A Promise For Today

The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. 

-Proverbs 11:18

 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. 
-Psalms 11:7

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 
-Psalm 5:4-5

Dangers of privilege

Take heed of complaining, though He has given us so much. 

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. -1 Corinthians 10:10

Take heed of forgetting God's blessings, and forgetting to thank Him for them. 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: -Psalms 103:2

Take heed of prayerlessness. 

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; -Ephesians 6:18

 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: - 1 Samuel 12:23

Take heed of covetousness. 

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. -Luke 12:15

Take heed of becoming calloused, used to hearing God's Word and the Gospel. Many of the most unprivileged are saved, while those highly privileged are lost. Examine yourselves to be sure that you are in the faith. 

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. -Luke 12:48

It is a very dangerous possibility that you may be an honest, moral, religious churchgoer, and know in your mind the facts of all the doctrines of the Bible and the truth of salvation, and hear the Gospel week after week...you may even pray, profess to know the Lord, read your Bible, and hand out tracts in dutiful obligation (I had prayed often, and even read the Bible entirely through before the Lord saved me!)...but will many sinful ones such as drunkards, harlots, thieves, fornicators, liars, etc., be saved, and you...lost eternally? Have you repented of your sins and been washed in the precious Blood of Jesus Christ? 

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

For my cleansing this my plea,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Nothing can for sin atone,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

Naught of good that I have done,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

This is all my hope and peace,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

This is all my righteousness,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Now by this I’ll overcome—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus,

Now by this I’ll reach my home—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

Glory! Glory! This I sing—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus,

All my praise for this I bring—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain

The Fear of God

Sin is a plague, yea, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!—Thomas Brooks

Beware of sin, be it ever so small. There is more in a little sin to harden, than in a great deal of grace to soften. .... If thou hast sinned, lie not down without repentance; for the want of repentance, after one has sinned, makes the heart yet harder and harder. —John Bunyan

The opposite of the fear of God in a person's heart, is a hard heart. 

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. 

-Prov. 28: 14

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 

-Proverbs 8:13

Some of God's children are noted for fearing Him "above many". May it be so with us! Let us not be content with a little fear of God, but let us truly be "...in the fear of the LORD all the day long." -Proverbs 23:17

That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. -Nehemiah 7:2 

 O fear the LORD, ye His saints: for there is no want 

to them that fear Him. 

-Psalms 34:9

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 

Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this

 is the whole duty of man. 

-Ecclesiastes 12:13