Category: sin

Great Peace in a World in Pieces

Friday, September 16, 2016

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165 KJV).

They have “great peace” indeed!

Friends, it is no secret that our world is seriously troubled. Lost people, while lacking the answers like most professing “Christians,” at least know something is wrong. They are frantically searching for solutions wherever and however they can—politics, education, science, religion, finances, entertainment, and so on. Since fallible human opinions heavily dominate these realms, they provide no lasting and soothing explanations. In fact, their associated uncertainties only trouble the already-befuddled human mind. As Ecclesiastes 12:12 says, “…of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness to the flesh.” Friend, as King Solomon concluded, you investigate and think about the world like an unsaved person, and you will be burned out very quickly! All the troublesome realities you discover will throughly exhaust you!

Thankfully, God gave us His written Word. We do not have to be “children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). Instead of being constantly buffeted about by every silly teaching and every lie out there, we can be established (founded) and stablished (stabilized) in the truths of God’s Word rightly divided. We can have “great peace” while those around us (lacking the Word of God) stumble about, tossed about and “offended.” They have not grounded and guarded themselves in the Holy Bible. It is their fault, not God’s fault! He gave them answers in His Word, but they would rather drift and sway! Pride, friends, pride keeps them from opening the Book! They have their own “answers” and will not dare seek any from their Creator!

While we can have “great peace” when we value and esteem God’s Holy Word, oftentimes, we are distracted from it and we ourselves are “offended” (troubled, stumbled) as those who do not have it. Until Jesus Christ returns, this world will remain in pieces. Still, we have His inspired Word, so let us rest in it, relaxing in “great peace” until He makes all right! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Are angels women?”

Hated But Humble

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18,19 KJV).

We are hated but humble!

A new Christian emailed me in exasperation. Tired of how people had treated him, he wanted to go to heaven and leave this planet of such great evils! He explained he did not care how he lived anymore—even if those frivolous actions made other Christians or lost people stumble! Thankfully, the Bible truths I shared with him helped him recover himself out of the snare of the Devil.

That brother needed to be reminded Jesus Christ was treated most horribly. He was “hated without a cause” (John 15:25). People have various reasons for hating us. Some are justified. Perhaps we lied to or about them, or stole from them, or cursed them out! However, they had no reason to hate Jesus Christ. He did nothing wrong—to them or anyone else. All Christ did was preach God’s truth and love, and they demanded His crucifixion!! Despite how they treated Him, He still lived righteously for the sake of His Heavenly Father whom He represented. Brethren, let us do the same, remembering not to live unto ourselves, but unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:15).

Philippians chapter 2 exhorts 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: [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.”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Why do we suffer?”

God’s Offer to the Nations

Sunday, September 11, 2016

“…[T]hat God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is God’s offer to all the nations of the world today.

September 11, 2001 was a day that changed our nation forever. It was the worst terrorist attack in our two-century national history. Afterward, many Americans began to talk about “God Bless America” and “God Save the United States.” These phrases are not as commonplace as they used to be.

In the 15 years that have passed since that awful day, it is a sad commentary that “God” is now the least of our nation’s concerns. With the redefining of marriage, controversial political arena, moral decay, skyrocketing national debt, and the uncertainty as to what constitutes a human life and what does not, obviously, the God of the Bible has been largely pushed out… until we need His help, and then we cry out to Him. Unless we need Him, we rather not think about anything He has to say.

While many argue that God is judging America today for its sins, the Bible does not support such an idea. Certainly, God dealt with Israel in that manner—“Do good and I will bless, but disobey and I will curse” (Leviticus chapter 26; Deuteronomy chapter 28)—but we have no relation to that Old Covenant of Law.

For the last 20 centuries, God has offered His grace to all the world’s nations, to have a right standing before Him by trusting Jesus Christ. People still die and go to hell, but today’s Scripture says that God is not judging nations for their sins. Through Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, God offers reconciliation to sinners, whether here or around the world. However, that grace is exhaustible, and one day, it will be replaced with His wrath (Romans 2:1-16). Still, we believers are not appointed to God’s wrath; we are saved from all wrath through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9).

The only hope for America—yea, for any nation—is faith in Jesus Christ alone!

*You can also see our 2011 Bible study commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It can watched here or read here.

The Rod of Correction

Friday, September 9, 2016

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15 KJV).

My eight-year-old nephew misbehaved recently and he received corporal punishment!

Of course, before I whipped him with that flyswatter, he whined and screamed to dissuade me from punishing him. I calmed him down. We carefully discussed his several acts of misbehavior, including his new tantrum. After he admitted wrongdoing, I explained to him he knows disobedience will result in discipline. Once I told him I loved him and wanted to discourage misbehavior, I spanked him on the behind and had him sit right beside me.

I hugged him and said, “I love you.” I told him it was for his good not harm. We got the Bible and read today’s Scripture. Scripture commands me to use “the rod of correction” to drive far from him the foolishness bound in his heart. There was a consequence to not acting wisely. That pain would deter him from repeating the wrong behavior. I reminded him I was not abusing him—hitting his face, pulling his hair, twisting his limbs, or kicking him.

Also, we read together Ephesians 6:1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” I admonished him that if he does not quit rebelling against authority now, when he grows older he may encounter the police in bad circumstances and go to prison! I explained to him why there are so many people in prison for life. They were probably never properly instructed as children to respect and submit to authority. To conclude, I told him that while he did not understand everything I was telling him, I urged him to believe those verses as best as he could. “One day,” I told him, “You will understand this.” We resumed playtime as if nothing happened.

Every Christian parent should take great care, UTMOST CARE, when administering corporal punishment on his or her children. It should be done, not out of anger or in cruelty, but in love and firmness. There should be no extremism but no apathy either. If you do not correct that foolishness now, friend, your child may just grow up to literally be your worst heartache!

How to Paddle Upstream!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2 KJV).

Will you let the course of the evil world system sweep you away?

River-water finds the shortest, quickest route (course) to the lowest elevation. So, to reach higher ground via a rowboat, you must do some mighty fast paddling! Without constant effort, you will be swept downstream. Now, think about Christian living.

Positionally, we have been justified (declared righteous) in Christ. Furthermore, we did not make ourselves holy. Father God sanctified us when we trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. We share His identity (chapters 3-8). Now, will our practice (daily living) match our position? Our choice! We can act like who we are in Christ (only logical). Or, we can act like who we were in Adam (ridiculous, since we are no longer in Adam!).

Most people today are in Adam. Dead in their trespasses and sins, they are alienated from God’s life (Ephesians 4:17-19). They do not have eternal life; they cannot live like God because they do not have God’s life in them. The course of this world is to flow toward Satan—his thinking, behavior, goals, et cetera. As Christians, we are instructed to “paddle” the other way, applying sound Bible doctrine so our identity in Christ becomes real in our life. The Holy Spirit will work in us if we believe sound Bible doctrine. If ever we are distracted from that doctrine, focusing on the course of this world, we will drift backward, away from “the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11). “Going with the flow” is much easier, so most Christians give in—living more like Satan and less like God intended. Absurd!

After all Father God has done for us (previous eight chapters), friends, we should honor Him to the fullest extent. We follow today’s Scripture by faith—allowing His Word to transform how we think, rather than letting the world conform us to its course! 🙂

Weep As Grace Saints Sleep

Monday, September 5, 2016

“(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” (Philippians 3:18,19 KJV)

Why was Paul “weeping” here?

After leaving a life of many years in false religion, a lady observed an assembly of supposed “grace” people. She noted they acted “silly,” using grace as a license to sin. All was forgiven, so they did literally whatever they wanted at the expense of every lost and saved person watching them! Sadly, they gave ammunition to those who whine, “Pauline dispensationalists use grace as a license to sin!” This dear Christian, trying to grow in the Bible after several years of confusion, stumbled. Just what would the “grace of God” profit her? People in her denomination, although lost, at least behaved decently. These “grace” people, who supposedly “had the truth,” habitually misbehaved and spoke inappropriately. Shame!

Dear friends, if we claim to know God’s grace in truth, and yet we “live like the Devil,” we have no business even talking about “God’s grace!” Why? We have no idea what “grace” really is! In today’s Scripture, Paul confessed that he was “weeping.” There were Christians, not lost people, who were “enemies of the cross of Christ.” They lived contrary to Christ’s cross (“dead to sin, alive unto God”—Romans 6:1-23). Their “God” (idol) was their own set of desires/appetites. They acted selfishly. They boasted “in their shame.” Thoroughly carnal, worldly-minded, they had completely forgotten about their “conversation [which] is in heaven” (verse 20). While they would be saved into heaven, their spiritual edification (growth and advancement) would be “destroyed” (today’s Scripture).

Titus 2:11-14 says: “[T]he grace of God… teach[es] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; … the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

This is the grace of God—learn it and believe it BEFORE you preach it!

Know the Human Heart

Friday, September 2, 2016

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9,10 KJV).

Who knows the human heart?

Today’s Scripture says the human heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” The Holy Spirit asks the rhetorical question, “Who can know it?” In other words, who has intimate awareness of the human soul? Verse 10 tells us: “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins….” JEHOVAH God tries, tests, evaluates the hearts of men.

We cannot see people’s hearts; we can only see their actions. But their actions can be faked—“good works” can be phony, a feigned “show.” What really matters is their heart attitude underlying their works. The heart attitude cannot be faked. God can see right through any and all hypocrisy. He can see beyond their actions to observe their attitude.

Notice our Lord Jesus Christ’s commentary on Jeremiah 17:9: “[20] And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. [21] For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, [22] Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: [23] All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23). The LORD who “search[eth] the heart” and “tr[ieth] the reins [innermost being]” has found a most horrid reality!

What is amazing is God can see the very depths of the human heart, such great evil it is and what great evil it generates. Yet, He still chose (and chooses) to associate with us. After Adam and Eve sinned, knowing all the rebellion that would follow, it would have been ever so easy for God to completely wipe out the human race and start over. Why did He not? His mercy and His grace! Mercy kept Him from utterly consuming mankind and grace motivated Him to promise a Redeemer. While God knows the evil human heart, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, we know the loving heart of God. 🙂

Lost, Now Found

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

“Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13,14 KJV).

Once lost, now found!

Recently, I stood near a store’s customer-service desk. The lady in front of me suddenly gasped and exclaimed, “Thank you, Jesus!” Puzzled, I watched a store clerk exiting the “lost-and-found” room with a purse in her hand. That lady had left her purse in a shopping cart. Thankfully, some honest customer had turned it in! She rummaged through her bag and was relieved to find everything there. Amazingly, of all the evil people into whose hands it could have fallen, an honest person found it instead!

The above stories are always nice to hear in this world abounding with bad news—stealing, killing, raping, vandalizing, abusing, et cetera. While the world is a very dangerous place physically, it is more important to realize it is a very dangerous place spiritually. It is truly a miracle when, despite all the false gospels out there, we can still find the pure Gospel of Grace being preached if we look for it. It is truly a miracle when, despite all the false systems out there, we can still find the pure Word of God (rightly divided) being taught. It is truly a miracle that God’s truth survives intact in this world of so many spiritual lies.

While it is no enjoyable time to have a purse or wallet stolen, this is the least of our concerns if some false religious system has stolen our trust and our soul! Rather than uttering the swear-phrase “Thank you, Jesus!” because we found missing material wealth, we should say “Thank You, Jesus!” because He came looking for us who were dead in trespasses and sins. We can always replace a wallet or purse, but we can never replace our soul once it is lost in hell. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36,37).

“Thank You, Jesus! Once lost, we are now found (in You)!” 🙂

Brief

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15 KJV).

Here today—gone tomorrow!

Earlier this week, I learned that one of my high school classmates was tragically killed in an automobile accident. He was my age—28! His adult life had barely begun; it ended in the blink of an eye! I can only wonder if this “religious” man had a testimony of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Friends, we truly do not know how long we have to live on earth. Even if we live to 100, life will pass very quickly. A dear, elderly Christian, over four times my age, once told me, “Time may be flying by for you, but when you reach my age, it really flies!”

Most unfortunately, some who hear about Jesus Christ refuse to trust Him because they assume they have “plenty of time.” Before they “give it all up for Jesus,” they want to have a “good time in sin.” Young people especially need to realize this mentality is extremely foolish. Their souls are dangling over the hell’s eternal flames. Life is fragile. One small threat can end it. The thin line that holds them could snap at any time! It will happen so quickly they will be unable to stop it. And there, where eternity finds them, it keeps them!

Those who go to hell have absolutely no one to blame but themselves. God did everything He could to keep them from going to that awful place. They chose to remain dead in their trespasses and sins. They rejected Jesus Christ, the most valuable Person in the entire universe! Dear friend, if you have not already done so, trust Jesus Christ alone as your personal Saviour right now. Before you know it, you just may wake up alive and trapped in hell forever!

Hiding Thyself

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again” (Deuteronomy 22:4 KJV).

What does today’s Scripture reveal about human nature?

The Mitzvot are the 613 commandments of the Law of Moses (Exodus through Deuteronomy). JEHOVAH God meticulously instructed Israel about literally hundreds of behaviors. Why? God gave Israel the Law not only so they would learn about Him, but also that they would learn about themselves.

In those laws, not only can we see God’s mind and heart, we can see our human mind and heart. All people are descended from Adam, so they share his sinful identity. Israel had to learn this lesson via the Law. Remember, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

Consider today’s Scripture. Why would God tell the Jews not to “hide” when they saw their brother’s livestock fallen down? The implication is that human nature is to “hide” when others need help. Unless we can gain something out of it, we will not bother to help others. That is the awful sin nature we all have from Adam!

Read the verses prior to today’s Scripture: “[1] Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. [2] And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. [3] In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.”

Contrary to our human nature of hiding when others need help, God’s selfless nature (depicted in the Law) was further disclosed when He left heaven’s glory. He revealed Himself, to die on Calvary’s cross, and to save us who were wandering in sin!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Does God give us ‘points’ for trying to be good?”