Yearly Archives: 2007

How to Stay Safe in the World Today

Posted on by Johnny Angel

(The following is a tongue-in-cheek article e-mailed to our good friend Johnny Angel, and the article that follows was his reply).

1. Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.

2. Do not stay home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

3. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians.

4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.

5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals. So…above all else, avoid hospitals.

BUT…You will be pleased to learn that only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!

…And…Bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths during Bible study is even less.

So…for SAFETY’S sake—Attend church, and read your Bible.

IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Okay, like most of the things we accept, this is seemingly innocent enough. But let’s take a closer look, shall we?

While it may be true that church is the safest place for our physical bodies, we know that it is our spiritual being with which we should be concerned. Our bodies are degenerating while we still inhabit them (II Corinthians 4:16) and are going to die, sooner or later.

The part that will survive is our soul. The soul is the part we need to worry about keeping safe! To do this we need to be assured that we believe the correct doctrine that was expressed to us by our Creator. It is this belief that makes us safe and keeps us safe spiritually throughout this life, and also throughout the life to come.

Okay, so where do we get this correct doctrine? At church? Which church? Some Baptists teach that you are saved and sealed by water baptism. Our Church of Christ friends teach you can lose your salvation if you don’t ask for forgiveness for each sin. Meanwhile Roman Catholics say you need to be faithful to the Church and can be absolved of sin by the priest. Finally, Universalists insist that God is a loving God and that nobody needs to worry about going to Hell because Hell really doesn’t exist.

These are only four “Christian” churches. Do they all teach sound doctrine? Are you going to commit your eternal being to one of these, based upon the preaching of one of their teachers? (Most people do exactly this!) There are hundreds of “Christian” churches and denominations, not to mention all the ones of other faiths and orders that all teach variations of opposing doctrine.

Let me ask you once again…to which church are you going to go to in order to learn how to be safe (saved)? My former electronics teacher (who is also the pastor of a small Methodist church) told me, “It really doesn’t matter that much, which church you attend.” On this point, I have to agree with him. There are 131 churches here in Cumberland County, Tennessee and many of them cannot teach you anything that will lead you to being eternally safe!

Most people are going to remain spiritually dead throughout their entire church experience because they have believed in a false doctrine that has been taught to them on a weekly basis by their church teachers. So let me ask you, is your Bible study class a “safe” place to be?

Question: How can you know you are a saved believer in the faith? (As opposed to being a believer in one of the other faiths?) You have to take this responsibility upon yourself and find out. (It isn’t easy and most would rather not even try!)

Answer: You have to take each aspect of what you believe to be the gospel and compare it to Scripture to see if it is true or if it is missing from Scripture or if it is opposed to Scripture, or if it agrees with Scripture. (Have you turned from sin and made Jesus the Lord of your life? Sounds real lofty, but try to find that one in your Bible!)

Warning: Practically no preachers and teachers of false doctrine will “rightly divide” the Scriptures as we are told to do in II Timothy 2:15, thereby giving the illusion that the various doctrines they teach can be rationalized by allegorizing various Scripture passages. (You’d better be a really sharp cookie to be able to separate the sheep from the goats on this!) The detractors of the faith are adept professionals of deception.

Consider: While most preachers are teaching that the devil is trying to persuade you to do dastardly deeds (lie, cheat, murder, steal, cuss, drink, etc.), you need to compare this to Scripture to see if this is true. Actually, we are told that Satan wants to be “like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14). He is teaching against dastardly deeds and presenting himself as God. Satan’s followers (the Devil’s Advocates) can be seen wearing purple robes in pulpits teaching false doctrine that will assure that none are saved according to the faith!

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

“Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

Do you still contend that the safest place to be is in church?

I will do you a bit of a service here by giving you some foundation that you can use if you decide to examine your belief system:

1. God created the heavens and the earth. He has a plan for the heavens. He has a plan for the earth.

2. The Old Testament does not begin in Genesis. The Old Testament (Covenant) was made with the seed of Abraham (Israel). The terms of the covenant were given in Leviticus 26.

3. Israel was promised the earth (real estate), an everlasting kingdom.

4. The covenant was irreparably broken by Israel and the five courses of curses (as described in Leviticus 26) are in order. Four of them have already taken place. The ultimate fulfillment of one still remains, the great tribulation, the likes of which the world has never seen (Matthew 24:21).

5. God told Satan that the seed of the woman would be his destruction (Genesis 3:15). Satan then instrumented the destruction of the woman’s seed (Abel) and the contamination of the race with fallen angels who married women and produced a race of giants (Genesis 6:1-4) that were destroyed by God in Noah’s flood. After God made it clear that Satan’s fall would come specifically at the hands of the seed of Abraham, Satan continued this endeavor with the slaying of the children of Israel upon successive occasions.

6. God persevered with Israel to offer them the chance to accept their Messiah up through the mid-part of the Book of Acts. Acts is actually the story of the fall of Israel.

7. The Old Testament (Covenant) does not end at Malachi. The kingdom was presented “at hand” by Jesus and His disciples throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and actually offered by Peter shortly after Pentecost (Acts 3:19). (The division placed in your Bible between the Old Testament and the New Testament was put there by men who did what seemed best to them at the time of their publication.)

8. The nation Israel that we see today is not the nation Israel that we see in Bible prophecy, where God brings the people together by His divine power. Israel of prophecy will not have to deal with terrorist’s bombings and trading land for peace with her neighbors. God will deal with Israel’s “neighbors” at that time.

9. Israel has always been described in Scripture as the “sign” nation (Psalm 74:9; I Corinthians 1:22). She always looked for a sign, and God obliged. The signs and wonders (miracles) in Acts were leading up to the beginning of the final course of curses (the great tribulation). The miracles of drinking poisonous water, surviving bites by poisonous serpents and physical survival in those tribulation times will require supernatural attributes (Mark 16:17,18; Revelation 8:11). The books of Romans through Philemon in your Bible are an intermission from God’s plan with Israel. He again picks up with that plan in Hebrews and continues on through the Book of Revelation.

10. We are not spiritual Israel. (This is one of the biggest lies we have learned in these “safe” churches!) God made promises to Abraham that he and his descendants would possess their lands forever. Since Israel (as a nation) didn’t exist for hundreds of years, the “early Church Fathers” took it upon themselves to “help God to save face” and allegorize Scripture. They said, since God cannot lie, then we (the Body of Christ) must be Israel (spiritually speaking) and as such we are also the Bride of Christ (not!) and we are due all the promises that God made to Abraham and to Israel (not!).

This is only the tip of the iceberg of misinformation that your “safe” church has been feeding you over the years! It will be your destruction. But it doesn’t have to be, if you are willing to examine your beliefs in light of Scripture. The most difficult part is to accept the fact that you have been duped all these years and be willing to swallow your pride and say, “I’m willing to open this case and compare it with Scripture.”

Why am I knocking the churches? Because Paul said that if any man teach any other gospel than what he preached, “let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8,9). In most cases, he is talking about your pastor, your Sunday school teacher and your VBS staff! Some day I will be in heaven with Jesus and a lot of friends and family will not be. I don’t want them, or you, to be saying, “You knew the truth and you didn’t tell me!” It has been my experience that very few people are interested in the truth. They are comfortable with all they have learned (in “safe” churches) and they fit very nicely into society with all the other folks who have learned similar (false) doctrine.

Indeed, if you learn the truth, you will not fit into that comfortable place you now enjoy. I have accepted this and believe it is worth the sacrifice to defend the faith from all the others because the real reward is far greater than these earthly things to which we commonly adhere.

Questions or comments about this article may be sent to: Johnny Angel, 120 Rhodendron Circle, Crossville, TN 38555, or e-mail: Goinupru@yahoo.com.

Part 3: The Twelve Apostles and Us

Posted on by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

UNQUALIFIED OBEDIENCE TO THE “GREAT COMMISSION”

We have seen that Paul would not have qualified as Judas’ successor, for the Lord had said to His apostles:

“Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28).

Thus it was that Peter, before Pentecost and the offer of the kingdom, declared that according to Scripture another would have to be chosen to fill Judas’ place—and that this person would have to be one who had “companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John [the first day of Christ’s earthly ministry], unto that same day that He was taken up from us [the last day of His earthly ministry]” (Acts 1:15-22).

The choice of Matthias to succeed Judas was made after much earnest prayer (Acts 1:14), in obedience to the Scriptures (Ver. 20), and evidently under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for we read that “the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles….And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (1:26; 2:4).

This infilling with the Holy Spirit empowered the Pentecostal believers not only to speak with tongues and work miraculous signs, but also to live lives that were entirely under the Spirit’s control, so that we find no trace of error or sin in those early chapters of Acts. Indeed, we read in Acts 4:32,33, when their number had grown to more than five thousand men alone, that

“…the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.

“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”

This way of life was nothing less than a fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:27:

“And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.”

This also confirmed Peter’s declaration that the last days had begun.

Thus divinely chosen, equipped and empowered, the twelve apostles immediately began carrying out their commission—all of it.

How futile, then, has been the choosing of commissions by God’s people today! How wrong to select certain passages from our Lord’s parting instructions to bind upon the Church of this dispensation! How wrong to arbitrarily disregard the other passages! Yet this is what is being done by those who believe that both the commission to the eleven and the epistles of Paul belong to God’s program for our day.

The twelve apostles had no such problem. These instructions had been given to them. It was their “great commission” and they considered it all binding, thus they began immediately to obey all of it in detail. Let us now examine all the records of this commission again and see how amply this is confirmed. That their work was interrupted by Israel’s rejection of Christ and the revelation of the mystery, does not affect the fact that they were faithful to their commission in its entirety.

Here it will be necessary only to deal with such details of the commission as have been, or might be, brought into debate. With the rest there is no problem.

MATTHEW 28:18-20

Teach, Baptizing

“…teach all nations, baptizing them….”

We have seen that the King James translators rendered the Greek ethne by the word Gentiles when used in contradistinction to Jews, or Israelites. Here, however, all nations, including Israel, are in view as noted above, hence the translators correctly rendered the Greek word by our English word nations.

The twelve did immediately begin to obey this part of the commission for, as we know from Luke and the Acts, the apostles made their first appeal to Israel, the first nation to be brought under Messiah’s sway, and those who truly repented and believed were baptized.

A Baptismal Formula?

“…baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

As we have seen, some object that Matthew’s record of the commission could not have been intended for the apostles because they did not use the “formula” here given, but rather baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 8:16). To this we offer a twofold reply:

1. There is no indication that the phrase “in the name of,” etc., was meant by our Lord to be a formula. They were not instructed to repeat these words, but simply to baptize in the name of, or by the authority of, the triune God, just as a British officer might apprehend a criminal in the name of the queen, or an American officer might shout: “Stop, in the name of the law!” or our ambassador to France might speak or act in the name of the government of the United States. The repetition of words here is not in question, but rather the authority of the representative. Furthermore, when we read that people were baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus,” we must not forget that “in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9).

2. Matthew’s record clearly states that this commission was for their obedience. “Go ye,” is the Lord’s simple command, and it is a perversion of Scripture to conclude that He must have meant this order to be carried out by others who will live at a future time.

Obedience to Moses’ Law and All the Lord’s Commands

“Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.”

We have seen from Galatians 4:4, Matthew 23:1-3 and 28:20 that our Lord Himself was under the law of Moses and taught His disciples complete subjection to the law. Thus, in obedience to His instructions in Matthew 28:20 the twelve taught their hearers subjection to Moses’ law and set the example themselves.

1. In those early chapters they practically lived in the temple. In Acts 2:46 we find them “continuing daily with one accord in the temple.” See also Acts 3:1,3,8,11; 5:20,21,25,42. In the last of these verses we read that “daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

2. We are informed in Acts 22:12 that Ananias, the person who baptized Paul, was “a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there” (Acts 22:12).

3. At the great council at Jerusalem it was agreed only that the Gentile believers were not to be subjected to the law of Moses. The status of the Jews was not even discussed. It is evident that they had, until that very time, remained under the law, and they evidently assumed that they were so to continue. God had not yet given the twelve any revelation delivering believing Jews from the law (See Acts 15:1,19,21; Gal. 2:3,7,9).

4. In the latter part of Acts (21:20-25), we are specifically informed that whereas it had been “written and concluded” that the Gentiles should not be subjected to the law of Moses, the Jews which believed remained “zealous of the law.”

5. Not until the raising up of the Apostle Paul do we hear any such declaration as: “But NOW the righteousness of God without the law is manifested” (Rom. 3:21), or “through this man [Christ] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).

As to the Sermon on the Mount and the other commands referred to in Chapter 3, they obeyed these too. They did liquidate their assets and turn the proceeds over for the common good.

Acts 2:44,45: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

“And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

Acts 4:32,34,35: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”

“Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

“And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

Even the apostles went forth in obedience to Matthew 10:9,10, carrying “neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in their purses,” so that Peter could say to the lame man at the temple gate: “Silver and gold have I NONE” (Acts 3:6).

This was indeed a foretaste of the wonderful kingdom of Christ, the “times of refreshing” referred to in Acts 3:19. What blessed fellowship, with everyone spontaneously living for others rather than for self!

So the apostles immediately began to carry out all the details of that segment of their commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. They did not, like some today, presume to choose what they should obey and ignore the rest.

It is true that they did not get to all nations with this wonderful program, but this was not due to any failure on their part. As we have seen, it was because Israel, the first nation, stubbornly rejected Messiah, so that God finally set her aside (temporarily) as a nation and, in matchless mercy and love, interrupted the prophetic program, ushering in the present parenthetical dispensation of grace through Paul, who had been our Lord’s bitterest enemy on earth but was now the appointed herald of His infinite grace.

MARK 16:15-18

Which Gospel?

“Preach the gospel.”

Many have supposed that this command of our Lord conclusively proves that the commission to the eleven is for our obedience, but this is not so. We have demonstrated by the clearest Scripture that the eleven at that time knew nothing of the gospel of the grace of God. They knew only “the gospel of the kingdom.” True, the King had now been crucified and raised from the dead, but this did not change the basic content of their message. Only now, rather than proclaiming the kingdom “at hand,” they could actually offer the return of Christ to sit on David’s throne, along with “the times of refreshing,” which every true Israelite longed for (Acts 2:29-31; 3:19-21).

Baptism and the Remission of Sins

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

The apostles preached and practiced exactly this. When some of Peter’s hearers were convicted of their sins and asked: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter did not tell them that Christ had died for their sins and that they could receive salvation as the gift of God’s grace, apart from religion or works. Rather he said:

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

Years ago, in a series of debates on dispensationalism, the author asked his opponent: “Suppose, after a Sunday evening service, some of your hearers were convicted of their sins and asked you and your co-workers: `Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Would you tell them what Peter told these convicted sinners at Pentecost?” “Why, of course!” he exclaimed. “In those words?” I persisted. He thought for a moment and then replied: “Well, I guess not exactly in those words.” The fact is that this pastor would not at all have said to his hearers what Peter said to his. Even though a Baptist, he would not have said: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,” for he believed that subjection to water baptism should be left to each believer’s conscience, and he did not believe that it had anything to do with salvation. He would rather have said what Paul said when the convicted Gentile jailor asked: “What must I do to be saved?” Like Paul, he would have said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts 16:31). But Peter, at Pentecost, preached what he was commanded to preach under his commission: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

The Sign Gifts

“And these signs shall follow them that believe….”

Filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles and disciples also began carrying out this part of their great commission:

Acts 2:4: “And they…began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 2:43: “And…many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”

This, of course, did not please the Jewish leaders, but they could not gainsay the facts. We find the members of the Sanhedrin discussing the situation in Acts Chapter 4.

Acts 4:16: “What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.”

And the evidence mounted even higher after that.

Acts 5:16: “There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.”

Acts 6:8: “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”

Acts 8:6: “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.”

It is not germane at this point to discuss the reasons why Paul also wrought miracles, except to explain (1) that God gave him “the signs of an apostle,” chiefly as a confirmation to the twelve and the Jewish believers that his ministry was indeed of God, and (2) that these “signs” were wrought during his early ministry, until Israel was officially set aside in Acts 28:28.

LUKE 24:45-48; ACTS 1:8

Beginning at Jerusalem

Luke 24:47: “…beginning at Jerusalem.” Acts 1:8: “…and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

This they also did. Indeed, so scrupulous were the twelve in their obedience to these instructions that Jerusalem remained their headquarters even when the disciples were “scattered abroad” by the great persecution that arose when Stephen was stoned to death.

The twelve, Matthias replacing Judas, had begun to carry out their world-wide mission, but had not gotten beyond their own nation. We should always associate Acts 1:8 with Acts 8:1 in our study of the Acts, for Jerusalem, rather than turning to Messiah so that the apostles could go on with their “great commission,” had started a “great persecution” against the Church there, with the result that “they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1).

The twelve have often been charged with bigotry and unfaithfulness for remaining in Jerusalem at this time. In fact, however, it was rare courage and fidelity to their commission that kept them there while persecution raged and their very lives were in danger. They remained at Jerusalem for the same reason that the rest fled: because Jerusalem was not turning to Christ. The first part of their commission had not yet been completed, therefore they were duty-bound to remain there.

Certainly the twelve did not remain at Jerusalem because they were prejudiced against the salvation of the Gentiles. There is too much Scriptural evidence against this. Rather, they remained there because they had a clear understanding of the prophetic program and of their Lord’s commission. They knew that according to covenant and prophecy the Gentiles were to be saved and blessed through redeemed Israel (Gen. 22:17,18; Isa. 60:1-3; Zech. 8:13). Our Lord had indicated no change in this program, and He Himself had worked in perfect harmony with it. Before His death He had insisted that Israel was first in God’s revealed program, commanding His disciples not to go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but to “go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6), and saying to a Gentile woman who came for help: “Let the children first be filled” (Mark 7:27). And now, in His “great commission” to the eleven, He specifically stated that they should begin at Jerusalem, as we have seen above.

It is amazing that some should charge the twelve apostles and the Jewish believers with prejudice against the Gentiles because they did not immediately go “to the uttermost part of the earth,” when they were explicitly told by the Lord to make disciples of all nations beginning at Jerusalem and when there is so much evidence that they longed for the salvation of the Gentiles and rejoiced when Gentiles turned to Christ (See Acts 3:25; 10:9,15; 11:18,23,24; 15:3; 21:19,20).

Which took the greater courage, to flee from Jerusalem now or to remain there in the raging persecution, in daily peril of death? Wouldn’t unfaithful men have fled at such a time? We are not blaming the multitude of the disciples for fleeing for their lives, but are rather giving the twelve due credit for faithfully carrying out the orders specifically given them.

JOHN 20:21-23

Remitting Sins

“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.”

The apostles were surely laboring under this part of their commission when they baptized their convicted hearers “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38,41).

At the series of debates on dispensationalism referred to earlier, our opponent asked: “Do you mean to tell us that Peter, at Pentecost, did not proclaim the gospel of the grace of God?” I responded that this was exactly what I believed. This amazed him, so I asked him to define the gospel of the grace of God. To this he replied correctly: “We’d have no disagreement on that. I believe that the gospel of the grace of God is that we are sinners, condemned to judgment, but that because Christ died for our sins we may be saved by grace through faith in Him, plus nothing.” I then asked him whether he could find this in Peter’s Pentecostal address. “Yes,” he said. However, we had agreed that in this debate questions would be answered by the Word of God alone, so he stood looking at Acts 2 for some time, until finally he continued: “Well, it does say here in Verse 21 that `Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,’ but I know what you’ll say about that.” “What will I say?” I asked. To this he replied: “Well, I guess you’ll say that when they did call Peter said, `Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.'” “Yes,” I replied, “that is exactly what the record says.”

Those who, like this pastor, have supposed that Peter at Pentecost proclaimed “the gospel of the grace of God,” should ask themselves why he did not tell them that Christ had died for their sins, so that they might be saved by grace, through faith alone; why, instead, he demanded repentance and baptism for the remission of sins.

Doubtless this is what is back of Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 1:17: “For CHRIST SENT ME NOT TO BAPTIZE, but to preach the gospel: (The gospel committed to him, of course (Acts 20:24).) not with wisdom of words LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOULD BE MADE OF NONE EFFECT.” This, the cross, was the heart of Paul’s God-given message. This is what he preached “for the remission of sins,” and this is why his gospel is also called, “the preaching of the cross” (I Cor. 1:18).

Mark 1:4 states plainly that John the Baptist preached “THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.” This part of God’s program was not changed by the commission to the eleven. The great change came later, with the raising up of Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace. He declared that Christ had not sent him to baptize (as John and the eleven had been sent) but to preach the gospel—”the gospel of the grace of God.”

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Berean Searchlight – April 2007

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Berean Searchlight – March 2007

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Berean Searchlight – February 2007

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Accepted in the Beloved

Posted on by Pastor John McKay

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

Alfred the Great was made king of an ancient division of England known as Wessex. Early in his reign he suffered devastating losses at the hands of the Danes. His men scattered and he was reduced to hiding in the cottage of a simple herdsman. Dressed as a peasant, Alfred did chores for the family, and once was scolded for letting the bread burn. Although the humble family did not know who they were scolding, Alfred displayed patience and humility. After he regathered his forces and went on to victory over the Danes, he returned—we are told—to thank and repay the herdsman for the kindnesses shown to him. Needless to say, he was fully received and treated as their King.

In a much more significant way, the Lord Jesus Christ “came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” The princes of this world did not know the hidden wisdom of God, “for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” He was “despised and rejected of men,” and still is by this present world-system. Although the Lord Jesus is now in glory, the world continues to reject Him. The principle that we are being rejected because He is being rejected is found in John 15:20.

Ephesians 1:6 brilliantly shines peace, patience, and comfort unto us. The Heavenly Father “hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” When our faith is in the Son of God and His death for our sin, grace makes us immediately acceptable to God because of the infinite merit of Christ, and His righteousness to us by that faith! If we are rejected now, at least one day, we shall be manifested as children of God.

Should You Make A New Year’s Resolution?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

There’s just something about New Year’s Day that sets it apart from other days, even in Scripture. After the Flood, Noah and all mankind made a fresh start in “the first month, the first day of the month” (Gen. 8:13), and there are other significant New Year’s Days (Ex. 40:2; II Chron. 29:17; Ezra 7:9; Ezek. 45:18). There is even a precedent for “turning over a new leaf” as far as our conduct is concerned. After Ezra commanded Israel to separate themselves from the idolatrous wives they had married, we read that all the men obeyed “by the first day of the first month” (Ezra 10:17).

But in spite of all this, we wonder if the Apostle Paul might be suggesting a better way when he says, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7). Speaking of Passover month, God told Israel that “this month shall be unto you the beginning of months” (Ex. 12:1-11). And when we trust Christ and His Passover blood is applied to our hearts by faith, this is also a new beginning for us.

But Passover was followed on the Jewish calendar by seven days of unleavened bread (Lev. 23:6), in which God’s people were told to remove all leaven from their homes (Ex. 12:15), leaven being a familiar symbol of sin (Matt. 16:12). Thus when Paul goes on to say, “let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:8), he is teaching that after we are saved by the blood of our Passover, a daily purging of the leaven of sin from our lives should immediately begin to follow, and not be limited to a single day that comes but once a year.

And so whether or not you decide to address your shortcomings with a New Year’s resolution is up to you. But this writer has noticed that when such resolutions fail, we tend to put off addressing the problem again until next New Year’s Day! We feel a better solution may be found in Paul’s use of the word “henceforth.” We like to encourage God’s people to pause when they see a “henceforth” and ask “whenceforth?” The answer should not be limited to January 1st, but should rather include every time you read a “henceforth” verse. Thus when we read Paul say, “henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk” (Eph. 4:17), and “henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6), we should renew our determination to obey these admonitions with every reading of such verses. Remember,

“…He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (II Cor. 5:15).

Berean Searchlight – January 2007

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Access Your Grace and Joy!

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

(From a message given September 30, 2006, at Berean Grace Church in Genoa City, Wisconsin)

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1,2).

In 1888, a poem appeared in the San Francisco Examiner that soon swept the nation. It was a ballad about the then relatively young sport of baseball, and was entitled, “Casey at the Bat.” The last line of this epic poem reads: “But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.”

What a telling example of how the world about us views the subject of joy. When things are good, and their team has won, there is joy! But when things go bad, and their team has lost, their joy is lost. And so it must always be for the unbeliever, or even for the believer who knows no better than to find the basis for his joy in his circumstances. How much better is the joy that God offers to those who understand what His Word teaches on this important subject! Our text says that we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The word rejoice is the verb form of the word joy. If you are rejoicing, you have joy, and if you have joy, it means that you are rejoicing.

The Bible study principle known as The Law of 1st Mention says that the first mention of a word in Scripture often defines the word, or sets the tone for its use throughout Scripture. And while Romans 5:2 is not the first mention of joy in the Bible, it is the first mention of joy in Paul’s epistles. Since Paul is the apostle of the present dispensation, we can conclude that the basis for all of our joy as members of the Body of Christ is found here in these verses.

The primary source of the believer’s joy here is knowing that we have been “justified by faith.” What does it mean to be justified? It means to be made righteous. We have no English word righteous-fied, and so if you are justified, it means that you have been made righteous, and if you have been made righteous, it means that you are justified. But what does it mean to be made righteous?

Many years ago, if a man in England shot and killed a man who was raping his wife, it was considered “justifiable homicide.” This means that not only was the husband not guilty of any wrong-doing in shooting the rapist, he was actually considered to have done the right thing. Similarly, when we get saved, God gives us so much more than just forgiveness. We are actually justified, “made the righteousness of God” in Christ (II Cor. 5:21). The very righteousness of God is imputed to us in Christ.

But how is God able to impute such righteousness to sinful men? The answer to this question is important, for it differs greatly from the justification offered by Greek mythology.

Has the reader ever wondered why the “gods” of the Greeks were frequently portrayed as lying, cheating, stealing, and lusting after human beings and other gods? Why would men fabricate gods who behaved so poorly? Ah, to justify their own behavior! After all, if their gods conducted themselves so sinfully, it was easy to rationalize and justify such iniquity amongst themselves.

How different is the justification offered by God in His Word. God justifies us not by lowering Himself to our level, but rather by raising us to His! He did not lower His standards of absolute righteousness so as to allow sinful men to be justified. He rather sent His Son to live a life that fully met His perfect standard, who then died a sacrificial death on our behalf. This explains how God could be “just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). God then is able to impute His righteousness to us when we believe the gospel, and thus as our text says we are “justified by faith.” The word “faith” is the noun form of the word believe. If you believe, you have faith, and if you have faith, that means that you have believed.

But what is it that we must believe in order to be justified? Well, our text begins with the word “therefore.” Students of the Bible know that when we see a “therefore” in Scripture, we must look to see what it’s there for! In this instance, if we back up one verse, we learn what it is that we must believe in order to be justified. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 4:24, Verse 25 says:

“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

The most important word in this verse is one of the smallest words, as is often the case in Scripture. It is the word “for.” Believing that Christ died and rose again is not enough to save anyone, for these are merely well-documented facts of history. It is only when we believe that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification that God can impute His righteousness to us. What a wonderful source of joy!

Additional grounds for the believer’s joy can be found in our text when Paul speaks of our “peace with God.” The peace that God makes with us is unlike the peace men make with one another, which is only temporary in nature. When we hear the announcement of a “cease-fire” in the Middle East, we know it will only last until the next shot is fired! Similarly, Hitler made “peace” with Stalin, but it wasn’t long before the German panzers were rolling eastward into Russia. Contrariwise, the peace that God offers is irrevocable! The believer in Christ will never again be the enemy of God that he was before salvation (Rom. 5:10).

If you stop and think about it, justification and peace with God are the only things we should rejoice in, for they are the only things we have that cannot be taken away! Many a man rejoices in his house, his car, his riches or his health, but all of these are things that can be lost. When husbands rejoice in their job, and wives rejoice in their children, these things are certainly more noble things in which to rejoice, but these too are things that can be taken away from us. When Christians rejoice in their church or in their pastor, this appears even more virtuous, and yet these too are things that can be lost. The only safe things in which to base our joy are immutable truths like our justification and our peace with the Almighty.

Further joy can be found in our text in the “access” we have “into this grace wherein we stand.” Our personal computers contain many files, and they are our files, but we must be able to access them for them to be of any use to us. Similarly, the believer in Christ has grace, but we must be able to access this grace for it to be of any functional value in our spiritual lives.

But of what grace does the apostle speak when he uses the phrase “this grace”? When he writes of “this grace” in II Corinthians 8:7, the context tells us that he speaks of the grace of giving. But here the context determines that the phrase “this grace” speaks of the grace of our justification and our peace with God.

But if we “stand” before God justified and at peace with Him, why do we need to “access” this grace? The answer lies in the difference between our standing as believers and our state. Sometimes expressed in other terms, such as the difference between our position and our practice, this Bible study principle points out the difference between the perfect standing that believers have before God in Christ, and the outworking of that position in our daily lives (Phil. 2:12). Ideally the two should be the same, but even the best of us falls short of the absolute perfection we have in Christ.

Likewise our text tells us that we stand fully justified and at peace with God. However, when we sin, it is natural to fear that we have provoked God. Likewise when we get sick, or suffer an accident or experience some other adversity, we are prone to think that God is angry with us. When these things happen, we must access the grace that tells us we stand before Him justified and at peace.

How do we access this grace? Paul says that we do so “by faith,” and faith comes by hearing the Word (Rom. 10:17). Thus when your conscience whispers that God is angry with you, or when some preacher on TV suggests that God is judging you for your sin, you must by faith access His Word, and remind yourself that God says you have irrevocable peace with Him. Our joy is based in our peace with God, but we must access this grace by faith if we are to have the joy that God wants us to enjoy.

Next, Paul says that we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Here we know that Paul is speaking of the Rapture, because the words “hope” and “glory” remind us of how Paul describes the Rapture as “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing” of the Lord Jesus (Titus 2:13).

But has the reader ever wondered what the glory of God is, specifically? We needn’t speculate. When Moses asked God to show him His “glory,” the Lord replied that He would do so by showing him His “goodness” (Ex. 33:18,19). God’s glory is His goodness. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The glory of God is that He is so good that He has never sinned, and we have all fallen short of this. This is why the natural reaction of men to the glory of God is fear (Luke 2:9). It is natural for unholy men to fear the absolute holiness of God.

How then can Paul say that we “rejoice” in hope of the glory of God? Ah, it is because at the Rapture, God’s glory will not just be revealed to us, as it was revealed to the frightened shepherds at our Lord’s birth, it will be revealed “in” us (Rom. 8:18). And so we needn’t fear God’s glory, we can rather rejoice in it, because in that day we will share it!

Imagine sharing the glory of God! People pay big bucks to buy JFK’s golf clubs, or a dress worn by Princess Diana, but these purchases can hardly enable the buyer to share the glory of these celebrities. Yet the God of all creation, who declared He would not give His glory to another (Isa. 42:8; 48:11), has given this glory to the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:5), and will someday give it to us through Him. Surely this is grace to rejoice in!

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience;

“And patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Rom. 5:3,4).

The Greek word for “glory” in Verse 3 is the same as that translated “rejoice” in Verse 2. Coupled with the word “also” here, Paul is saying that we glory in tribulations as much as we rejoice in the Rapture! To which most of us would reply—“We do? How can Paul say such a thing!”

The key is in the word “knowing.” The key to glorying in tribulation is convincing ourselves that God is correct when He says tribulation works patience. As adults we endure going to the dentist, working out in the gym, etc., because we know that these things work physical good in us. Likewise as sons of God, we should be able to endure anything if we truly believe that it is working spiritual good in us.

If the reader wonders if tribulation really works patience, just imagine a Christian who was born wealthy and whose parents shielded him from all tribulation in life. Such a man is likely to be very impatient, and so we can prove by reverse reasoning that the Bible is as right about this as it is about all other things. But as tribulations begin to work patience in our shielded wealthy friend, his “experience” with tribulation will begin to work “hope” in him. A believer who experiences no tribulation in life is unlikely to be hoping for the Rapture.

But can we ever get to the point where we actually rejoice in tribulations? Perhaps the reader has heard of Ivan Pavlov, the Russian scientist who rang a bell when he fed his dog, then noticed that his pet would salivate even before being presented with food. In a lesser-known experiment, Pavlov administered an electric shock to the dog, who understandably growled at him. He then began to administer shocks to the dog followed by a treat, and soon his pet ceased growling after receiving a shock. Eventually the animal actually began to wag his tail upon receipt of the unpleasant jolt, joyfully realizing that a treat would follow.

In like manner, the believer in Christ can also learn to stop growling when we are on the receiving end of the many shocks and traumas of life, and actually learn to rejoice in tribulations. This is high spiritual ground indeed, but it is a level that Paul was able to attain in II Corinthians 7:4, where he said, “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.”

Of course in Scripture, “glory” is the opposite of “shame” (Psa. 4:2; Prov. 3:35; Isa. 22:18; Hos. 4:7; Hab. 2:16; Phil. 3:19). And so if as a believer you have not yet attained to the level of spirituality needed to actually rejoice in tribulations, you can at least know that tribulation in our lives is nothing of which to be ashamed.

This is different than under the Law. In Jeremiah 14:1-4, the farmers in Israel were “ashamed” when they experienced the tribulation of a drought. Why would a farmer be embarrassed about a lack of rain? In the dispensation of grace, such a dearth is in no way the farmer’s fault. But under the Law, the people of Israel brought drought upon themselves. The terms of their covenant with God stated that if they were disobedient, God would chasten them by withholding precipitation (Lev. 26:19). And so to experience a drought under the Law was a cause of shame and embarrassment, for it meant that they had been disobedient to God. Now it is possible that the farmers’ shame in Jeremiah 14 was also due to embarrassment caused by calling in vain upon false gods for rain (cf. Jer. 2:26,27), but the fact remains that tribulation under the Law was a cause for shame, not glory.

How different things are under Grace! What a blessing it has been over the years for this Grace pastor to be able to visit God’s people in the hospital and not have to suggest that perhaps they were hospitalized because of some secret sin! If the reader of this page is currently going through some tribulation in life, you needn’t be ashamed in such circumstances as people were under the Law.

One more thing about experience. As we all know, experience is a great teacher, and our experience with tribulation teaches us that we are not under Law (Rom. 6:14,15). When we sin, we sometimes experience tribulation afterward—and sometimes not. Sometimes when we experience tribulation, we can think back to a particular sin that we have committed—and sometimes we can’t. In other words, our experience with tribulation teaches us that our tribulations have nothing to do with our conduct! For the believer today, tribulations are just a result of living with the results of Adam’s fall. We do experience trouble as a result of reaping what we sow (Gal. 6:7), but that is quite different than tribulation sent from God under the Law as a result of disobedience.

“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5).

At the risk of sounding irreverent, I would suggest to you that without the blessed hope of the Rapture, you should be ashamed of God! In the dispensation of grace, are you guaranteed prosperity, as was the experience of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 13:2,5,6), Job (1:3) and others? Should you be pursued by men intent on doing you harm, and you find yourself cornered at a large body of water, will God part the waters to facilitate your escape? When you are hungry, does He provide manna for you as He did for Israel?

These things and more might cause us to be ashamed and embarrassed to name such a God as our own. Ah, but “hope maketh not ashamed”! The blessed hope of living eternally with God in heaven takes away all “shame” of worshipping a God who does not defy nature to meet our needs and deliver us from tribulation in life. Paul was right when he said that “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (I Cor. 15:19). Thank God, we have hope in Christ in the next life as well!

God’s love may not be shed abroad in our health or our wealth, but “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts“ (Rom. 5:5). The word “shed” in Scripture is almost always used in conjunction with the shedding of blood, and so the Apostle uses this word here to remind us that “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Of course, while the Lord’s blood was shed at Calvary, the love of God that was manifest in the Cross is only shed abroad “in our hearts” when we believe.

We must always remember to measure the love of God by the love expressed at Calvary. We have ways of measuring just about everything, including the amount of electricity and natural gas that comes into our homes. But in order to get a correct measure of things, we must use the proper measuring device. Every cook knows that if the recipe calls for a dry measure and you employ a liquid measuring cup, you are going to come up with a faulty measure! Every electrician knows that you can’t measure amps with an ohmmeter, or ohms with a voltmeter. And every Christian should know that we cannot measure the love of God in our lives by the amount of tribulation in our lives. The only accurate standard by which to measure the love of God is the Cross of Christ.

The story is told of a young man in ancient times who was convicted of adultery, a crime punishable in those days by the putting out of the two eyes of the perpetrator. But after he levied the sentence, the judge revealed that he was the young man’s father. He then announced that he would execute the sentence by putting out just one of his son’s eyes, and one of his own. In this way the justice of the law was satisfied, but the judge’s son would be spared total blindness.

While this story is a touching one indeed, it cannot begin to illustrate the love that God showed to us at the Cross. For there the Lord Jesus did not just volunteer to “go halves” with us in satisfying the just demands of the Law. He rather bore all the punishment that was justly due to us, as He “bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Pet. 2:24). When the trials of life seem almost too great too bear, what joy can be ours as we access by faith this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God!

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