Why Is It?

 Why Is it?
~Arthur Pink, 1886-1952

Psalm 36:1, "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes!"

Why is it, that today the masses are so utterly unconcerned about spiritual and eternal things, and that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it that defiance of God is becoming more open, more blatant, more daring? The answer is, because "There is no fear of God before their eyes!" Romans 3:18

Jew and Gentile in the Bible

The Old Testament was (for the Jew) God’s prophetic message of redemption and
restoration to Israel as a Kingdom of priests. It was God’s plan for Israel to become a holy nation to then go and reconcile the rest of the world to God. But they, with exceptions, rebelled continually against God’s Sovereignty. They never had the faith in God that He would accomplish what He promised. Israel repeatedly rejected God’s rule over them in their sin of unbelief. The Old Testament record is of God dealing primarily with the Jews only. In the 2000 years from Abraham, Gen. 12, to Acts 7, few Gentiles were saved, Eph. 2:11-12.

How Many Gospels?

"Strong objection is offered by Covenant theologians to a distinction between the gospel of the kingdom as preached by John the Baptist, Christ, and the other disciples and the gospel of the grace of God. One of them states that to make such a distinction is “unfortunate” and “dangerous.” He with others contends that the kingdom gospel is identical with the gospel of divine grace. Here nevertheless will arise an absurdity which does not deter this type of theologian, namely, that men could preach the grace gospel based as it is on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ when they did not believe Christ would die or be raised again (cf. Luke 18:31-34)." ~Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary 

The Vast Nursery

In the "ward" called Christianity, there is a vast nursery of babes, which encompasses most of the domain. They are fed milk sporadically but it is of little nourishment. So the newborns come in, and they grow…ever so anemic.

Day Care is but one day a week. The rest of the time they are left to their own devices. Some mature to kindergarten. Few graduate beyond the elementary. The scholar is an unrecognizable mutant. This is the vast nursery of today's Christians. There are few attendants and even fewer doctors. The babes are sometimes left to lie in their own ineffectuality.

Humility and Love

Lamentations 3:22-23 says, The steadfast love of the LORD (Jehovah) never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

In the four Gospels we read the accounts of the life and death of Jesus (Jehovah incarnate). There is an infinite volume of truth about Jesus’ life, His birth, His death, His purpose(s), His words, His miracles, His righteousness, His divinity, His judgments, His sorrows, His joy, etc., which we will not fully comprehend in this life.

Behold the Man

In John 18 and 19 we read of Jesus’s arrest. Then He was sent to Caiaphas, then to Pilate who questioned Him and scourged Him. After that, Pilate brought Him out to the crowd and said, “Behold the Man!” John 19:5

Pilate was essentially saying, "Here is Jesus. He is not your Messiah, He is not your king, He is not God. He is just a man."
Let us consider the man... Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. Heb. 12:3. 

What joy could possibly be worth enduring the pain, torture and humiliation of crucifixion? Could it be that Jesus would be exalted above all else in Heaven and Earth? Or that He would be King of Israel... and the world? Wouldn't that be selfish and vain of Jesus? The joy set before Jesus was redeeming the human race and all of creation, for God so loved the world.
See also John 10:11.

In The Beginning Was The Word

John 1:1, In the beginning... was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and the Word was God.

This study begins with “the beginning” because it requires understanding. In the beginning is a vague and indistinct phrase. There is no definite place in time specified. We naturally think of Genesis 1:1 as the beginning of the time of creation. But in John 1:1, we should consider a “time” before creation, which was not a “time” in our sense of the word, but the eternity before time, or it could mean during the time of creation. In any case, the entire triune Godhead is outside of time but works within time as well. We are here introduced to a relationship before anything is created; the relationship of “the Word” to God.

Go And Cry Out To The gods You Have Chosen

Jeremiah 2:27-28 says, "They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, 'Come and save us!' Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble!"

God warns His people of old, that if they persisted in looking to their false gods in the time of prosperity--that they would have none but their idols to assist them in the season of adversity. In the same way, in times of prosperity, the unsaved not only neglect God but despise Him as well! They cast off all fear of God and serve their idols, to the utter neglect of God.

Vanity Fair

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” Eccl. 1:2-3

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed, all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” Eccl. 2:11

CHRISTIANS AND POLITICS

I am prompted to write this because of a post I saw on another blog, the subject of which was something I have been thinking about for a long, long time. Politics! …the most sanctimonious, self-centered, self-serving, self-righteous, two-faced, backstabbing, anti-God goings-on in the world (in my opinion). I would hope to raise more questions than ire, but I believe the Bible speaks to this. The aforementioned blog essentially said that we should vote for Mike Huckabee because he is Christian. Now, I want to premise my thoughts by saying if God wanted Mike Huckabee to be President, all the professing “Christians” in the world could stay home on election day and Mike Huckabee WOULD be elected! Does any REAL Christian doubt that?

JUDGE NOT?

"It is better to have eyes for beauty--than for blemish. It is better to be able to see the roses--than the thorns. It is better to have learned to look for things to commend in others--than for things to condemn. Of course, other people have faults--and we are not blind to them. But then, we have faults of our own--and this should make us charitable!" ~ J.R. Miller, 1894.

CHRISTIAN EXAMPLE

“…And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch”  Acts 11:26
The word “Christian” may have intended to mean, those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, or it may mean those who ARE like Jesus the Christ. With the former, one would not necessarily be demonstrating what it is to live as a Christian. With the latter, there would be no doubt.

If Jesus were physically among us (as then), I presume He would still be as controversial as He was. But, as with those who then heard His Word and understood His Gospel message, and were enlightened to Him being the Son of God, and saw His convicting example, so the world, too, today would recognize the example of a Christ-like life. The reality is that the responsibility of example falls on true believers. I do not say “the Christian community” because as a whole, ecumenism has messed things up. The world of Christianity today is just that…The World IN Christianity! It is a mortal compromise.

CARNAL OR SPIRITUAL Part 2

The Carnal Christian?
I do not presume a carnal Christian to be one who only wants Jesus as a kind of hell-insurance policy, as some describe them. I suppose I believe such a person to not be a Christian at all. Because if such a person made any kind of profession of faith motivated solely by “give me a get-out-of-hell-free-card” then such a person does not understand his sin, nor his judgment, nor God’s Holiness, and least of all…the person of Jesus Christ. And chances are such a person’s life would demonstrate the lack of a regeneration which the spiritually discerning would recognize.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

The following is text (boldface mine) from a website, gotquestions.org where readers submit questions (usually of a Christian nature) to “someone” who theoretically has done the homework for you, and proceeds to answer the question. I don’t know when the question was asked or by whom, as there is no reference given…

                                   _________________________________________

Question: "Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?"

Answer: The debate about whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas has been raging for centuries. There are equally sincere and committed Christians on both sides of the issue, each with multiple reasons why or why not Christmas should be celebrated in Christian homes. But what does the Bible say? Does the Bible give clear direction as to whether Christmas is a holiday to be celebrated by Christians? 

MERRY CHRISTMAS - Part 4

So, what is wrong

with Christmas?

Christmas belongs to the world. Christ belongs to Heaven.

PICK ONE!