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Eternally
SecureBy Paul Chappell
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Monday, Feb 13, 2012
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand."
John 10:28
A German botanist, who was traveling in Turkey, saw a
rare flower hanging from an inaccessible precipice. He
saw a young boy nearby and offered to pay him to go down
the precipice on a rope and fetch the flower. The boy
was tempted but hesitating. Then, struck with a new
thought, the boy said, "Wait a moment, and I will go for
my father to come and hold the rope; then I will
willingly go down and get it." He trusted his father to
hold the rope securely.
Just like the young boy, our souls are secure in our
Father's hand. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as our
Saviour, God promises us eternal life. Today, let's
remember some of the blessings we have because of God's
promise of eternal life.
Our eternal security gives us peace in a troubled
world. Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world." We can be joyful in knowing
that we have the Source of all peace dwelling in our
hearts.
Our eternal security gives us comfort during trials.
No matter what hardship you face today or tomorrow, you
can be comforted in knowing that God is always with
you.
Our eternal security gives us hope for a bright
future. What a joy to know that because of God's promise
of eternal life we will enjoy a home in heaven for all
eternity.
What fear or insecurity has gripped your heart? In
any circumstances, we can rejoice in remembering that we
are safe in the Father's hand. No foe can pluck us from
His loving grace, and no fear can remove us from His
care.
Today's Rooted Principle:
Our security in Christ is
firmly attached to the unfailing faithfulness of God.
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Old Testament
Reading
Leviticus
14 |
CHAPTER 14
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the
day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the
priest: 3 And the priest shall go forth out
of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold,
if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
4 Then shall the priest command to take for
him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and
clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5 And the priest shall command that one of
the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running
water: 6 As for the living bird, he shall
take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the
hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the
blood of the bird that was killed over the
running water: 7 And he shall sprinkle upon
him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times,
and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living
bird loose into the open field. 8 And he that
is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off
all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be
clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and
shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he
shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and
his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and
he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh
in water, and he shall be clean.
10 And on the eighth day he shall take two
he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first
year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine
flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and
one log of oil. 11 And the priest that maketh
him clean shall present the man that is to be
made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and
offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil,
and wave them for a wave offering before the
LORD: 13 And he shall slay the lamb in the
place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt
offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering
is the priest's, so is the trespass
offering: it is most holy: 14 And the
priest shall take some of the blood of the
trespass offering, and the priest shall put it
upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon
the great toe of his right foot: 15 And the
priest shall take some of the log of oil, and
pour it into the palm of his own left hand:
16 And the priest shall dip his right finger
in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall
sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before
the LORD: 17 And of the rest of the oil that
is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip
of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon
the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of
his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:
18 And the remnant of the oil that is
in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him
that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an
atonement for him before the LORD. 19 And the
priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an
atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his
uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt
offering: 20 And the priest shall offer the
burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and
the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall
be clean.
21 And if he be poor, and cannot
get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a
trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for
him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil
for a meat offering, and a log of oil; 22 And
two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is
able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and
the other a burnt offering. 23 And he shall
bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the
priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, before the LORD. 24 And the
priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and
the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them
for a wave offering before the LORD:
25 And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass
offering, and the priest shall take some of the
blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon
the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed,
and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great
toe of his right foot: 26 And the priest
shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left
hand: 27 And the priest shall sprinkle with
his right finger some of the oil that is
in his left hand seven times before the LORD:
28 And the priest shall put of the oil that
is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of
him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his
right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot,
upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering:
29 And the rest of the oil that is in
the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that
is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before
the LORD. 30 And he shall offer the one of
the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can
get; 31 Even such as he is able to
get, the one for a sin offering, and the other
for a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and
the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be
cleansed before the LORD. 32 This is
the law of him in whom is the
plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get
that which pertaineth to his
cleansing.
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto
Aaron, saying, 34 When ye be come into the
land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession,
and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land
of your possession; 35 And he that owneth the
house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth
to me there is as it were a plague in the
house: 36 Then the priest shall command that
they empty the house, before the priest go into
it to see the plague, that all that is in
the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest
shall go in to see the house: 37 And he shall
look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague
be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes,
greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower
than the wall; 38 Then the priest shall go
out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up
the house seven days: 39 And the priest shall
come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold,
if the plague be spread in the walls of the
house; 40 Then the priest shall command that
they take away the stones in which the plague is,
and they shall cast them into an unclean place without
the city: 41 And he shall cause the house to
be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out
the dust that they scrape off without the city into an
unclean place: 42 And they shall take other
stones, and put them in the place of those
stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall
plaister the house. 43 And if the plague come
again, and break out in the house, after that he hath
taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the
house, and after it is plaistered; 44 Then
the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if
the plague be spread in the house, it is a
fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.
45 And he shall break down the house, the
stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter
of the house; and he shall carry them forth out
of the city into an unclean place. 46
Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that
it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.
47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash
his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash
his clothes. 48 And if the priest shall come
in, and look upon it, and, behold, the
plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was
plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house
clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And
he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar
wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he
shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel
over running water: 51 And he shall take the
cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the
living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain
bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house
seven times: 52 And he shall cleanse the
house with the blood of the bird, and with the running
water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar
wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:
53 But he shall let go the living bird out of
the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for
the house: and it shall be clean.
54 This is the law for all manner
of plague of leprosy, and scall, 55 And for
the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, 56
And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:
57 To teach when it is unclean,
and when it is clean: this is the
law of leprosy.
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New Testament
Reading
Matthew
26:51 |
51 And, behold, one of them which were
with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his
sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and
smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto
him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they
that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my
Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the
scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
55 In that same hour said Jesus to the
multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with
swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you
teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
56 But all this was done, that the scriptures
of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the
disciples forsook him, and fled.
57 And they that had laid hold on Jesus
led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where
the scribes and the elders were assembled. 58
But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's
palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see
the end. 59 Now the chief priests, and
elders, and all the council, sought false witness
against Jesus, to put him to death; 60 But
found none: yea, though many false witnesses came,
yet found they none. At the last came two false
witnesses, 61 And said, This fellow
said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to
build it in three days. 62 And the high
priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing?
what is it which these witness
against thee? 63 But Jesus held his peace.
And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure
thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou
be the Christ, the Son of God. 64 Jesus saith
unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you,
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
65 Then the high priest rent his clothes,
saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have
we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his
blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered
and said, He is guilty of death. 67 Then did
they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others
smote him with the palms of their hands,
68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who
is he that smote thee?
69 Now Peter sat without in the palace:
and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with
Jesus of Galilee. 70 But he denied before
them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
71 And when he was gone out into the porch,
another maid saw him, and said unto them that
were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of
Nazareth. 72 And again he denied with an
oath, I do not know the man. 73 And after a
while came unto him they that stood by, and said
to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for
thy speech bewrayeth thee. 74 Then began he
to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the
man. And immediately the cock crew. 75 And
Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him,
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he
went out, and wept bitterly.
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Proverb of the
Day
Proverbs
13 |
1 A wise son heareth his father's
instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of
his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors
shall eat violence. 3 He that
keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that
openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and
hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall
be made fat. 5 A righteous man hateth
lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh
to shame. 6 Righteousness keepeth him
that is upright in the way: but wickedness
overthroweth the sinner. 7 There is that
maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing:
there is that maketh himself poor, yet
hath great riches. 8 The ransom of a
man's life are his riches: but the poor heareth
not rebuke. 9 The light of the righteous
rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
10 Only by pride cometh contention: but with
the well advised is wisdom. 11 Wealth
gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that
gathereth by labour shall increase. 12 Hope
deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the
desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
13 Whoso despiseth the word shall be
destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be
rewarded. 14 The law of the wise is a
fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
15 Good understanding giveth favour: but the
way of transgressors is hard. 16 Every
prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool
layeth open his folly. 17 A wicked
messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful
ambassador is health. 18 Poverty and
shame shall be to him that refuseth
instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be
honoured. 19 The desire accomplished is sweet
to the soul: but it is abomination to
fools to depart from evil. 20 He that walketh
with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of
fools shall be destroyed. 21 Evil pursueth
sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.
22 A good man leaveth an inheritance
to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner
is laid up for the just. 23 Much food
is in the tillage of the poor: but there
is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son:
but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
25 The righteous eateth to the satisfying of
his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall
want.
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