Growing in Grace

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry” (Psalm 34:15).

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15).

Today we will talk about ears, and once again, we notice that the Lord has ears too. As we said yesterday about the Lord’s eyes, it is a little scary to think that the Lord hears everything that is said in this world. We sang a song in Sunday school when I was young that went like this —

He sees what we do, and He hears what we say, My Lord is watching all the time.

This song reminded us that the Lord hears everything we say, whether we are saved or not, and that it is a serious thing to say wrong things.

However, it is also comforting to know that He hears our cry if we need help. In this world, sometimes we call someone on the telephone, but they do not answer. Or we may ask others for some help, but perhaps they say that they are too busy. But the Lord is always there for us, and is never too busy to listen to us.

We also have ears, and it is important what we listen to, and what we remember. Our second verse today is so important that it is repeated four times in the Word of God. It means that when the Lord is speaking to us, and we have ears to hear, it is important to listen. As we would say in modern language, it is important for us to “listen up.”

We all know what it is like to listen to something, but not really pay attention to what is said. Then, if someone asks us about it a few minutes later, we cannot remember. But when God speaks, it is always important. Sometimes the Lord uses others to speak to us, and again, it is important to listen.

But as it was with our eyes, we can choose what we hear much of the time. Listening to things that defile our minds is not good, for then our minds are filled with bad thoughts. Listening to bad music, to bad jokes, or to worldly talk all tend to pollute our minds. Let us be careful what we listen to.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).

“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity” (Psalm 119:37).

In an earlier meditation, we have seen how that we, as human beings, are composed of body, soul, and spirit. We saw that the soul and spirit live in the body, and express themselves through the body. For the next few talks, we will look at some parts of the body, and what the Bible says about them. In our verses today, we have the eyes mentioned — the Lord’s eyes, and our eyes.

First of all, it is important to know that the Lord has eyes, and that He sees everything. Our eyes are limited as to how much they can see, although we can see light from the stars that are millions of miles away. In this world we can see only a short distance, unless we are up in an airplane. But the Lord’s eyes can see everything, and as our first verse tells us, He is beholding both the evil and the good.

At first it might seem a bit frightening to us, to think that the Lord sees everything. If we do wrong, He sees it, and records it. However, it is also encouraging for us as Christians to realize that He is looking after us, and that He sees us wherever we are.

As I write this in November 2021, the news media are telling us about a little four-year-old girl named Cleo who was kidnapped in Australia while she was camping with her parents. After two weeks she was found, but up until that time, no one knew where she was. But the Lord knew where she was all the time. Eventually the police found her, and she was safely returned to her home.

But then the Bible speaks about our eyes, and how we use them. There are many things to be seen in this world, and sometimes we cannot help but see things that upset us. I know a young man who was sent to Iraq with the U.S. army, and he saw things there that still cause him to have bad dreams. I knew another man who fought in the 2nd World War (he was a Christian, and he is with the Lord now), and he too saw some awful things. Even as an old man, he would break down and cry when he talked about them.

But many times we can choose what we see with our eyes. We can choose to look at bad things on television, on the computer, on our cell phones, or perhaps even reading a book or a magazine. We can also choose to look at good things, such as reading good books (especially the Bible!), or doing things on our cell phones and computers that are pleasing to the Lord. God has given us our eyes. Are we using them for Him?

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“How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain [empty]” (1 Corinthians 15:12-14).

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the resurrection of those believers who have died, are most important truths. Yet some in the city of Corinth were trying to say that there was no resurrection of the dead. They were saying that when people die, they die just like an animal, and that is the end of them forever.

The Apostle Paul points out clearly that if this is true, then the resurrection of the Lord Jesus must not be true either. But we know that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is definitely a fact. At the beginning of this same chapter (1st Corinthians 15), Paul points out how that many people saw the Lord Jesus after He rose from the dead, including over 500 believers at once. There were certainly plenty of witnesses of His resurrection. But there is a most important truth connected with our Lord’s resurrection, and Paul explains it here.

If the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead (and He is!), then every believer that has died must also rise from the dead at the Lord’s coming. Why is this? It is because we are so closely united to the Lord Jesus that we have the same life as He has. That is why it says, “Even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). This is referring to believers, who will all be raised from the dead when the Lord comes. Then we will instantly be given bodies fit for heaven.

But if this will not happen, as some were teaching, then the Lord Jesus must not have risen from the dead, and if He did not rise from the dead, then no one is saved. Why is this? It is because our Lord’s resurrection was the sign that God had accepted His work on the cross, and that He had fully satisfied His God and Father in doing it. If the Lord Jesus had not risen from the dead, it would have meant that the work was not done, and that God was not happy with it. But all that work was done in perfection; Christ is risen, and every believer who has died in Christ will rise too, when the Lord comes.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

In yesterday’s verse it mentions a reward for helping as an under-shepherd — “Ye shall receive a crown of glory.” Rewards will be handed out at what the Bible calls “the judgment seat of Christ.” As we see in our verse today, we will all be there. But how can this happen, if all our sins are already washed away through the blood of Christ?

Most of you know that there are two kinds of judging in this world. There is the judging that goes on in a courtroom, where someone is accused of having committed a crime. The judge listens to the evidence, and if the person accused is convicted of the crime, the judge will decide on a punishment; perhaps a fine, or even some time in jail. This is the kind of judging that those who are not saved will have to experience, when they stand before God. (The term “judgment seat of Christ” can also refer to this judgment of the unsaved. That is why 2 Corinthians 5:11 says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”) At that awful time, all unbelievers will be sent into hell for their sins.

But there is another kind of judging in this world, such as we see at a fall fair, or at a piano recital. In that setting, the judge does not send anyone to jail, or impose a fine. Rather, the judge decides on the best farm produce, the best farm animals, or the best piano player. Then rewards are handed out to those who are the best. This is the kind of judging that will take place for believers at the judgment seat of Christ.

It will happen after the Lord comes for us, when we are up there in heaven. The Lord will review our lives and will reward what has been done for Him. What has not been for Him will be burned up. More than this, we will realize for the first time how big the load of sin was that the Lord Jesus bore for us. We know we have committed many sins, but surely all of us have forgotten many of them too. But at the judgment seat of Christ, we will see how many sins we have committed, and have been forgiven. All this will only make us want to praise the Lord Jesus even more for all He has done for us.

“When I stand with Christ in glory, Looking o’er life’s finished story; Then, Lord, shall I fully know, Not till then, how much I owe.”

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Notes:

Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).

“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4).

Yesterday we saw that the Lord Jesus was the good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. But in today’s verses we see Him in two other ways — the great Shepherd and the chief Shepherd. In both of these we see Him as the One who leads us all the way home to heaven, and who also has “under-shepherds” who help Him in His work.

The great Shepherd shows us the Lord Jesus as risen and glorified in heaven, and who looks after His sheep all the way home. He not only died for them, but as we get in Psalm 23, He “leads [them] beside still waters,” He makes them to “lie down in green pastures,” He comforts them with His rod and staff, etc. All this is in addition to His having died for us.

Then Peter reminds us that He is also the chief Shepherd, meaning that there are other shepherds who work under Him. When the Lord Jesus restored Peter publicly after Peter had denied Him, He says to Peter, “Shepherd my sheep” (John 21:16 JND). I am sure that Peter never forgot this, and he did shepherd his Master’s sheep. You and I can be shepherds too, for every believer who cares about other believers can be a shepherd.

The Lord Jesus has under-shepherds, but no sheep dogs. Many years ago, when my wife and I were visiting in the county of Yorkshire in northern England, we saw sheep dogs at work. The best sheep dogs are border collies. The ones we saw were very clever and had been well trained. They knew how to round up a flock of sheep and herd them down into the right place, just where the shepherd wanted them. But these sheep dogs did not really care for the sheep; sometimes they nipped at their heels, to get them going faster. The dogs simply did what their master wanted. But a real under-shepherd cares for the sheep and wants them to be looked after properly. The Lord Jesus wants you and me to do that for His sheep, for in doing this we are serving Him.

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“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

“I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

It is interesting and instructive for us that in these verses, we find the Lord Jesus as both a sheep and a shepherd. We would never find such a thing naturally, for a sheep is only an animal, while a shepherd (or a shepherdess) is a human being. But in these verses the Lord Jesus is pictured as both.

As a sheep (or a lamb) He went to the cross, and was the sacrifice for sin. In the Old Testament, many lambs and sheep were offered up to the Lord as sacrifices, and especially at the Passover, when all Israel were to remember how the Lord delivered them from Egypt. Once a year they were to celebrate the Passover, and to sacrifice a lamb. On that occasion the blood was to be sprinkled on the doors of their houses, and then they were to go inside and have a meal, eating of the roast lamb.

But the Lord Jesus was the true Passover, and we read in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that “even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” Now we no longer keep the Passover as Christians, but rather remember the Lord with a loaf and cup, as He has asked us to do.

The Lord Jesus is also pictured to us as a Shepherd, and as we see in our second verse today, He Himself said, “I am the good Shepherd.” A shepherd looks after sheep, and defends them from danger, even if it means that he must risk his life to do so. But the Lord Jesus did more than risk His life; He gave His life so that the sheep might be saved. He knew who His sheep were, and who they would be; He not only thought of those who lived when He was on earth, but He looked on to the time when you and I would be living. Then He gave His life for us, His sheep, whom He would save hundreds of years later.

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“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

In today’s verse we have the Lord Jesus Himself as the perfect example for us as young Christians. There is not much said about the growing years of the Lord Jesus. The circumstances surrounding his birth are mentioned, and then the incident at the time he was twelve years old, when his parents took him up to the temple at the time of the feast of the Passover. After this, we do not hear anything more until He sets out on His earthly ministry at the age of thirty. However, what is said when He was twelve is really important.

We notice several things in the growing years of the Lord Jesus, after he reached the age of twelve. First of all, it is said that “He went down with them … and was subject unto them” (Luke 2:51). Think of it — the Creator of the universe being obedient to human parents! Yet He was, and we too should respect and obey our parents. No doubt the Lord’s earthly parents made mistakes, but He obeyed them.

Secondly, we notice that he increased in wisdom. We might wonder how the Son of God could increase in wisdom, but I believe that in every way He was perfect, at whatever age He was. When He was twelve, He did not act as if He were twenty. Rather, He acted with the wisdom of a twelve-year-old, and this increased as he got older. There was a natural progression, as there would be with any other growing child, yet without sin.

Finally, He increased in favor “with God and man.” How could the Son of God increase in favor with God? It was because He was doing something He had never done before — He was finding out what it cost to obey His Father’s will, and humbling Himself to do so. If we could say it this way, God the Father now had a fresh reason to be pleased with His Son. He also increased in favor with men, for His ways were pleasing to them as well as to God. He is our example in doing all this, and we read this in Philippians 2:5-8. Perhaps you can find these verses and read them for yourself.

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“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you … for I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state” (Philippians 2:19-20).

Timothy was a young man who came from a city called Lystra. This was a place where they at first wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas, but later they stoned Paul, and thought he was dead. But Timothy was saved there, and he became like a son to the Apostle Paul. His father was a Greek and his mother was a Jewess — another marriage forbidden by the law of Moses. But grace brought him to Christ, and he became a most devoted servant of the Lord.

We find him traveling with the Apostle Paul on many of his journeys, and even suffering too because of this. At some point he was put in prison, we are not sure where, but at the end of Hebrews, it is noted that “our brother Timothy is set at liberty” (Hebrews 13:23).

As we see in our verses today, Paul gives him a very high commendation, and in another translation, it reads, “For I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on” (Philippians 2:20 JND). Here was a young man who really cared for the believers, and who was willing to sacrifice his life to encourage them.

At the end of Paul’s life, when he was in prison in Rome, the Lord had revealed to him that he was not going to be released again. At that time Paul wrote his last epistle to Timothy, giving him instructions as to how he should behave when things were not going well in the assembly. Paul expected Timothy to carry on faithfully after he was called to be with the Lord, and we have every reason to believe that he did so.

Today we need godly young people who are willing to learn from those who are older, and who are prepared to carry on faithfully for the Lord when some of us older ones are gone. Are you ready to be one of them?

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“And Ruth said, Intreat (persuade) me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go” (Ruth 1:16).

The story of Ruth involves an entire book of the Bible, and I recommend that you read the book in order to know all about her. It is a short book — only four chapters. But in summary, she was a Moabitish young woman who married one of the sons of Naomi, when Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons moved from Israel to Moab for ten years. They did this because there was a lack of food in Israel. But Elimelech died there in Moab, and so did Mahlon and Chilion, their two sons. The death of the two sons left their wives, Orpah and Ruth, widows at a young age, and of course Naomi was a widow as well.

Later, when she heard that there was food again in Israel, Naomi wanted to go home. Her two daughters-in-law wanted to go with her, but Naomi tried to persuade them to stay in Moab. One of the girls, Orpah, eventually went back, but Ruth insisted on coming to the land of Israel with Naomi. Somehow the Lord had worked in her heart, and instead of going back to Moab, where they worshiped idols, she came to Israel with Naomi.

At first she was a stranger there, but she was evidently a hard worker, and went out to gather barley in the fields after the reapers were finished. Later the owner of the field, a man by the name of Boaz, wanted to marry her. According to the law of Moses, those from Moab were not supposed to be admitted into the congregation of Israel, but everyone recognized that the Lord was specially working with Ruth, and she became the wife of Boaz. She was the great grandmother of David, and in this way was also one of the human ancestors of the Lord Jesus.

Ruth’s faith made her insist on coming to the land of Israel with Naomi. If you and I really love the Lord Jesus, we too will want to follow Him, even if it is a difficult pathway. Because the Lord was with her, Ruth was able to overcome every problem, and she prospered in the land of Israel. The Lord is well able to look after us too, if we follow Him.

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“And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said to her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:2-3).

In the next few meditations, I would like to consider some young people in the Bible who are good examples for us. Here we find a young girl, perhaps a teenager, who had been taken captive from the land of Israel in war, and was now a servant (really a slave!) to the wife of Naaman, who was the captain of the Syrian army. How would you like to be taken away from your home like that, compelled to live in someone’s home as a slave, to learn a new language, and not to see your family again?

This girl found out that Naaman had leprosy, and she might easily have said, “It serves him right for what he did to me! Let him suffer with it!” But she felt sorry for Naaman, and she knew that the prophet Elisha lived in Samaria. Although she had never seen him cure anyone of leprosy, yet she had faith in God, and told Naaman’s wife that if he were to visit the prophet in Israel, he could be cured. Leprosy is a dreadful disease, and in those days there was no cure for it. It eventually killed the people who had it. It is used in the Bible as a picture of sin.

As a result, the king of Syria eventually wrote to the king of Israel, and sent Naaman there to be cured. But someone had not listened carefully, for the little maid had not said to go to the king of Israel, but to the prophet. Eventually Naaman ended up at the right place, and after following Elisha’s instructions, Naaman was cured of his leprosy. I am leaving out many of the details of what happened, but you may read them in 2nd Kings 5.

Not only was Naaman healed of his leprosy, but I believe he also came to know the true God. He no longer wanted to worship idols, but the true God. All this because a young girl spoke up, and wanted to help the man who had taken her captive. This is a real lesson for us, for we are to love our enemies, and do good to them, even though they may have treated us badly.

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Notes:

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