Category: God: The Father, the Son Jesus Christ, & the Holy Ghost

Arrayed in Hypocrisy

Thursday, October 31, 2024

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27,28 KJV).

“Looks can be deceiving” is not only true during Halloweentime, but confirmed year-round within Christendom.

Today is Halloween, when children dress up and feign themselves to be creatures they are not. Likewise, many church leaders today wear “Christian” garbs, but their ministries do not bring the Lord Jesus Christ glory and honor. They promote their denomination, and seek to perpetuate it, rather than serve and exalt the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible manifests these who appear to be good, as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ exposed Israel’s corrupt religious leaders who misled the nation in His day. In His Parable of the Tares, Matthew 13:24-30,37-43, Christ explained how just as He had sown good seed (wheat, believing Jews) in Israel, Satan had also sown tares/weeds (unbelieving Jews). Tares resemble wheat; unbelieving Jews resemble believing Jews. The unbelieving Pharisees and scribes, for instance, looked like God’s people (believing Israel). Judas Iscariot was another example of Satan’s tares—the apostles never realized who Judas really was until it was too late!

But Satan’s counterfeit believers are not confined to Israel’s program. Today, within local assemblies of the Body of Christ, there are people feigning themselves to be Christians: “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” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Beloved, beware of the church leaders who are arrayed in hypocrisy, “and avoid them” (Romans 16:17b). If their teaching does not agree with the rightly divided King James Bible, you have no business as a child of God to be listening to them.

*This is excerpted from a larger Bible study with the same name. The Bible study can be read here or watched here.

You may also see our special study, “Should Christians celebrate Halloween?” In addition, “What does the Bible say about ghosts?”

Note the Horizon! #19

Saturday, October 26, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

While the Bible timeline from end to end is replete with changes to God’s dealings with mankind, that which is of utmost importance to us is how Paul’s ministry demarcates—establishes a horizon for—His current program for man. There are the “time past” before Paul, the “but now” of Paul, and the “ages to come” after Paul (see Ephesians 2:7,11-13). “But now” is the 13 Pauline epistles, Romans to Philemon. To reach outside of these epistles and try to apply verses is to attempt to force God to do something He is no longer doing or will do later.

We do not throw away anything from Genesis through Revelation, and we study all 66 Books of the Bible, but we do know our “marching orders” are confined to Romans through Philemon (victorious grace/Christian living in this the Dispensation of Grace). To make everything in the Bible applicable to everyone at all times is to go the way of denominationalism and traditional theology—compounding Bible ignorance, multiplying misunderstanding, and perpetuating spiritual immaturity that so stifles growth, development, and Divine power.

One day, Paul’s ministry will finally come to an end. The mystery program or Dispensation of Grace will close forever. As God extended His hand of grace to the whole world going back to Acts chapter 9, so He will withdraw it at last when no one else wishes to believe Paul’s Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). The Church the Body of Christ will be removed from Earth for the prophetic program to begin again. In that day, it will have been far better had the nations heard absolutely nothing from the Lord through Paul. How dreadful it shall be for them to have had the Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon, for at least 2,000 years—for they did not believe a word of them. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psalm 2:4,5).

Let us conclude this devotionals arc….

Note the Horizon! #17

Thursday, October 24, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

It is only because of God’s goodness (not man’s “goodness”) that the Dispensation of Grace goes on. That alone holds back Divine wrath or judgment. Yet, it is easy for sinners—such as unbelieving Israel during Acts, Paul’s audience in Romans chapter 2—to have such a low opinion of the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance (patience) and longsuffering (tolerance).

Observe these words from Romans chapter 2: “[4] Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? [5] But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; [6] Who will render to every man according to his deeds:… [8] But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, [9] Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;….”

Now, turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2: “[14] For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: [15] Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: [16] Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

Paul’s ministry (the Gospel of Grace, 1 Corinthians 15:3,4) was all that was preventing God’s wrath from falling on apostate Israel during Acts (when Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians), yet unbelieving Israel kept opposing Paul over and over and over and over and over again! Yet, we dare not forget how even unbelieving Gentiles are guilty of this sin of despising God’s Apostle to them. Their pride and ignorance will be their downfall too….

Note the Horizon! #16

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

In early Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus left Jerusalem as a lost sinner swiftly bound for Damascus… and Hell! Smug in his religious goodness and callous in his fanaticism, he was enthusiastically eliminating all “Jesus-loving Jews” he could possibly locate, arrest, and torture! No one would dare challenge his theological system and get away with it! Saul did not know it, but the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ was staring down at Earth, intently watching him make his way northward from Judaea into Syria. The Lord Himself made certain they had a meeting—and, without any doubt whatsoever, Saul saw and heard things he neither expected nor forgot.

The Divine wrath that should have crushed his unbelieving, stubborn self in Acts chapter 9, was replaced with grace and peace. God’s wrath was not canceled, only postponed—pushed out into the future to a time known only to Him. Essentially, what the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Saul can be paraphrased as: “Now that you have realized and experienced firsthand just how drastic a change My dealings with man have undergone, now that you know the unfathomable grace [unmerited favor] and the immeasurable mercy [pity] I have shown you here outside of Damascus, I now send you out as My Apostle to your undeserving world to preach that very message that saved your pathetic soul unto eternal life.” If necessary, read Acts 9:1-16, Acts 22:1-15, Acts 26:9-20, and especially 1 Timothy 1:12-16.

“And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;…” (Romans 2:3-5). As Saul’s ministry got underway, he learned how the apostate nation Israel he was once a part of was just as hostile to Jesus Christ as he had been….

Note the Horizon! #15

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

For three years, Jesus Christ preached repentance (change in mind) to Israel because God’s earthly kingdom was at hand. Alas, most of the nation was uninterested. Luke chapter 13: “[6] He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. [7] Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? [8] And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: [9] And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

Israel received a one-year extension to believe, a renewed opportunity for repentance (verse 8)—the first seven chapters of Acts. As they blasphemed against the Son of Man and crucified Him, so they spoke against the Holy Ghost and stoned His prophet Stephen. By Acts chapter 7, wrath could no longer be delayed—as far as the prophetic program was concerned. In Acts chapter 9, the mystery program began: Jesus Christ poured out grace, mercy, and peace on Saul of Tarsus, His chief enemy in the Earth (see 1 Timothy 1:12-16).

Read Peter’s words in 2 Peter chapter 3: “[9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance…. [15] And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; [16] As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

As God was gracious, merciful, and peaceful to save Saul/Paul, so Saul/Paul is a pattern of God’s longsuffering, His attitude toward sinful mankind even now….

Note the Horizon! #14

Monday, October 21, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

What the God of the Bible is currently doing is but temporary. As He has not always done it, so He will not always do it. To the absolute shame of Christendom, most church members understand this to the same degree as those outside of church do—not at all! Christian and non-Christian alike never cease to ask such juvenile questions as, “Where is God’s wrath against sin? Was not Jesus allegedly coming back 2,000 years ago? Where is He then?” The Bible already answered these concerns, for the Apostle Peter was facing the same mockers (at that time, Christ had been gone only about 30 years).

Second Peter chapter 3: “[3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, [4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. [5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: [6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: [7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. [8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Peter replies to the scoffers who doubt Jesus’ return was ever real, those who are deliberately ignorant of the Scriptures and keep delighting in their sin as though they have escaped justice. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ Himself, and others had long foretold of God’s impending judgment against sinners (Matthew 3:7-12; Matthew 13:38-42; Matthew 21:44; Luke 3:7-9,15-17; Luke 20:18; Acts 2:19,20,34-36; Acts 7:55,56; cf. Psalm 110:1). Where is this Divine wrath, Peter? Let us see if Peter offers a valid explanation….

Note the Horizon! #10

Thursday, October 17, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

As God was unfolding prophecy, He was also withholding mystery… for the best way to overcome Satan is to keep a secret! For which reason, the Bible explains in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8: “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

“Mystery” in the above passage is defined as “the hidden wisdom.” Ephesians 3:5,9 adds, “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;… the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:….” Please make sure you appreciate how the events of Calvary were not a secret. For centuries prior to Paul, God through His prophets foretold various aspects of how Jesus would die. Christ Himself made frequent references to His crucifixion (Matthew 16:21-25; Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 9:31,32; Luke 18:31-34). Yet, the full scope of Christ’s finished crosswork—all that it would accomplish—was God’s secret!

In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 4-9, we read of “the fellowship of the mystery,” how “that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:….” This is the formation of the Church the Body of Christ, the group of believers God kept secret. It was totally unknown to the Old Testament prophets that God would take believing Gentiles and believing Jews and create one agency, the Body of Christ, an entity separate and distinct from the nation Israel. Isolating the Body of Christ from other churches in Scripture is critical to Bible understanding….

Note the Horizon! #9

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

Despite his plethora of trials and hardships, Paul spoke these positive words to his fellow believers in Acts 20:24: “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Paul alone in the Bible uses that term, “The Gospel of the Grace of God,” for he was aware that it was at the heart of his ministry and message. The resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ gave it directly to him in Acts chapter 9 (cf. Galatians 1:11,12).

At this point, someone is bound to inquire, “Was not the God of the Bible always gracious, giving man unmerited favor, long before there ever was an Apostle Paul? Did not Noah, for example, ‘find grace in the eyes of the LORD’ in Genesis 6:8?” Why, of course, God has always been gracious—doing for sinful, weak, limited man what sinful, weak, limited man is totally incapable of doing for himself. Grace did not begin with the Apostle Paul. Nevertheless, the Dispensation of the Grace of God did commence with Paul.

Ephesians 3:1-5: “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 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;….” Grace in Paul’s ministry is how Father God will utilize Christ’s finished crosswork to do something for all people without distinction. This new body of believers was kept secret until Paul….

Note the Horizon! #8

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

When we come to Paul’s ministry, there is not simply good news about Jesus Christ—but good news that extends beyond Israel and out to all the world without Israel’s rise to kingdom glory. See Paul’s “all-nations” apostleship in Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:25,26.

Calvary’s cross was indeed preached in early Acts, yet Christ’s crucifixion was bad news because Israel killed Him in unbelief (Acts 2:22-24,36; Acts 3:13-18; Acts 4:10-12,24-28; Acts 7:52,53). They did not crucify Jesus in faith, as sufficient payment for their sins. No, as the Apostles proclaimed in early Acts, Israel wanted Him dead and out of the way so they could continue unopposed with their works-religion! One religious fanatic who was thrilled in this regard was Saul of Tarsus. As pious as he was, he was headed for Hell at a breakneck speed!

Whereas God would use Christ’s blood in the prophetic program to cleanse Israel of her national sin problem (“my [Isaiah’s] people” of Isaiah 53:8; “give his life a ransom for many” in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45), Paul (formerly lost Saul of Tarsus) learned a secret from the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 9. Christ died not for Israel only, but for all people without distinction: “[3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; [4] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; [6] Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. [7] Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:3-7).

Paul is the “due-time testifier”—the apostle or preacher who proclaims according to God’s schedule—how Christ died as “a ransom for all.” Let us see why God kept the secret, a secret….

Note the Horizon! #7

Monday, October 14, 2024

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,…” (Romans 1:1 KJV).

Friend, do you see the horizon here? How can it facilitate your understanding and enjoyment of the Bible?

Going all the way back to when God placed man on the Earth, Adam’s creation, He has always had some Gospel (good news) to share with man (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:16,17; Genesis 3:15; and so on). Father God has spoken about His Son Jesus Christ in some capacity, as Peter preached in Acts 3:20,21: “…Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

Christ would reign in an earthly kingdom—the very earthly kingdom Adam and Eve would have enjoyed but lost because of sin in Genesis chapter 3 (Matthew 25:34, “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”). This was the same earthly kingdom that was passed on to Israel, the one at the heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached during Matthew to John and early Acts (see Matthew 3:1,2; Matthew 4:17,23,24; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 10:5-7; Mark 1:14,15; Luke 10:9; Acts 2:29,30; Acts 3:21; Acts 5:31).

The above earthly kingdom, however, was contingent upon Israel’s rise to kingdom glory in accepting the King, Messiah Jesus—whom they refused and crucified in unbelief because they were too self-righteous to admit their sin problem (see Romans 9:30–10:4). After prolonged national unbelief in early Acts, resulting in Stephen’s murder, Israel loses her special status before God and Paul’s apostleship now begins. “I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:…” (Romans 11:11-13).

With Israel’s fall comes a new Gospel, the Gospel of Grace….