The Hope Of Knowing Christ As Savior

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.”
“The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:1,24

Jeremiah knew that a Christian’s life has two sides:
(1) Our afflictions – however many and severe they may be .
(2) Our redemption from our corruptions.

Jeremiah experienced that God permits afflictions to come upon us, yea, he even suffered under that which he knew that God had sent. This can create a great conflict in our way of thinking. We may have difficulty in reasoning these things out.

But we must, as a human being, remember the rock from whence we are all hewn and in what world we live in. God did not invent sin, thus His actions are not responsible for our corruptions and mortality. God’s hand can often be seen in association with our sufferings. Jeremiah suffered as a result of God’s judgment upon his society. Even though God sent judgments that were adversely felt, it was merely a response on God’s part to the spiritual condition of Jeremiah’s countrymen.

Knowing Christ as our Saviour from our sin condition, enables us to recognize what we see happening: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 No matter how tough things are, we are able to recognize that the reason things are not a whole lot worse, is due to Divine mercy.

These two sides of life that a Christian can see in and of ourselves, are also witnessed in the life of Christ. Being the Divine Son of God never exempted Him from sorrow and suffering. But, Christ’s sufferings were due to the spiritual condition of the world into which He came. He had to bear these sufferings. But, God used them for His perfection, as He did for Job and has promised to do for us, as we remain unwavering in our faith towards Him: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7 By faith, a Christian can see that our worst trials and tribulations are far better for us than if we had won the biggest Super Lotto! “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Thus we have hope in our experiences, no matter how severe!

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The Wisdom From Above

In the study of any and all scripture, the attainment is to be unto acquiring “Godly wisdom”. With the attainment of a new piece of equipment, the first step is to study the manual to become wise unto how to operate the instrument.

We are challenged to study all scripture, so as to be made wise unto what we are to be and do that is approved of God. God’s Word is to become our own personal wisdom by which we live.

In the study of the Book of Proverbs, we learn that Godly wisdom is what is needed to correctly establish one’s moral constitution, conscience and compass. To personally hearken to God’s Word will afford us good moral instincts, that one must possess to avoid falling into Satan’s steel traps.

The Book of Hebrews challenges us to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on unto perfection. Just being saved isn’t enough; we are to live Godly lives. Hebrews stresses the excellence of the New Testament Covenant, through the pre-eminence of Christ as our High Priest, to save to the uttermost and to make one perfect in every good work to do God’s will. Those who have sold out their lives to Christ’s Church, in full interaction with the Body, will acquire the sufficiency of Godly wisdom to effectually work in harmony with the church, with the full measure of love and joy.

The Book of James emphasizes living by and doing the Lord’s work by the wisdom that is from above. This book not only recommends wisdom, but also supplies it. It gives us many of the solutions to our Christian experience, and unfolds answers for successful relations and blameless personal conduct. It projects that faith is made perfect through submission and the practice of Christian virtues.

James emphatically affirms that wisdom works where wisdom is being received. It challenges all who profess to be right with God to “shew out of a good conversation (way of life) his works with meekness of wisdom.” It indicts those who have bitter envying and strife in their hearts, as those who are not disciples of heavenly wisdom, but rather students of the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish. It contends that wherever there is the wisdom from above, that it transforms character and conduct unto a fashion that is consistent with Godly behavior.

What man calls incompatibility, God calls the fruits of carnal wisdom. Where man offers excuses instead of compliance, God calls it a “dead faith”. We are responsible to judge ourselves and deal with our problems according to Godly wisdom. We are to seek the mind of Christ that wrote God’s precepts and strive to attain to the objects that the spirit of the law conveys. ARE YOU WISE?

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Be Steadfast, Unmovable

1 Corinthians 15:58

In these last days, so many things are passing from one form to another. “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”

Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12 Iniquity covers many things that people get involved with that are lacking in righteousness, as well as that which is unjust and wicked. Churches are seeing members of their own congregations, who have particular involvements with material pursuits, self-ambition, worldly associates, etc., that take over their lives, resulting in spiritual indifference and the forsaking of God’s House.

Though the dislike of sound doctrine has always been the trend (2 Timothy 4:3-4), today, we see not just a watering down, but rather a transition from sound doctrine to those things contrary to God’s commandments, and many love to have it so.

Satan’s subtleties continue on every front. Inch by inch, piece by piece, change by change, churches are being robbed of holiness, reverence, humility, conviction, contriteness, and a hunger and thirst for righteousness, unto becoming entertainment centers, where spiritual things are celebrated, and people are made to feel good about themselves as they are.

With each new revised bible, some changes are made in God’s Word that conditions the minds of people to accept the next new version, with some more changes, until after a period of time, this leavening process has leavened the whole lump. This is why God forbids any and all alteration of the inspired scriptures, right along with the admonition that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

The lack of living by faith is responsible for many failures in lives. These failures often result in offense towards the ministries that reprove and rebuke according to God’s Word. For some, their failures outrank their successes, until they feel like their standing in the church has been so eroded, that they leave and seek religious asylum elsewhere. This is the sad result of making decisions that one knows is not according to God’s will and way.

The challenge we all must face, in light of the many struggles of these last days, is “Will you also go away?”

Christian, don’t depart from the faith! By remaining true, constant, and steadfast, when other things are changing, will make you that much more of a vessel of honor in the eyes of the Lord. This gives God that much more reason to reward you in the day when He makes up His jewels! Malachi 3:17

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The Local Church

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:13

The Holy Spirit leads the believer to be baptized in water, thus putting them in that one body, the local, visible church: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Ephesians 4:4-5

The universal church view, which originates with the Roman Catholic church, says that the Spirit baptizes all believers into one universal church body. In 1 Corinthians 12, the church is compared to a human body with various members such as the eye, the hand, etc. Have you ever seen a universal body made up of hands, eyes, feet, ears, etc.? No! There is no universal living body that can hear, speak, feel, etc. The body spoken of is the church which is visible and local.

“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Corinthians 12:27. This is the kind of body where one member suffers, then all the other members can suffer with them. Why can they do this? It is because the members of the local church can know each other and suffer with and rejoice with each other. A world wide universal church makes it impossible to know about the suffering of other Christians around the world.

Many believe there are two kinds of bodies, but not so: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6. There is only one kind of body, which is the local, visible church.

The word church in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word ‘ecclesia,’ which means “a called out assembly.” Most of the time, it is used specific of an individual church or churches, such as the church at Antioch, the church at Jerusalem, the churches at Galatia, the churches of Asia, etc.

In some instances, the church is referred to as an institution. We speak of marriage as an institution, and we are not speaking of a universal marriage! If we bring it down to what a marriage is, it is the joining of one man and one woman together as one flesh. We often speak of the home being the foundation of civilized society, but we are not speaking of a universal home. Likewise, when we speak of the church in the institutional sense, we are not talking about a universal church, for there is no such thing. Bring it down to what a church is, and what we find is a body of scripturally baptized believers who are joined together in a visible church that has covenanted together to carry out the great commission – Matthew 28:19-20

The Roman Catholic (which means universal) church invented the universal, visible church theory. The Protestant movement modified it for themselves as the universal invisible church. Neither are Biblical.

–Edited from an article by E.L. Bynum, “The Church That Never Existed”

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Facing Both Ways

“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” Numbers 23:10 (Balaam’s words)
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve…” Joshua 24:15

Balaam was a double minded man. He fancied being a great man of God, under God’s favor. Yet at the same time, he loved and wanted this present world. Some today want what God affords, but they are turned by their love for worldly ways.

Like Balaam, some today are facing both ways. They are facing both ways on separation. They have no problem compromising with unbelievers. With one eye on God and the other on mammon, they want to serve both. With one eye towards God and the other towards “gods”, they switch back and forth.

They are facing both ways on obeying the Lord. They want to attend church, but if some other event of their liking is offered, they will forsake God’s house to attend to that. They would like to be used of the Lord, but they have other things that they will neglect God’s house in order to be engaged with.

They are facing both ways on the Bible. They like to be a believer, but they find it hard to take a stand on sound doctrine. For the fear of what men may say, they do not want to cross the line of disagreeing with the interpretations of others. They want God to be pleased with them, but they will do whatever is necessary to have the approval of men.

–Adapted from an article by Pastor David K. Warner

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17
“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21
“And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

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