Part 3 "If Baptism Is So Important."

Good day to all who read and may God bless His Word as you study! We continue with our third and final lesson on "If Baptism Is So Important."

5.) From Acts 16:30-31 we read;
"He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."

This verse is often quoted but then those who question stop short, right in the middle of the story. People like to quote verses 30 and 31 but they don't quote verses 32 and 33. 

Those very next two verses state that the Word of the Lord was preached to them and then they were 'immediately baptized'.

We know from James 2:19-20 that the jailer did not stop once he had a belief in Jesus. Without a doubt there was more as verses 32-33 illustrate so clearly. 

Read for yourself Acts 16:16-33 for more detail. It does no good to tell someone about baptism unless they are first told the message of Jesus Christ. The first step is to believe, then baptism will be effectual.

Faith in Christ and what He taught is what gives baptism its significance. Obviously, it does no good to tell someone to get baptized unless they have first heard the message of the cross and the story of Jesus.

6.) Finally from Romans 10:9-10 we read;
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Remember first, Paul just finished explaining in chapter 6, and in great detail, the role of baptism.

This verse does not nullify that chapter. But I find it is of significance to notice the commentary on this verse in the NIV study Bible that states, --

"'Jesus is Lord', the earliest confession of Christian faith, probably used at baptism."  Unquote

The verbal confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ is made at baptism, and is what is seen in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.

Remember the eunuch asks to be baptized and Philip tells him "if you believe with all your heart, you may."

And then the Ethiopian eunuch confesses faith in Christ with his mouth, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
He is then baptized. This model is also referred to in the first letter of Paul to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:12-14

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

The reference to "eternal life" and the "good confession" makes perfect sense in the light of the correct understanding of baptism.

It makes even more sense when a person understands also, since the first century, it has always been the practice to make a verbal confession of faith in Christ at baptism.

This passage is a reference to that very practice. The confession Jesus made before Pilate was, of course, that He was truly 'The Christ'.

There are several verses that speak of belief and what is tied with that belief and being saved:

Confess with mouth and believe, will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

Believe and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16).

Believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved….and are then baptized (Acts 16:16-33).

Notice belief never stands alone, by itself. There is always some other action associated with it.

Jesus started preaching by telling us to "repent and believe the Good News."

Jesus also said in Luke 13:3 that unless we repent we will all perish. So we can add one more to the above list:

Repent and believe (Mark 1:15)
Remembering we cannot isolate one verse from another, but putting all these scriptures together, let's see what kind of a picture we get:

Confess with mouth and believe will be saved

Believe and is baptized will be saved...

Believe will be saved by a future act….and are then baptized...

Repent and believe...

What is tied to believing?
Repentance
Confession
Baptism

Looking at it from another angle, notice also that baptism always has something else tied to it:
Believing (Acts 8:37; Mark 16:16)
Repentance (Acts 2:38) { Luke 13:3,5}
Confession of faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 8:36-37).

Which all leads to:
Being baptized (in water) for the forgiveness of sins.

This is where we get:
1.) Hear the Word
2.) Believe
3.) Repent of our sins
4.) Confess faith in Christ
5.) Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins
It's that simple. Now go do THE RIGHT THING; Obey God at His Word! May God bless...

Part 2, 'If Baptism Is So Important...'

If you think about it for a moment, any one of the other terms used here could be used in place of baptism. In other words I could say, "If Believing is so important...' or 'If repentance is so important...'

I write this because baptism, a very biblical word, is so often misused or misunderstood altogether. The masses are not willing to put any study into it. They rather follow blindly the teachings of those who make them feel O.K.

So let's pick up where we left off last time. Our third point begins;

3.) In Acts 3:19-20 we read;

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. (NIV)

I find it interesting, the phrase, "and turn to God" in several versions (KJV, NKJV, Darby's, KJ21, Webster's, etc) render this as, "be converted". If a person wants to stick with the NIV, then look at Acts 15:3:
"The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad." (NIV)

The Greek text that the NIV is taken from uses the same root word in both of these passages, only the tense is different (epistrepho/epistrophe). 

So now the question must be asked, what did Peter mean by saying, "Be converted?"

He told them to ''repent and be converted''. 

So it is highly unlikely 'be converted' means only to repent. Otherwise, Peter would then be saying, 'Repent and repent.' No, he must have been saying to repent and something else in addition to repentance. 

To a Jew in the first century, to 'convert' meant something they all understood. A Jew was born into their religion so there was no need to convert. 

Conversion was for those outside of Israel, that is, the Gentiles. And in order for Gentiles to convert or become a Jew, they had to adopt the Jewish set of beliefs (i.e. repent) and then, to complete this conversion and have their status changed, they were to undergo tevilah, which is where they immerse themselves in a water bath called a mikveh. 

'Mikveh' or 'mikvah' is defined as follows:
'Mikvah'- (f., pl. "Mikvaot"); a ritual pool of water, used for the purpose of attaining ritual purity. Immersion in a Mikvah is performed for the following main purposes: 
It is used in connection with Repentance, to remove the impurity of sin. 

It is also used in connection with Conversion, because the convert has taken upon himself or herself to adopt the lifestyle of the Jew, that is based on the recognition of God as King of the Universe and on the obligation to perform the commandments of the Torah.
Regarding the practice of baptizing proselytes, Lightfoot, in Horae Hebraicae explains:

"As soon as he grows whole of the wound of circumcision, they bring him to Baptism, and being placed in the water they again instruct him in some weightier and in some lighter commands of the Law. Which being heard, he plunges himself and comes up, and, behold, he is an Israelite in all things.''

In Acts 2:38 Peter says, ''Repent and be baptized…'' A short while later, he says, ''Repent and be converted…''

Did Peter change his story so soon? 

Or is he saying the same thing?

Jews understood that the conversion process involved this tevilah—which is the Jewish term for what Christians call baptism. Jesus speaks of the same thing in John 3 with Nicodemus.
So although Peter did not use the word "baptism" in Acts 3:19 he was speaking of it!
The phrase, ''Repent and be baptized…'' is synonymous with ''Repent and be converted…''

4.) Now we come to John 3:16;
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

This is probably the most often quoted verse in the New Testament. It is isolated from other portions of God's Word and set apart from the rest of the dialogue in which it took place. 

To 'believe in Jesus' means to believe the gospel message, and baptism is always a part of that gospel message when looked at properly and honestly.

We must also remember that this particular verse is only one small part of a much larger conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. Verse 16 of chapter 3 deals with faith in the Son.

Repentance is talked about in regards to the snake that was lifted up and then again in verses 19-21. 

John 3 verses 3 and 5 deal with baptism. This shows the importance of looking at the overall picture and not focusing in on any single verse or passage. 

With that in mind, the NIV is the only translation that uses the word 'shall' in John 3:16. 

All other translations render this verse, 
'…whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.'
Even "might not perish" is used by those who know Greek best.

The NIV incorrectly takes a 'maybe' and turns it into a 'will be'.

God gave us His Son so that we should not have to perish.

According to James, faith alone, by itself, will not save us:

James 2:19-20
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?"

God's Holy Word tells us that 'Faith' must have actions with which to back it up.

I encourage you to read and re-read God's Word and come to His conclusion in all matters. 
God bless until our next time...

"If Baptism Is So Important..."

If one thing in THIS life is important, it is a proper understanding of how to get to heaven. With so many different 'religions' in our world, how does a person know who is right? After all, every one can't be right if all believe differently.

I believe it takes a simple study of what God Himself has stated in His Holy Word. So let's do that in this study together. Do not take my word for anything you may read here; go to 'The Book' itself for all answers. God bless as you read over the next few lessons.

1.) There is a simple principle of language that many of us constantly use, but overlook in scripture. It is called 'synecdoche'.
It means: the part represents the whole. We use 'synecdoche' all the time in English.

Here are some examples:

1. "Bless your heart" = We don't mean bless the organ that pumps your blood. We mean "Bless all of you." The part represents the whole. The heart represents the whole person. 

2. "It's good to see your face" = "It's good to see YOU, all of you"

3. In a prayer we may say, "Bless the hands that prepared this food" = "Bless ALL of you" 

4. "I like your wheels" = "I like your whole car" 

5. "Let's do a head count" = "Let's count all the people" to include their bodies.

6. "I have 100 head of cattle" = "I have 100 whole cows"
We use 'synecdoche' all the time. It's second nature and we seldom give it a thought.

This kind of language is also used in the Bible. 

When the New Testament writers speak of being saved by believing, they are using "believe" 'synecdocally'.

The term "believe" represents the whole response to the gospel. The emphasis he is trying to make in the context decides which term he uses. 

Sometimes he speaks of being saved by repentance (2 Pet. 3:9) but repentance is representative of the WHOLE response to the gospel to include faith, baptism, and being faithful.

Baptism is used synecdocally in 1 Pet. 3:21 and "believe" in places like Acts 16:31.

But it is apparent that "believe" is used in a representative way in this verse because the jailer was baptized the same hour of the night. Confessing is used in Romans 10:9-10 along with belief.

It is absolutely absurd to expect the New Testament writers to write down every single faith-response to the gospel every time they talk about it. 

But WHATEVER they wrote, whether believe, repent, baptism, works, confess - - ALL were representative of the WHOLE response to the gospel. The hearers understood this.

2.) Baptism is, in fact, mentioned in every single detailed conversion story in the book of Acts. 

We must remember that faith, repentance and baptism, all combined, are what make up the three facets of conversion.

Some passages of scripture emphasize baptism. 
Other passages emphasize belief, and still others emphasize repentance. Some emphasize two out of the three. And yet in still others, all three facets can be seen together.

In the book of Acts, when the question was asked, "What must I do to be saved?" some were told they needed to believe because they had not yet done so.

Others were told to repent because they had not yet done that. And still others were told to be baptized because that still needed to be done. 

If the New Testament and its teachings are taken as a whole, then it is certainly reasonable to conclude that God requires faith, repentance, and baptism for a person to be saved.

For example, just because one particular passage does not emphasize repentance, it does not mean we do not need to repent. Jesus very clearly stated in Luke 13:3, "that unless we repent, we too, will all perish." 

Does that mean then that the passages that emphasize faith, that repentance is not required? Of course not! What about passages that don't mention faith, repentance or baptism? 

Take a look at Acts 14. Here, large numbers of people were being converted, yet nothing is mentioned specifically as to how people responded, not even faith!
The fact that they believed must be inferred. 

Acts 14:21 tells us;
"They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch..."

Next, we find where people were converted, but it only mentions repentance, nothing of faith:

In Acts 26:20;
"First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds."

So we see that some passages speak of repentance. Does that mean they didn't believe? Of course not. Other passages speak of faith or belief. 

Does that mean they did not repent? No. But we now know from the scriptures, for conversion to occur, even those who oppose baptism will state that at least faith and repentance are required.

This tells us we cannot isolate one single passage from the rest of the other scriptures in trying to derive its meaning. In other words, let God's Word speak for itself.

We must look at what the Bible says in all places regarding a particular subject and combine all these passages to see them together as a whole. 

Someone will point out that the fact they repented implies they also believed. This is true. And by the same token, passages that speak only about faith imply, likewise, that they not only repented, but that they were baptized as well.

Again, every detailed conversion story in the book of Acts mentions baptism and that it is for the purpose of washing away sin.

The vague, passing references to conversion mention only belief specifically, but when the scriptures become more specific and detailed, baptism is always there.

Even further, "to believe" implies believing the gospel message, and the gospel message includes not only faith, but repentance and baptism as well.

I find it interesting, but sometimes non-Christians understand baptism better than those who profess a faith in Christ. 

Ask a Hindu what baptism means and they will tell you it is something one does when they want to become a Christian.

Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:19, "I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven…" Jesus mentioned keys in the plural, not one key. So this means there is more than just one single "key".

Take the example of a bank vault that has two or more locks on it. One key is given to one officer of the bank, and a second officer holds a second, different key. It takes both keys to open the vault. Either one by itself will not open the vault.

It is the combination of both keys being used simultaneously that will successfully open the vault. And so it is with conversion and the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 

These keys are: faith, repentance, baptism. It is when baptism is combined with faith and repentance, simultaneously that conversion occurs.

We will continue this study with more references next time. God bless as you study His Holy Word.

"HOW WE THINK OF GOD IMPACTS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM"

The following words were written by A. W. Tozer: "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people have ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God" (The Knowledge of the Holy).

The study of God and what He has revealed about Himself is the loftiest and most significant pursuit that you could ever undertake. God has taken it upon Himself to reveal great truths to us through nature, through His Word as well as in the person of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to go far beyond what we can discuss in this short devotional.

There is a tendency in man to elevate himself and to devalue whatever threatens to expose the truth.

The author of Psalm 50 wrote about how true worship and reliance on God had become faithless and even superficial.

God said that "These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you" (Psalms 50:21).

There are two ways to worship God. Either we strive to be holy as God is holy, or we must attempt to bring Him down to our level and think that He is a lot like us.

David said in 2 Sam. 7:22, "Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears."

This is one reason we need to understand and appreciate The True nature of God. There is none other like HIM!

Another problem we have when we fail to appreciate the true nature of God is that we tend to reduce God to, what I like to call, manageable terms.  

We notice in Romans 1:21-23 that Paul began with the universal acknowledgment of God's existence from which people deliberately turned away and were led to foolishness by exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images to look like mortal men, birds, animals and reptiles.

A good example of this was when Israel made and worshiped the Idol cast in the shape of a calf (Ex. 30:2-4), claiming that "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

Today we make God out to be some kind of Genie who is always there to provide good things for us when we call on Him and the rest of the time we hope He stays out of our way. 

However, we live in a fallen world where bad things often happen to good people. God does not promise us a rose garden here on this earth, but He does give the grace to handle all our problems (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

People who believe that God is unknowable assume that God, for some reason, hides Himself from His creation.

Doesn't it make sense to think that if there is a Divine Being who has created all things and made man in His image (Gen. 1:26-27) that He would want mankind to have fellowship with Him?

This would require Him to reveal Himself to mankind. Well this is what God has done.
Paul said, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20).

Paul explained to the Athenians God's purpose for us: "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring'" (Acts 17:26-28).

In this devotional, I pray you, the reader, will search the Bible to see how God has revealed Himself to us and what it means.

This devotional blog-site is not the end to a means, but a help to those who may be searching for The One True God...
God bless, and Bless Our Great God!!!

'LET US RESTORE' NOT 'REFORM'

First, let's restore The Lord's Supper as we see in The Church at Troas.

Acts 20:7 tells us the Church of Troas met together on the first day of the week to break bread. Paul stayed at Troas for seven days. 
If he could have taken the Lord's Supper during the week, like at a Thursday night candlelight service, he would have done so. He waited for Sunday, so he could meet with the congregation.

Sunday is called the Lord's Day in Revelation chapter one. For many today who 'wear' the name Christian today, Sunday could be called anything but the Lord’s Day. 
The dominant sound on Sunday today is not "Praise the Lord!", but, "That ball is outta' here!"

Jesus arose from the dead on Sunday. He made many of His appearances after the resurrection on Sunday. The Apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit on Sunday. The first gospel sermon was preached on Sunday. The Church began on Sunday. The first converts were immersed on Sunday. The disciples at Troas gathered together on Sunday for the purpose of the Lord's Supper observance.

There are some today who observe the Lord's Supper on Saturday night because they think Troas was on Jewish time. Whatever time system was used at the city of Troas at that time is of no consideration in the holy writ.
There is no way you can take the Lord's Supper on Saturday night today in the good Ole USA in the 21st century, and call it Sunday. 
So let's restore the New Testament Church by restoring the Lord's Supper of the Church at Troas.

Next; Let's restore the preaching of Christ's Word as seen in the Church at Thessalonica.

In a world where toleration is so widespread, let's restore the emphasis on the preaching of the Church at Thessalonica. 

In Acts 17 we are told how Paul started the Church at Thessalonica. He entered into the synagogue and for three Sabbath days had preached the same message; teaching that it was Christ's duty to suffer, and rise again the third day, and stated that this Jesus,

"I proclaim unto you is the Christ."

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul identifies the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and the preaching of that message resulted in the charge against them, "that these who have turned the world upside down have come here also."

The preaching of that message today is the only thing that can turn our world upside down and yet leave it right side up. 

We need to restore this aspect of the New Testament Church. So, let's restore the New Testament Church by restoring the preaching of the Church at Thessalonica.

God bless until our next time...

"RESTORE THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH"

Good day to all who read;

Let's restore the Church of New Testament. 
Maybe a better way to put it would be, let us restore the people to the New Testament Church. 

If you think about it, the New Testament Church has been here since 50 days after the resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost, when the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was first proclaimed, and 3,000 souls were added.

Jesus said that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. So it has always been here since that day, and we need to restore people back to it.

A question often asked is, "Which one of the New Testament Churches do you want to restore?"

How about the one at Sardis, it was dead? How about the one at Laodicea, it was lukewarm? How about the one at Ephesus, it had left its first love? How about the churches in Galatia, they were legalistic?

How about the one at Corinth, it was full of division? Which one of the New Testament Churches should we restore?

Maybe it's hard to see the entire Church from looking at any one of the New Testament congregations, but if we take a look at several of them, the composite of the many will give us an idea of what the Church was really like and what it was meant to be. Let us restore the New Testament Church.

1) LET'S RESTORE THE NAME THAT WAS FAMILIAR TO THE CHURCH AT ROME.

If you had gone to Rome in the first century and asked for the location of most any denomination, either Protestant or Catholic, the members of the Roman Church would have been completely confused. 

They would not know what you were talking about. But if you had said Church of Christ that would have been a familiar name, because Paul had written to the Roman Church and said in Romans 16:16, 

"All the Churches of Christ salute you." 

The Church at Ephesus according to Acts 20:28 would have understood the name Paul used at his meeting with their elders, 

"The Church of God which he purchased with His own blood."

God the Son is the One who purchased the Church with His blood. The church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14:33 would also have recognized the term 'Churches of the saints'.

We know that a saint is a Christian because Paul referred to the Christians as saints in Ephesians 4:12 when he said, 

"The Lord has given us pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering."

Any name found in the scripture is a scriptural name. Is there anything that sows the seed of division any more than denominational names?

I read of a Christian traveler who went to Japan from America, and had need of filling out papers. The Japanese clerk asked about his nationality, his place of birth, his business, and wanted to know,

"What is your religion?" 

The traveler said he was a Christian. The Japanese clerk said, "American, I know you are a Christian, but to what damnation do you belong?"

To avoid much confusion and to be in line with God's Holy Word, let's restore the New Testament Church as far as a name that was familiar to the Churches of the New Testament.

"Correctly Handling The Word of Truth"

       
2 Timothy 2:15

When we consider the Old Covenant or The Law of Moses we need to consider what laws were included in it?

The Old Testament record says: "So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." (Exodus 34:28).

We also read, "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." (Deuteronomy 4:13).

The people at the base of Mt. Sinai agreed to obey all the laws of God as we read Exodus chapters 20-23.

The first covenant, or Testament, included directions for building the tabernacle, the altar, and for the Levitical priests in offering the animal sacrifices. (Exodus chapters 25-31). 

These additional laws were part of the covenant that God made with Israel and that covenant was then ratified, or given formal consent, in the offering of that blood (Exodus 24:6-8).

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He nailed this entire law to the cross taking it out of the way and declaring it obsolete. (Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:14-16)

It no longer has legal or binding authority today and has been replaced with the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13).

Paul deals with this issue in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and also shows us that the Ten Commandments were done away. In verse 3 Paul makes a clear reference to the Ten Commandments when referring to the tables of stone.

In verse 6 he begins to contrast the New Covenant with "the letter," which in context means the letter of the old covenant.

Then in verse 7 and 8 he talks about the law being engraved on stones as well as the shining of Moses' face:

"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?" (NKJV)

The first or old covenant was certainly glorious, but as scripture tells us, it was "fading away" and it was being replaced by a covenant much more glorious; the New Covenant that came by Christ's death and resurrection.

Paul went on to say, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Rom. 8:3-4).

God never intended for the Law of Moses or the First Covenant to make a person righteous. The Law could not do this because it was weak in that it could not forgive and remove sins.
(Read Hebrews 10:1-4)

God planned before the foundation of the world to save mankind by way of His Son. (1 Pet. 1:17-21)

By our Lord's death on the cross, Christ has redeemed us from eternal death and condemnation, which is the penalty of a broken law. (Galatians 3:13; Romans 10:4)

In another revealing discussion of law Paul said:  "Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.  So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.  Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God." 
(Romans 7:1-4).

The Scriptures are always consistent; never contradictory. New Testament Christians are not required to obey the Law of Moses.
Even though it was glorious throughout the Mosaic Dispensation, it has been superseded by Jesus Christ and His New Covenant.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 
40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

God bless until our next time...

"God, You Just Don't Understand"

             


Hebrews 2:14-18

Have you ever spoken these words; or at least thought them to yourself; "God, You just don't understand what I am going through?"

Come on, be honest with yourself and think about it. Remember that time when you were completely filled with anger; or that time you were really disappointed as to how things turned out; or that time you were hurt so badly by someone close in your life; or when your heart was filled with grief and sorrow over the loss of someone you loved.

We have all been told to "trust God" and He will take care of us. But don't we sometimes wonder and doubt that He can really understand what we are going through?

How can God, Who is Almighty, All Powerful, All Wise, how can HE possibly know what I, as a human being, am feeling as I go through this? How can an all righteous and holy God possibly know the struggle that I have with temptation? Does God really understand?

May we not forget that His Holy Word speaks concerning these questions and difficult times in our lives. Remember, we have a High Priest that was both God and man.
He came to this earth and lived in every way as a man, in the flesh, yet still God. 

Notice in Hebrews 2:14-18:
"Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17 For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted."

Consider with me for the next few moments how He meets our needs. Do you have money problems? Jesus was without a place to call home. He said the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but He didn't even have a place to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20) He trusted God daily.

Do you have problems being misunderstood and mistreated? Jesus was constantly being hounded, tested and badgered by the religious leaders of His day, and in front of other people. He trusted God Whom He served.

Have you been betrayed by a friend? One of His closest friends betrayed Him for a few pennies in order to put Him to death, while another denied that he even knew Him. We know as well that they all ran away when He was in trouble. He trusted God in spite of what man could do.

How did Jesus deal with these? When He dealt with grief? They told Him that John the Baptist had been murdered by Herod, He went off by himself to pray.

When Lazarus, whom He loved, died from illness, Jesus wept. When He was tempted by the devil, He quoted scripture. When He knew Peter was going to deny Him, He prayed for Peter. 

While He was being murdered for things He did not do, He prayed that God forgive those who were doing it because they just did not really understand. 

When He saw His mother standing there at His cross grieving, He told His friend and cousin John to take care of her. 

What I want you to see is that God does understand because He has been where we are today; and in every way where we will be tomorrow. 

Jesus knows what you are facing today. He not only knows but He really does understand just how you feel and the struggle that you have in your heart. And, do not forget, He cares. As our High Priest, He is telling His Father, our God, about your need, and mine and explaining what we are really going through.

Hebrews 5:7: "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to The One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission."

May we all rejoice and praise The Lord that we have a God who does understand and Who does care about us and our problems and He is actually in the process of taking care of them for us as we work along side Him faithfully. May God shower His richest blessings on you today as you serve Him. Remember, He is faithful. His Word is True. 

God bless until our next time...

"Calling on the Name of the Lord"

In Romans 10:13 we read, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." In ACTS 2:21, as Peter quotes JOEL 2:32, he says, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  

Our thoughts today will focus on the question, "What does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord?" 

Before we look at what it means, let's notice how some have grossly misinterpreted and misunderstood it's meaning.
Some have the idea that calling on the Lord is nothing more than crying, "Lord, Lord." 

However, Jesus asked in Luke 6:46, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?"
Again He said in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

Still others will tell alien sinners to simply kneel at an altar and pray to the Lord for salvation. 

They insist that this is how anyone calls on the name of the Lord. Prayer, as we see in scripture, is a privilege of God's children. 
Notice in Matthew 6:9, as Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He tells them: "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name."
No unsaved person is ever saved by prayer. We are told in I Peter 3:12, "For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil."

Often in the course of a conversation of this subject, the matter of Cornelius, in Acts 10, will come up. 
It says of him in Acts 10:2, that he was 'A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always". 

Cornelius was not saved by his prayer. Cornelius was a man who reverently worshiped and served God to the best of the knowledge he had of Him.

The man described in Acts 10:2, in spite of his reverence, his sincerity and his good deeds, was lost. He was lost because his sins had not been washed away by the Savior's blood. 
God provided this devout man an opportunity to be instructed and taught the way of truth, just as He will anyone who desires to know HIS truth. 

Notice Acts 10:30-32, "So Cornelius said, 'Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 "and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. 32 'Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.'"

As Peter, the one who spoke to Cornelius and his household tells the account of this occasion, notice what he says in Acts 11:14, 'who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.'

Cornelius had to first hear words that would bring him to salvation. What was he told to do? Acts 10:48, "And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."

Many today teach that a person calls on the name of the Lord when he simply believes. They teach, "All you have to do to be saved is just believe on the Lord." God's Word teaches more than this alone!

James wrote in James 2:17,26, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead"....
26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." 

Obedience to the command of repentance, confession and baptism does not conflict with inspired statements made by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast." 

When an individual is baptized, immersed, into Christ, he/she has done nothing to earn or merit their salvation.  They have simply complied with God's commands in order to receive the spiritual blessings made available by God's grace.

Paul indicated that those who call on the Lord are the ones who hear the gospel, believe the gospel and obey the gospel. Notice Romans 10:14-17, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall thy believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who hath believed our report?' So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

The term 'name of the Lord' means by HIS authority. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:17, "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

His name is above all names and as we are told in Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." 

There is no other authority by which we can be saved, but Jesus Christ Himself. When a penitent believer comes to Him in obedience to the Gospel, that is, to be buried with Him in baptism for the remission of sins as instructed in Acts 2:38, he/she is calling on the Lord's name, or the Lord's authority to save them.

Now go do THE RIGHT THING...Obey God!

"A WALK IN THE OLD PATH" #2

                      
Good day as we continue with our walk on 'The Old Path'.

We cannot walk in the old paths if we do not even know where they are. This is why we are instructed in II Timothy 2:15,
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing THE WORD OF TRUTH."
Also we cannot teach what we do not know. Remember too the rebuke in Hebrews 5:12,

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food." (NKJV)
When we procrastinate and put off improving our spiritual depth in God's Word, this sort of delay becomes a tool of Satan in capturing our souls and leading us in the direction of bondage.
Far too many today would rather hear stories, be amused and entertained, rather than hear sermons and lessons from God's Word that rebuke, exhort or edify.

Paul tells us in II Timothy 4:3, "For the time will come when they will NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE; but after their own desires will they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears."
Does this not sound like our religious world today?

Notice what is said about God's people in Jeremiah 5:31, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so:.."

One of the saddest scenes in Judah's doom is in Jeremiah 7:1-11 where the nation of God made their sanctuary their cemetery! Oh, believe it or not, they put too much emphasis on the temple itself and forgot to cleanse their own hearts by God's standard.

This is like so many today who refuse to walk in the old paths of personal devotion in God's Word while they foolishly center their religion around a building, a music program or entertainment of some sort. Where is the love and study for the personal letter God wrote for us?

When we try to guide ourselves, that which Jeremiah 10:23 says is not in us to do, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps", we then lose contact with our Maker and the church crumbles. Paul brings to our attention that our sufficiency is not within ourselves.

In II Corinthians 3:5 he tells us, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God," (NKJV)

This sort of deterioration was carefully recorded  in Lamentations 4, where Jeremiah, weeping, reminded Judah of how the people who had been raised in scarlet now searched the garbage dumps looking for tiny reminders of, you guessed it, the 'old paths'.                    

Just as Judah mocked the prophets, some today ridicule and rebuke faithful proclaimers of the Gospel Truth. Walking in that broad path that leads to destruction of which Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7:13-14, will prove to be a course many will live to regret. Deceptive human pride gets in the way of heaven's plan and causes many to fall, even the most religious. Read Matthew 7:21f.

The wise man tells us in Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." 

God, through the prophet Jeremiah tried to impress on Judah that a person must seek the old paths, and not avoid them. This is key. When good and honest hearts desire to do right in the eyes of God and heed His Word as written, the problem will be quickly solved.

May God help us to point men in that direction, and may we also be sure that we also walk there, as well. God’s desire is that all men would be saved and live with Him eternally. 

God in His wisdom has laid out the path on which we must walk in order to live with humans. That Path has not changed since He set it in motion. Only those who seek that same old path and walk on it will be blessed with eternal life.

Too often we use the phrase, 'Get off the beaten path and try something new.' When it comes to God and His Word, His mind is set on 'THE OLD PATH'. 
God bless until our next time...

"A Walk On The Old Path"

                   

Jeremiah, called the weeping prophet, made it clear that refusing to walk in "the old paths" was a definite sign of apostasy on the part of Judah.

We read in Jeremiah 6:16, "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' (NKJV)

Babylonian captivity was a difficult reality for thousands, because of rebellion and spiritual apathy in their lives! And today, we can see the same trend taking place in the Lord's church.

We can definitely notice a great disrespect for God's plan when it comes to the purity of the church as well as the sanctity of the home.                                                   

Following the standard set by God's Holy Word is more than some folk intend to do. When we read and compare the background of the problem in Jeremiah's day with the similar situation of today, we learn again the lesson that human nature has not changed in all these centuries.

A lack of concern for divine authority can be clearly detected by any honest student of the Scriptures.

What caused the apostasy in Jeremiah's time? Why is it that his own people rejected "the old paths"? And why are these the same problems in our present time?

As we study the Scriptures, we can find a minimum of eight areas that contributed to the sin of Judah in 600 B.C., and then see the sad application to the spiritual decline of many today.

If we can gain insight into human weakness and then correct our back-sliding ways, our study will be beneficial. If we do not care to have the knowledge and wisdom to change, then something even worse than Babylonian captivity is waiting.

The reasons God punished Israel and Judah can be found in Judges 2 and II Chronicles 36.

In a nutshell, those passages tell us that Jehovah God grew tired of their: 
(1)Idolatry, 
(2) Ingratitude, 
(3) Immorality, 
(4) Disobedience, 
(5) Stubborn will, 
(6) Rebellion, 
(7) Irreverent attitude toward worship, 
(8) Mocking of the prophets.

The form of idolatry that hinders many people today is the overwhelming sin of covetousness. Yes covetousness. Consider what Paul tells us in Colossians 3:5;

"Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (NKJV)

Today the church has many who are obsessed with houses, lands, jewelry, automobiles, boats and other fancy "things" and material concerns that war against the simplicity of "the old paths".

Worldliness occupied the minds of Israel and Judah in the days of the prophets, and this fleshly thinking robs God of the full dedication and commitment from many professing Christians in our own day and time.

Too often the time that should be devoted to the worshiping and serving of God is devoted to the desire and concern of "things"; and, as we all know, things that do not last.

Rebellion toward the Word of God is graphically seen in the lack of Bible knowledge that is so evident among members of the body of Christ in our generation.

I will stop here for today and we will finish our study next time...God bless and Bless Him in your living.