That Man! - Romans 2:23-24

You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.
 - Romans 2:23-24

    Have you ever exited a situation believing in your heart that you just may have made things worse? To me, walking the Christian walk is sometimes like that. I don’t mean sharing the Gospel; I mean trying to live the life I am preaching about. I often wonder if what I’m doing is reflecting a Godly walk to others, especially unbelievers. And if I’m not, what does that say for my desire to glorify God? I know what Christ has to say about my failure.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” - Matthew 23:15.
    “But,” you might say, “don’t be so hard on yourself; no one is perfect.” True, but while perfection is not promised us this side of glory, what about “direction.” Despite my activities and behavior, are there would-be proselytes who hesitate in their leap of faith because of something I’ve said or done? “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.” Romans 14:13. Jesus was very insistent that we Christians do nothing that would make others stumble. “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” - Matthew 18:7. Perhaps now you might see the dismay I feel at the possibility that I might be guilty of such an offense.
    Face it; we can preach all day . . . until we’re blue in the face, but if our outward behavior doesn’t square with what we are preaching then why would someone - anyone - choose Christ? One need only pick up a newspaper or watch the nightly news to hear the pealing chorus of unbelievers and their accusations of blatant hypocrisy. I must search myself daily to see if there is any chink in my armor of light. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” - Romans 13:12. In fact, Romans 13 speaks directly to the love we must have for our neighbors and putting on Christ! Do we? Can we?
    Certainly, we could all do more to guard against our own spiritual slippage. Someone once said that our behavior as Christians might be the only view of the Bible that an unbeliever ever gets. My desire is to reflect that Bible accurately so that unbelievers around me see the glory of God and not the woeful behavior of just another hypocrite. The notion of “Do what I say and not what I do” didn’t even work with my children. Why would I expect an unbeliever seeking a Christian example to heed such nonsense?
    It is my fervent prayer that the Holy Spirit fills my heart with the love I so much need to give witness to and glorify God in the manner He so richly deserves from a sinner saved by His grace and by His grace alone.

The Cold Result Of Unbelief - Mark 16:16

  
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
 - Mark 16:16

    The state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded is simplicity defined. The end all of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is, in its essence, simplicity defined. There are no difficult or complex equations to grasp at. There are no clever semantics to decipher. There is only the command to believe - “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” - John 3:36. Seems simple enough, so why is it so difficult for some people? I said it was simple: I didn’t say it was easy.
    Belief has always been one of those words that bring with it a level of desire. People have to want to believe. If they don’t want to believe in something they will resist belief in the face of all the evidence. Worse, they will resist belief in the very face of proof! We have often heard the skeptic’s common expression of incredulity - “Well, I can’t believe that.” Can’t or won’t?
    We continually see evidence of God’s will around us. Those of us with faith, believe. We share with each other the faith which binds us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  But there are those who simply cannot breach the chasm between skepticism and belief. “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” - Hebrews 3:19.
    This is not to suggest that many don’t claim to be spiritual. Some even claim to believe in “a god.” They simply (there’s that word again) don’t believe in the one true triune God of the Bible. We hear the regurgitation of excuses - “Why doesn’t He make Himself known? (He has) Why doesn’t he speak directly to us? (He does) Why don’t we see evidence of His work?” We do! “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him . . . .” - John 12:37.  Special revelation is what these unbelievers want, no - demand - from God. For them, God needs to show them particular evidence of His existence before they will lower themselves to believe. He won’t. “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” - Matthew 13:58.
    We true believers need no more evidence than God has provided for us in the progressive revelation of His holy word. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” - 2 Corinthians 5:7. Scripture is God’s revelation to us; we need nothing more. And we believe Christ when He says, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” - John 12:48.
    May we always rest in our belief and faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and pray that the Holy Spirit will warm the hearts of those who are cold in their unbelief!

What Kind Of Heart? - Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. - Matthew 5:8

 What kind of heart do most people have? It’s a daunting question if only because it presumes to suggest that one man could possibly know what is in the heart of another. Were someone ever to ask me to make that call on a fellow human being I would “tap out” so fast it would make their head spin. That kind of judgment call is way above my pay-grade. I’m just a meat cutter by trade. And while I can assure you I could handle any meat cutting job put to me I am sorely ill-equipped to judge another’s heart.
    The Greek word for “pure” is katharos: clean, pure, unstained. Other synonyms include
upright, uncontaminated, and purged. Christ used the word to describe the only condition of the heart in which one would “see God.” But pure? Which of us can say with all certainty that our heart is pure? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” - Jeremiah 17:9.
    How does one come to possess what Jesus told us would be required to “see God?” This question is one which continues to rise each time I attempt to spread the word of God among unbelievers. “Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.’” - Matthew 13: 3-4. Jesus went on to explain to His disciples - “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.” - Matthew 13: 18-19.
    You know the scenario: two men sit in the same pew on the same Sunday and hear the word of God. One man is convicted and receives it in his heart, yet the other man hears only the background noise of a sermon being preached as he ponders those things which in his heart hold the utmost importance. What kind of hearts do we have?
    The call to cleanse our hearts of the world’s background noise is redundant in Scripture -
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” - James 4:8. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10. But how does someone who doesn’t want to hear the word of God do that? Many become outright combative at the very mention of the holy name of Jesus Christ. We cannot force them to listen to us. But as Christians let us remember the words of Charles Spurgeon - “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
    While many will not sit still for the word of God we can still pray fervently for the redemption of their souls. What God wills cannot be undone by the machinations of mankind. Let us continue to share the Gospel with as many as will listen and God will bring the harvest.

Gospelization, Not Globalization - Philippians 3:20

   
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . . - Philippians 3:20.

    2017, the call for “globalization” has never been stronger. From ideas like multi-national corporations and cosmopolitanism, to global interdependence and consciousness, to integration and inclusion, to multiculturalism and universalism, we are awash in the erroneous notion that the entire world will somehow, strictly by human intervention (enforcement of international law or WAR), come together in a grand exposition of brotherly love. It is the ultimate 1971 “Coke” commercial - “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing.” How quaint.
    But exactly how detrimental is such an idea to the Christian life? Consider this: if just one single man is sinful, the exponential for sinfulness would become immeasurable if there ever became a mankind united outside of God’s purview (think Tower of Babel - Genesis 11)! And to my knowledge there is no talk or consideration of the one true God within the conversations of globalization. Economics? Yes. Population control? Yes. Free trade zones? Yes. But God? No, there is no talk of God. The darkness of globalization is it’s most preeminent mark.
    And doesn’t God tell us to refrain from friendship with the world? “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” - James 4:4.
    True Christians certainly pray for peace toward all men, but through Christ, and through Christ alone, and certainly never through the vain imagination of men! “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” - Colossians 2:8. If history has taught us anything it is that mankind cannot be trusted!
    The simple issue of shared common flesh in the world is not an indication of God’s will!  “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” -  1 John 2:16. However, there is certainly the Scriptural truth that all men need to come to faith in Jesus Christ. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:9-11. Man is never to put his faith in man. This is the essence of the Gospel - faith in Jesus Christ!
    Yes, there is a common place for mankind to come together in unity and brotherly love but it is not under the auspices of a United Nations proclamation, nor is it under a global decree. It is under the command of God Almighty, Himself - “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” - Romans 10:3-4. We need not be a global community; we need to be a Godly community! We must put away the specious notions of a unified mankind outside the love of Jesus Christ, for such a thing will never occur. “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” - Matthew 24:6-7.
    Mankind’s efforts will never circumvent God’s will. Let us continue to spread the word of God to all nations and pray resistance to the tide of secular globalization!

You Say You Want A Resolution - Ezekiel 18: 30-32

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” - Ezekiel 18:30-32

    Ask someone, anyone, if there isn’t some kind of cosmic justice for all of us. Clearly, you’ll find the vast majority of people will assert that yes, in the grand scheme of life there is a sense of justice for both the law-keeper and the law-breaker. Some will attribute this ideal to the silliness of “karma,” the ridiculous eastern theory that what goes around comes around if for no better reason than to give the universe some order. And certainly, if you’re a Buddhist or simply parroting this nonsense, you’ll be quite at home with the fallaciousness of such a world view. But for the Christian there are no such delusions. We have the veracity of God’s very word that He will judge the actions and hearts of all men and women according to their ways. “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” - Jeremiah 17:10. This is universal justice and it comes only by the very hand of God! On what side of the cross will we be found?
    It is true - God takes no pleasure in the death of one who dies the spiritual death. And often His justice seems slow in coming - “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9. He is patient with us because if His justice were swift, none of us would be able to stand. He is forgiving! No matter what our sin, He is faithful to forgive us. But he will not under any circumstances leave us in our sin, and Christ is the Way - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
    We say we want a resolution this new year? Let us make this year, 2017, the year we come to Christ. Today is the day. Now is the time.

Evangelion - Luke 2:10-11

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” - Luke 2:10-12

    And thus the shepherds were given the good news of Jesus’s birth, the Savior’s birth! And being stunned by the angel’s appearance they responded in faith and sought out the Lord.
“So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” - Luke 2:15.
    The journey for the shepherds was certainly not as great a one as that for the wise men to follow but just as determined, the shepherds made their way to see the Messiah. Are we as compelled to seek the Lord and Savior as were these lowly shepherds? Keep in mind: they were given the good news; in turn, they responded in faith; they sought out the Lord, all based on that which the Lord has “made known” to them. From where these shepherds watched over their flocks they made a decision for Christ.  From where will we make a decision for Christ? “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” - Deuteronomy 4:29. Surely, from wherever we seek Him, if we seek Him with all our heart and soul, we will find Him. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” - Jeremiah 29:13.
    The shepherds did indeed find the Savior exactly where the angel said they would. “And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.” Luke 2:16. But the shepherds' story doesn’t end there. In fact, the shepherd’s story continues to this very day - “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” - Luke 2:17-18.  All of us blessed with the knowledge of and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must share the good news just as these lowly shepherds did. If we have truly responded in faith, sought and found the Lord Jesus Christ, how can we not join in the heavenly chorus -“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Merry Christmas to you all!

The Cross Closes The Gap - 1 Timothy 2:5

  
 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus . . .
- 1 Timothy 2:5

    Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding about salvation that most “good people” have is the notion that they can somehow be “good enough” to merit eternity in heaven based upon their basic “goodness.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard folks say that they think they are basically good people and do not think that a good God would punish them for eternity. But how about a “holy God?”  “And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’” - Isaiah 6:3.
    So what of our basic human goodness? Aren’t there at least some people who truly are, by design, “good people?” “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
    So, on one hand we have a holy God, a God who cannot be cajoled or fooled by our overestimation of our inherent goodness, a God whose sheer holiness demands justice and on the other hand we have a demographic of people who are erroneously convinced of their innate goodness. Who is right?
    The fact of the matter is as clear as the guilt in our hearts. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t sin, transgress God’s holy law. In some cases the transgression lies in the minutia; in others, our sinfulness is as darkly deep and cold as the tomb. That tomb represents a chasm, an unbridgeable gap “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” - Genesis 6:5. With the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness, how can we ever possibly be justified enough in the eyes of our holy God to merit eternal salvation? How do we close the gap? The simple answer is that we can’t. It is impossible for us to ever cross from our sinfulness to the level of righteousness that God demands of us. Yet the Bible promises us salvation, does it not? “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” - John 10:27-28.  Christ speaks to us of “My (His) “sheep.” So if we consider ourselves His sheep and we are as good as we can possibly be, doesn’t that provide us with a gate-pass to salvation?
    “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9. Clearly, Scripture tells us that we must confess our sins to be forgiven; it never suggests that some of us may be just “good enough” to merit salvation. But there simply must be more - “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.’” - Romans 10:8-9. So if we confess our sins and confess Christ raised from the dead we will be saved. Why? Why can’t we simply work our way to salvation? “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” - Isaiah 64:6.
    But why Christ? “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (- John 14:6) “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4:12.
    One final word of caution to those good people who remain convinced that their “good enough lives” will be “good enough” to merit salvation - “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” - John 3:36.
    Let us remain devoted to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whose death on the Cross closes the gap between man and God.