“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)

Those of us in this country cannot imagine taking a bath or shower in dirty water, but many in other parts of the world have no choice. They don’t even have clean water to drink. How blessed we are! There is really no excuse for anyone in this country not having clean water to drink or bathe in.

I recall that when I was young we had a hand dug well in the front yard. There was also a hand dug well on my paternal grandparents’ farm that functioned for many years. Actually, I think it is still operative. Folks, you just haven’t tasted good water until you have drunk from a hand dug well. It’s cold and very pure tasting. I would add that there remains another area where I was raised that people to this day go to with empty jugs to get fresh mountain water.

Washing dishes is something I really don’t mind doing and actually enjoy to a point. Most guys would eat off the floor before they would wash a plate, but I was not raised that way.

I was the oldest of two sisters and a brother. Our chores were to do whatever needed to be done, as long as we were physically capable. For example, my sisters were not expected to carry in a bucket of coal because it was too heavy for them to carry. (My brother was too young, so guess who got the job.) However, we all would help my Dad with weeding and hoeing the garden, and my Mother with the summer canning. In between all that we gathered the produce from the garden, helped with household chores and also anything to be done outside; mowing the yard for example. My Mother preferred that I mow, since I put more effort into it. My Dad and brother gave it a lick and a promise, so they could get it behind them and move on. By the way, for many years prior to my mowing the yard, we would sweep the yard because we had no grass. All the children kept it worn off.

I also enjoyed ironing, believe it or not. People rarely do that anymore except my wife on some clothing items. My brother loved to mop the floors. I always wondered if my Mother or Dad dropped him on his head when he was younger.

Okay, let’s get back to washing dishes. I have seen people wash dishes in what I would definitely consider dirty water … no, filthy water. They run the water but don’t rinse the plates off first. I can’t stand that. I rinse the plates, etc. so well they almost don’t need washing before I actually wash them. (Yes, we do have a dish washer, but rarely use it. My wife uses it to store her canning jars.) The point is: dirty, contaminated water is fit for nothing.

I’ll bet you’re wondering if I’m ever going to get to the point. Eventually. Let’s read another Bible verse first though.

“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:1)

When I read this verse I think of the river that is located near the location of my childhood. It is called Tug Fork River and is a tributary of the Big Sandy River which is a tributary of the Ohio River. It isn’t very clean, but I can remember that when the miners had their two week vacation each year it would clear up … a little. My paternal grandfather told me when I was about ten or so that when he was growing up the river was so clear and clean you could see the bottom and the fish swimming around.  Well those days are gone.

In the next passage Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well. If you would like to read of the entire account you can find it at John 4:1-21. I am only showing five of the verses below.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:10-14)

Just as unclean water isn’t acceptable to wash dishes and a dirty river isn’t suitable to swim in, man is unclean and not fit for Heaven. If I would never wash dishes in dirty water or swim in a river of impurities, how could I possibly expect God to allow me in His home as an unclean vessel? The Bible says that, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)”

Thanks to the Gospel of Jesus Christ I have believed and am a child of God, and because of that the Holy Spirit purifies my life through the Word of God. (Hebrews 10:22 see above)

Because I am a child of God my home is now God’s home and I am bound for Heaven. There will be a continual flow of eternal life from the throne of God to each of us who are His. (Revelation 22:1 see above)

Today we have to use purifying methods to have clean water for drinking, bathing, washing clothes, dishes, even our cars. Our local water company sends us a bill each month for this service. Can you imagine drinking water from the faucet today that has not met the purifying standards of our water plant? I don’t even want to think about it.

We appreciate our local water company because our earthly bodies will always thirst, but just as Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

This water is Jesus Christ. In Him we will never thirst. Why is that? We never thirst because our spirit is in union with His Spirit that lives within us. We will never thirst because His righteousness is pure and undefiled, but that’s not all. He gives us His righteousness.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

As long as we live in these bodies we will thirst for water from the earth, but what about our soul? It also thirsts. It thirsts for God.

Until we recognize and admit that we are unclean, a sinful man, we will never ask God for this pure water that can only come from Jesus Christ. We would never knowingly put water in our body that is contaminated, but Satan waters our soul with all the contaminates of his evil being. Now is the time to ask Jesus for the life giving water of eternal salvation in Him and accept His righteousness.

All we have to offer are dirty rivers, mud holes, and filthy dish water at times. Only God can give us that water which is absolutely pure and undefiled. We get His best even when all we have to offer Him is … well, nothing really. And that is the only way to come to Christ. We must come to Him thirsty with nothing to offer but our faith in Him. Then, He promises to save us by His grace. At that point our rags come off and He clothes us with His righteousness.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

“You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” is a saying that goes all the way back to the 1500s. It’s just another way of saying that you cannot take something of inferior quality and make something of value. However, this is exactly what we have been doing in this country since 1962.

In 1962 our esteemed Supreme Court ruled that “officially sponsored prayer in public school was unconstitional” in the case of Engel v. Vitale.

In 1963 the Supreme Court ruled that “mandatory prayers and Bible reading in public schools was unconstitional” in the case of Murray v. Curlett.

In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled, “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any affect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. This is not a permissible state objective under the First Amendment.” Stone v. Graham

In other words, our Supreme Court was concerned that the students might actually read and follow the teaching of the Ten Commandments. Now that is interesting. Here is what the Ten Commandments say.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself idols and worship them.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Seventeen years later, in Paducah, Kentucky, three Christian students were murdered and five others seriously injured by a fellow student. They had met in a school hallway where the Ten Commandments could no longer be posted (thanks to our Supreme Court), to enjoy Bible reading and prayer together. Maybe if the Bible, prayer and the Ten Commandments had remained in school, the student murderer would not have broken commandment number six. Just saying.

Our schools have never been perfect since they are comprised of imperfect people, but at least our hallways, play grounds and class rooms were safe environments when I was attending school. I am 72 now (2019), so you do the math. By the way, no one forced us to read the Bible or hear it read. No one forced us to pray, and no one forced us to read and adhere to the Ten Commandments.

It is a travesty that a Supreme Court of nine people has made decisions that has crippled the future of over 300,000,000 of their fellow Americans. Why am I saying it has crippled our future? Look around you folks. Since we kicked God out of our society we have plunged into the sewers of immorality and anarchy. We have taken what is holy and trampled it into the mud. We have spit in God’s face and proclaimed, “I’LL DO IT MY WAY!” We have been trying to make silk purses out of sow’s ears and we are falling apart as a nation.

We are now at the juncture of our society that the most despicable and lurid sexual practices are being forced upon decent Americans. We either hold our nose and eat from their plate of debauchery, or suffer the consequences. Godly parents are concerned for the welfare of their children, not because they might chew gum in class, but because of fellow students who are brainwashed murderers, without conscience, because they have no Biblical background which might have had a positive influence upon them.

Illicit drug usage is increasing at an alarming rate. Violence of every kind is out of control.

(By the way, my heart goes out to good teachers and police officers who are having their hands tied behind their backs while having to deal with this mess.)

One thing, among many, my wife and I are noticing in our neck of the woods is the violence against babies and small children. Just last week a little two year old girl was beaten to death by her mother’s boyfriend.

This animal needs to be tried in a court of law and promptly executed, but it won’t happen.  He will be tried, given a few years, eventually released on probation, and commit another atrocity upon someone else. God instituted capital punishment, the death penalty, to administer His justice upon evildoers.

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” (Genesis 9:6)

Why are so many acting like animals (my apologies to the animal kingdom)? When God is removed from a society, Satan is right at the door to take over. There is a vacuum in the human heart that must be filled. It’s either filled with the Spirit of God or something else. When we removed God from our midst, Satan came in and took residence. Now we are reaping what we have sown.

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind …” (Hosea 8:7)

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8)

Today’s society is all about (1) self, (2) money and (3) pleasure. The theologians call that (1) humanism, (2) materialism and (3) hedonism. Can anyone in all honesty deny that as a majority, our society worships these three and have made them gods?

I am constantly reminded of  the following Scripture passage:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. (Isaiah 5:20-23)

This is exactly, to the tee, what we, as a nation, have done. Have we no fear of God? We don’t seem to. Now please read the remaining verses in that chapter.

Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

“Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!

Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken.

Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue.

In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, there is only darkness and distress; even the sun will be darkened by clouds.” (Isaiah 5:24-30)

Yes, I’m well aware these words are to Israel. I am also well aware of another verse which says:

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

Many of us throughout this great land must decide who we are going to serve. We are at a crossroads. When God is not in our lives we revert to animalistic behavior, and that is what we have become. Is this really what we want? There is no peace, no success but in Jesus Christ. We must stand up for Him, if we are truly His.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html