Joshua 24:15 – 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.

2 Corinthians 2:15 – For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

2 Corinthians 2:16 – To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Ephesians 5:2 – And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Isaiah 5:20 – Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Hello readers, new blog today, and once again, short blog. And today, essentially talking about how God’s word divides between people. It divides people, it divides between people. Heaven or hell? Life or death? Saved or unsaved? There are only ever 2 categories, there are only 2 kingdoms… the kingdom of Jesus Christ or the kingdom of the devil. Because for some people God’s word is wisdom, and to others it is foolishness. The Bible says God’s word is sweeter than honeycomb, but to many of us it is not sweet, but bitter. If not bitter, it’s bland. If not bland, it’s just fairly old and irrelevant and nonsensical. Manna means “what is it?”, just like the children of Israel, most people get to God’s word, to the gospel, and they’re like… what is it? We don’t even read God’s word, and it doesn’t seem wise or worthwhile to us at all. For some people God’s ways are stupid, but for other’s God’s ways are eternally wise.

The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God’s word will show you who and what you are. As you read, you see yourself, it’s a mirror just as James says, God’s word cuts straight through all of us and exposes us, our spiritual condition, the light is shone in on our sin, on our darkness, on our motives. The layers are peeled back, and in full view, because we are naked and open unto God. And we either walk away, or we come to the light, are reproved and get right with God.

God’s word, God is the divider. He, right back in Genesis 1, divided the light from the darkness, and he still does today. God is a God of separation. Evil and good, light and darkness, right and wrong, clean and unclean, pure and impure, holy and unholy are all eternally separate. There is no compromise to be had, God is not a God of compromise. Compromise is a killer. Compromise happens when we don’t fully obey God, or fully commit, or full follow, when we mix it up a bit. Compromise is still a choice as well, we try to get a bit of everything, but a bit of everything is just choosing one and not the other… you cannot serve two masters. You’ll just end up serving the devil, even a saved person can end up in Satan’s pocket, he wants your life, your purpose, your witness, your worship. A little leaven leavens the lump. That’s why God purges us, and we are commanded to purge the leaven out of our lives. Or our entire life will end up leavened.

In the Bible Jesus said if the light in us is darkness, how great is that darkness! How can a saved person become so darkened! How can our light be put out? We are commanded to let our light shine, but instead all that people see and all that is in us is darkness. How can this be? Well the Bible tells us, if our eye is single (one focus, on Jesus Christ – looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith) then our whole body shall be full of light. But if our eye is evil (following lusts and pride, walking carnally… the Bible says if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit …. what are you led by… the Spirit or by something or someone else?) then our body will become full of darkness. As soon as we lose that singleness of mind, that singleness of serving God first, of Jesus being Lord of our lives, we start to slip. Fellowship is broken, communion with God is ceased, we drift. The Bible commands us to take up our cross. We all have a cross to bear. We’ve got to take it up. But will we take up our cross and follow him? Or not? The Bible speaks of reckoning ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto Christ. We have to die to ourselves practically for God to really start using us. Noone dies to themselves anymore. There’s no more he must increase and I must decrease, instead it’s me, me, me, me, me, me… me, myself and I.

We like Pilate can try and wash our hands of deciding on what to do with Jesus, but you cannot, just as he could not. Most Christians never enter the promised land, but instead stay in the wilderness, longing to go back to Egypt, and going back to Egypt in their hearts. They are dragged down, pulled down, and wander aimlessly and their lives are summed up in five letters…. w a s t e. And not entering because of unbelief, not entering because of disobeying God, never crossing that flooding Jordan river (which would part before them if they would just step in!!!) into victory, and starting to fight the real battles and possessing land and promises, but instead wasting out in the desert. Muddling around. In not deciding, you have decided. And the decision is already made, if you don’t believe you are condemned already, you are already dead in your sins. There is no middle ground. You serve God or you serve the devil, you are a child of God or a child of the devil. It’s black and white. And whatever you serve, you will love that, and hate the other. If you serve the devil you will hate God. If you serve sin you will hate God. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.

There’s an interesting verse in the Bible. In Nehemiah 2:10 – When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. Nehemiah had come to rebuild the walls, and these two blokes were grieved about it! It grived them! Goodness, truth, holiness, doing right grieves a lot of people. We can get to such an upside down mental space that our thinking is flipped completely. That’s what happens when you reject truth, God will let you choke on a life of delusion and lies instead. Because if you reject truth, all that is left is a lie. And people not only reject truth, but the truth and goodness and God and right grieves them. Are you in that boat? The Bible, God’s word grieves you? His ways grieve you? Does it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord? That’s why we go our own way, because we don’t want his way. It’s not right to us. What do you think of God’s ways, of God’s messengers? Do they grieve you? Does doing right seem wrong to you? We can so easily and so quickly become utterly reprobate in our thinking. We think wrong is right and right is wrong. We get all messed up. Isaiah 5:20 – Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

To the main point of this blog… what is the savour that the Bible has to you? That God has to you? That the gospel has to you? How does it all smell to you. What savour is it? The savour of life or the savour of death? Sweetness or sourness… bitterness… blandness… nothingness? What do you smell, what is the savour to you? Does God’s word put you off? Do God’s ways, his judgements, his statutes, his wisdom … does it all rub you the wrong way? Does it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord? You may not say it, but when we go our own way, when we reject truth, that’s what we are saying, even if we do not verbalize it. People don’t openly call God a liar, but they do with their lives and their actions. If you believe evolution you call God a liar, even if you do not call God a liar with your mouth. There are so many ways we call God a liar… even though we’d never actually verbalize those words. But you might as well if your life, action, deeds call him a liar, which shake your fist in God’s face. God’s not mocked, don’t fool yourself.

And furthermore… what savour are you to those around you? Because if we are saved, if we have Christ in us, the Bible says we will be a savour of life to some and a savour of death to some. It’s good to have peace with all men the Bible says, but Jesus came not to send peace, but a sword. Fact is, if you are saved and follow Jesus, you’ll cop what he copped. He was rejected of men, despised, shamed. Many people don’t like saved people. Not because of the person, but because of the person in that person! Jesus said the servant is not greater than his master… they hated Jesus, they will hate you as well. If they don’t hate you, maybe there is a problem. So the questions are, firstly, what do you smell when you read God’s word, when you hear the gospel, when you learn of the Lord Jesus Christ? And secondly, what savour, what smell are you to others?

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