Category: The Holy Ghost

Bible Study 101 #5

Thursday, January 9, 2014

“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 KJV).

The only verse that tells you to study the Bible also tells you how to study the Bible!

Dispensational Bible study causes us to recognize dispensations, or sets of instructions God dispenses to mankind throughout the Holy Bible (different peoples living in various time periods). God’s nature never changes (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8), but His dealings with man do change because man changes. (You can verify this by simply comparing God’s “contradictory” directions about diets in Genesis 1:29-31, Genesis 9:1-4, Leviticus chapter 11, and 1 Timothy 4:3-5.)

Our King James Bible uses the term “dispensation” four times (1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25). The Apostle Paul wrote in 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 [Jesus Christ] 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;”

Scripture says that the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ directly revealed and committed to the Apostle Paul a special body of information to give to us Gentiles (non-Jews): Scripture calls that body of truth “the Dispensation of the Grace of God.” We learn this doctrine only in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. Hence, even the Apostle Peter, near the end of his life, acknowledged that he did not understand everything Paul wrote (2 Peter 3:15,16).

Most of the Church the Body of Christ today is doctrinally unsound and spiritually weak because it often neglects the Bible books—Paul’s epistles—written to and about it. Undoubtedly, the professing Church is largely ignorant of God’s will for it because it largely ignores the books of the Bible that explain God’s will for it….

A Book That Will Teach

Friday, January 3, 2014

“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!

I recently 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)!

The Misunderstood Messiah #4

Sunday, December 29, 2013

“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….

The Misunderstood Messiah #2

Friday, December 27, 2013

“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?

Like the Bible scoffers of today, those during Christ’s earthly ministry rejected the notion of the virgin conception of a human (His own conception).

“Then Joseph her husband, being a just [righteous, fair] man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily” (Matthew 1:19). Joseph, still wondering what happened to Mary, decides to divorce her in secret to spare her from becoming a public spectacle. Suddenly, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and informs him that the Holy Ghost has generated the Christ child in Mary (verse 20).

Imagine the humiliating rumors that circulated: “Mary was a pregnant virgin before she consummated her marriage to Joseph.” The story just did not make sense to most. Evidently, the general Israeli public, unwilling to believe God’s fulfilled Word, believed Mary was unfaithful to Joseph. That gossip lingered for over three decades, which is why the Pharisees said to Jesus what they did in today’s Scripture: “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” In other words, they called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, an illegitimate child, and they claimed they were God’s children! (You can sense the vicious attitude these self-righteous religionists had toward our Lord Jesus, another attempt to intimidate Him into silence, seeing as to they are all in the Temple and a crowd of people is listening to this entire conversation.)

At this point, we need to remember that Satan is actively working in and through these Pharisees. Jesus Christ’s deity is being questioned and His credibility is being attacked, which causes those in the Temple to doubt God’s Word (thereby leaving room for Satan’s error to creep in). Our Lord is aware of this, but He does not waver in His Father’s Word. Let us see how He wisely responds to this insult….

The Word Was Made Flesh

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1,14 KJV).

On this Christmas Day, we reflect on the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

The candidate who could solve man’s sin problem had to meet two requirements. He had to be God, and He had to be man—a “God-Man.” It had to be God, because God’s righteousness had to be satisfied, but it also had to be man, for it was man who had sinned. God’s righteousness was offended, since “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But, it was also a man who had sinned, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

Consider Philippians 2:5-8: “Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” In short, heaven’s best—Jesus Christ—came to save earth’s worst—us! In summary, Jesus Christ was born to die for us.

Brethren, the salvation that we enjoy today in Christ could not be possible without the shed blood of Christ on Calvary’s cross, and the shed blood of Christ could not be possible without the incarnation of Christ! God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and in order for Him to shed sinless blood, He had to first have blood. Thus, it behooved Jesus Christ to take upon Himself the form of a man. It was at this time of year that God the Son entered the virgin Mary’s womb, possessing a body that was conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Remember, “The Word was made flesh” (today’s Scripture) so we could have an opportunity to be “made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Merry Christmas!

*Adapted from a larger Bible study with the same name. It can be read here or watched here.

The Virgin Conception of Christ

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 KJV).

While Christendom speaks of the “virgin birth of Christ,” according to today’s Scripture, a more accurate term would be the “virgin conception of Christ.” There was nothing unusual about Christ’s birth; it was His conception that was unique because there was no human father!

Interestingly, today’s Scripture has been the point of controversy for over a century (to Satan’s delight!). Some modern Bibles (RSV, NRSV, et al.) translate the Hebrew word here translated “virgin” as the vague “young woman,” thereby leaving room for the heretical idea that Joseph was Jesus’ biological father (and denying Christ’s deity)! If someone ever tells you almah (the Hebrew word translated “virgin”) can mean “young woman” or “virgin,” they are right, but point out that the key to choosing the right translation is not up to a translator, but rather the Holy Ghost!

The author of Matthew’s Gospel, filled with the Holy Ghost, knew which translation—“young woman” or “virgin”—was what God had intended in Isaiah 7:14. If we want to know what God meant in Isaiah 7:14, why not ask God?

“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Behold a virgin shall be with child…” (Matthew 1:22,23a). The Greek word translated “virgin,” parthenos, can only mean “virgin,” not “young woman.” Isaiah was prophesying a virgin, indicated by the words “firstborn son” (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7) and “Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son” (Matthew 1:25). Isaiah 7:14 meant “virgin,” as indicated by Luke 1:34, for Mary “knew not a man.” Again, the Bible is clear that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father.

Matthew 1:23 indisputably proves that almah in Isaiah 7:14 did not simply mean a “young woman,” who may or may not be sexually pure, but “a virgin,” a woman who never had any sexual intercourse. The Holy Ghost, not Joseph, was the Father of Jesus’ body (Matthew 1:18-20).

God’s Perfect Timing

Monday, December 16, 2013

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4,5 KJV).

As today’s Scripture indicates, the birth of Jesus Christ was no accident—God planned its exact moment from eternity past.

When God placed the first man, Adam, on earth, He purposed that man would “subdue [control] it,” to “have dominion” over it and everything on it (Genesis 1:28). Nevertheless, Adam sinned by joining Satan in his rebellion against God. Because of sin, man was now unable to accomplish on earth what God originally created him to do. God left the human race a promise, however, that there would come a Man, who would do what Adam failed to do. Instead of cooperating with God’s adversary like Adam had, this “seed of the woman” would “bruise [Satan’s] head” (Genesis 3:15).

Traveling up through the Scriptures, we see how God lays the groundwork for that seedline. In Genesis 12:1-3, or 2,000 years after Adam’s sin, we read God’s covenant with Abraham, that through Abraham a nation, Israel, will be born, and salvation and blessing will flow to the Gentiles through Israel. The seed of the woman becomes the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).

In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and 1,000 years after Abraham, we read of God’s covenant with King David, that “his seed” will inherit his throne and reign forever. The seed of the woman and of Abraham becomes the seed of David.

About 1,000 years after David, Matthew 1:1 speaks of Christ’s birth, and declares, “…Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This is exactly what God had promised for thousands of years!

Jesus Christ’s birth was not some haphazard event of nature. God the Father had preplanned the exact moment of the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ (today’s Scripture). Over a period of some 4,000 years, the three members of the Godhead worked to bring about the birth of man’s Redeemer, a plan they had even before man was created! Amazing!

333’s 900th – Nourished Saints

Saturday, November 16, 2013

“Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Timothy 4:15 KJV).

Only by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “333 Words of Grace” publishes its 900th devotional today!

A dear Christian brother always says, “Your Christian life will not operate on the basis of ignorance.” We cannot expect God to work in our lives unless we study His Word and learn what He is doing today. Dispensational Bible study is the key to understanding the Scriptures, and it enables you to, by faith, do God’s will, for you know what God is doing today and you can join Him in doing it.

Dear readers, for the past 900 days, it has been an honor to share with you the wonderful Word of God rightly divided. Surely, you have heard and learned things you had never before heard and learned. Our goal from day 1 has been to present to you the Holy King James Bible, clearly and concisely, free from the traditions of men that have made Bible study burdensome, to the intent that you would allow the Holy Spirit to teach you His Word, and that by faith, you would allow Him to use that doctrine to work in your life to accomplish God’s will.

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul advised young Timothy to “meditate upon these things.” The “things” are listed in the previous 65 verses of 1 Timothy, the sound Bible doctrine that would save Timothy from the false teaching that was creeping into the local churches that Paul and his ministry coworkers had established (see 1 Timothy chapters 1 and 4). Timothy was to meditate on God’s Word, especially God’s Word rightly divided (2 Timothy 2:15)—understanding that all of the Bible is for us, but not all of the Bible is to us or about us.

As Paul instructed, Timothy was to think about that sound Bible doctrine, and completely rely on it for his soul’s nourishment, so that others would be encouraged to do the same. We also want that for you, and so we hope to continue to labor in this regard as God’s grace enables.

Beloved, thank you for your prayer concerning this ministry, and Lord willing, onward we go to #1000! 🙂

Consider Your Ways, Saints! #5

Saturday, October 5, 2013

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:59 KJV).

Oftentimes, the Christian is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

The Christian—the one who is trusted alone in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for his or her sins—is to allow the life of that Saviour to live in and through him or her. This is only possible if the Christian is primarily focusing on the part of the Bible written to and about us in the Dispensation of the Grace of God (which the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostle Paul; Ephesians 3:2).

Many true believers in Jesus Christ often struggle to do right and yet still fail. They have not learned the most basic principle of the Dispensation of Grace: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Unquestionably, sin will triumph over us every time when we walk in our own strength, relying on our own resources, our own intellect, our own efforts (this is the system of Law, the enemy of God’s grace). Our works and our performance cannot save us from hell, so they certainly cannot save us from misery either!

Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, and Colossians chapter 3 are great passages that deal specifically with daily Christian living. We read these verses, and most importantly, believe them, applying them to our lives by faith. God the Holy Spirit will then take those words and work mightily in and through us to accomplish those attitudes and actions, and it will literally be the life of Jesus Christ. It will be the same life that He lived on earth, and it will be the life He still lives today. This is the grace life that God wants for us Christians!

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11,12).

May we, by faith, submit to the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire to build a temple, a dwellingplace—using us! 🙂

Consider Your Ways, Saints! #4

Friday, October 4, 2013

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:59 KJV).

Oftentimes, the Christian is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

Ephesians 3:16-21 is one of four of the Apostle Paul’s prayers for us Christians. In verses 16 and 17, he prayed, “That he [God] would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,….”

When God the Holy Ghost comes to live inside of the one who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone as personal Saviour (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:14), it is so that He can then live the Christian life in and through that Christian (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4). Today, we Christians are literally God’s “temple!” The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God that the Christian studies and believes, and strengthens the Christian’s soul, enabling him or her to, by faith, do what God is doing (Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Although the psalmist of today’s Scripture did not have the full revelation of God that we do today (the completed Bible), he at least knew that he was to use the Scriptures that he did have, to correct his wrong thinking and bad behavior. He knew the wisdom of God would never lead him astray in life. He thought about his lifestyle, and by faith, he had it conform to the Scriptures valid for his day. Likewise, if God the Holy Ghost is to use us Christians to the fullest extent possible, we must—MUST—study and believe the Scriptures written to us and about us.

The Holy Spirit through Paul wrote that Paul is “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13). Paul is God’s spokesman to us—if we reject Paul, we reject the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ who sent Paul to us.

Let us briefly see how Paul’s epistles describe the Christian life, and determine how our Christian lives compare….