Where Christ Is Lord His Word Is Truth - 1 John 4:6

We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. - 1 John 4:6

    I drive an hour plus each way to the church service I attend on Sunday and any other event that may be featured during the year. That’s better than a two-hour drive to attend church. Many people ask me why I don’t elect to attend a church closer to me. I’m not sure they understand why I do so, even after I’ve tried to explain.
    In my lifetime, I have attended so many different churches that I cannot recall the exact number. I’ve sat through the services of every denomination, from Roman Catholic to some of the most ambiguous ‘non-denominational’ churches you could imagine. But every one of them failed to deliver the infallible and inerrant Word of God! They threw a Bible verse or two around when it suited them or they failed to apply proper hermeneutics to their exegesis. Some even dispensed with the entirety of the Holy Bible, claiming its strict adhesion to faithful doctrine divides people rather than bringing them together. And some even liked to make God up as they go along, being very careful to avoid offending anyone with the truth! “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Make no mistake about it: truth must never be compromised for the sake of peace.
    So you can probably imagine how grateful I was when I found a church that was a bastion of truth through Jesus Christ. And all I had to do was drive a couple of hours to fellowship as the Holy Bible recommended. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them... I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people... For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”- Leviticus 26:3,11-12 and Matthew 18:20.
    The key to my satisfaction with my church rests entirely on the fact that I have long admitted that I am a sinner and that Jesus made propitiation for my sins to redeem me from an eternity in hell. And that is what my church professes.
    That may be a lot to digest, especially when most people aren’t even willing to admit they are sinners! Most folks say, “well, nobody’s perfect.” But that’s as far as they’re willing to go. The reason they take such a dim view of sin and its consequences can be narrowed down to two rationalizations: it is what they are being taught in their churches, or it is a self-contrived view of their state of depravity. But that is not what the Bible teaches. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24. The acolytes of false teaching worship neither in the Holy Spirit nor do they worship in the truth!
    As true Bible-believing Christians, it is our duty to understand Christ as our Lord and by doing so we understand His word is truth. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6. This is the Christ of the Bible. This is the Christ of truth. This is Jesus Christ, in His own words! It is only when we see Him in this context that we can worship Him and fellowship according to the will of God. This is the church where we can feel at one with our brethren, our pastors, and the true Word of God. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
    Yes, I continue my weekly two-hour drive to church service each Sunday and will continue to do so as there is no substitute for the inerrant and infallible word of God delivered in both truth and spirit..

The Petrine Fear Factor - Matthew 10:32-33

   
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 10:32-33.

    There are many people who have a difficult time sharing the Gospel with family members and friends. It’s easy from a worldly point of view to understand this hesitancy by some brethren. It’s not a matter of avoiding religion or politics among polite company. Often, it comes down to the fear that sharing the word of God forthrightly will offend the friend or family member. And not without reason. Some of the best loved people in our lives are not just silent about God; they aggressively insult our beliefs and God Himself. “Don’t come in here, preaching to me” The comment, if not verbalized that way, often takes the place of the elephant in the room when the subject is broached. But Jesus Himself has warned us against such faintheartedness in the face of trenchant opposition and they are words we would be wise to heed. “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” - Mark 8:38. This sobering advice to any Christian.
    We shouldn’t forget the lesson of Peter in the courtyard when he denied Christ, not once or twice but three times; this even after Jesus had warned him of his cowering denials. “Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!’ And all the disciples said the same.” - Matthew 26:34-35. We all know what happened to Peter’s bravado in the face of his own fears.
    Fortunately for Peter. His story didn’t end with his fall from grace in the courtyard. Eventually, he was raised from the ashes of his spiritual failure to become Christ’s ‘rock.’ Everywhere he went, he boldly proclaimed the name of Jesus.  “...let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”- Acts 4:10-12. This was preaching in boldness; not something couched in hesitancy or fear of angering others.
    Peter’s restoration brought him to the pinnacle of spiritual faith, even unto death upon the cross under the order of Emperor Nero in approximately 64 AD. And we’re too reluctant to proclaim Christ as King to our own family and friends?
    Paul the Apostle issues the proclamation that we should go forth fervently with God’s word. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” - 2 Timothy 4:1-2.
    These words aren’t simply advice on how we are to share God’s word if we feel no resistance from those around us. This is what we must do as Christians wherever we are and whenever we feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to do as Christ commands us. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20. This is the command of Jesus Christ, no matter who the audience is. Our job as Christians is not to succumb to the fear of Peter, but to aspire to his boldness.
 

Madness! - Romans 9:20

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” - Romans 9:20

    It is incumbent upon all true Christians to speak out boldly against the madness that now permeates both our culture, our society, and even many churches. From media pundits to celebrities to athletes to government lawmakers, this festering insanity runs amuck in our towns and cities, in our books, television programing, movies, in our sports complexes, schools and libraries. Even the halls of our government and law drip with this pathological madness. This is nothing new in the history of mankind; it has been with us from the dawn of time and will continue with us to the end times. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God ...” - 2 Timothy 3:1-4. I am speaking about the modern madness of transgenderism, which is the condition of the mind wherein a person (or persons) believe oneself to be of a gender different from that which they were biologically born. Madness!
    There are only two possibilities within the realm of reality: either they are psychologically delusional and require therapy, or they are being deliberately deceitful with the twisted intention of re-identifying themselves as victims of normal society. As we have seen in recent years, victimology has become a sacred status among the absolute fringes of moral and sane society. It is neither sacred, in the generally accepted understanding of the term, nor a true status except as defined within the parameters of psychopathology.
    God designed human beings His way, not in a state of constant flux, becoming and unbecoming whatever we choose. We are what we are by God’s design and any divergence from that is a direct violation of God’s will.
    Going back to our titular passage, we cannot use a clay jar as a hammer because it wasn’t designed to be a hammer but to be a jar. One cannot properly imagine a glass jar as a framing hammer no matter how hard one tries. To do so is an illustration of delusional imaginings. Such thinking is demented and destructive as well. Remember well the demoniac of Mark 5: “Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.” - Mark 5:5.
    To put it tersely - a refrigerator is not an alligator; a bowlful of broken glass is not cereal; and a boy is not a girl nor vise versa... ever! Now this position does not sit well with those promoting, encouraging, or making a living peddling such madness. We see from Mark’s Gospel that even after Jesus had cured the man of his demons, the crowd was not happy: “And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.” - Mark 5:15. Many apologists for madness say that the crowd was fearful because Jesus had sent the demons into the herd of swine, which then drowned itself in the sea. They argue, “Well, of course the men were angry, the swine was how they made their living!” To which I answer, ‘precisely’. Think about it.
    When we look at the continuing disorder in our world, we have to wonder why the authorities simply don’t put an end to it. We can come to a reasonably sound conclusion when we seek the wisdom of the old adage - “Follow the money.” From the monstrous fatality rates of opioid addiction to the ridiculous cost of life-saving drugs to the sickness of body mutilation to abortion, it’s easy to see that most insane self-expression related issues could be quickly solved by simply following the designs of our Creator: “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” - Isaiah 64:8. Let us all regain our sanity in this mad world of changing morals, changing ethics, changing desires, and changing sexes. If we return to God, He will return to us.

Give Us A King - 1 Samuel 8:6

But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. - 1 Samuel 8:6

    There is an old saying that warns, “Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it.” This adage applies appropriately to the Israelites at the end of the period of Judges. Dissatisfied with the way things had been going, they demanded the prophet Samuel appoint them a king “such as all the other nations have.” (1 Sam. 8:4) Upon this demand, Samuel approached God in prayer. God responded to Samuel in no uncertain terms: “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them...Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.’”     - 1 Samuel 8:7,9.
    Since God is truly sovereign, we must remember that every ruler, from royalty to head of state to presidents to heads-of-household, has been ordained by God Himself. And the track-record has not been illustrious. Out of the 43 kings of the kingdom of Israel and the Divided Kingdom, starting with Saul (586 BC) and ending with Zedekiah (1025 BC), only 6 ‘did right in the eyes of God.’ Is it any wonder that since that time eons ago and right until today, that we have such a difficult time finding righteous leaders to rule over us? Samuel did as the Lord told him, and he warned the people of the dangers of having an earthly king over them. But the people were persistent. “But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, ‘No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.’” - 1 Samuel 8:19-20.
    What we seek in a leader today has sinfully drifted away from our primary purpose in life - “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (W. C. Answer #1) which we may follow as we are intended to by adhering to what we are taught in Scripture - “The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” - (W. C. Answer #3).
    The human leadership (and the electorate) in our own country is so inherently evil that we cannot elect God-fearing leaders who abide by God’s mandates for us. They perpetrate every conceivable evil in our nation from abortion to sexual immorality to the denial of God and transgressions against His holy laws. We are no different than those sinful Israelites who wantonly abandoned the God of their fathers and turned to open idolatry. The law of man supersedes the Law of God in every public forum and leaves morality to the whims of the current culture. But this should not be. We have a duty to God, whether or not we believe we do. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” - Romans 12:2.
    It is a basic desire among men to have a guiding light to show them the way. No rational human being wants to ‘do things the wrong way.’ To deliberately do so is evidence of our depraved nature. A nature passed down to us through the transgression of Adam. And that warped sinful nature guides us in darkness to follow the ‘ruler of this world,’ Satan. So now I ask, is it truly any wonder that our nation and our world are in their current state of wickedness?
    We have only one recourse and that is to repent and return to God as our spiritual and moral King. In the same Book of 1 Samuel, we are given the only means to return to the favorable sight of our Lord. “And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.’ So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.” - 1 Samuel 7: 3-4. The foreign gods and Ashtaroth represent the idols we have chosen to serve rather than the one true Lord. Unless we return to God and put away all our idols, our worldly kings will never save us from our own darkened hearts. Let us worship and obey the one true King, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Give us Our King!

Tetelestai - John 19:30

  
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. - John 19:30

    Christians get their soteriology wrong the minute they say, “We are saved by Jesus, and (fill in the blank)” What I mean when I say this is simply that upon the cross, near the end of His life, Jesus made that statement that ‘it is finished.’ What was he talking about? What is ‘finished?’ And why on earth did He make that statement the moment before His death?
    The Greek word, ‘Tetelestai’ is variously interpreted as ‘it is finished’, ‘it is consummated’, and ‘the debt is paid in full.’ In a word, Jesus is telling us that because He perished upon the cross He had paid our debt for sinning against God... in full! That means there’s nothing else to add to Christ’s onetime atonement for our sins. The very word ‘atonement’ is often rendered as “at-one-ment,’ defining itself as the act of bringing two or more disparate parties together as one. This is, in fact, what had to be done if humans were ever going to be at peace with God.
    Sin stood between our gracious God and us. Thanks to Adam, all humanity has ever since been under the curse of the sin. The Old Testament sacrifices were mere precursors to the one and only sacrifice that could ever repair our relationship with our heavenly Father. We need to remember that no matter what we do, we could never repair the damage of sin in our lives. Even our greatest good deeds are nothing in the sight of God. “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” - Isaiah 64:6. So what was the one good and perfect sacrifice that could restore our relationship with God? The atoning act of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! When Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father, we were forgiven our sins and imputed the righteousness of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and we are declared righteous in the eyes of God by His perfectly passive and active obedience to His Father. Without that atonement, we would all be facing eternity in hell.
    So we’re all saved from eternal destruction by Christ’s selfless sacrifice on our behalf? No, read what the Scriptures say - “... for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” - Matthew 26:28. “... so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” - Hebrews 9:28. Jesus died and redeemed ‘many,’ not all. The many are those who believe in Him, not everyone who ever lived or everyone on the entire planet. Many, not all!
    To suggest that the Scriptures guarantee the salvation of all people - everyone - is heretical. When I have people over for dinner and invite ‘everyone’ to sit down and eat, I don’t mean literally everyone on the planet. I mean everyone who is present in my home. The Scriptures assure us: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” - John 3:14-15. And again: “... because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9.
    This is the remnant of people who will be saved from hell - those who believe in and have faith in Jesus. These are the people for whom Christ declared from the cross - “Tetelestai” - it is finished.

The Promised House - John 14:2-3

 “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” - John 14:2-3.

    One of the most pervasive errors made by people regarding life after death is the idea that God could condemn no one to an eternity in hell regardless of the state of their souls at the time of death. And this has been the case throughout history, though not in the numbers we see today. Today, the popular culture suggests that each individual can personalize their own designs in everything from cosmetics, to diet, to body sculpting, to God and the hereafter.
    They hold to the erroneous belief that God is simply too good to do such a terrifying thing. In most cases the people who believe this nonsense are people who have never read the Bible or who have meticulously cherry-picked the Holy Scriptures for words they can use to convince others that God’s greatest attribute to the exclusion of all others is His love. There is no such isolated Scripture that guarantees this to be the case. It is poor exegesis and false teaching that inspire such unfounded delusions.
    Their alternatives are the heresy of universalism or the equally fallacious idea that the dead are simply annihilated. The Bible itself is abundantly clear as to the fundamental flaw in their understanding of the afterlife. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” - Daniel 12:2.
    The Bible tells us that those who die Jesus will be raised to eternal life in heaven. “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9.
    On the other hand, the Bible tells us in many passages of Scripture what the alternative is - “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” - Revelation 21:8.
    There it is in plain and articulate language. There is life after death and it is not the same for sinners forgiven or unforgiven.
    The idea of annihilation is simply made of whole cloth for people who remain uncommitted to Jesus Christ in this life. Such notions reek of pride, autonomy, and outright sin! Suggestions that unrepentant and unforgiven people will somehow merit the same afterlife as those who have died in Christ are ludicrous. They suggest that both unrepentant serial murderers and St. Paul will either completely disappear from existence (annihilation) or that they will share the same dinner table in the afterlife (universalism). The latter assume these murderers turned to Christ in the moments before their deaths.
    We simply cannot customize or design our afterlife experience; there are only two! The Bible has gone to great lengths to describe God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as our one triune God. There is no other design for, or version of, God. There is only one!
    As we consider our lives in both this world and the next, let our faith in Jesus assure us we have a home in the glory that is Jesus Christ. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” - John 14:2-3.
    This is the promise of Christ, not the meanderings of those who have no hope and no place of salvation.

Doing The Impossible - Matthew 19:26

 
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26

    I have struggled over the years with my inability to show my Christian love to all mankind. I have been angry, outraged, and insulted by the very people Jesus commanded me to love. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...” - Matthew 5:44. After giving the issue much thought, it became clear to me that I have not been giving it my Christian effort.
    Certainly, it is easy for us to go around spouting off Scripture references to applicable situations, but how often do we actually walk the walk? It’s not ignorance on our part when we don’t seem all that Christian. And we must remember that often, we are creating an image for those around us who never pick up a Bible or attend a church service. Does our reaction to things that irk us illustrate how Christians are supposed to behave toward our fellow men and women? I’m afraid that in my case the answer has far too often been ‘No!’
     I tried to understand why it was so. I truly wanted to project a good Christian image to those around me, but failed to meet that godly standard. Why didn’t I have that kind of strength? I reminded myself of Paul’s frustration and exasperation : “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” - Romans 7:15. How could I accomplish this will of God for my life?
    Then, the very words that I had so often quoted to my family and loved ones came floating back to me. They were words I had used to encourage them in times of similar disappointments with varying issues and challenges they had faced: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13. I realized I could never love my enemies in my own power. I wasn’t strong enough in myself, but I could be through Christ Jesus!
    Obviously, there will be times when maintaining a godly attitude around troublesome people is going to be next to impossible. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” - Romans 12:18. Paul knew that there would be times of difficulty with people who didn’t have our best interest at heart. But even then, his words were not to pick a fight or walk away in anger. “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” - Romans 12:20-21.
    Our calling in Philippians 4:13 is a strategic response that our tactical response can illustrate, and that should be: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31. We cannot glorify God with hatred, anger, antagonism, impatience, or resentment, because none of those attributes exemplify love. As Scripturally responsive Christians, we should know by now what love is : “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This is the love that Jesus is talking about when He tells us to “Love (y)our enemies and pray for those who persecute you (us). Can we do so on our own power? I wouldn’t even suggest trying. Go to Christ and plead with Him for the strength that only God can provide.
    “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.
    No matter what we must do or accomplish, we must grasp the fact that God’s will alone determines how our efforts turn out. Sometimes even the simplest plans go awry; sometimes the impossible happens, all to the glory of God.