Category: God’s truth

Household Rules #8

Thursday, January 12, 2017

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God” (Colossians 1:25 KJV).

And, just what is this “dispensation of God which is given to [Paul] for [us]?”

In Ephesians chapter 3, we find the answer: “[1] For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, [2] If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: [3] How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, [4] Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) [5] Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; [6] That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:…. [9] And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”

While the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ revealed the mystery to Paul, the Holy Spirit used Paul’s preaching and writing to show that secret to everyone else. In our Dispensation of Grace, there is a special body of believers in Christ Jesus, an entity unknown prior to Paul. It is the Church the Body of Christ, “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4), or “the fellowship of the mystery” (verse 9). The Body of Christ is made up of any Jews and any Gentiles who have simple faith in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for their sins. This body of believing Jews and Gentiles was completely unheard of until God revealed it to Paul. Prior to Acts chapter 9, Jews and Gentiles were separate in God’s eyes. One of the major “household rules” today is God sees no difference between Jew and Gentile. He sees people either in Christ (saved) or in Adam (lost).

Keeping this body of believers separate from the nation Israel is crucial to our understanding of the Holy Scriptures….

Household Rules #7

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God” (Colossians 1:25 KJV).

And, just what is this “dispensation of God which is given to [Paul] for [us]?”

You will recall that “dispensation” appears four times in the King James Bible (1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25). It is the noun form of the verb “dispense,” meaning “to distribute or supply.” Friend, if it helps, think about when a pharmacist dispenses medication as per a doctor’s orders. In the Bible, a “dispensation” is a particular set of instructions (or “household rules”) that God gives to mankind for his faith and obedience during a particular time. God has not always dealt with man in the manner in which He deals with us today. Over time, God’s instructions to man change because man—not God—changes; we would do well to recognize and respect dispensational (transitional) boundaries.

For example, think about the Dispensation of Law God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was dispensed to Israel to govern her social and religious life for over 1,500 years. Those strict “household rules” were temporary. Law faded off the scene during the Acts period, as our Dispensation of Grace was being given to Paul—see today’s Scripture and Ephesians 3:2. (There are other dispensations in Scripture, but we have neither time nor space to discuss those right now. Our purpose here is to simply see two dispensations—Law (given to Moses for Israel to follow) and Grace (given to Paul for us, all nations/Gentiles, to observe).

As with the rest of the Bible, God progressively revealed the Dispensation of Grace. In fact, all the information contained in the Books of Romans through Philemon was given to the Apostle Paul during a 30-year period. Jesus Christ first spoke to Saul of Tarsus at his conversion in Acts chapter 9, and ended that revelation a few years after the Book of Acts closed. The capstone of Pauline revelation is 2 Timothy, his final epistle, penned just before his execution. We had better be sure we are following the latest revelation from God. If we are giving attendance to Pauline doctrine, we are observing our “household rules….”

A Book That Will Teach

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone we can trust to teach us God’s truth!

Once, I heard a minister give his self-proclaimed “prophetic” message about top headlines that would appear in the coming year. While he reassured his audience that he received this information directly from “the Lord” (?), he gave a disclaimer: “I do not know, but at the end of this year, we will see if what I say came to pass.” Unlike the inner impressions and hunches of this “Christian” preacher, the Holy Bible is infallible, and we can trust its information completely.

Long, long ago, God Almighty wrote a Book, and He preserved it through history through a multiplicity of manuscript copies, so that it could eventually be translated into English, so we could read it even today! (Of course, Satan, the master counterfeiter that he is, most certainly had his own manuscripts—they still circulate today as corrupt Bible translations.) God promised to preserve His words forever (Psalm 12:6,7; Isaiah 30:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25). Consequently, every person will stand before Him one day to give account as to what he or she did with that Bible. Did we reject it in favor of counterfeits? Did we re-translate it to fit our denominational beliefs? Did we apply it to life by faith? Did we even read it at all?

As English-speaking people, we understand—or, at least, we should understand—that we can trust the 400-year-old King James Bible. Sadly, even in many church circles, we are often cautioned not to trust God’s preserved Word. Unfortunately, footnotes, study notes, and seminarians usually attempt to claim that authority by offering “better” readings or “better” manuscripts. Beloved, we can do without unbelieving textual critics and their “scholarship.” God does not need lost people to explain His Word to His children; He never did and He never will (1 Corinthians 2:14). Never forget that!

The Holy Spirit will teach us the King James Bible if we “read” (Ephesians 3:4), “study” (2 Timothy 2:15), and “consider” it (2 Timothy 2:7)!

A Saviour Who Will Save

Monday, January 2, 2017

“…Jesus Christ of Nazareth… Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10,12 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone can save man from the everlasting hellfire he deserves!

A frequent objection made against Christianity is that every religion has “good” members, and to ignore them and limit heaven to a few Christians is unfair. This is a defected notion. How does one arrive at a definite conclusion when there is no one standard to gauge everyone’s “goodness?” They are “good” according to whom, according to what standard? Remember, relative morality actually does not help the sinner—he may be a “better” sinner than another, but he is also a “worse” sinner than yet another, and whether “better” or “worse,” he is still a sinner!

The God of the Bible has a simple method for determining righteousness. Today, He sees two types of people—saints and lost people. While both groups were born in sins (Ephesians 2:1-3), “shapen in iniquity [in the womb]” (Psalm 51:5), and “condemned already” (John 3:18), only the saints have come to realize their lost state. Job asked in Job 9:2, “How should a man be just [righteous, acceptable] with God?” Saints have come to the acknowledgement that they needed God’s righteousness, that they had a massive sin debt that they could never satisfy, that their “righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), that they could never possibly make themselves right before a holy God (He is the standard; Romans 3:23). The lost people, however, do not realize they are lost, for they believe their religious works “score points” with God and make up for their sinful deeds (2 Corinthians 4:3,4). They ignore the finished crosswork of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for their sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

Saints have come by faith to Jesus Christ, whose name literally means, “Anointed Saviour” (cf. Psalm 2:2; Matthew 1:21). As the writer of the book of Hebrews said, “[Jesus] is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (7:25). Literally, no world religion has such a “Saviour” as Jesus Christ!

NOTE: Friends and readers, remember this ministry’s financial needs throughout 2017. Let me stress to you that this ministry has grown significantly, so we do need faithful (monthly) funding to continue serving you this year. Whatever you can give is greatly appreciated! You can donate electronically (and securely) to us by visiting https://www.paypal.me/ShawnBrasseaux. Contact me at arcministries@gmail.com if you want to give by personal check via “snail mail.” Also, please remember our 60 Bible Q&A booklets for sale at https://arcgraceministries.org/in-print/booklets-bible-q-a/. 🙂

Redeem the Year!

Sunday, January 1, 2017

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

What great advice for 2017!

Despite 2,000 years of Bible schools and seminaries, 2,000 years of a completed Bible canon, 2,000 years of Bible reading in churches, several decades of “Christian” television and radio, and just over a decade of widespread use of “Christian” websites, how sad that Bible ignorance is still quite extensive (it is as if God never gave His Word to start with!).

Frankly, the Church the Body of Christ needs to wake up! The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (verse 14). Paul, loosely quoting Isaiah 60:1, reminded us that the spiritual ignorance that gripped Israel in Isaiah’s day seized Christians in his day—and it still grips Christians 20 centuries later. Feel-good sermons, enjoyable “worship” services, and rites, rituals, and ceremonies will NOT solve this problem—they exacerbate it!

“[God] will have all men to be saved…” (1 Timothy 2:4a). Do you want this New Year to count for God’s glory? First, you need to get saved from sins and hell! You need to become a Christian by trusting in and relying on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). That is only part of God’s will for you, for 1 Timothy 2:4b continues, “[God] will have all men… to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Now, God’s will for your Christian life is daily, personal Bible study to renew your mind, so your faith in those verses can cause God to work in your life—it will be His life, thus making you “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Today’s Scripture urges us to buy back the time Satan has robbed from God (time created for God’s glory). By faith, we need to make that time glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by applying His Word, particularly Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, to our lives. Have a good year in Christ! 🙂

You can download our free “One-Year Bible Reading Schedule.”

See our archived Bible Q&A: “What Scriptural advice can you give me for the New Year?”

By the way, I recently wrote and released a 45-page special Bible article, “The 2016 United States Presidential Election: A Bible-Believing, Grace Perspective.”

The Person of the Year

Saturday, December 31, 2016

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Philippians 2:9,10a KJV).

Let us praise the 2016 Person of the Year—our Lord Jesus Christ!

Society’s most stressful time of year, the Christmas Season, is winding down. The year 2016 is nearly over, and a new year, 2017, will dawn soon. At this time every year, various groups and publications feature their particular choice for “Person of the Year.” Whether a chief of state, a philanthropist, a religious leader, a distinguished author or scientist, a television or radio personality, or some other “professional” who impacted society in a negative or positive way the most during the past year, they are all still people with limitations and frailties. One can accomplish all sorts of praiseworthy, generous, and awe-inspiring feats. However, what carries the most weight is the attitude, the heart, underlying the action, not the action. Was it Jesus Christ, or simply the flesh?

The one single event in history that pleased God the Father most was when His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, went by faith in His Word, to an awful Roman cross to suffer the worst possible and most graphic death a human ever experienced, to pay for our sins. “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). It is through that finished crosswork of Jesus Christ that He is still doing mighty works, 20 centuries later. How our Lord Jesus Christ has saved countless souls from sins and hell this past year, and how He has saved innumerable Christian souls from false doctrine and spiritual ruin.

Jesus Christ, who in death defeated His greatest enemy (Satan), was raised by God the Father and is now the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ (today’s Scripture). Saints, may we ever thank and praise our Saviour Jesus Christ for what He has done for us, what He has done with us, and what He will do with us next year… and all the countless ages thereafter….

As we close another year of ministry, we look forward to serving you for another! 🙂

The Misunderstood Messiah #4

Thursday, December 29, 2016

“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God” (John 8:41 KJV).

Did you ever notice the magnitude of the insult put forth toward Jesus Christ in today’s Scripture?

Society’s anti-Bible, anti-Christian attitude is nothing new. While today’s Bible-believing, Bible-quoting Christian is accused of “hate speech” and “bigotry,” the “non-narrow-minded” face no repercussion for their slandering of the Lord Jesus Christ and their trampling His Word under foot. Due to sin, the world is upside down, and when the Christian attempts to expose it, he or she is to blame. The world wants Romans 3:4 to read, “Let every man be true, but God a liar!”

Like the (self-righteous) Pharisees of old, lost mankind, despite religious participation, has no capacity to stop sin. Never become angry at the world and never let their behavior puzzle you. Sinners do nothing but sin: by nature, man literally knows nothing but sin. As Jesus said to the lost Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44a). What they need is not simply to stop their activity (sins); they need a new nature from God! Today’s Scripture demonstrates the Pharisees’ willful ignorance of their sinful state.

Like the (“educated”) Pharisees of old, lost mankind, despite several degrees, has no capacity to understand the Bible. The Pharisees studied their Old Testament scrolls, yet they were equivalent to today’s average seminary graduate—years of Bible “study” and no (!) Bible understanding. Today’s Scripture demonstrates the Pharisees’ willful ignorance of one of hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that foretold Jesus Christ’s coming. They had plenty of philosophy and religion, but they had no capacity to understand and appreciate the Bible. People today do not need degrees to comprehend the Bible; they need the Spirit of God! “But the natural [lost] man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [judged, evaluated]” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Let us summarize and conclude this devotional arc….

To Know God

Monday, November 21, 2016

“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands” (Psalm 115:1-4 KJV).

Friend, may you come to know God as He wants you to know Him!

In this world of over seven billion souls, there are approximately 4,200 religions. They all have their various gods and goddesses, each known by its own name. Quoting 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 5 and 6: “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

As people who are aware of the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible, we understand there is one God. Elsewhere in Scripture, He is called “the living and true God” as opposed to “idols” (1 Thessalonians 1:9 cf. today’s Scripture). Some of His other names are “the God of Israel” (about 200 times) and “JEHOVAH God.” He is not to be confused with the idols of the world (cf. today’s Scripture). For example, Allah, the deity of the Muslims, is not the God of Christians. Allah does not have a “Son,” but the God of the Bible, “Father God,” does.

The God of the Judeo-Christian Bible is “the living and true God” because all life flows from Him. We live because He was alive first. He is the “living” God, not some dead idol, made by men’s hands, and unable to interact with its environment (read today’s Scripture in context). The God of Christianity “hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” He is alive, able to think and function, and He is fully equipped to accomplish every detail of His will. In our next six studies, let us get to know Him intimately, that we may learn how He can equip us to learn and do His will, too!

Crossroads

Saturday, November 12, 2016

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:37,38 KJV).

People can acknowledge the Apostle Paul’s special ministry—or they can remain ignorant of it!

I just received an email from someone who had read one of our online Bible studies. While he admitted that there was much truth in that article, while he read those Bible verses and knew exactly what they were teaching, and while he admitted everything was logical, he refused to give up his emotional experiences in religion. He actually encouraged me to ask God for such an experience before I reject it. In other words, he wanted me to ignore Bible verses, toss out all reason, and experience some emotional high to confirm God’s presence to me. Unfortunately, there are many millions of people just like this in Christendom. No wonder non-Christians think so poorly of Jesus Christ—look at what so-called “Christians” say and do. They promote ignorance and superstition and then criticize the world for being deceived by Satan!

Now, contrast this with another online correspondence I received around the same time. This particular man, who has a testimony of salvation in Christ, is so grateful to have found right division. Dispensational Bible study has answered so many confusing questions for him. Now, he has such peace, understanding, and joy. Spending over 20 years in one cult, and then spending the next 40 years in another denomination, he has now had quite enough of religious tradition and Biblical ignorance! Even to this day, he is always eager to learn more about the Message of God’s Grace. If only there were more people like him than there are like the individual in the previous paragraph.

Today’s Scripture shows us the Holy Spirit expected people to be unaware and uninformed of Paul’s special ministry. We should teach them. Nevertheless, if Christians persist in staying confused, we are instructed to “let [them] be ignorant.” Brethren, we need to use our time wisely. Find people who want to learn the truth and teach them! Leave the willfully ignorant alone!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is Revelation 22:15 referring to sinners just outside of the New Jerusalem?”

Not Left to Ourselves

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9,10 KJV).

Hallelujah—God did not leave us to ourselves!

Recently, while taking care of business at a government office, my services took so long to be rendered. While I sat waiting, the clerk helping me struck up light conversation. She complained to me how the procedure was “so complicated”—she had to go through so many steps on her computer before she could access my files and print my necessary papers. The thought immediately occurred to me. Millions of people think bigger government will solve our problems! (*Smacks forehead*)

Friends, as a dear brother in Christ often says, when God wants to judge mankind, He does not have to break out into a sweat. He can simply give mankind over to himself and mankind will ruin himself (see Romans 1:17-32). Mankind is just so naturally corrupt, so he will always eventually find himself before insurmountable obstacles and in inescapable dilemmas. Look at the world religions—the absolute spiritual darkness of people who worship rats, trees, cows, monkeys, bread and wine, and even small children! Look at the world governments—avarice, sex scandals, lies, and wasteful spending. Look at the educational system—empty curriculums, confused young people, comical opinions of men proclaimed as “the truth.” (All because they refused the light of the Word of God.)

Left to ourselves, we would truly be helpless and hopeless! However, praise God for the “but” of today’s Scripture! In His goodness, He did not leave us without revelation. He caused His inspired Word to be written down long ago, to be preserved through the ages in a multiplicity of manuscript copies, and to be translated into our language (English) so we can have it right now. We hold that inspired, inerrant, preserved Word of God when we have a King James Bible. If ever we drift away from the standards found in that King James Bible, we will surely go back the way of darkness!

Bible Q&A #320: “Seethe not a young goat in his mother’s milk?”