Author: Pastor David Page 54 of 57

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:23-25)

Here James describes the condition of a man who has heard the word of God but has not put that word into active practice in his life. The “forgetful hearer” is depicted as a man who has beheld his natural face in a glass (a mirror) but has forgotten the reflection that he originally saw – what manner of man he was before the grace of God changed his life. We must never forget the condition that God has brought us from if we are to properly serve him in discipleship during our lives.

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“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

Jehovah God gives a personal admonition to the nation of Israel (that primarily applies to the elect family of spiritual Israel) of God’s everlasting love for His elect.  This verse affirms that God looked out over all of eternity and saw all the persons that would be created in the world, and He chose to love a set and distinct group of people.  However, not just did God love a vague and nebulous group, but His love was “individual and personal” – I have loved “thee” with an everlasting love!

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“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:15)

Jesus Christ, here in the middle of His final sermon to the eleven disciples, declares that they were not just under bondage to be the servants of Christ, but that they were truly the friends of Christ. It’s amazing to think that Jesus Christ would call His disciples – but in a much broader sense all of His lowly, unworthy elect that we trust to be included among– as His “friends”!

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“But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;” (Philippians 1:12-13)

The Apostle Paul pens this epistle to the church at Philippi during his first Roman imprisonment which occurred probably near 61-63 AD. The Philippian church had sent a messenger, Epaphroditus, to Paul to provide aid to him in prison, who Paul commended for his service towards him (Phil. 2:25-30).  It appears that the messenger had relayed to Paul the church’s concern and attitude of despair for Paul’s current condition in prison. Paul, in these verses, rather redirects the Philippian church to have his own positive perspective of how God in His providence used Paul’s imprisonment in Rome for “the furtherance of the gospel” to allow certain of God’s children in that city to come to the knowledge of the gospel.

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“And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 47:9)

Jacob, as he stands before Pharaoh upon entering Egypt, characterizes his 130 year life on earth as a “pilgrimage”. Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines a “pilgrimage” as: “a long journey, particularly a journey to some place deemed sacred and venerable, in order to pay devotion to the relics of some deceased saint.” We need to understand that our life on earth is a brief part of our journey to our true homeland, our journey to our Father’s house.  We are just passing through this life during our pilgrimage so we need not become too attached to this world or set our roots too deep in the affections of our present, temporary situation.

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