Category: counsel

Faith During Life’s Storms #2

Thursday, September 4, 2014

“And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:25,26 KJV).

Like Israel learned in today’s Scripture, we too must realize to trust the Lord Jesus Christ when “the storms of life” batter us.

Whenever attempting to understand a passage in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, it is very helpful to search them for parallel passages. While all four books are not verbatim—they are not meant to be 100 percent identical anyway—we can find the same account in one, two, three, or even all four books. Where one book briefly summarizes an event, another book will provide details of that same incident.

For example, we read in the context of today’s Scripture (Matthew 8:23-27) that Jesus and His disciples are in a ship, out on the Sea of Galilee. Their peaceful journey suddenly takes a “turn for the worse.” There arises a mighty storm, and the disciples panic—Jesus is sleeping peacefully as the once-tranquil waters rock the ship! Fearing shipwreck, they frantically awaken their Lord and beg Him to save them. He answers, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

From Matthew’s account alone, this expression cannot be fully grasped. Mark and Luke, who also recorded this account, must be consulted for enlightenment: the Holy Spirit had Matthew ignore certain details, but He chose to include them in Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25. For example, in Mark 4:37, the great windstorm has beaten the waves against the ship, “that it was now full.” Luke 8:23 says, “and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.” Jesus, at the back of the ship, asleep on a pillow (Mark 4:38), is awakened. According to Mark, His disciples also asked, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Jesus did care that the boat was full of water, but He was still calm. Why?

Mark and Luke alone provide the key to understanding Jesus’ peaceful demeanor, and why He wanted His disciples to relax….

Faith During Life’s Storms #1

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

“And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:25,26 KJV).

Like Israel learned in today’s Scripture, we too must realize to trust the Lord Jesus Christ when “the storms of life” batter us.

In this world, life is unpredictable—from good health to poor, from a job promotion to loss, from friendships to heartbreak, and so on. One moment of peace and quiet can suddenly turn into a matter of life-or-death. This literally happened in today’s Scripture.

Verse 23 says that Jesus entered into a ship and His disciples followed Him. (Judging from the context, they begin drifting on the Sea of Galilee.) We read in verse 24, “And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.” The Lord Jesus, fully God and fully human, is physically exhausted, sound asleep in the ship, at peace. On the other hand, His disciples, fully human, are terrified, sorely troubled because of the danger they face. It is not just a rain shower; it is a “great tempest.” It is a mighty storm! They hurry to Him and wake Him, crying out, “Lord, save us: we perish!” We can almost hear the urgency in their voices, the sound of the winds whipping across the sea, the roaring of the waves bashing against the sides of the ship and rushing over the top.

Today’s Scripture says that Jesus awakens, but He is not at all alarmed to hear of the violent storm. Instead of panicking with them, He asks, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” We can almost hear His soft voice, consoling them and yet rebuking them: He tells them that they should not be afraid, that they are “of little faith.” Exactly what did He mean, and what lesson is He teaching Israel? What lesson can we members of the Body of Christ learn from this narrative?

Let us search the Scriptures….

The House of Bondage

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

“And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened be eaten” (Exodus 13:3 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is a timeless truth from Israel’s program, one that guards us against spiritual slavery even today.

Scripture refers to Egypt as “the house of bondage” 10 times (Exodus 13:3; Exodus 13:14; Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 13:5; Deuteronomy 13:10; Joshua 24:17; Judges 6:8). Each verse also reminds Israel that JEHOVAH delivered her from that slavery. Every time Israel read or heard these Old Testament verses, JEHOVAH reinforced the idea that He, by Moses’ leadership, had rescued them from Egypt, so they were to never again return there. Why?

Remember, the Jews spent centuries in Egypt as slaves. Egypt symbolizes two great Bible themes: the world and sin/Satanic captivity. Israel, in Gentile Egypt, was actually in the midst of all the nations (Gentiles) of the world. Just as the Egyptians had captured Israel and made them slaves to do their work, Satan had captured Israel and made them slaves to do his work (sin). As long as Pharaoh held Israel captive in Egypt, she was not in God’s Promised Land, she was surrounded by pagan idols and polluted with false religion, and she was unusable to JEHOVAH God.

Once JEHOVAH judged wicked Egypt and her false gods with 10 plagues (Numbers 33:4), and brought Israel out of Egypt with miraculous demonstrations, He wanted to guide her back to Abraham’s land, where He would descend and be her King forever. He had separated Israel from Egypt—the world—to do His work (righteousness).

Thus, when today’s modern-version proponents offer us their Alexandrian (Egyptian) manuscript readings, we remember God’s warnings about Egyptian paganism and spiritual ignorance. We refuse such slavery, such bondage, to false religion. We prefer our Antiochian (Syrian) manuscript readings, perfectly preserved for us in the King James Bible. After all, the Christians were first called such—not in Egypt—but in Antioch (Acts 11:26)!

The Thing Which is Good

Monday, September 1, 2014

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Ephesians 4:28 KJV).

On this Labor Day, we talk about work, “the thing which is good.”

In this day and age of increasing “government assistance,” people are becoming less and less aware of our hard work being the Lord Jesus’ preferred method of the source of our incomes. While the physically and mentally disabled are obvious exceptions, the God of the Bible expects all of us to contribute labor in order to provide for ourselves. For children and young adults, even being a student in school is work enough!

Observe the doctrine being communicated in today’s Scripture. The grace life does not merely teach us to quit doing bad things, but it also instructs us to start doing good things (Titus 2:11,12). Once a thief trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for his sins, then God expects that thief to quit stealing and find a job so he can provide for his needs!

The God of creation calls work “the thing which is good” (today’s Scripture). Work is not something to be avoided; it is something to be embraced for the Lord’s glory!

When the Lord Jesus Christ put the first man, Adam, on earth, that man had a divine commission. Adam was not to simply loaf around and do nothing: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam was to protect that garden, to till its ground, to prepare it for Jesus Christ to come down and dwell in with he and Eve (because of sin, that earthly kingdom over which Jesus Christ will rule is still awaiting fulfillment!).

Saints, may we work to provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8), and may we work to help those who truly are needy (today’s Scripture). In the words of God the Holy Spirit, that is “good!” 🙂

The More Excellent Ministry #5

Friday, August 29, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

God never saves anyone to sit and do nothing. Romans chapter 6 is the simplest passage regarding Christian living, and when read with chapters 7 and 8, one unquestionably learns how the Christian life operates. (Read these three glorious chapters to get a blessing!) Father God wants us to let Christ live in us via the indwelling Holy Spirit taking verses we study and believe, and bringing them “to life” in our lives!

When we trusted exclusively Paul’s Gospel, the Gospel of God’s Grace—Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—the Holy Spirit instantly placed us into Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). That moment, we died with Jesus on Calvary’s cross and we were raised again with Him “to walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-6). We are “dead, freed from sin” (verse 7). Now, Jesus Christ’s life is in us; we are dead to self-living. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” (Galatians 2:20). We read in 2 Corinthians 5:15, the context of today’s Scripture: “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

In Matthew 20:28, Jesus Christ identified the more excellent ministry: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” As His Father instructed, Jesus did not come to be served (self life), but to serve others (Christian life). Christ’s love for us drove Him to Cavalry’s cross, so His love for us—yea, for lost people—compels us to tell them of that love exhibited at Calvary: “For God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). 🙂

The More Excellent Ministry #4

Thursday, August 28, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

“For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written [Psalm 69:7], The reproaches of them that reproached thee [God the Father] fell on me” (Romans 15:3). Hebrews 10:5-9, quoting Psalm 40:6-8, contains a Messianic passage (prophetic of Jesus’ earthly life): “[5] Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: [6] In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. [7] Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. [8] Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; [9] Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God….”

Jesus “delighted” in doing His Father’s will (note Psalm 40:8); here, to lay down His life for our sins (John 10:17,18) and thus abolish the Old Testament animal sacrifices. As Christ, in His humanity, gained more awareness—more wisdom (Luke 2:40,52)—regarding Father God’s will for Him, He better understood what to do. Our Christian life operates in the same manner, for it is the same life of Jesus Christ!

What is Father God’s will today? He wants “all men to be saved” and all saved people “to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). He wants lost people saved through faith in Jesus Christ (the Gospel of the Grace of God). He wants saved people to understand why He saved them (dispensational Bible study). God’s will for us Christians is for us to grow in knowledge of His will for us. This is where today’s Scripture and its context come in—“the ministry of reconciliation.”

Where Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry ended (His finished crosswork), our ministry literally begins….

The More Excellent Ministry #3

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

What sort of life did Jesus Christ live on earth? If we can understand how He lives, then we can understand how He wants us to live in Him, or technically, how He wants to live in and through us. Philippians 2:3-5 reminds us: “[3] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. [4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. [5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus….”

Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in complete awareness of what His Heavenly Father wanted accomplished. Unlike most Christians today, He did not wonder about in spiritual ignorance. His mind was so filled with the Word of God that nothing would distract Him from fulfilling it.

Isaiah 50:4-6 actually quoted Jesus Christ seven centuries prior to His incarnation: “[4] The Lord GOD [God the Father] hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. [5] The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. [6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”

Jesus Christ said, “I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29c). He had so studied the Old Testament passages describing His life and ministry, that He was able to fulfill them perfectly. Hence, God the Father was so pleased. If we want our Christian lives to be acceptable to God, it will have to be Jesus Christ’s life in us….

The More Excellent Ministry #2

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

Notice the middle letter of the words “sin,” “pride,” and Lucifer.” Sin, at its heart, is serving self and living for self. However, the Christian life is not designed to be one of sin (selfishness): the most basic elements of the Gospel of the Grace of God, are us dying and resurrecting with Christ. The Christian life is really Jesus Christ’s life—the life that Father God gave us the moment we trusted Jesus Christ’s crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins. What was most characteristic of the life Jesus Christ lived on the earth?

Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt…. O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matthew 26:39,42). “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Philippians 2:3-8 summarizes the greatest life ever lived in human flesh: “[3] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. [4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. [5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Just as Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry was to fulfill His Heavenly Father’s will for Him, so our earthly ministry is to fulfill our Heavenly Father’s will for us….

The More Excellent Ministry #1

Monday, August 25, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

I recently received a most delightful email from a dear brother (his eyes will fall on these very lines). He and his wife have decided to dedicate what time they have left on this earth, to the furtherance of the Gospel of God’s Grace, and to the propagation of other dispensational Bible truths. They are burdened to reach a local retirement home for Jesus Christ’s glory!

We rejoice in Christ with them, knowing that once we grip God’s Word, it surely clutches our hearts. God placed such power in His Holy Bible (Hebrews 4:12), and once we extract that power with dispensational Bible study, and activate it by believing those words of God, that spiritual profit not only enlivens our inner man, it also compels us to share it so others can profit, too. “[T]he word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe…” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Dear saints, this lost and dying world is heading toward a devil’s hell forever. Jesus Christ is not physically here to reach them before they reach it. Today’s Scripture says He left that privilege to us, His Body, but we cannot reach them with the word of reconciliation until we first study and know it (note 2 Corinthians 5:14-21). The great conflict between holy God and sinful man has been ameliorated on God’s side—He has given His only begotten Son for our sins—but the merits of that finished crosswork are of no everlasting benefit to us until we appropriate by faith/trust. God has reconciled sinful man to Himself, but unless man accepts that reconciliation by faith, then the battle between holy God and sinful man will continue, to be finally and fully settled forever in the lake of fire.

May we be willing to get out there and reach them with the message of God’s grace… and quick!

He Took My Sins Away #4

Saturday, August 23, 2014

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5 KJV).

The fourth verse of Margaret Jenkins Harris’ classic 1903 hymn “He Took My Sins Away” highlights today’s Scripture.

“If you will come to Jesus Christ today,
He’ll take your sins away, He’ll take your sins away,
And keep you happy in His love each day,
He’ll take your sins away.”

The Adamic nature hates being rejected of God; it wishes to prove that it can do enough to merit His favor. It deceives the sinner, who is led to believe that he or she can measure up to God’s righteousness by doing enough good deeds (Jeremiah 17:9). Yes, our flesh (sin nature) always wants to do something: hence, religion appeals to many. Scripture declares, however, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6)!

Confession of sins here, generous “tithes” there, water baptism here, church membership there, church-calendar observance here, prearranged prayers there, church attendance here, “holy book” reading there, et cetera. These activities, collectively, are usually thought of as “a treasury of merit” before God. Our dear religious family members and friends are encouraged to slowly accumulate an abundance of good works to be advantageous on the day of judgment (for themselves, and for others after them). The more “good” they have done, they assume God’s judgment on them will be less severe. What deception!

What these precious people must realize is that the God of the Bible is looking beyond “good” works, to see the heart. God is not looking to repair sinners, but regenerate sinners. Anyone can reform, but only God can regenerate. The God of Scripture is looking for a new heart, a new nature, one that can truly do good, not an old nature decorated with religious extravagance. Not only does Jesus Christ’s cross crucify our sinful nature, but His resurrection gives us a new life and a new nature (Romans 6:1-23). Those works of Jesus Christ—not our works—are acceptable before God.

Yea, so He could do good works in us, He removed our sin debt….