Author: BTP

“And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger” (Luke 17:17-18).

If you read this little story (Luke 17:12-19), you will find that the Lord Jesus met ten lepers, who asked Him to have mercy on them. He told them to go and show themselves to the priests, and while they were on the way, they were healed. It was a test for them; would they turn back and thank Him? Only one did so, and he was a Samaritan. The Lord Jesus felt this very much, that only one came back, but He appreciated very much the one who did come back.

It is the same today. Many have had their sins washed away by the Lord Jesus, yet few bother to remember Him as He has asked us to do. He appreciates it very much if we take time every Lord’s day to remember all that He suffered for us, and all He did to rescue us from a lost eternity.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so let him minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

We were speaking yesterday about being faithful with our money, and this is called being a good steward. A steward is someone who is given money (and maybe other things) that belong to someone else, and he is trusted to use them according to the owner’s wishes. But here in our verse for today we are also to be stewards “of the manifold grace of God.” Even the things of Christ are to be used wisely, and to be freely given to others. If we have enjoyed something of Christ, it is good to share it with others; that is being a good steward.

However, there is one difference between money and the things of Christ. If you give away some money, then you have less yourself. However, if you share something of Christ with someone else, you do not lose it. In fact, you enjoy it more! That is why the things of Christ are called the true riches.

“If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:11-12).

We have all been given things we can use for the Lord, and this chapter is particularly talking about our money. (Mammon is an old English word for money.) The Lord expects us to use our money wisely, and for Him, for it is not really our own. It is the Lord’s money. If we do not use it wisely, the Lord will not give us the true riches. The true riches are the things we know of Christ, and they will be ours for all eternity. But we will have to leave our money behind when we leave this world, and in that sense it is not really ours forever. However, if we use it for the Lord, He will give us an eternal reward for it. It will be well worthwhile in that day to receive a reward, rather than to have wasted our money on the things of this world.

“And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27).

Several people were in one house on the Humber River, which was surrounded by water. The water was rising, and men with a boat came along, calling out to those people to come out and get in the boat. Three people came out and two got into the boat. But then the third man stopped and said, “Wait! I forgot something.” The men in the boat told him not to go back into the house, as it looked about to fall into the water. But the man went back anyway, and while he was in the house, it tumbled into the water. The men in the boat did their best to get him, but they could not. Later, when his body was recovered, they found out what he had gone back for. Clenched in one hand was a twenty-dollar bill! He lost his life for twenty dollars!

You and I would say, “How foolish he was!” Yet many people in this world are neglecting their eternal salvation, and choosing to go after the things of this world. But nothing is worth losing our souls. Let us not be foolish with our eternal destiny.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).

Many years ago, when I was a boy, a strong hurricane called Hurricane Hazel caused serious damage along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.A. and Canada. Where I lived in Ontario we did not get the wind, but only several days of very heavy rain. Rivers overflowed their banks, and in the area of Toronto, Ontario the Humber River started to wash away some of the houses built along its banks. Some brave men took boats out onto the river, going along and attempting to save people who were trapped in their houses that were surrounded by water. Sadly, many of those houses ended up being washed away.

Those houses were built near the river, and when the floods rose, they were washed away. But those houses that were built up higher, perhaps on a rock, stood firm. In the same way we need to build our lives on Christ, who is the Rock, for God’s judgment will never touch us if we are resting on Him. But if we rest on our own good works, or something else in this world, it will be washed away under the judgment of God. Tomorrow I will tell you a story about a man who was in one of those houses on the Humber river.

“And when Esau heard the voice of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry…And he [Isaac] said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing” (Genesis 27:34-35).

Here we see the sad end of Esau, who despised his birthright as the eldest son, and then became very angry when his younger brother Jacob cheated him and deceived his father. But the whole incident caused longstanding bad feeling between Jacob and Esau, and resulted in Jacob’s having to leave home. Jacob never saw his mother again, for she died before he was able to come home again. Later on, the descendants of Esau treated the children of Israel very badly. All this resulted from the fact that Esau would not submit to the will of God, and from the fact that Jacob (with his mother’s advice) resorted to lying and cheating in order to get God’s blessing.

It is all a good lesson for us, and shows us that we may bring a bad family character and sinful tendency into a marriage, which may cause untold harm. Let us remember to deal with these things before the Lord, before they cause this kind of trouble for us.

“And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison…that I may eat, and bless thee…Now therefore, my son, obey my voice…Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth…that he may eat, and that he may bless thee” (Genesis 27:6-10).

Two days ago we were talking about Isaac and Rebekah. In order to understand today’s verses, you should read the whole chapter—Genesis 27. Here you will find the sad story of how Rebekah and Jacob together deceived Isaac (who was blind by then), and got the blessing for Jacob that Isaac intended for Esau. Even though Rebekah was godly and loved the Lord, she came from a family that was accustomed to getting what they wanted by lying and cheating. God had already promised that Rebekah’s younger son Jacob would have greater blessing than Esau, but they did not trust the Lord to give it to them. When Isaac (wrongfully) was going to give Esau the larger blessing, Rebekah and Jacob made sure that Jacob got it, but by deceiving Isaac. No doubt Rebekah was a skillful cook who could make goat meat taste like venison, and Isaac did not know the difference. Tomorrow we will see what happened.

“This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).

Two days from now it will be November 11, which is called Remembrance Day here in Canada, where I live. In the United States it is called Veterans Day. It is a day when we remember the soldiers who died in the various wars during the last 100 years. Remembrance Day actually began back in 1919, for World War I ended on November 11, 1918. On the anniversary of that day, soldiers of all wars gather to remember those who died in the war.

The Lord Jesus has asked us to remember Him too. We do not go to a cenotaph to stand at attention, sing songs, and observe a minute of silence. Rather the Lord Jesus has asked us to come together, with a loaf and a cup, to remember that He died for us, and shed His blood. It is a most precious privilege that we ought to value more than anything else. I have never forgotten what an old brother once said to us—“To be at the remembrance of the Lord is the dearest place to my heart this side of the glory.”

“And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Genesis 25:28).

In our verse today, we find one of the reasons why things went wrong. Both parents had a favorite son, and for different reasons. Isaac evidently liked to eat, and since Esau was a good hunter, he was able to bring home deer. (Venison is meat from a deer.) Without this, they would have to eat mostly beef or mutton, for their flocks and herds consisted of cows and sheep. Venison was something different, and Isaac liked it.

On the other hand, Rebekah loved Jacob, for he spent more time at home, and evidently knew how to cook. Also, as we shall see, their characters were very similar.

It is never right for parents to have favorite children. We may love each of our children in a little different way, but we should not love one more than another. The result of this was to divide Isaac and Rebekah from one another, and it led to bigger problems later. This is a good warning for every parent.

“And Isaac…took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her” (Genesis 24:67).

Since this calendar is mainly for young people, it is quite possible that most of you who read it are not married yet. However, it is also very likely that most of you have thought about getting married. A marriage in the Lord is a joy second only to getting saved, and is one of the most important events in our life. Our verse today is at the end of a long chapter about the way Isaac and Rebekah came to be married.

It is a happy ending, for Isaac was evidently a godly young man, and Rebekah was a godly girl. Isaac had recognized his father’s wisdom in asking his servant to go and look for a bride for him, and Rebekah had recognized the hand of God in everything that happened. As a result, there was real love in their home, and no doubt both of them were very happy.

However, as we read on in Genesis, we find that everything did not go smoothly in their marriage. Tomorrow we will look at what happened, and some of the reasons why things went wrong.