Saturday, January 30, 2016

Study, To Show Thyself Approved!

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

Do you study to learn, do you study to improve, do you study to please God or yourself? If I was to ask you to put on a scale of 1 to 10 your biblical intelligence with 10 being infallible, what would yours be? If I understand people as I think I do most would be 8 to 10. However, how would God rate that scale? The bible is a very large book, it is much larger that the sixth-six book that it contains. John tells us in John 21:25 "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." See there is so much that we do not know, but of the things we do know (that's in he scriptures) there is more than we can ever learn. We must understand that the bible is God's words, (no it's not ok to say "it's the word of God) it is Gods words. The bible was not written by a simple minded man, nor by a man who is a genius, but by the Eternal, Omniscience God. If God is Omniscience than what are you? Mankind are very proud creatures, we believe that we can be the "all in all" type of person. We believe that we have the powers to be the best, competition is our middle name, so to speak. Everything is about winning, loosing, and conquering. We must be first and being second is not acceptable, while we might not admit this, it is true. We must be the smartest, the one in the center of the room who everyone listens too. We all want to have the best spouse, child, car, job, and etc. Therefore we convince ourselves that we are smarter than the next guy and that we know all that we need to know and the learning stops and the amen's, the approval/disapproval kicks in. We stand proud and others brag on us at how smart we are in the scriptures, they buy our book, read everything we write, and it becomes the gospel to them and the bible is put on the back burner. We always talk about why people go to church, I must pause to ask, why do you go to church? Do you go to church to learn or to approve or disapprove? What we all need to ask ourselves, what we all need to pray about, is that God will not stop teaching us. We all ought to attend church to learn something. Every service ought to be to learn only, it matters not how small the learning because the smallest amount of truth is an improvement, not to you, your church membership, or your Pastor, but to God. When God looks at you does He see a biblically smart person as you do? I'm not asking you to investigate the other religions, the other denominations in Christianity, no, I am asking you to study the bible, not to satisfy your family, your church, or yourself, but to satisfy God. I believe we, even the most biblical intelligent among us will be amazed at how wrong and unlearned we truly are when we face Jesus Christ. We all need to slow down, humble ourselves, stop thinking so highly of ourselves, and understand how finite that we truly are. None of us are biblical geniuses, none of us are omniscient. I have a question for you, how did you learn all that glorious infallible doctrine? How is it that you know so much truth, did God just give you all biblical knowledge and leave the rest of the Christian world in the dark? No, you learned every single letter of it from man. It is true that God teaches us because if He did not then we would never know the truth of the scriptures. However, the doctrinal truths that you have learned you have learned from a man and all men are finite in mind. The bible is too deep for us to master even if some professor or school gave you a Theology & Seminary PhD. A PhD means you learned to satisfaction their doctrine, and that you will go into the world and teach their doctrine, it does not mean that you are smarter than the next person in truth. An educated Christian is one who studies the bible with an open mind to learn from it. Not learning by studding mans words like Spurgeon, Gill, Barnes, or etc. Personally I love these writers and lots of more. I sit and learned from a very intelligent, biblically sound men, only to learn that we disagreed on a few things. You can put ten pastors with the same doctrinal learning into a room and find that there are truly disagreements among them and the reason is because none of them are 100% right. None of them are biblically infallible, although deep in their mind they may think they are. Folks, it matters not what denomination you are, who you learned from, or how intelligent you might be, we are all finite in mind and scripture. Now this is not an excuse, but rather an incentive to learn. We all need to set our minds in the scriptures, and to study, and to learn, not to please anyone but God. If you see truth that disagrees with your denomination then study it more and then believe what God says. God will help you learn, he will help you understand biblical truth, not to be smarter than everyone else but to worship Him more and better. It is all about the bible and not man, the author of books, while they may have been very smart, their not God and that means they are finite in their teaching. The Lord said in 2 Timothy 2:14 "Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." We need to search the scriptures daily that we learn the scriptures, and not teach the scriptures. What I mean is, we need to study and learn the truth of the scriptures and not tell the scriptures what they say. Do you desire to learn from man or God? Hear your pastor and teachers but learn from the bible, don't allow anyone to convince you of a teaching unless God truly says it is truth. Please God, because it matters not what man thinks.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Believing Is God's Work, Not Man's!

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (29.) Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28 - 29

I have a question for you today, what does man have to do to be saved? The answer is nothing! Salvation regardless whatever man may say is not in the hands or power of man. If you think about it every religion in the world is built on what man can do to be successful in salvation, therefore its entire fulfillment depends on what man can do. However, when you look into Christianity it is not about mankind, it is about God. Christianity is built on a man, but not just any man but God incarnate, Jesus Christ. There is not one single part of salvation dependent on man, it is all dependent on God. The question was "...What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" and Jesus answered "...This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." There is a very simple and logical answer as to why God left nothing involving salvation in the hands of man, and that is mankind are altogether "failures" at everything scriptural. The only assurances God had of making sure that salvation was successful was to accomplish it himself. The works of God are "...that ye believe..." this tells us that it is God who causes us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone ever teaches that salvation involves mankind outside of being the beneficiary of it is so wrong. This teachings you find being taught today in "Christianity" in the churches of Arminianism is simply false. God told us that man would change the truth into a lie and worship the creature more than the creator. This is exactly what Arminian churches do they lie about God and salvation and serve the creature instead of the creator. God never told anyone in the bible to do anything outside of believing to be saved, and here it tells us that God causes us to believe. So anytime anyone tells you to do something to be saved, it is scripturally evident that they are teaching false doctrine. If you listen to the average Arminian preachers message about salvation you will not find that message in the scriptures. The only thing the scriptures ever tells anyone to do to be saved is to believe. The words your decision, your choice, your prayer, or your anything is not scriptural. What those words do is to take the power out of God's hands and puts it into the depraved sinners hand which is what God said in Romans 1:25 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator..." Please remember our text said "...This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." It is not your work because it is impossible for you to change who you are because you are a depraved sinner, who is at enmity with God. James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." God never said that the sinner would ever desire to be anything but a sinner. God never said that the words of man would cause you to change from wanting to be depraved sinner to being His child. Lets look at it this way, think of the family you hate or dislike the most on the earth and then think of yourself as all of a sudden you changing your mind about them and wanting to be a part of that family. Now compare that to choosing to be saved, because if mankind are truly at enemy with God then why would you want to be a part of His family. This is why God draws us, God's Spirit convicts us, God begets us or births us, and this is why God causes us to believe. This leaves no room for man in His deliverance and no room for Gods failure, which is impossible. John wrote in 1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." Arminianism is simply false and full of lies, and in case you do not know Arminianism is any church or teacher who fails to teach that God is sovereign and that God saved sinners. Or think of it this way if they teach that you do anything to be saved that are Arminian and changing the truth of God into a lie.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Obeying God.

"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29

Obeying God is a commandment and not an option. People are always talking about obeying God but when it comes to an actual sacrifice then the memory to obey God flies out the window. Peter and John had just suffered a major ordeal with the government, they had been warned not to preach about Jesus but they did anyway even though their life was threatened. Christians are to obey God at any cost to them. Life is ordained of God and disobeying God to better your life is not going to be successful no matter how much we disobey God. We must understand everyone and everything in creation is commanded to obey God, but very few do. If you will remember Jesus Christ, God's own Son also obeyed the commandments and will of God the Father. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." John 6:38 Therefore to obey God is being like Jesus Christ, and obeying no matter where the road leads or how many issues arise, or even if it means to do with less in life or even without. Jesus Christ gave His life because God has ordained it to be. Many other millions of Christians also suffered great and horrible deaths because they were following Gods ordained will. God said in Romans 13:1 "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." Christians are obeying God when they allow the high powers that be rule and move forward without interruption from Believers. We must all remember that "...For there is no power but of God..." therefore we are to accept things as Gods will, and obey them. Now please understand we are not to accept everything as "ok" just because God allows sinful things to exist. For example God does not accept abortion as a way of life, in fact He condemns it as murder, but He does allow it, and if God truly wanted abortion stopped then God would stop it. But this does not mean that God will not hold abortionist and all involved responsible. With this being said, always remember "all powers" even the power of Satan is controlled by God. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:13 - 14 "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; (14.) Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well." Now please understand we are to obey man until it conflicts with God and then it is only God we obey. Let us take abortion again as an example. God has ordained abortion just as He has ordained everything else including the crucifixion of His own beloved Son Jesus Christ. God had also ordained the sacrifice of millions of His believers through His blessed will. Please remember "...For there is no power but of God..." Therefore, while as Christians we are not to fight the government over abortion (except through the legal system) we are certainly not to accept it as our way of life, nor any other law's that may disobey God. This reminds us of Peter and John, the government would not allow them to teach about Jesus, but God did, therefore they continued even though their life were threatened. "Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." Acts 5:28 but the only thing that mattered to them was to obey God. God never tells a believer in Jesus Christ to disobey Him. It was God who told these two men to "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." Acts 5:20 and speak they were going to do even if it meant their death. It is needful that we understand that Gods commandments are to always be obeyed, but only God's direct commands, nothing else allows us to disobey man. Therefore we ought to obey God rather than men, if that is Gods command.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

The Law Is Fulfilled!

"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:4

The Law of God is no joke, it is the most serious law ever written. It is God's law and that make it a holy law. It is not to be broken and when one disobeys God and breaks His law it brings forth death. Sometimes people mock at God's laws as though his laws are meaningless and powerless, but nothing with God is meaningless and powerless. God's law is a sign of perfection which only God can fulfill. The law was so perfect that it was written as a condemner, or to show man their lack of godliness. Paul said it was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Only a fool could ever believe that the law could be in any way part of salvation on our part because man is a slave to sin not God's law. The law cannot be broken, ever. Salvation can only be obtained by one never ever breaking one jot or tittle of the law. Some people have convinced themselves or allowed other to convince them that one must live a good life with good works in order to enter heaven, but not one time does God ever say anything close to that. In fact the absolute truth is found in Galatians 3:11 "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." See if one could live the law satisfactory to God then salvation would not be needed, because salvation is only needed for the sinner's who are guilty of breaking the law. Jesus Christ is the only human to never break the law of God, not even once! God said in Psalms 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." Now don't think the word wicked is someone other than you, we are all wicked until we are saved. The word "wicked" means - the condemned - which includes everyone except Christ Jesus. The Lord went on speaking about us when we are born in Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." God went on to say in Ephesians 2:3 "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Therefore we must conclude that if we are naturally born of a father and a mother then we were born sinners and law breakers by birth and at enmity with God. Now, we must understand that the law must be fulfilled in order for us to enter heaven. God's children will not be sinners but rather holy as He is Holy. There is only one way of mankind ever being holy, and that is an external source rather than internal. The external source is Jesus Christ, it is because He is Holy that we too can be holy. Us living the law is worthless because we can never not sin, but Christ is holy therefore we can only obtain holiness through Christ. Remember Paul said in Galatians 3:24 "... the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ..." a schoolmaster, that is all it is to us because outside of Christ we are law breakers, however in Christ we are law perfect. God went on to say in Galatians 3:12 "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." The law has nothing to do with salvation but if one live's in them then by them that soul will be condemned. There is no justification in the law, justification is only found in Jesus Christ who shed His blood to cleanse all our sins. Now this brings us back to out text scripture in Romans 8:4 "... the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh..." the law is only fulfilled in us who are saved and walk after the Spirit, because only a saved person can walk after the Spirit. Everyone else walks after the flesh and continually failing to fulfill the law of God in which they were conceived in the womb breaking. The only ones who have been saved from hell are those who Christ have cleansed not the ones who believe their works can be sufficient. Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us..."

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Let Your New Years Resolution Be; To Be A Better Church Member.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

There are many Christians who have forsaken the assemblies, this is what the Lord calls an "Apostasy" or a falling away from the local churches. If is a fact that people who forsake the local churches are weak in faith and biblical understanding. If you have fled the church let me urge you to return. The church is the most important and most valuable thing in your earthly life. The church is the earths seminary of learning. The church is the single place on earth to be as close to heaven that there is. If you have left church or have forsaken the assembly for any reason, and I mean ANY reason, then please return. There is not a good reason to forsake the local church. Maybe something was said, something done, maybe something was not right, but maybe things have changed. However bad it was that caused you to forsake the church maybe it is corrected by now, maybe there is another pastor by now, or etc. You are a Christian and if you are not in church you are hurting yourself, but also the assembly that God set you in as a member.

If you are a Christian and are not a member of a local assembly then you need to find one. God does not save people to forsake His assemblies, His teachings, or the worship of him. Believe me you cannot satisfy God in worship if you do not attend church. I once had a boss (in the attempt to get me to work on Sunday) that the church is everywhere and you can worship at home, at work, or anywhere you can hear a preacher preaching. I must say this man was totally ignorant of the scriptures. A Christian is not satisfying God if they are not attending church, the only holy ground on earth. Paul told young Timothy in 1 Titus 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." There is not another place on earth with these sort of benefits. The church is the HOUSE OF GOD and THE PILLER and GROUND OF TRUTH. But only a true church, that is one who teaches the truths of the scripture, even if it offends us. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" 2 Timothy 3:16 What this means the scriptures is preached to us all as a discipline tool of God. Beloved if you have left church, don't go to church, or even have been disciplined but the church with expulsion, make it your New Years resolution to return and correct that issue, and draw yourself closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord went on in our text scripture and said "... exhorting one another..." This word means - a call to be good - that is good to each other. All church members must realize that God has grace on us all, in saving our souls when we were at enmity with him, therefore as Christians and church members we are to be gracious to others, no matter what. I have over the years met many rude and unruly church members, even so rude as to mock other people who was attending church. As kids we were laughed at for the clothes we wore, from the family we were from, and in many other ways, and this ought not be in God's house. The Lord said in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." the word "comfort" here is the same word as "exhorting" but here the Lord goes farther and says to "edify one another" and that means to build-up one another, not to destroy one another for selfish reasons. Have a good and blessed New Years!