showed obedience to the Master by loving and serving others. This is what Christ-followers are to do: serve God and serve others. First, we please the Master—holiness matters most—then as part of fulfilling His wishes, we care for His people.

The good servant is not one who does these things temporarily, but one who keeps working until the Master returns. Blessed is the believer who, to the very end, emphasizes duties of position above privileges of position.

Following Christ can be discouraging. Time can seem long, the work hard, and the Master inattentive. It's easy to wonder, "Lord, have You lost my address and phone number? A short text message would suffice. I'm still here; are You still there? I know You love me, but I wonder if You like me."

Be assured; He is watching, listening, and caring. Always live as if we are already standing in God's presence, for we are. You will be no more before Him then than now. His sensed presence now is as vital a motivation as is pondering His future presence. Work now and always. When we see Him for the first time, may He find us working for Him. He is looking for people who are unfailingly faithful toward Him, and sensible toward others.

Lord Shaftesbury, great English social reformer of the 19th century, once said, "I do not think that in the last forty years I have ever lived one conscious hour that was not influenced by the thought of our Lord's return." It pushed him to assist the poor and advance the cause of foreign missions.

I appreciate people who are earnest about Jesus. People like this can sometimes be a bit odd, but if they hunger and thirst after God, I can enjoy them despite their idiosyncrasies. My guess is; God feels the same way.

One final thought from our text. What is the reward for faithful service? Jobs of service that have more responsibility. "The reward for true work is more work, of nobler sort, and on a grander scale" (Maclaren).

We may be tempted to ask, "What kind of reward is this; more work than ever?" Forgive us for ever thinking this. Isn't the goal of our lives to make it count? Don't we want to make as big an impact as possible?

 

Matt. 24:48-49 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, 'My master is

delayed,' and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats

and drinks with drunkards,. . .

 

What about the unfaithful, unbelieving, unholy slave that proves his presumption by careless, unkind living? The outlook is not encouraging.

People who are called to live the highest life but who live the lowest life cannot stay that way for long. A true-appearing face that hides an untrue heart cannot be tolerated long. It is an unnatural combination that can't last.

People who do not think Jesus will soon return to Earth often feel free to indulge themselves. How are you and I faring? We can prove our loyalty to Him by treating His Word and His family respectfully while He is gone. We dishonor God when we think less of holiness, and think less of people.

Let me ask us some pointed questions. Are you the kindest boss your workers ever had? Do people at the gym dread seeing you come? Are people at restaurants glad to see you? Do your acquaintances know you are a Christ-follower? Do they see it in your life? Is it circumspect? These traits matter.

 

Matt. 24:50-51 . . .that slave's master will come on a day he does not

expect and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to

pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that

place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

To us this may seem overly harsh, but we must remember; everything we ever had as God's slaves was really His. All we hold is held in trust for God. Thus we are accountable to Him for how we use what He loaned us. It helps us to remember this. People who disregard it tend to decline in fervor.

We will answer for our stewardship; think on this often. "Our putting off the thoughts of Christ's coming will not put off His coming" (Henry).

Beware thinking we have plenty of time. William Barclay told a fable of three demons coming to Earth. One told the devil, "I will tell people there is no God." Satan replied, "That won't fool many." The second said, "I will tell them there is no Hell." The devil said, "You won't deceive many with that argument." The third said, "I will tell people there is no hurry." Satan said, "Go, you will ruin people by the million." Beware! A dangerous day in any believer's life is when he or she falls in love with the word "tomorrow".

We do not know why Jesus has tarried so long. The danger is; we will slip into shallow religion that makes our faith temporary and spasmodic.

The Christian life can be tough; maybe nothing is tougher than staying with it, enduring to the end. Faithful continuance can be the hardest test.

Do not act as if a supposed profession of faith in the distant past is enough to evidence salvation. Faithful continuance is the ultimate test, the only real proof of salvation. It is not enough to be religious for a while.

Too many of us, throughout our lives, want as little religion as possible to get by, and then wonder why we fail in the day of testing. Our life before God is a marathon, not a sprint. We win by continuance. Staying true in everyday spiritual disciplines gives special "tough-days" victories.

 

Chicago

One drawback about driving to Upper Michigan is; it requires going through the Chicago metroplex. At one point, we were on an Interstate that had 14 lanes going full speed. Believe it or not, Ruth is fearless in driving through Chicago. She did it both coming and going. A piece of cake as far as she’s concerned. Superwoman indeed.

While in Michigan, we attended Sunday morning services at First Baptist Church, Cadillac. It was the first time in my life I saw congregational song words on a large screen with videos of pertinent movie segments playing in the background. Fascinating. I’m still processing that one.

It was cool in Michigan. Ruth, who hates heat, said this is the way summer was meant to be. She loved it up there. By the way, my time with her was the highlight of the trip for me.

Vacation

Ruth and I had a wonderful vacation. We drove through St Louis, Chicago, and Grand Rapids on our way to and from seeing our grandson Caleb at Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan.

We had the privilege of hearing Caleb play in several performances. He is an excellent cellist. Of course, I am a totally unbiased Grandpa.

We drove over 2600 miles, and enjoyed them all. I have never been bored in Ruth's presence. She delights me.

In all my travels, I have seen few sights more inspiring than the cornfields of Illinois. Seeing them as far as the eye can see, mile after mile after mile, speaks to me of God's bountiful blessing on our land.

Our nation's food supply is so abundant that we can feed the world. I was reminded of this blessing as I watched the rows of corn fade off into infinity in every direction. It's as if they were continuing to all the world.

God blessed and blesses our USA America. "Lord, make us more grateful."

Dr. John 3:16 Marshall, Pastor
Second Baptist Church
Twitter and FB john316marshall

One taken; one left.

Matthew 24:37-43

One Taken and One Left

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 24:37  (Holman ) As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the

Son of Man will be.

 

Our Lord believed the flood was an actual, historical event people were expected to be ready for. Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). There were no justifiable excuses in his day for being unprepared for what God was about to do in directly interrupting human history with judgment. Sadly, people in Noah's day felt his preaching and his ark were foolishness.

Since the listeners were guilty of ignoring Noah's preaching, they could not blame their doom on God. No one can. He has always aggressively pursued sinners to rescue them. However bad the times become, God will, as He did in Noah's day, have a witness speaking on His behalf to win sinners.

In the end, only Noah's family members were saved—wait! Did I say "only"? Let me say instead, in the end all his family members were saved—Amen! What a precious gift. Many pray the same for their own families.

 

Matt. 24:38-39a  For in those days before the flood they were eating and

drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. They didn't know until the flood came and swept them all away.

 

Noah's day was a time of ultimate wickedness, but the unspeakable sins of that era were not the trait Jesus referred to when He compared the flood to His Second Coming. Instead, He called attention to the fact people were living their ordinary lives. As the end of time approaches, things will, on a global scale, grow generally worse (Matthew 24:21) and generally better (Matthew 24:14) at the same time. On a personal scale, everyday life for most will generally be going on as normal.

This should not surprise us. The only way the Second Coming could happen at an unexpected time is for it to occur as life is going on as usual.

When Jesus comes, most people will be thinking about everything else. They will be so totally absorbed in earthly things, in the normal routines of life, that they will be unmindful of their duty toward God.

Jesus was warning us "never to become so immersed in time that we forget eternity" (Barclay). Forgetting life's most important details can never be justified. It is a serious evil. The nations that will be turned into Hell are those that forget God (PS 9:7). General disregard for God can be as bad as particular cases here and there of belligerent in-your-face irreligion. Societal neglect of Jesus may be more condemning to a nation than specific sins. Screaming against religion may not be as damaging as yawning at it.

Eating, drinking, and marrying were well and good, but the people should have also been listening to Noah, hearing God's word, repenting of sin, praying, and seeking the Lord. Not only were the people not expecting the Flood; they couldn't have cared less.

They were living as if God did not exist. They for sure did not believe He would judge and punish them. Unfortunately, those who will not know these things by faith will know them by experience. A day of judgment is never put off by not thinking about it. Ignoring it does not do away with it.

Noah's listeners, to the last minute, were totally oblivious. People rarely think about the eternity they are on the brink of. The lost question of Noah's day and ours is; "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). By not asking it, people bring on themselves their own condemnation. Many people lose their lives by accident, but no one ever loses their spirit by accident.

 

Matt. 24:39b-41 So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be: then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one left.

 

         Note the finality, as in Noah's day. When God closed the door of the Ark, those on the inside were protected; those on the outside were rejected. One of these two options will happen to each individual when the world ends, or when we die.

Either way, ordinary life will be interrupted. The end will be abrupt; spiritual conditions will freeze in time, with no chance to reconsider.

At the end, as now, people will generally look alike on the outside. Only God can know the secrets of the heart. In our text, Jesus depicted two chores usually done together with family members or close friends.

Dad, son, brothers, and male friends worked fields side by side. Mom, daughter, sisters, and female friends ground at the mill together. A lower millstone, usually about 12 inches in diameter, sat on the ground. An upper stone was turned by a peg near the outer edge. Sitting opposite each other, two people helped turn the upper stone, using their free hand to put grain in.

It would be hard to construct situations where people appeared more alike on the outside. And yet, the inner difference between them was as vast as Heaven and Hell itself. One served God; another served self. One's heart was filled with worship; another's filled with stuff and trivia. One's heart was light, the other's dark. One went to Paradise, the other entered Perdition.

 

Matt. 24:42-43  Therefore be alert, since you don't know what day your

Lord is coming. But know this: If the homeowner had

known what time the thief was coming, he would have

stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.

 

Be alert. Stay awake. Don't be caught off guard, as was a homeowner who, careless about household security, suffered a break-in. He slept when he should have been awake, reminding us people spiritually asleep will lose what they desperately needed to keep, but were careless about protecting.

"Be alert" is good counsel for a time like ours, when "the religion of multitudes is a sleepy religion" (Maclaren). Paul wrote, "We must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious" (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

Terrible things can happen to believers who let themselves spiritually doze off. While spiritually asleep, Solomon was seduced by 1000 women; David murdered Uriah; Moses angrily struck the rock twice; Peter cowardly denied, and Judas betrayed, our Lord. Never think it can't happen to you. Even Paul was concerned about himself. "I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27). Never presume; stay spiritually alert.

Suetonius, Rome's famous biographer, said Julius Caesar never told his soldiers in advance when they would break camp. He felt this suspense kept them ready to move quickly. Even so Jesus wants us ready at any moment for His return. All we have to keep us watching is a few chapters in a printed book, yet we trust the Book because we know its Author.

Jesus is coming. He promised. Behind His long-lasting patience in not coming yet is power waiting to be exercised in His coming someday. Behind His woos are woes.

We must live in the delicate balance of now/then and here/there. We must keep these in tandem. Most become overly absorbed in this life; some spend so much time on heavenly things that they are of little earthly good.

We can learn a good lesson from farmers in planting season. My dad was a cotton farmer. He plowed with mules. He made a straight furrow by constantly fixing his eyes on a distant mark that kept his path straight. He made a deep furrow by occasionally glancing down to the ground beneath him to make sure the plow was well embedded in the soil. Live looking up. Watch the sky. Also live looking around. Hear and heed the Bible. Be alert.

 

Romans 9:16

Romans 9:16

Don't Jump Without A Parachute

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Romans 9:16a (Holman) So then it does not depend on human will…

 

         "It" refers to salvation. This verse clearly states what is the foundation and beginning of a person's conversion. Salvation is not started by human will or design. We by nature want deliverance from punishment, but no one by nature wants to follow God's prescribed course for avoiding damnation.

         No sinners, of their own choosing, want to surrender to Jesus for salvation. They want to escape Hell, but do not want to seek a holy God. They do not want to submit to Him, and live according to His dictates.

People want to use their own will to self-determine their own method of salvation. They want to think they have complete control over their own everlasting destiny. We want to be gods unto ourselves. This cocky pride in us, if unchecked, causes us to reject God's ordained plan of salvation.       

Being saved requires more than merely wishing to escape punishment. Cain complained, "My punishment is too great to bear!" (Genesis 4:13), but this did not make him start trying to be made right with God.

         When Paul spoke of judgment to come, Felix the Governor trembled (Acts 24:25). Sadly, no evidence indicates the Ruler ever was saved.

When God wrote on the wall, King Belshazzar panicked. "His face turned pale, and his thoughts so terrified him that his hip joints shook and his knees knocked together" (Daniel 5:6). But he did not turn from his sins.

         Yearning for safety is never enough. Wishing for Heaven won't bring us there. Sinners must confront their own sins, blame themselves, turn from their sins, and flee to Jesus. None will to do this of their own volition. This natural resistance to God is what we mean by the total depravity of man.

         When left on their own, people universally castoff Jesus. When the soldiers and religious leaders rejected Jesus in the flesh, they pictured what people left to themselves do to Christ in spirit all the time.

The miraculous inward work God has to do in us for us to be saved was pictured in the outward events surrounding the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Since we do not by nature seek God, the Holy Spirit has to come grab our attention forcefully. Only then can we be saved.

         We wrongly will to accomplish salvation on our terms. It does not result from a planned process we invent. At this point, someone may be tempted to say, "Okay, we can invent no plan, but what about good works?"

 

Romans 9:16b …or effort…

        

The word refers to vigorous human activity. However hard we try, works cannot save us. To many, this is bad news because they want to earn their salvation. The vast majority of us want to exert effort to merit Heaven. We hate the thought of having to humble ourselves as sinners before a holy God. We do not want to confess weakness and lostness, or be in God's debt.

         Sometimes people admit they commit sins, but opt to do penance or good deeds to make up for them. They are quick to say they are sorry for their wrongdoing, but let feelings of remorse soothe their soul.

         Regret for sin, in and of itself, has never achieved salvation. Pharaoh twice confessed he had sinned (Exodus 9:27; 10:16). He gave evidence of deep remorse over what he had done, but be assured Pharaoh suffers in Hell.

Judas Iscariot showed sorrow for betraying Jesus (Matt. 27:4). His grief was so strong he went out and hanged himself, but he was not saved.

         Remorse, regret, and penance—none of these is sufficient to bring us salvation. A person must repent, turn from sin, and seek Jesus' saving grace. Human goodness and works can never compel God to bring us salvation.

         Salvation is something we neither invent a process for (v. 16a) nor earn or merit. Thus the question; then what does make salvation possible?

 

Romans 9:16c …but on God who shows mercy.

 

         Salvation is conceived in God's mind, and birthed in His heart. He lovingly decided, solely due to grace, to bring it to us.

We were utterly incapable of taking a first step toward Jesus. He had to move in our direction. Jesus died for us while we were helpless, ungodly sinners (Romans 5:6,8). Then He sent the Holy Spirit to chase us down and convict us. When we repented, Jesus applied His purchased salvation to us by giving us life when we were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1). He reconciled us to God when we were enemies (Romans 5:10). Our salvation is all of God.

         He gave us a new nature, and a different set of desires for how we want to act. The fact we believers desire Bible-holiness is good news. Only God can give this longing. Believers should find a source of assurance here.

Do we love Jesus and yearn for a closer bond with Him? Do we treasure the Bible and long to hear it preached? Do we enjoy attending church, and love God's people? Do we hate our sins? If we can answer these with a genuine "yes", we have life in Jesus. All these traits are "unnatural". They come about only as a result of a supernatural birth from God. The lost do not have these feelings. These urges come only as a part of the new birth.

         God made salvation possible for all people, but it has to be received on His terms and by His grace. Don't try to conceive our own methods, or try to earn it. To receive it, we must follow God's divinely prescribed way.

         Being restricted to following God's predetermined method should not surprise us. In the physical realm, we do this all the time. Living in God's creation often requires, on our part, adjustments to divinely ordered plans.

Our local farmers know if they want to harvest corn in the Fall, they must plant it in the Spring. They can plant it in the dead of Winter if they want to, but there won't be much of a harvest. The farmer, realizing this, wisely adjusts his plans to coincide with this unalterable fact of nature.

Skydivers know to don their parachute before they jump from a plane. They can wait till later to do so if they want to, but the result will be messy. Skydivers adjust their life to coincide with the unalterable fact of gravity.

         As farmers and skydivers have to adjust to outside forces beyond their control, even so a sinner must be saved according to God's unalterable plan. God's gift of mercy has to be received through repenting of our sin, and putting faith in Christ. Sinner, come God's way. Don't complicate the issue.

Our desperate need to adjust our ways to bring them into line with God's ways is well illustrated by the lives of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob, of whom Paul wrote in the previous verses.

Before the birth of the twins, God let it be known He had ordained the family's spiritual blessing would be Jacob's (GN 25:23). Nevertheless, years later Isaac "willed" to grant it to Esau, and Esau "willed" to gain it from his father. Rebekah exerted "effort" to steal the blessing for Jacob, and Jacob exerted "effort" to deceive his father.

         Isaac and Esau tried to overrule God's plan with their own plan. Rebekah and Jacob tried to achieve God's plan as if He needed human aid.

All four were wrong. None showed faith. The result of was a tragic disaster. An old man learned that his wife and son had lied to him. Twins became enemies; the elder threatened to murder the younger. The mother was forced to send her beloved son to safety and never saw him again. The younger son spent twenty years in exile, serving a harsh taskmaster.

         A tragedy of tragedies: all because four people refused to do things God's way. Unbelievers, I beseech you, do not repeat their error. Come to Jesus the only way you can while you can. If you come to Jesus now, all will be well. Christ will forgive and receive you. However, if you leave this world without Jesus, you will spend eternity separated from Him.