the enemy within

The Word for today:
Psalm 55


mark this: Psalm 55:12-14 --
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God


Psalms 52 through 55 present pictures of the enemies of our souls.

Yesterday we saw that Psalms 52, 53, and 54 were pictures of the deceiver in our midst, energized and directed by the spirit of antichrist.

The deceiver in the midst of the Garden of Eden was in the guise of a serpent.

The deceiver in the midst of King David's court was Ahithophel, the brilliant political strategist who deserted David, joining David's son Absalom in civil war. Like the serpent in the garden, Ahithophel's words were smooth as butter. But war is in his heart (1).

The deceiver in the upper room, at Jesus' Last Supper, was Judas Iscariot. Judas' betrayal was the unkindest cut of all:
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God (2).

As we saw yesterday, this pattern will persist when the Antichrist will betray the nation of Israel. He will pretend to be their friend, he will make a covenant with them, and then he will betray them.

So we see evidence of this pattern yesterday and tomorrow. But what about today?

The deceiver is in our midst today--just as he was in the Garden of Eden, in King David's court, and in the upper room. There are churches with steeples -- even wth crosses atop those steeples -- which deny the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ:
There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them (3);
and which deny the power of God's Holy Spirit:
having the appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof (4).

The most harmful enemies of the church have not attacked from outside her walls. They have craftily, subtly betrayed God from within. That is why we must diligently and constantly study God's Word--or else we, like Eve, will be deceived by smooth words, subtly twisted.

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(1) Psalm 55:21; (2) Psalm 55:12-14; (3) 2 Peter 2:1; (4) 2 Timothy 3:5

guises of the Deceiver

The Word for today:
Psalms 52, 53, 54

mark this: Psalm 53:1 --
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity.


Psalms 52 through 55 contain shadowy references to the Antichrist, a person (1) who will appear and deceive the nations in the days just before the return of Jesus. This person will lie to the people about God and about Christ--exactly as Satan, appearing as a serpent, lied about God to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan's lies and deceiving schemes have never changed.

Through God's Word in the Old Testament, we knew a great deal about Christ before He appeared in person. Just so, the spirit of antichrist, now abroad in the world, is proclaiming Antichrist's doctrine prior to his actual appearance. His word and works are already on display, for all to see.

The spirit of antichrist (2) is just what it sounds like--a pervasive force opposed to Jesus Christ. Persistent and powerful voices in media, government, education, commerce, religion, so-called science, philosophy, law, and the arts are wed in conspiracy to deny God:
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. (Psalm 53:1)

He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)

We will consider more about this matter when we look at Psalm 55 tomorrow. In the meantime, the Bible student should familiarize himself with the following references from 1 and 2 John. The upper and lower case instances of 'A(a)ntichrist' should be visually noted:

(a) Antichrist, the person, has not yet appeared. He is denoted with the upper-case 'Antichrist' in 1 John 2:18.

(b) The spirit of antichrist, now in the world, is denoted with the lower-case 'antichrist' in 1 John 2:18, 4:3 and 2 John 1:7.

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Count on the LORD

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 24

mark this: 2 Samuel 24:10 --
And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."


Numbers. Statistics. How many. How much.

In a disappointing episode--a lapse of faith--David commands that the number of soldiers in his army be counted. When the tally was complete, there were well over a million soldiers at David's command.

David was not counting on the LORD here. He was counting on the might of his army.

But we are to place our confidence in the LORD:
Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight (1).

Years and years before, facing the giant with only a sling and five smooth stones, David trusted in the LORD and not in his own strength. You don’t feel the need of God when you have one million men. When you have only a slingshot and five stones, you know you need Him.

If we're going to count, let's count on the LORD.

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(1) Jeremiah 9:23-24

the bad will come untrue

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 23

mark this: 2 Samuel 23:1-4 --
Now these are the last words of David.
Thus says David the son of Jesse;
Thus says the man raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
"The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
'He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.'


There is a storybook quality to the Bible for the child of God--for all who decide to go God's Way (1), following Jesus.

Underneath all of its spiritual and moral heaviness, behind its relentless display of our dark sins, shines a warm, guiding Light:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (2).

The child of God, turning the pages of his storyook Bible, finds that...

Our Father is kind and compassionate:
As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust (3).

Our eldest Brother is brave and heroic. He went out to search for us when we were lost. He found us and carried us home:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul (4).

And the selfless, whispering Holy Spirit--God's Promise to never leave us or forsake us (5), leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake (6).

Because of Jesus' work at the cross, God has not dealt with us according to our sins, or punished us according to our iniquities (7). The Good News--the gospel of Jesus Christ--is that God has chosen to forget our sins (8) and remember only the good things. He sees just the Jesus in us (9).

David is here called "the sweet psalmist of Israel." God has forgotten David's sins, but recorded his poems in the Bible so that they will be forever read; the story of scripture is that the bad will come untrue, while the good will prevail.

And some day--some golden someday--we will see our fearless and valiant Brother, who found us and carried us home.

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(1) see John 14:6; (2) John 1:5; (3) Psalm 103: 13-14; (4) Psalm 23:1-3; (5) see Joshua 1:5; Matthew 28:20; Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33; (6) Psalm 23:3; (7) Psalm 103:10; (8) Isaiah 38:17; (9) 2 Corinthians 5:21.

like a Rock

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 22

mark this: 2 Samuel 22:2-4 --
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.


In the Bible, relationship with God is life: those who are saved will forever be with God!

The unsaved don't die in the sense that they cease to exist. They continue to exist forever, but they die in the Biblical sense--they are forever separated from God.

Life, then, does not consist of breath or consciousness. Life consists of God.

When we have a right relationship with God restored through faith in Jesus Christ, we are enabled to really live.

David, the great poet, recognized God in all the experiences of life. Our chapter today--nearly word for word the same as Psalm 18--celebrates David's deliverance from his enemies and from death:
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.
Through faith in Christ, we also have been rescued from spiritual death at the hands of our enemies.

The more we study the Bible, the richer and deeper its words become. "The LORD is my rock" has some poetic meaning to the person unfamiliar with scripture; a rock is permanent, unmovable. But the Bible student who has followed the Rock, Jesus Christ (1), as He rolls all the way through the Bible--from Genesis to Gethsemane to Golgotha to glory--is blessed with a richness of meaning far, far beyond the mere natural understanding of a physical object.

So call upon the LORD Jesus Christ, the Rock. Build your life upon Him (2). So shall you be saved from your enemies.

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(1) see 1 Corinthians 10:1-4; (2) see Matthew 7:24-25

no respecter of nations

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 21

mark this: 2 Samuel 21:1 --
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gib'eonites to death." (2Sa 21:1)


I don't fear what other nations might do as much as I fear what God might do.

What I fear in America are the choices of Americans--choices in lifestyle; choices in the voting booth. I fear our choices concerning God's standards, God's Word, God's Son.

America in so many ways has chosen to withdraw from God. What I fear is that God, no longer able to acquiesce to our choices, will have to withdraw His hand of blessing and protection over our nation.

What I fear is that God will keep His Word. In fact, I know He will.

Our scripture today indicates that God deals with nations. God judges nations. God holds nations responsible--it does not make any difference what nation it is. God judged Egypt. God judged Babylon. God judged Assyria, Greece, and Rome. And God will judge America.

His judgment, as indicated in our passage today, need not be dramatic. It wasn't lightning and thunder, fire and brimstone, earthquake or plague which overtook Israel. It was not something at all. It was a famine--a lack of something--which overtook Israel. God had withdrawn His blessing.

I certainly do not know if God's hand of blessing over America has been withdrawn. What I know from scripture is that God is no respecter of persons (1): if he judges Sally, he'll judge Sue. And He is no respecter of nations: if He judges Israel, He'll judge America, too.

He judged His very own Son--the apple of His eye (2)--when my sins were placed upon Him at the cross.

Any sins--personal or national--not placed upon Jesus through faith will be judged. God's Word says so.

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(1) Acts 10:34; (2) Zechariah 2:8

Jesus only

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 19:40 -- 20:26

mark this: 2 Samuel 20:11--
"...whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!"

You follow Jesus, but do you follow Jesus only?--
When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only (1).

People have a tendency to link Jesus with political or social issues. Beware of linking Jesus with anything or anybody. This bad linkage might take the following forms:

"Real Christians are Republicans. Jesus would have been a Republican."
"Speaking in tongues is the true evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit."
"(My denomination) teaches the truest doctrine."
"Any disciple of Jesus must reject evolution."
"How can you drive a Hummer and call yourself a real Christian?--they are environmentally irresponsible."
"Jesus hates rap and rock 'n roll."
"No real Christian would ever smoke, drink, go to movies, hunt deer, wear make-up, etc., etc."

Whether the statements above are true or not is beside the point. The question is, do you link Jesus to anything other than Himself?

Don't fall for nations or denominations; preachers or teachers; bloggers or loggers; trends or friends; schools or rules; fashions or passions; FOX or CNN; Republicans or Democrats; Limbaugh or Obama; Protestants or Catholics; labor or management; capitalists or socialists...

Read your Bible. It is the only way to get to know Jesus. But even the life-long Bible student is often surprised by something Jesus does or says in scripture. We learn never to presume what Jesus would think on any issue unless it is explicitly stated in scripture.

"What would Jesus do?" I'm not always sure. But God has sent his Holy Spirit to guide us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (2)--the very same Spirit who guided Jesus out of Nazareth into the desert, through Cana to Capernaum, through Samaria to Judea, to Jerusalem, to Gethsemane, to Golgotha, to glory.

Along that pathway we will get to know the real, the only, Jesus.

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(1) Matthew 17:8; (2) Psalm 23:3