Saturday, December 27, 2008

Looking Forward To Unity

“Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: (6.) That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6

Looking forward to unity is one of our biggest blessings awaiting us in glory. As unfortunate as it is we as believers, the very ones God has elected to save, and the very ones Jesus The Christ came to sacrifice His glorious life for, cannot follow one simple command, to worship in unity. We cannot bring our old fleshly self’s to worship the Lord Jesus Christ in unity. It seems we have one major flaw, we allow our fleshly pride to keep us from following the command of the Lord. I once read an article that said there were some 50 different types of Baptist in America; however I would imagine that if we were to break down those 50 to them that separate themselves from others of like faith because of their fleshly pride then there would be more like several hundred. We have those that believe in this or that doctrine and will not fellowship with them over there because they don’t believe exactly as we do. I must confess here that I do not believe this is what the Lord was saying when He told us to “come out and be you separate” 2nd Cor. 6:17. The only reason the Lord gave us to separate ourselves from other believers is if they are excluded from another church. Chances are there are no two churches nor are there two Ministers that are totally identical in their belief. It is the Lord command we as believers come together and worship the One who gave His life for our justification and not only in a church but also as believers. However Satan has managed to use our flesh against us and has caused separation among the flock of Christ. Beloved I am afraid there are some “good ole boy” Ministers and Pastors that are going to suffer a great burden when they face Jesus Christ for judgment when the time comes. Let’s remember this scripture “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36. With those thoughts in mind I would like to call your attention to this.
I wrote an article a few weeks back titled “Marriage for life or not”. Last week I received an email from Pastor David Green the Pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Mansfield, Ohio. Brother Green shared a story with me that very much disturbed me. David told me of a church that is like faith to ours that allowed divorced men or men with divorced wives to speak and other Pastors (I must add disgraceful Pastors) called the church “a den of whoremongers” what a disgrace! This is a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and for any man who is a Christian to allow these words to fall from his lips is going to pay a great account to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again let’s read Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” I knew some of the names of these men and they were wonderful men (while I will not repeat their names) I have a lesser respect for them today than I did yesterday. Beloved there are those we should separate ourselves from but they are not churches of like faith because we differ on an issue or two. Those who do will pay a great account to Jesus Christ. Beloved we as Sovereign Grace Baptist are far and few and how dare we allow this old fleshly thinking cause division among our Sister churches. We are to be in unity with the understanding that we are going to differ on some things. Treating fellow Sovereign Grace Baptist like heathers will not go unpunished. It is true our sins, ALL of them have been forgiven through the blood of Christ but sin against other Christians will be called into account in the Day of Judgment. Brother Green went on to say in a sermon he preached on the subject, these men are in heaven enjoying themselves in Christ but I would like to add, not before they answered to the great Judge. Beloved I do look forward when issues and flesh separate us no longer and we can enjoy unity with you all in a home prepared for us all that are in Christ.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Judgment

“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:2

Beloved we want to take a look at the word “judgment” because people today and mostly Christians are very bad about judging others. We need to understand that true judgment is only in the hands of Jesus Christ the Righteous Judge “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:” John 5:22. The reason that only Jesus Christ can judge is that He is the only one who can judge without question. Our judgments are not always true and proper because we do not always know the true facts. However when we look at Jesus we see Truth and in Him is no error or hidden facts. I believe the scriptures when they say: “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.” Romans 14:13. As we look back to our text scripture the Lord tells us “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:” we will be judged by the same standards we judge others and therefore we must be very alert to our judging others and especially other believers. I am a firm believer some of our judgments can “put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.” This brings me to ask these questions; are you prepared to be judged by the same judgment you are judging others with by Jesus Christ, and could or did your judgment cause a brother in Christ to have stumbling block’s placed in his path making his work for the Lord harder and more difficult or even cause your brother in Christ to fall? If they did you will pay account to the Lord for your judgment and for doing damage to your Brother who was simply working for the Lord.

Beloved we are commanded to cast out the leaven in the church and we certainly commanded to withdraw fellowship from those who walk disorderly among us, however to how much deeper are we to be judging other Brethren? I often see some who want to sit and judge others about what they believe and condemn their own Brethren in Christ simply because we may see the scriptures a little different however I must ask who among us are infallible? Is everything you believe without any possible doubt absolutely truth? Is there no possible doubt you could be wrong? Beloved we as loving Christians must be very careful when judging other Christians because we are going to be judged with the same harshness we judge out beloved brethren. Beloved our responsibility in this life is to be Christ-like and not to be harsh in our judgment of other. We function on the thought of love and forgiveness instead of looking for things to judge others and being too bold with them. The Lord commanded us in 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” That love is the love of Christ in your heart, and believe me the Lord Jesus hates none of His own. He does not condemn them, He simply forgives them just as He will forgive what you are for what you are wrong on, please remember none of us are infallible.

Beloved we all must be very careful at how we handle other believers in judging them because the Lord warned us not to judge. There are things the scriptures are very clear on however there are those things for which stands on how we see it. Believe me (for the most part) if other believers knew for sure they were wrong on the doctrine they would repent of it. Beloved before judging others and putting up stumbling blocks or causing hurt to come to another believer make sure you are correct because causing pain to other believers is the same as causing pain to the Lord Jesus Himself and His judgment of you will be just as harsh as yours was to your fellow brother in Christ.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Looking with spiritual eyes

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

The writer of the Hebrews speaks to us from a spiritual sense, and not a fleshly one. There are some things we see through our physical eye gate and some things we see with only our spiritual eyes. Jesus is one of those spiritual sights, because we have never physically seen Jesus Christ. Beloved there are some things we as believers must keep our eyes on and there is no doubt those “things” are in heaven. The first is Jesus Christ, because the scripture has concluded He is our everything, which is every thing needed in our spiritual and fleshly life. With Him all things are possible, we can climb mountains, and we can walk on water, however once our eyes are removed from Him we will roll back down the mountain or sink in the water like a 150 pound rock. Beloved I hope your eyes are on the Lord Jesus Christ just as God through the writer of the Hebrews has commanded, because if they are not, then just as Peter you will sink in the water that we are so blessed to walk on. Philippians 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”
“The author and finisher of our faith;” That is, Jesus Christ is the originator of our faith; it is not in man to have this faith except through Jesus Christ. Beloved it is with this faith we have the ability to keep our eyes on Him. As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus he had faith, it is only after his eyes wondered he began to sink and once again his eyes went again to Jesus and he was saved from sinking. When the Hebrew writer says that Jesus is the finisher of our faith he means in Jesus our faith is complete. Beloved this is what is meant by keeping our eyes on Jesus, everything in life is complete in Him. We as believers need no one else; we need nothing else, just Jesus. This world is full of wants and wishes however every one of them moves our attention away from the One we need to be fixed upon. The Lord asked “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” Luke 9:25 to “be cast away” means to suffer loss, and that loss will be eternal happiness in glory. Our Lord tells us if we remain in faith and our eyes are continually on Jesus and the things above then we will gain crowns of righteousness, however once our eyes are removed from the author and finisher of faith then we suffer loss. There will be many who will suffer this loss and for many reasons, but all will be because their eyes were removed from Jesus Christ. Paul said to the church at Colossae, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:10 being fruitful is walking in the world everyday with your eyes gazing at Jesus Christ and ignoring this world and the eye catching things of it. “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” “Who for the joy” yes indeed joy it was for Jesus Christ to give His life in shame on that cross, because in doing so you and I could share this glorious faith He has given to us. This is the eye of faith, the faith of our Saviour that His horrible death would bring faith to us. The faith to believe, the faith to count on him, the faith to understand for us all is in Him and none other. It is because He has faith we are able to have faith and let us not waste the faith Jesus has so kindly given to us and make it a shame by looking through the wrong set of eyes.