Category: Salvation

Labour for the More Important Meat #2

Monday, May 23, 2022

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:26,27 KJV).

Where is our interest—in “the meat which perisheth” or in “that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?”

The individuals of today’s Scripture have been relentlessly searching for the Lord Jesus! Verses 24,25: “When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” Having taken ships across the top half of the Sea of Galilee—a distance of 3 or 4 miles (5 or 7 kilometers)—they are relieved to finally reach Him in Capernaum.

Why have they gone through so much trouble to get to Him? To them, the Son of God is but a “food-delivery man!” Earlier, He had fed them with the other 5,000 people. Now, today, they are hungry again, so they have come to ask Him for another free meal. He can and could furnish them with infinitesimally more than they assumed. Alas, they do not see Him through the eyes of faith.

Though the Lord Jesus Christ had created those loaves of bread from nothing, they were like ordinary food in that they were subject to the same natural laws of decomposition. Such physical bread was temporary, rotting like the God-given manna (Exodus 16:20). Yet, they so desperately wanted to hang on to it. Also, as their circumstances showed, it was never eternally satisfying either. Today’s Scripture again: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.” They were overlooking a (more important) spiritual component, something the miracle should have taught them had they been watching through the eyes of faith….

Labour for the More Important Meat #1

Sunday, May 22, 2022

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:26,27 KJV).

Where is our interest—in “the meat which perisheth” or in “that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?”

Once, a woman moved her car to retrieve a penny that had rolled under it. Driving forward, she ran over a parking meter and also broke a window as the car scraped against the side of a building. The vehicle then rolled down the sidewalk for half a block before stopping. Damages to her automobile alone were estimated to be $100 (a substantial sum in those days). Was the penny really worth all that trouble?! Interestingly, police were unable to confirm if the lady ever found the coin!

Doubtless, seeking little to no gain, we can go to great lengths and take enormous risks. This was true of the souls whom the Lord Jesus Christ addressed in today’s Scripture. Just a day prior, He had been on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee feeding more than 5,000 people using just five barley loaves and two small fishes (verses 1-14). “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (verse 15). He had supplied them with such delightful food that they would soon violently crown Him as their Monarch! This misunderstanding prompted Christ to dismiss the crowd and His disciples, while He Himself vacated the area headed in a third direction.

Ultimately, the Lord and His disciples journey to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The people fed earlier also travel by ship to Galilee, seeking Him (verses 24,25). He reveals their motive in today’s Scripture: they have mixed-up priorities, for they are concentrating on the minor while ignoring the major. May we too learn the lesson He taught them….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is the Lord Jesus merely ‘the Holy One of God’ in John 6:69?”

Understanding Jesus Christ

Monday, May 16, 2022

“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).

Friend, would you like to understand the Lord Jesus Christ?

Approximately 3,500 years ago, Satan was permitted to torment Job. Suffering immeasurable pain, Job blamed God. He declared: “For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman [mediator, arbitrator] betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:32,33). Job longed for someone to serve as an umpire between himself and “distant” God. That mediator could take Job by the hand and take God by the hand, and join them in unbroken fellowship. Job assumed this was the only way God would be appeased and his afflictions would subside.

Today’s Scripture, penned some 15 centuries after Job’s ordeal, explains the “daysman” finally arrived. The second Member of the Godhead, God the Son Himself, took on human flesh. At the Incarnation, it was humanity added to Deity, the only combination that would form a Person who was able and willing to reunite sinful man with holy God. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;…” (1 Timothy 2:5). “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of 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).

As sinners, we need more than just another philosopher or religious teacher to tell us “how to do right.” We need a Saviour who will make us right, a Mediator who will declare us righteous! Here is the ministry of the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is an exclusivist message, for here is the “one [!] mediator between God and men.” “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Understanding Your Purpose

Sunday, May 15, 2022

“Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” (Ephesians 1:9,10 KJV).

Friend, would you like to understand your purpose?

As human society continues spiraling downward and away from the truths of the Creation Week in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, it becomes increasingly ignorant of just why we are here. Prevailing thought today is that the heavens and the earth originated from some still inexplicable, random interaction of natural laws 14 billion years ago. Life is but an accident, meaningless. Our world is “unplanned.” We are just “highly evolved animals.” It is this depreciating of human life that has contributed to abortion on-demand, environmentalism, suicide, tyranny, violence, bloodshed, and all the other tragedies preventing the human race from ever enjoying real (!) progress (!).

If there is no God, no higher power of any kind, and we exist “just by chance,” then there really is no incentive for us to do right. Our accomplishments—no matter how grand—will all count for nothing because there is no one to make a final, decisive evaluation of them. Life is worthless, with no eternal significance. It makes no difference what we do. “Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). This is precisely where natural-man thinking gets us, and exactly where human society is at this very moment, self-destructing because it is too prideful to come by faith to its Creator and submit to His plan for the heaven and the earth (Romans 1:18-32)!

Today’s Scripture explains that Father God has one overall aim for the heaven and the earth. Why do they exist? Why do we exist? No matter what sinful mankind purposes to do or actually does, God will ultimately exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in both realms. We can participate by faith—or not. Regardless, the life of Christ will fill the entire universe one day and He will be glorified throughout the endless ages to come. In that day, creatures with eternal life will finally bring to pass the Creator’s original objective!

God’s “Imperceptible” Work #4

Thursday, May 12, 2022

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them” (Exodus 2:23-25 KJV).

Beloved, the LORD is never idle, so may we grow in His words to better see His works….

God is neither “asleep” nor “on vacation;” He is quite alive and alert. Are we? He does care, having appointed a day when He will lift the curse of sin, restore creation to its original state, punish evil, and cause righteousness to prevail in the Earth. That is Christ’s glorious Second Coming of Revelation chapter 20. However, the prophetic program to which all these events belong is momentarily suspended.

The Apostle Peter himself ultimately realized that in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack [lazy, inattentive] concerning his promise [coming in wrath], as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Peter learned this from the Apostle Paul (see verses 15,16); we should ascertain it too. God’s wrath is delayed because the Dispensation of Grace has interrupted prophecy, thereby allowing people to come to faith in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork alone, before that wrath does fall. Saul of Tarsus himself experienced that truth firsthand in Acts chapter 9 (cf. 1 Timothy 1:12-17).

Why does God not hurry up and accomplish His will in the Earth by judging sin now? He is forming the Church the Body of Christ, His heavenly people. Indeed, this world is a mess (Genesis chapter 3! Romans chapter 1! Romans chapter 8!)—and it will only worsen because it is headed for the Tribulation or Daniel’s 70th Week. Israel’s national restoration is delayed, for God is doing something amongst the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry (Romans 9–11); this parallels the LORD waiting to redeem Israel from Egypt until He had wrought a work with Gentile Pharaoh (cf. Romans 9:17,18). By faith, brethren, we see the Lord administering the mystery program, knowing full well the prophetic program will resume when “grace and peace” finishes!

There is Such A Place After All

Saturday, May 7, 2022

“And I saw a great white throne…. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works…. [A]nd they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15 KJV).

What if there really is such a place of eternal judgment? (There is!)

Our world abounds with injustice. Some 6,000 years of human history testify to that fact. The judicial system has either too many court cases to process or too few honest officials to work. It is a broken arrangement because it is “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). Innocent people are convicted and wrongfully penalized, but the guilty parties escape if they have enough money and know the right people. Will evildoers ever actually be punished? According to the Christian Bible, YES!

The Creator God will deal with all sins in one of two places. Firstly, of course, Calvary’s cross is where the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. There, He satisfied a holy, righteous God whom we offended as sinners. We can believe on Christ alone, that He paid our sin debt in full by shedding His sinless blood. He can be our substitute, our “propitiation” or fully-satisfying sacrifice (Romans 3:25). Secondly, there is Hell (to be transformed into the Lake of Fire in the ages to come; see today’s Scripture). This is where the souls go who believe they can replace God’s life, His Son’s life, with their own efforts (sins). They have chosen to pay for their own sins—and that debt will take them a literal eternity to pay!

A Bible mocker once smugly asked a Christian, “What will you say if you die and find out there is no Heaven? The Christian smiled, “I will say, ‘I had a fine time getting there anyway!’” He then posed a question to the mocker: “What will you say if you die and find out there is a place such as Hell after all?”

Saints, please remember us in your monthly giving—these websites do cost money to run! 🙂 You can donate securely here: https://www.paypal.me/ShawnBrasseaux, or email me at arcministries@gmail.com. Do not forget about Bible Q&A booklets for sale at https://arcgraceministries.org/in-print/booklets-bible-q-a/. Thanks to all who give to and pray for us! By the way, ministry emails have really been backed up this year. I am handling them as much as humanly possible. Thanks for your patience. 🙂

A Prayer According to God’s Will

Thursday, May 5, 2022

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” (1 Timothy 2:1-3 KJV).

On this United States’ National Day of Prayer, we pray you pray according to the Lord Jesus Christ’s will for today!

Today, religious people—the general public, clergy, and government officials—will assemble nationwide, like they do every year, and pray for spiritual and moral revival of the “Christian” (?) United States of America. We commend their noble efforts, but God’s Word says there will be no godly revival of any of the world’s Gentile nations until Jesus Christ returns to earth at His Second Coming (Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 59:20–60:3; Zechariah 8:20-23; Revelation 11:15; et cetera).

The LORD’s words to King Solomon are often quoted on this day: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Friends, this is certainly God’s Word, but has nothing to do with Gentiles in the United States in the Dispensation of Grace. This verse has a context often overlooked—the nation Israel under the Mosaic Law, praying in relation to God’s Temple in Jerusalem (verses 15,16). Actually, that Temple was destroyed over 19 centuries ago! Unlike Israel, the United States was never a divinely-founded nation. The American people as a whole are not God’s people like Israel was.

Rather than praying 2 Chronicles 7:14, remember today’s Scripture (God’s Word to us Gentiles). The verse following today’s Scripture says, “[God] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Pray for those in authority, that they would trust Jesus Christ alone as their personal Saviour, and then grow in His Word to them so they can make wise decisions on behalf of the people they govern.

The Little Gift and the Gift of Eternal Life

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8 KJV).

Dear friends in Christ, it is no secret our world abounds with evil. At every turn, in every institution, in every realm, Satan’s policy of evil is alive and well. Even in so-called “Christian” circles, the Scriptures are largely ignored (unless they can be quoted to support a favorite theological position!). Oftentimes, the average believer cannot help but suppose maintaining and teaching sound Bible doctrine is a lost cause. “What can I possibly do to advance the truths of God’s Word? I am no preacher or teacher! I am just one person! Bible-believers are outnumbered by the billions so what difference could I possibly make for the Lord’s glory?!”

Long ago, a lady was preparing a package to send to missionaries far away overseas. A child gave her a penny, so the woman used it to buy a Gospel tract to place into the box. That Gospel tract reached the chief of a people in that foreign land. He came to trust Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, and he shared his testimony with his friends (most of whom also believed unto eternal life). Also, a local church was eventually founded there, and over 1,500 other natives believed on Jesus Christ to pass from death to life. It all began with one child giving a single penny!

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Saints, share this devotional throughout social media platforms (only the Lord knows how far it will travel—or whom it will influence for His glory!).

Time’s A-Wastin’

Saturday, April 30, 2022

“…he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully…” (Jeremiah 23:28 KJV).

Many decades ago, a volunteer fire department arrived on the scene of a blazing house. The full-time fire company from a neighboring area also showed up to help. However, the first group’s chief protested that his team had the jurisdiction, so the second crew rolled up their hoses and left. Later, with the fire still raging out of control, the second company was called back. A third brigade was even recruited to aid. Alas, by the time the fire was extinguished, the house was a total loss and two adjacent buildings were damaged!

The above true story is an example of how denominationalism ruins the Church the Body of Christ and the entire world. We have spent 2,000 years (!) arguing about how this theological system is right, or that denomination is spot-on, or this sect is right, or that cult is truthful. Instead of believing the pure Word of God, and seeking to exalt it alone, we waste time arguing about petty and ridiculous issues that really do not matter. This world is ablaze with error, spiritually burning to the ground, while we in professing “Christian” circles debate in the energy of our flesh!!

Like the idiotic fire chief who should have seen his colleagues as friends instead of foes—his foolish pride leading to a catastrophe!—so we genuine believers in Jesus Christ need to unite around sound Bible doctrine to address the world’s dire situation. Over 100,000 people are dying and going to Hell every single day! Yet, the average “Christian” is unable to do anything about it, for he or she cannot identify the true Gospel of Grace (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—let alone share it with others! Millions of true believers in Christ are wallowing in such spiritual darkness, weakness, and helplessness.

Dear brethren, we have the answers in the Holy Bible rightly divided. The work of the ministry is cooperating with other likeminded saints in making those truths known to as many souls as we possibly can. Quarreling in foolish pride about trivialities is a waste of time. Remember, the house is ablaze, so let us be about watering instead of arguing!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What are ‘fitches?’”

Categorized! #7

Friday, April 29, 2022

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10 KJV).

Behold, the evil categorizer!

Addressing Israel’s believing remnant, both during the Acts period and Daniel’s 70th Week, the Apostle John communicates in 1 John chapter 2: “[1] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: [2] And he is the propitiation [fully-satisfying payment or sacrifice] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” We want to draw our attention to the title “advocate.” Jesus Christ is the believer’s defense attorney or intercessor, someone called alongside to help. (By the way, that Greek word is “parakletos,” rendered “Comforter” with respect to the Holy Spirit aiding the believer. See John 14:16,26; John 15:26; John 16:7.)

Though the nation Israel is sinful and has not kept the Old Covenant, that system of the Law of Moses was temporary (see Galatians 3:15-26). Once a believing remnant learns the lesson of the Law—that they would be blessed of God because of His grace instead of their goodness—they can serve as His kingdom of priests in the Earth. That was the LORD’S intention all along with the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12:1-3, long before the Law of Moses was ever instituted. The New Covenant qualifies them to be heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. When Satan interjects that Israel’s believing remnant is composed of sinners, unable to be God’s people in the Earth, Jesus Christ pronounces them innocent, for He has paid for their sins by shedding His sinless blood on Calvary’s cross! Their sin debt cancelled, Satan’s “categorizing” of them is invalid.

As members of the Church the Body of Christ, the same is true of us. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13).

Our two latest Bible Q&As: “How does the love of Christ ‘constrain’ us?” and “Should we pray to the Holy Ghost?”