Category: sound doctrine

Rubbish!

Friday, July 1, 2022

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:30-32 KJV).

If Satan successfully appointed false prophets six centuries before Christ, are we so foolish as to believe no counterfeit spiritual messengers are with us now?

While scanning television channels, I recently saw the program of a notorious televangelist who has promoted religious scams for decades. The gimmick this self-proclaimed “prophet” was peddling this time—in the name of “Jesus,” of course!—was the testimony of a woman who had written in to report how his “prophecy” had come true. He had foretold “God” would give her two new cars—and she “miraculously” received a BMW and a Bentley! Then, he turned to the camera and declared with a chuckle, “Amen! If you want a Mercedes, God will give it!” No thinking person, someone using common sense, would ever believe such folly. While we cannot be sure if someone in his own “ministry” did not forge that letter by feigning to be a viewer, we can be certain emotionally-driven and desperate watchers send him “generous donations” with the hopes of receiving “God’s blessings.”

In today’s Scripture, individuals were “stealing” God’s words from their neighbors. How? They were promoting a false message but claiming “the LORD said it.” By having people focus on spiritual error, they were void of God’s power and light, thereby making their nation vulnerable to Satan’s destructive doctrine. While not written to or about us, there is great profit in the LORD’S words through Jeremiah. “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).

Bible Q&As #969 and #970: “What are ‘dregs?’” and “What is a “bolster?’”

God’s Business, Not Our Business

Thursday, June 30, 2022

“And he [the Lord Jesus Christ] said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 KJV).

In the secular world, one fundamental business principle is as follows: learn precisely what customers want and then experiment to find the most efficient way to give it to them. Of course, problems arise when we begin treating God’s ministry in the same fashion.

Once we take up God’s Book, whose narrow teachings are offensive to mankind in general, we have already inadvertently chosen to limit the size of our audience. Knowing this, professional church operators will compromise: they rely partly on Scripture and derive the rest of their material from other sources. Popular psychology, world religions, philosophy, and other cultural “supplements” are used with the Bible instead of the Bible alone. The implementation of this wide variety of information affords the opportunity to appeal to myriads upon myriads, thereby increasing and maximizing attendance and merchandise sales. This humanistic approach has driven the megachurch movement for decades. It has also been the standard practice of numerous “Christian” publishing houses.

We need not be theological geniuses to recognize that the more universal the teaching is, the greater the likelihood it will be a well-received medium. Such establishments can be likened unto a restaurant that has broadened its menu, a college that has expanded its selection of available courses, or a brick-and-mortar store converting to an online presence. Customers will gather and profits will surge—but there are inherent risks (which should never be unnoticed but often are). If we try to create Bible groups using nonbiblical or unbiblical beliefs and practices, we will seem successful to the world. However, in the grand scheme of things, our efforts will not pass Almighty God’s inspection.

In today’s Scripture, young Jesus (only age 12!) knew He was about His Heavenly Father’s business by imparting spiritual light to the ignorant religious leaders of His nation, Israel. “And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (verse 47). In short, there is no substitute whatsoever for sound Bible study—not what people want but what they need!

Our latest Bible Q&As: “What does ‘amiss’ mean?” and “What does ‘albeit’ mean?”

Preach with Conviction!

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

“And all bare him [the Lord Jesus Christ] witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22 KJV).

Saints, may we preach with conviction!

Many years back, a man approached the pastor after church service and expressed the following observation: “You delivered your message with such conviction that you sounded like you actually believed what you said, like there was no alternate view.” The preacher replied, “If I thought and believed it was some other way, I would have taught it that other way!”

It is rather unfortunate, but that man had grown so accustomed to hearing ministers use the Bible flippantly or lightheartedly. For example, he was in the habit of hearing words to the effect of, “Some believe this verse means this, but others teach it means that, so you can pick and choose what you believe.” (To wit, the preacher is just as unskilled in the Word as his congregation!) Therefore, when the man heard a Spirit-filled preacher use the Scriptures solemnly and deliver an authoritative or well-founded sermon that actually made sense, he was rather shocked. (Likewise, so were the synagogue attendees when the Lord addressed them in today’s Scripture!)

Dear brethren, the preacher’s response encapsulates what should constitute our ministry. Lost people may be spiritually blind, but, sad to say, they are more willing to spot a religious hypocrite from a much farther distance than the average professing Christian. Just as we would not care to hear some boring speaker talk about a topic they have no real passion to teach, individuals know when someone is faking or guessing in the pulpit and they will thus turn away with increasing cynicism. By the tone of our voice, by the depth of our material, and by the authority with which we preach, our audience will know if we are sincere and actually trust what we exhort them to hear from us. If they can sense we doubt what we are telling them, they will fail to appreciate—yea, actually detest—the Scriptures and will see no reason to believe them either. Let us not be hypocrites in the church building… particularly in the pulpit!

Father: A Godly Man

Sunday, June 19, 2022

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 KJV).

Since today is Father’s Day, we dedicate today’s devotional to the godly (Christian) fathers.

What is a godly father? Oftentimes, fathers are either too authoritative (very strict) or too carefree (little to no concern for their children). According to the Bible (today’s Scripture in particular), fathers must have a balance between setting boundaries and enforcing them, and refraining from being a heartless tyrant.

  • On one hand, the Christian father is to “bring [his children] up in the nurture of the Lord.” “Nurture” is simply defined as “caring for and encouraging their growth or development.” All too often, fathers (sadly) ignore this, usually being too rough, or even, apathetic (unconcerned).
  • On the other hand, the Christian father is to “bring [his children] up in the admonition of the Lord.” “Admonition” is simply defined as “authoritative counsel or warning.” He is to lovingly guide them in life, instructing them from God’s Word rightly divided.

A father is not simply one who procreates. God’s Word makes it very clear that they should serve a lifelong, active role in their children’s lives. A Christian man, especially a father, should be a godly man in beliefs as well as in deed. He needs to set an example for his children (especially his sons): it is his duty as an older Christian man to set an example for younger men.

He should be a hard worker, he should meditate on the things of God (the Bible), his speech should conform to sound Bible doctrine, he should be hospitable and caring, kind and loving, he should respect and love his wife, he should love his children, and he should be reserved and cautious in his actions.

Are you a Christian man or Christian father who desires to be the man God intends you to be in Christ Jesus? Place your faith in this sound Bible doctrine, and God will take care of the rest! Then, you will become the godly man described on the pages of Scripture.

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

ARCHIVED: “What does the Bible say about fatherhood?”

Teach Your Children #3

Sunday, May 29, 2022

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 KJV).

If single-parent homes are a calamity, “no-parent” homes are even more catastrophic!

Contrary to popular belief, the greatest gift that parents could ever (!!) provide their kids is not substantial bank accounts, expansive properties, lavish mansions, or even good genes. While wonderful to have, and there is nothing wrong in possessing them if we do not confound them with Almighty God, the fact of the matter is that they are all temporary. Inflation and irresponsibility diminish funds, taxes and upkeep make real estate a burden, buildings deteriorate with age and so require daily maintenance, and even the “best” DNA can be traced back to Adam (sin and ultimate death).

Long after Mom and Dad are gone (no longer there to advise), and their children remain, what will those younger generations do with their chronic sin problem? Have they ever been taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, how He paid for their sins in full at Calvary, and how the only way they can have victory over sin is by placing their faith in Him alone? Will they have a final authority, something solid and certain on which to build their lives? Have they ever been encouraged to read, study, and trust the Holy Bible rightly divided? Are they proficient in the Apostle Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, the principles of grace living? Or, like so many billions now, will they drift from this group to that group, aimlessly and hopelessly floating on that vast sea of error, struggling in vain to fill that God-shaped vacuum in their heart, to eternally perish once they drown in sin?

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). Teach your children sound Bible doctrine, that they may teach their own children, and so on. If this we fail to do, remember well, we ourselves have contributed to the overall global problem.

Teach Your Children #2

Saturday, May 28, 2022

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 KJV).

If single-parent homes are a calamity, “no-parent” homes are even more catastrophic!

Consider these analogous passages. “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children” (Deuteronomy 4:10). “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

If these Jewish youth were not thoroughly educated in the words of JEHOVAH God, they would adopt their Gentile neighbors’ pagan belief systems. With each passing generation, the nation Israel would become more compromised, gradually but eventually losing its identity to Satan’s evil world system. As history testifies, it did happen. The standards and norms confused, there was nothing but inescapable societal collapse. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

We find ourselves today in a world just as disorderly. Right is wrong, wrong is right, man is woman, woman is man, child is parent, parent is child, life is non-life, non-life is life, Creator is creature, creature is Creator, wisdom is foolishness, foolishness is wisdom, and on and on. Over a decade ago, it was estimated that, by the end of four years of college, some 70 percent (!) of evangelical Christian youth were being lost to non-Bible views. It is a safe assumption that that figure has increased since then. The problem, as always, started at home—long before any professors delivered secular, humanistic lectures to those precious unsuspecting minds and hearts. Frankly, our current world is the product of a lengthy series of failed parenting….

Teach Your Children #1

Friday, May 27, 2022

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 KJV).

If single-parent homes are a calamity, “no-parent” homes are even more catastrophic!

Surely, it is no secret that “wayward youth” is one of our society’s most problematic issues. It only took us about 50 years before we noticed it. Moreover, we have yet to realize poor (actually, “no!”) parenting is the more serious matter. Consider what a university president stated when he addressed a parents’ group a century ago: “I get many letters from you parents about your children. You want to know why we people up here in [college name] can’t make more out of them and do more for them. Let me tell you the reason we can’t. It may shock you just a little, but I am not trying to be rude. The reason is that they are your sons, reared in your homes, blood of your blood, bone of your bone. They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them. They are your sons. In those malleable, moldable years of their lives you have forever left your imprint upon them.”

Let us think of another true story, one much more pointed. A 76-year-old man died in prison after eight years of incarceration. His wife served a lengthy sentence in that same facility. Their daughter was confined there. Lastly, their seven sons were inmates at that complex too! Without a doubt, “Mom and Dad” had left quite a memorable legacy in the world.

In today’s Scripture, the LORD knew the great potential sin had in the hearts of youth who lacked His words. The human soul, left to itself, will devise all kinds of evil thoughts and transform them into despicable actions—growing worse as the years pass. To counter this, God’s words were to so fill the Jewish parents that they could not help but teach their children to value that Divine revelation too, constantly reminding them of the Holy Scriptures and the issue of obeying final authority….

Bible Q&A #955: “For him hath God the Father sealed?”

A Higher Education: It Is Up to You!

Thursday, May 19, 2022

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12 KJV).

Sixteen years ago today, I graduated high school. Consequently, we dedicate this devotional to high school students who are nearing graduation.

Are you about to graduate high school? What would God have you do afterward? Go to college? Trade school? Something else? What career should you pursue? If you do plan on education after high school, where should you attend school? These are tough questions, and while God’s Word does not answer them, you can make decisions that conform to sound Bible doctrine—that is God’s will.

In today’s Scripture, Paul encourages downcast Timothy. Timothy was considerably younger than the Apostle Paul. Older people who are teaching false doctrine are intimidating young Timothy: “Tim, you are too young to teach God’s Word. Let us handle it.” Young Timothy conceded, became silent, and allowed the (“older and wiser”) false teachers to continue teaching their damnable heresies (cf. 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 1:5-8). Paul replied, “Timothy, Speak up! Let no man despise thy youth!”

Christian youth can be just as effectual in their station in life as Christian adults. The lost world is watching us Christians, and we need to be sure that our actions are in accordance with the sound Bible doctrine we claim to believe (lest we be guilty of confusing the already-puzzled unbelievers). Whether “young or old,” our speech, our lifestyle, our acts of love, our determination, our belief in sound Bible doctrine, and our separation from that which God hates, is the way we communicate to the lost world God’s Word and its preeminence in our lives and hearts (today’s Scripture).

Above all, dear graduates, whatever you do post-graduation, “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17). After all, it really is not your life—it is Christ’s life in you (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4), so He alone deserves the glory! 🙂

*Based on a Bible study by the same name, which can be read here. Also, see the study “The Spirit-Filled Student.”

By the way, you may also be interested in reading this archived special-edition study about my own college experience.

333’s 4000th – To Keep That Good Thing

Friday, May 13, 2022

“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (2 Timothy 1:13,14 KJV).

Saints, only by God’s grace, for 4,000 days now, we have striven “to keep that good thing!”

Paul the Apostle wrote in 1 Timothy 6:20,21: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee.” Now, re-read today’s Scripture. In this second and final epistle, or formal doctrinal letter, to Timothy; Paul issued some parting instructions that we would do well to note. (Had the Church the Body of Christ actually obeyed these directions 2,000 years ago, there would be far less doctrinal error plaguing us right now!)

“Thing which was committed unto thee” and “that which is committed to thy trust” is the translation of “parakatatheken,” a compound Greek word composed of “para” (“with,” “alongside”) and “katatithemi” (“to place down”). The Lord Jesus Christ through Paul left with Timothy—and all other members of the Body of Christ—the principles of grace that are in effect today in the mystery program. If Timothy drew from the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, he would “keep” (guard from perversion or disrespect) that sacred deposit. Timothy was exhorted to be strict in his “holding fast” of sound Bible doctrine, not drifting around or “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). As the professing church continues to slip into more and more apostasy, darkness, and immaturity—and the Grace Movement itself is no exception—it is now more important than ever for us to be careful here at “333 Words of Grace.”

Dear brethren, over the course of 4,000 (!) daily devotionals now, we have followed the Lord’s instructions through Paul, making dispensational Bible truths plain to those interested in doing God’s will today. With that, we open our ninth 500-devotional unit. Thank you for your prayer and financial support, and now (only by God’s grace) we grow even more in sound Bible doctrine.

***NOTE: All former devotionals are archived here.***

Mother: A Virtuous Woman

Sunday, May 8, 2022

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10 KJV).

Today is Mother’s Day, so we dedicate this devotional to godly women (specifically mothers). I especially dedicate this to the virtuous woman who has been in my life for almost 34 years… my mom!

Today’s Scripture is the first verse of the Bible’s “Virtuous Woman” passage (Proverbs 31:10-31). King Solomon explained that the virtuous woman:

  • has a husband who safely trusts in her (verses 11,12).
  • is not lazy, but is strong because she works to feed and clothe her family and herself (verses 13-19,21,22,24,25,27).
  • pities the poor and needy (verse 20).
  • has a husband who is well-known because of her godly lifestyle (verse 23).
  • opens her mouth with wisdom, and speaks kindly and lovingly (verse 26).
  • has children and a husband who praise her (verse 28).
  • excels in what she does (verse 29).
  • has works that praise her (verse 31).

Verse 30 explains the virtuous woman is “a woman that feareth the LORD.”

The Apostle Paul wrote that godly women should: not slander/gossip, not be controlled by alcohol and emotions (sober minded), be teachers of good things, love their husbands and children, be cautious and modest, maintain the home, be “good,” and should obey (respect) their husbands… “that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5). A Christian woman, especially a mother, should be a virtuous woman in beliefs as well as in deed. She needs to set an example for her children (especially her daughters).

A Christian woman and/or Christian mother places her faith in this sound Bible doctrine, the indwelling Holy Spirit will then take that doctrine and transform her for God’s glory (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Her mind will be renewed by sound Bible doctrine, and that will transform her outward activity (Romans 12:1,2).

Are you a Christian woman or Christian mother who desires to be the woman God intends you to be in Christ Jesus? Place your faith in this sound Bible doctrine, and God will take care of the rest!

 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO OUR READERS WHO ARE MOTHERS!

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

Archived: “What does the Bible say about motherhood?”