Ironworks

Why should I be merciful? This is a question that you may not have asked yourself before. Maybe mercy is something that you are given often. For others, maybe we have forgotten the goodness of the mercy God has shown to us. Jesus said after all, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matt.5:7) To answer the question, we must first define mercy. What is Mercy           M ercy which comes from the word eleeo ( ἐ λεέω) and describes the act of showing compassion and pity on someone. God perfectly exemplifies mercy. Paul recognized the mercy that God showed him while he sinned in ignorance. I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy , because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faith...

                        Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. — I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. To sum up this thought, if we want to get someone out of poverty, we need to make them uncomfortable with it. Think about it. If someone is in relative comfort, being taken care of by everyone else and not doing for themselves, then they will remain in poverty. If on the other hand, they have to rely more on themselves to get out of their situation, they may get ...

Great and Precious           Have you ever considered the promises of God? The promises of God are far greater than we perhaps recognize. His promises are greater than the promise of return on our earthly investments. His promises are greater than the record projection of our favorite sports team. His promises are greater than those of our employers. His promises are exceedingly great and precious.  Peter recorded,  “Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4) God provides all we need to live faithful and godly lives. Thr...

We sing when we are happy. We sing the truth. Can we sing and be at peace? When we consider when we are happy, yes we can sing and be at peace with contentment in Christ. If we sing in truth, we certainly receive peace with God and enjoy His righteousness. It begins to be more difficult when we are melancholy. There will be times when we are sad. A lost loved one. A broken relationship. Sin and the lasting consequences of sin can break our hearts, and stifle our desire to sing. I am reminded of a Psalm written in Babylon when the children of the southern kingdom were taken into captivity because of their sin. “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing Jehovah’s song in a foreign land” (Psalm 137:1-3)?     ...

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:16-18 Are you ever afraid? I think we all have answered yes during certain seasons of our lives. Fear is certainly one of the most effective tools of Satan. He uses fear to control men. He uses fear to propagandize men. He uses fear to keep Christians from being faithful. Fear realistically disables our ability to love God, and we find ourselves in a vicious cycle of living in fear rather than living in Christ’s love.  Fear is the antithesis of love. The ideas stand over and against each other like David and Goliath facing off before battle (1 Sam. 17). David was a young man stan...

“Every word of God is tried: He is a shield unto them that take refuge in him.” Proverbs 30:5      They said the Titanic was “practically unsinkable” in 1912, but we all know what happened. It was untested, but it was a spectacular ship, unlike any other in history. “One of the largest and most luxurious passenger liners at the time, the Titanic, was also equipped with watertight compartments, which led many to consider the ship unsinkable; an anonymous deckhand famously claimed that “God himself could not sink this ship.” On April 14, however, the ship struck an iceberg, and early the next day it sank. Some 1,500 people perished.” . Gone are the lives of many on that maiden voyage, all lost on the account of the unseen. If they would have know the fate of this great ship, do you think anyone would have gone aboard?  They had every reason to believe they would have a safe voyage.       Many go through life feeling unstoppable, unbeatable, and sure...

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God  Hebrews 12:1-2      In order to hang on, you must let go. This seems counterproductive at first glance. If we let go, we might fall and get hurt. If we let go, we might hurt someone else, and we might even hurt ourselves. Yet, letting go can also allow us to hang on to what matters.       We can hang onto the righteousness of God. This helps us to run with patience. When the race is long and arduous, and when life doesn’t end up as we planned, we can look forward to letting go of the doubts and sins that tell us to quit, give up, and stop running...

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants' fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18:36      Worldliness: we are warned of it in the Word of God frequently. Even though you hear it spoken against in Bible studies and sermons, it still creeps into congregations every year. Yet it does not usually start on a Sunday or Wednesday meeting. It usually starts with compromise from the people. This is evident in the days of old as men failed to obey the commands of God. In one generation after the death of Joshua, the people of Israel knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which He had wrought for Israel (Judges 2:10). A nation that was called to be the people of God descended into a nation in which every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25). Brethren, this is why we must always be on guard for the temptation to fall into the snare of worldline...

    We all face the temptation to believe that we know it all. We have our minds made up that we are right and we understand all things. Yet, when we look under the surface, it’s not always like that. When we look under the surface, often what is revealed is our own desired outcome is what we think is right. This is prevalent with the lifestyles of those in the world and sadly, at times, within the body of Christ.  The Scripture gives us a good example of this in the life of Job.  "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it? Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb; When I made clouds the garment thereof, And th...

“Surely at the commandment of Jehovah came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon.”  2 Kings 24:3-4 Jehoiakim king of Judah was the son of Jehoahaz who chose to do evil and die in Egypt a slave of Pharoah-Necoh. Jehoiakim did not learn from this, and he chose to do evil in his own right (cf. 2 Kings 23:37). He, for a time, subjugated himself to Nebuchadnezzar but turned and rebelled against him (cf. 2 Kings 24:1). Nebuchadnezzar was not the only problem for Jehoiakim. Due to his rebellion, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Ammonites, and Moabites all came after him, and God said it would happen.  Jehoiakim chose this, God allowed the Punishment The sin of Judah was nothing new. It was an ongoing practice that was carried out by the king and his people. God was true to His Word, and, despite the warnin...

        Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.   2 Chronicles 33:1-5                   Dear brethren, what are we doing here in this moment? Are we building up or breaking down? Are we veering to the left or right or keeping the straight path of the Lord? M...

        In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thy house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto Jehovah, saying, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.  2 Kings 20:1-3              How many times do we neglect the power of prayer? It is quite evident that the Calvinist has no need to pray for a couple of reasons. First, the Lord will not hear his prayer (cf. Is. 59:1-9, Ps. 66:18; Jam 4:2-4, Prov. 28:9, 15:29). Second, prayer would have no purpose for someone that believes everything that will come to pass has been willed by God beforehand ( everything happens for a reason ). However, in God...

  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 2 Kings 17:4-6                   When it all comes to an end, who will be holding the reins? Is the failure of a nation, a kingdom, an institution all 100% the responsibility of the one who sits in charge at the time of failure? Simply put, the answer is no. Hoshea, the king of Israel, is just a symptom of the greater illness that infected the Northern kingdo...

        So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Jehovah his God         2 Chronicles 27:6              This last week concluded our sermon series entitled strong and courageous. This has been an enjoyable study and a much-needed one as the Lord's church has been challenged by and continues to be challenged by Satan to be weak and ineffective. How appropriate it is to study King Jotham of Judah this week. I want you to take a quick note of what the Word says above.   He became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.              The Word denotes earlier how he did so. First, it is noted that he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah (cf. 27:2). Jotham had the right view and perspective which set the standard for his reign. Secondly, his achievements a...

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.  1 Cor. 9:19-22 What are you willing to give? That will be the question that is posed repeatedly in the new sermon series. It has been laid out last month that God is the great provider, Jehovah Jireh, who has lavished us with a grace that can cover all of our sins. Considering that, how can we give and be better givers? The first thing we can do is give up. I know that is not the most common of encouraging phrases, but it is truly per...