Bodies of 6 hostages found, Israelis return to their homes in Sderot. IDF Captain recalls Hamas brutality in Gaza and the jihadist mentality of tactical civilian sacrifice. Interviews: Jed Robyn on Gods plan for Aliyah, Amir Avivi from the IDSF. Want more news from a Christian Perspective? Choose to support CBN: https://go.cbn.com/ugWBn CBN News. Because Truth Matters™
Source: Six Hostage Bodies Found in Gaza Tunnels | Jerusalem Dateline – August 21, 2024
(Rick Moran – PJ Media) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) is a dreamer. And the dream he’s having this week during the Democratic National Convention isn’t of sugar plums and dancing fairies.
Schumer dreams of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate and a Democratic president to ram through an agenda that would not only be ruinously expensive but alter the character of the American experiment.
First up would be carving out an exemption to the filibuster to pass voting rights and abortion legislation. Currently, Democrats in the Senate are stymied by the 60-vote minimum to get legislation passed. Schumer wants to change Senate rules to allow for a majority vote on selected legislation. From there, it’s just a small step to get rid of the filibuster completely. View article →
In a time where the Christian Church seems to be at a crossroads, Megan Basham’s Shepherds for Sale provides a meticulously researched exposé on the infiltration of leftist ideologies into evangelical institutions. Basham, a culture reporter for The Daily Wire, has crafted what may well be the most important book on modern Evangelicalism in recent years. Her work stands as a bold and clear account of how progressive powerbrokers have sought to co-opt the Church for political purposes, revealing a startling truth: the enemy is not only outside the gates but has also made its way inside.
This review will explore the key themes and revelations in Basham’s book, examining the broader implications for the Christian Church in America. For those interested in delving deeper into this subject, Shepherds for Sale is available on Amazon for purchase.
One of the most compelling aspects of Basham’s work is her in-depth investigation into how left-wing billionaires, foundations, and think tanks have deliberately targeted Christian media, universities, megachurches, nonprofits, and entire denominations. She uncovers a concerted effort by progressive powerbrokers—ranging from George Soros to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration—to co-opt evangelical leaders for political gain.
Basham’s exposé is not merely a critique but a documentation of facts, supported by evidence that leaves little room for doubt. The book provides a detailed account of the financial backing behind these movements, revealing how revered institutions such as Christianity Today and influential megachurches have been swayed by leftist agendas, often at the expense of biblical truth.
For instance, Basham highlights the involvement of the Arcus Foundation, founded by billionaire Jon Stryker, in promoting the LGBTQ agenda within the church. She details how this foundation, along with others like the Lilly Endowment, has poured millions into evangelical institutions, subtly influencing their doctrinal positions and public stances on issues such as sexuality, abortion, and climate change.
Basham does not shy away from naming names. She exposes how some of the most trusted evangelical leaders have compromised their biblical convictions for the sake of political correctness and financial gain. One striking example is the case of a celebrity megachurch pastor who secretly encouraged a group of pastors to reconsider their views on sexuality—a move that clearly aligns with the broader agenda of progressive influencers.
The book also delves into the actions of a revered Presbyterian theologian who, despite his respected status, backed a congregation that was rebelling against the conservative teachings of his own denomination. This act of support, as Basham illustrates, was not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern of compromise among evangelical leaders who have chosen to “whisper” about sexual sins and downplay the importance of critical moral issues.
What Basham lays bare in Shepherds for Sale is not just the infiltration of leftist ideologies into the Church but the devastating consequences of these compromises. By accepting financial incentives, career advancements, and the praise of secular society, many evangelical leaders have betrayed their congregations and, more importantly, the teachings of Scripture.
The book is filled with examples of how these compromises have weakened the evangelical witness in America. Basham argues persuasively that the Church’s failure to stand firm on issues such as sexual immorality, abortion, and systemic racism has not only led to doctrinal erosion but has also emboldened secular progressives to push their agendas further into the heart of Christian institutions.
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of Basham’s book is its call to action. She warns that the Church must return to the truth of Scripture and reject the world’s wisdom if it is to withstand the ongoing assault on its foundations. This is not a call to retreat from engagement with the culture but rather a plea for Christians to engage the culture from a position of biblical conviction, rather than capitulation.
Basham’s work echoes the sentiments of influential Christian voices such as John MacArthur, who describes Shepherds for Sale as “bold, clear, and very well-researched.” Similarly, Os Guinness warns that the Church faces a gathering storm, with enemies both inside and outside its gates—a warning that is vividly illustrated throughout Basham’s book.
The book has received widespread acclaim from conservative Christian leaders and commentators. Ben Shapiro, for example, praises Basham as an indispensable voice in a chaotic time, noting that her book serves as a clarion call for churches to return to the faith of their ancestors. Voddie Baucham, bestselling author and dean of the School of Divinity at African Christian University, describes Shepherds for Sale as “riveting” and “difficult to read,” given the uncomfortable truths it uncovers.
Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, commends Basham for dragging the plot of evangelical infiltration out into the light, exposing how corrupted leaders have betrayed their doctrines to advance left-wing political goals. These endorsements underscore the importance of Basham’s work in the current cultural moment.
While Shepherds for Sale is a crucial work, it is not without its challenges. The book’s title, for instance, suggests that greed is the primary motive behind evangelical compromise. However, as Basham’s own research reveals, the motivations of these leaders are more complex, often involving a mixture of fear, desire for relevance, and genuine, albeit misguided, attempts to engage with the culture.
Moreover, while Basham’s focus on the infiltration of leftist ideologies is essential, it is worth noting that the Church has faced similar challenges throughout its history. The tactics may have changed, but the underlying battle between the wisdom of the world and the truth of Scripture remains a constant.
That said, Basham’s book is an invaluable resource for understanding the specific challenges facing the evangelical Church in America today. It provides a detailed, well-researched, and engaging account of the forces that have sought to undermine biblical Christianity from within, and it offers a clear call to return to the unchanging truths of Scripture.
To fully appreciate the significance of Basham’s work, it is important to understand the broader context in which these events have unfolded. Over the past several decades, the political left has made a concerted effort to take over key institutions in American society, including the media, universities, and the bureaucracy. However, as Basham reveals, the attempt to co-opt Evangelical Christianity is perhaps the most insidious and least-discussed aspect of this broader cultural shift.
By targeting evangelical leaders and institutions, progressive powerbrokers have sought to neutralize the Church’s influence in the culture wars, steering it toward positions that align with their political goals. This is not just a battle over doctrine; it is a battle for the soul of the Church, and by extension, the soul of the nation.
Basham’s work is therefore not just a book for Christians; it is a book for anyone who cares about the future of religious liberty and the preservation of America’s Judeo-Christian heritage. The implications of her findings extend far beyond the walls of the Church, touching on the very foundations of American society.
As someone who has followed Megan Basham’s work for some time on Twitter X, I approached Shepherds for Sale with high expectations, and I was not disappointed. The book is a testament to Basham’s journalistic integrity and her commitment to uncovering the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
What I found particularly compelling about the book was its balance of rigorous research and engaging storytelling. Basham does not merely present the facts; she weaves them into a narrative that is both informative and thought-provoking. Her writing is clear, concise, and compelling, making Shepherds for Sale a must-read for anyone interested in the future of the Church in America.
In conclusion, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda is a book that every evangelical should read, ponder, and pray over. It is a wake-up call for the Church to return to the truth of Scripture and reject the world’s wisdom. Megan Basham has done the Church a great service by shining a light on the forces that have sought to undermine its foundations, and her book will undoubtedly be remembered as a landmark work in the history of American Evangelicalism.
For those who are ready to confront these challenges head-on, Shepherds for Sale is available for purchase on Amazon. I highly recommend adding this book to your reading list and sharing it with your church community.
By equipping ourselves with the knowledge and insights provided in Basham’s work, we can stand firm in the faith, resist the pressures of the culture, and ensure that the Church remains a beacon of truth in a world that desperately needs it.
By purchasing through this affiliate link, you’ll be supporting my ministry and helping to spread the message of God’s love and power to even more people. Thank you for your support!
For a list of other essential Christian reads click here.
Check out this powerful testimony of redemption through Christ! Mason Skaggs shares details of his heart-wrenching story and the darkness that nearly took his life. But God!
This message is from Dr. Thomas’ 19-part teaching series The Life of Peter: Molded in the Master’s Hands. Learn more: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/the-life-of-peter-molded-in-the-masters-hands
Source: The Call to Take Up the Cross: The Life of Peter with Derek Thomas
J. Warner examines the statements of Jesus to see if He ever claimed to be God. While skeptics may acknowledge Jesus’ existence and even the value of His teaching, any assessment of Jesus’ instruction must account for his obvious claims of Deity. Jim looks at the cumulative case and assembles the evidence from the Gospels to demonstrate Jesus’ claims to Deity.
Source: Did Jesus Claim to Be God?
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; (28:19–20a)
The fourth element for effective fulfillment of the church’s mission is obedience to the Lord’s command, made possible only when the attitudes of availability, worship, and submission characterize the believer’s life.
It was in light of His absolute, sovereign authority that Jesus commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” The transitional word is therefore. “Because I am sovereign Lord of the universe,” Jesus was saying, “I have both the authority to command you to be My witnesses and the power to enable you to obey that command.”
In light of the Old Testament teaching about Israel’s mission to be God’s light to the Gentiles and in light of Jesus’ earthly ministry, it should not be surprising that His commission was to make disciples of all the nations.
Mathēteuō (make disciples) is the main verb and the central command of verses 19–20, which form the closing sentence of Matthew’s gospel. The root meaning of the term refers to believing and learning. Jesus was not referring simply to believers or simply to learners, or He would have used other words. Mathēteuō carries a beautiful combination of meanings. In this context it relates to those who place their trust in Jesus Christ and follow Him in lives of continual learning and obedience. “If you abide in My word,” Jesus said, “then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). It should be noted that some disciples were not true (see John 6:66).
A person who is not Christ’s true disciple does not belong to Him and is not saved. When a person genuinely confesses Christ as Lord and Savior, he is immediately saved, immediately made a disciple, and immediately filled with the Holy Spirit. Not to be Christ’s disciple is therefore not to be Christ’s at all.
Scripture knows nothing of receiving Christ as Savior but not as Lord, as if a person could take God piecemeal as it suits him. Every convert to Christ is a disciple of Christ, and no one who is not a disciple of Christ, no matter what his profession of faith might be, is a convert of Christ.
The very point of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler was that this man-although highly moral, religious, generous, and admiring of Jesus—refused to give up everything for Christ and submit to Him as Lord. He sincerely wanted eternal life and had the wisdom to come to the source of that life. But he was unwilling to give up his own life and possessions and obey Jesus’ command to “come, follow Me” (Luke 18:18–23). He was willing to have Jesus as Savior but not as Lord, and Christ would not receive him on those terms. Because he refused to be Christ’s disciple when the cost was made clear (like those in John 6:66), he could have no part of Christ or of the eternal life that He gives.
Some popular theologies today teach that Jesus was referring to those who are already believers when He taught such things as, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27; cf. v. 33). Such forms of easy believism maintain that the only requirement for salvation is to “accept Jesus as Savior.” Then, at some later date, a saved person may or may not become a disciple by accepting Christ as Lord of his life. Taking up one’s cross and following Christ (Matt. 10:38) is looked on as a secondary, ideal level of relationship to Christ that is commendable but not mandatory.
The Great Commission is a command to bring unbelievers throughout the world to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the term the Lord uses in this commissioning is make disciples. The true convert is a disciple, a person who has accepted and submitted himself to Jesus Christ, whatever that may mean or demand. The truly converted person is filled with the Holy Spirit and given a new nature that yearns to obey and worship the Lord who has saved him. Even when he is disobedient, he knows he is living against the grain of his new nature, which is to honor and please the Lord. He loves righteousness and hates sin, including his own.
Jesus’ supreme command, therefore, is for those who are His disciples to become His instruments for making disciples of all nations. Jesus’ own earthly ministry was to make disciples for Himself, and that is the ministry of His people. Those who truly follow Jesus Christ become “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Those who become His disciples are themselves to become disciple makers. The mission of the early church was to make disciples (see Acts 2:47; 14:21), and that is still Christ’s mission for His church.
Jesus’ command for His followers to make disciples was given only once, climactically, at the very end of His earthly ministry. Some might ask, “If it was so crucial, why did Jesus mention it only once?” The reason, no doubt, is that the motivation for reaching others for Christ is innate to the redeemed life. One might as well ask why God’s command for man to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28) was given only once. In each case, reproduction in kind is natural to life. The call to make disciples is stated only once because it is natural for the new creation to be reproductive. It would beg the issue to repeat what is so basic.
The specific requirements Jesus gives for making disciples involve three participles: going (rendered here as go), baptizing, and teaching.
The first requirement makes clear that the church is not to wait for the world to come to its doors but that it is to go to the world. The Greek participle is best translated “having gone,” suggesting that this requirement is not so much a command as an assumption.
Jesus’ initial instruction to the disciples was for them to go only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6; cf. 15:24). God’s design was to offer salvation first to the Jews and then to use them as His missionaries to the rest of the world. The gospel is the “power of salvation to everyone who believes,” but “to the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16; cf. John 4:22). But when Israel as a nation rejected the Messiah-King who was sent to her in Jesus, the invitation for salvation went directly to the entire world.
Jesus compared Israel’s response to God’s call to a wedding feast given by a king for his son. When the favored guests refused to accept the king’s invitation and maligned and even killed some of the messengers, the king had his army destroy the ungrateful and wicked guests. He then sent his servants out to the streets and highways to invite to the feast anyone who would come (Matt. 22:1–10). The picture was of an apostate Israel who refused her Messiah and thereby forfeited the kingdom that He offered to them.
At the end of His earthly ministry, Christ had only a small remnant of believers, and it was to part of that remnant that He gave His commission to evangelize the world. The first sermon of the Spirit-filled church was preached by Peter and directed to Jews and Jewish proselytes who had come to worship in Jerusalem (Acts 2:22). But God later had to dramatically convince Peter that the gospel was also for Gentiles (10:1–48).
As he traveled throughout Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, even the apostle Paul, “the apostle to the Gentiles,” normally began his ministry in a given city at the Jewish synagogue (see Acts 9:20; 13:5; 18:4). But his message was always for Gentiles as well as Jews. At his conversion on the Damascus Road, the Lord said to him,
Arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, … delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to life and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. (Acts 26:16–18)
The second requirement for making disciples is that of baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. To baptize literally means to immerse in water, and certain forms of baptism had long been practiced by various Jewish groups as a symbol of spiritual cleansing. The baptism of John the Baptist symbolized repentance of sin and turning to God (Matt. 3:6). As instituted by Christ, however, baptism became an outward act of identification with Him through faith, a visible, public testimony that henceforth one belonged to Him.
The initial act of obedience to Christ after salvation is to submit to baptism as a testimony to union with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. “Do you not know,” Paul asked the Roman believers, “that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3–4).
Immersion is the most appropriate mode of baptism, not only because the Greek word behind it connotes immersion but even more importantly because that is the only mode that symbolizes burial and resurrection.
Although the act of baptism has absolutely no saving or sacramental benefit or power, it is commanded by Christ of His followers. The only exception might be physical inability, as in the case of the repentant thief on the cross, a prisoner who is forbidden the ordinance, or a similar circumstance beyond the believer’s control. The person who is unwilling to be baptized is at best a disobedient believer, and if he persists in his unwillingness there is reason to doubt the genuineness of his faith (see Matt. 10:32–33). If he is unwilling to comply with that simple act of obedience in the presence of fellow believers, he will hardly be willing to stand for Christ before the unbelieving world.
Baptism has no part in the work of salvation, but it is a God-ordained and God-commanded accompaniment of salvation. Jesus said, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Jesus made clear that it is disbelief, not failure to be baptized, that precludes salvation; but He could not possibly have made the divine association of salvation and baptism more obvious than He does in that statement.
The association was indisputably clear in Peter’s mind as he exhorted his unbelieving hearers at Pentecost: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38). The association was just as close in Paul’s mind, as witnessed in his great manifesto of Christian unity: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4–6).
A person is saved by God’s grace alone working through his faith as a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). But by God’s own declaration, the act of baptism is His divinely designated sign of the believer’s identification with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is a divinely commanded act of faith and obedience.
New converts need to be taught that they should be baptized as soon as possible, not to seal or confirm their salvation but to make public testimony to it in obedience to their newfound Lord. The call to Christ not only is the call to salvation but also the call to obedience, the first public act of which should be baptism in His name.
Throughout the book of Acts, baptism is shown in the closest possible association with conversion. The three thousand souls converted at Pentecost were immediately baptized (Acts 2:41). As soon as the Ethiopian believed in Christ, he stopped his chariot so that he could be baptized (8:38). As soon as Paul received back his sight after his conversion, he was baptized (9:18). When Cornelius and his household were saved, Peter “ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (10:48). As unbelievers in Corinth were being won to Jesus Christ, they were also being baptized (18:8). When Paul found some disciples of John in Ephesus who had only been baptized for repentance, he told them about Jesus, the one for whom John was merely preparing the way, and when they believed “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (19:1–5).
In the context of the Great Commission, baptism is synonymous with salvation, which is synonymous with becoming a disciple. As already emphasized, discipleship is Christian life, not an optional, second level of it.
Baptism is to be made in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not giving a ritual formula, although that beautiful phrase from the lips of our Lord has been commonly and appropriately used in baptismal services throughout the history of the church. In the name of is not a sacramental formula, as seen in the fact that the book of Acts reports no converts being baptized with those precise words. Those words are rather a rich and comprehensive statement of the wonderful union that believers have with the whole Godhead.
In His statement here about baptism, Jesus again clearly placed Himself on an equal level with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He also emphasizes the unity of the Trinity by declaring that baptism should be done in Their one name (singular), not in Their separate names. As it does in many parts of Scripture, the phrase the name here embodies the fullness of a person, encompassing all that he is, has, and represents. When he is baptized, the believer is identified with everything that God is, has, and represents.
The pronoun Jesus uses here (eis, in) can also be rendered “into” or “unto.” Those who teach baptismal regeneration-the belief that water baptism is essential for salvation-insist that it must here be translated “into.” But that is a completely arbitrary translation and, in any case, cannot stand up against the many other passages that prove baptism has no part in regeneration but is rather an outward act, subsequent to regeneration, that testifies to its having taken place.
Baptism does not place a believer into oneness with the Trinity but signifies that, by God’s grace working through his faith in Jesus Christ, the believer already has been made one with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The third requirement for making disciples of all nations is that of teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. The church’s mission is not simply to convert but to teach. The convert is called to a life of obedience to the Lord, and in order to obey Him it is obviously necessary to know what He requires. As already noted, a disciple is by definition a learner and follower. Therefore, studying, understanding, and obeying “the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27) is the lifelong task of every true disciple.
In Jesus’ parting discourse to the disciples in the upper room, He said,
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (John 14:23–26)
Jesus did not spend time teaching in order to entertain the crowds or to reveal interesting but inconsequential truths about God or to set forth ideal but optional standards that God requires. His first mission was to provide salvation for those who would come to Him in faith, that is, to make disciples. His second mission was to teach God’s truth to those disciples. That is the same twofold mission He gives the church.
No one is a true disciple apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ, and there is no true disciple apart from an obedient heart that desires to please the Lord in all things. The writer of Hebrews makes that attitude of obedience synonymous with saving faith, declaring that Christ “became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9). Thanking God for the salvation of believers in Rome, Paul said to them, “Though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed” (Rom. 6:17).
Every Christian is not gifted as a teacher, but every faithful Christian is committed to promoting the ministry of teaching God’s Word both to make and to edify disciples of Christ.
Power
“and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (28:20b)
As crucial as are the first four elements for effective fulfillment of the church’s mission, they would be useless without the last, namely, the power that the Lord Jesus Christ offers through His continuing presence with those who belong to Him. Neither the attitudes of availability, worship, and submission, nor faithful obedience to God’s Word would be possible apart from Christ’s own power working in and through us.
Idou (lo) is an interjection frequently used in the New Testament to call attention to something of special importance. Egō eimi (I am) is an emphatic form that might be rendered, “I Myself am,” calling special attention to the fact of Christ’s own presence. Jesus was saying, in effect, “Now pay special attention to what I am about to say, because it is the most important of all. I Myself, your divine, resurrected, living, eternal Lord, am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
A helpful way to keep one’s spiritual life and work in the right perspective and to continually rely on the Lord’s power rather than one’s own is to pray in ways such as these: “Lord, You care more about this matter I am facing than I do, so do what You know is best. Lord, You love this person more than I do and only You can reach into his heart and save him, so help me to witness only as You lead and empower. Lord, You are more concerned about the truth and integrity of Your holy Word than I am, so please energize my heart and mind to be true to the text I am teaching.”
Always literally means “all the days.” For the individual believer that means all the days of his life. But in its fullest meaning for the church at large it means even to the end of the age, that is, until the Lord returns bodily to judge the world and to rule His earthly kingdom. (See Matt. 13:37–50, where Christ uses the phrase “end of the age” three times to designate His second coming.)
Jesus will not visibly return to earth and display Himself before the whole world in His majestic glory and power until the end of the age. But until that time, throughout this present age, He will always be with those who belong to Him, leading them and empowering them to fulfill His Great Commission.
Some years ago, a missionary went to a primitive, pagan society. She became especially burdened for a young wife and eventually was used to win the woman to Christ. Almost as soon as she was saved the woman told the missionary with great sorrow, “I wish you could have come sooner, so my little boy could have been saved.” When the missionary asked why it was too late, the mother replied, “Because just a few weeks before you came to us, I offered him as a sacrifice to the gods of our tribe.”[1]
20 Those who are discipled must be not only baptized but also taught. The content of this instruction (see comments at 3:1 for kērygma [“preaching,” GK 3060] and didachē [“teaching,” GK 1439]) is everything Jesus commanded the first disciples. Five things stand out.
1. The focus is on Jesus’ commands, not OT law. Jesus’ words, like the words of Scripture, are more enduring than heaven and earth (24:35); and the peculiar expression “everything I have commanded you” is, as Trilling (Das wahre Israel, 37) has pointed out, reminiscent of the authority of Yahweh (Ex 29:35; Dt 1:3, 41; 7:11; 12:11, 14). This confirms our exegesis of 5:17–20. The revelation of Jesus Messiah at this late stage in salvation history brings the fulfillment of everything to which the OT Scriptures pointed and constitutes their valid continuity; but this means that the focus is necessarily on Jesus.
2. Remarkably, Jesus does not foresee a time when any part of his teaching will be rightly judged needless, outmoded, superseded, or untrue. Everything he has commanded must be passed on “to the very end of the age.”
3. What the disciples teach is not mere dogma steeped in abstract theorizing but content to be obeyed.
4. It then follows that by carefully passing on everything Jesus taught, the first disciples—themselves eyewitnesses—call into being new generations of “ear-witnesses” (O’Brien, “Great Commission,” 264–65). These in turn pass on the truth they received. So a means is provided for successive generations to remain in contact with Jesus’ teachings (cf. 2 Ti 2:2).
5. Christianity must spread by an internal necessity or it has already decayed, for one of Jesus’ commands is to teach all he commands. Failure to disciple, baptize, and teach the peoples of the world is already itself one of the failures of our own discipleship.
But the gospel ends, not with command, but with the promise of Jesus’ comforting presence, which, if not made explicitly conditional on the disciples’ obedience to the Great Commission, is at least closely tied to it. “Surely” captures the force of idou here (see comments at 1:20). He who is introduced to us in the prologue as Immanuel, “God with us” (1:23; cf. 18:20), is still God with us, “to the very end of the age.” The English adverb “always” renders an expression found in the NT only here—namely, pasas tēs hēmeras, strictly “the whole of every day” (Moule, Idiom Book, 34). Not just the horizon is in view, but each day as we live it. This continues to the end of the age (for this expression, see comments at 13:39–40, 49; 24:3; cf. Heb 9:26)—the end of history as we know it, when the kingdom will be consummated. Perhaps there is a small hint of judgment. The church dare not drift, because it, too, rushes to the consummation. The period between the commission and the consummation is of indefinite length; but whatever its duration, it is the time of the church’s mission and of preliminary enjoyment of her Lord’s presence.
Matthew’s gospel ends with the expectation of continued mission and teaching. The five preceding sections always conclude with a block of Jesus’ teaching (3:1–26:5); but the passion and resurrection of Jesus end with a commission to his disciples to carry on that same ministry (see Introduction, section 14) in the light of the cross, the empty tomb, and the triumphant vindication and exaltation of the risen Lord. In this sense, the gospel of Matthew is not a closed book until the consummation. The final chapter is being written in the mission and teaching of Jesus’ disciples.[2]
20. Hitherto Jesus alone has been the teacher, and the verb has not been used by Matthew of his disciples’ ministry. Now they take over his role of teaching, which is the necessary application of his ‘authority’ (v. 18); see Davies, pp. 198–199. They are to teach not just abstract ideas, but to observe all that I have commanded you, the latter verb being from the same root as the noun for ‘commandments’ in 5:19; 15:3; etc. (and cf. the same verb in 15:4; 19:7). There is thus a strongly ethical emphasis in this summary of Christian mission and discipleship, as there has been in Jesus’ teaching throughout this Gospel. To ‘make disciples’ is not complete unless it leads them to a life of observing Jesus’ commandments.
The concluding promise of Jesus’ presence echoes both the implication of the name Emmanuel in 1:23 and also the promise to ‘two or three gathered in my name’ in 18:20. (The latter reference confirms that the promise applies to more than just the eleven, even though only they were present; see on v. 16.) For the close of the age, see above, on 24:3. The promise of God’s presence often accompanied his call to service in the Old Testament (e.g. Exod. 3:12; Josh. 1:5); it is not so much a cosy reassurance as a necessary equipment for mission. That the risen Lord can now make such a promise as God made to his people in the past brings the Gospel’s portrait of Jesus (‘God with us’, 1:23) to a stupendous climax.[3]
Ver. 20. And, lo, I am with you alway.—
Christ continually present with His Church:—
I. That the Saviour is speaking of more than that presence, which is inseparable from the nature of His own essential and eternal Godhead. In the case of our Lord the Godhead is so modified by its alliance with the Humanity—modified not in itself, for there no modification would be possible—but in its action upon the Church,—that what is brought into contact with us, is the human sympathy of the Saviour, glorified by its connection with the Deity of His person.
II. The fact that communion with the Saviour is made possible by the advent of the Comforter; that the coming of the Spirit is, to all intents and purposes, a coming of the Saviour to the people who love Him. The personality that is in Him whom we address, must vibrate to the touch of the personality that is in us,—or else communion will not have taken place. This has been made possible, though Christ is absent in the body, by the advent of the Holy Ghost. No one will be disposed to question that the personality of God can reveal itself to the personality of man without the intervention of a visible form, and without the employment of articulate language. There are modes of fellowship between spirit and spirit with which we are unacquainted, yet real and efficacious. He is said to dwell in the believer. We speak not of grace but of living communication. And where the Spirit comes Christ comes; and where the Spirit and Christ come the Father comes.
III. This coming of Christ to His people, precious as it is, is suited to a state of imperfection and discipline. We look forward to something beyond that which we enjoy now. There was the coming of Christ in the flesh. That passed away. It gave way to the coming by the Spirit. That is better, more spiritual, but insufficient. We look forward to the final, exhaustive coming. (G. Calthrop, M.A.)
The present Saviour:—Some benefits of Christ’s perpetual presence with His people, especially when that presence is realized. 1. It is sanctifying. 2. Sustaining. 3. Comforting. (J. Hamilton, D.D.)
Christ’s parting promise:—
I. The promise—“I am with you alway.” What did Christ mean by this. 1. Can we attach to the words a meaning similar to that conveyed when speaking of the dead. We say that they still live in the hearts of those who knew and loved them. After the lapse of years we can often recall with vividness the features of one departed. 2. Men may live in their works. Is Christ only present as other good men are? We who believe in Christ as a supernatural revelation regard this parting promise as implying infinitely more than this. It meant the indwelling of a Personal energy distinct from any memory of Him. Is it replied that this is incomprehensible; life is incomprehensible. Christ is not a power generated in nature.
II. The fulfilment of the promise. (C. M. Short.)
The presence of Christ:—1. That presence is spiritual. Not the consecrated host. The believers in the upper room had nothing to appeal to their senses. 2. This presence of Christ consists in something more than there is in His word. Cæsar, Plato are still with us in their words; but there is infinitely more in the presence of Christ. Behind the written word there is the living word, the invisible Saviour who manifests Himself to the heart. 3. This presence is especially promised to the Church, and is the secret of its triumph over infidelity and persecution. 4. But what makes men doubt the presence of Christ in the Church is the sight of the inward state of the Church itself. 5. But what Christ announces to the Church He announces to the individual soul. 6. Affliction may be a proof of the Lord’s presence. 7. Is there anything on earth grander than faithful love? “I am with you alway.” (E. Bersier, D.D.)
Christ present, though appearances may seem to the contrary:—In gloomy winter’s day no tree moves its verdant top in our fields; no flower casts its perfume to the winds; everything appears dead in nature. Will you tell me that the sun has not risen? No, although he has disappeared behind a curtain of clouds, he makes his powerful action everywhere felt; and without the sun, which you do not see, there would remain for you only an icy shroud, and the darkness of night. The soul has its winter also, when the Sun of Righteousness no longer sheds on it more than a pale glimmer, when obedience is performed without joy. (Ibid.)
Desirableness of Christ’s presence:—I. Christ’s presence is exceedingly desirable to the saints. 1. The presence of Christ is an evidence of His love. 2. Christ’s presence is attended with the most desirable effects; none can enjoy it without deriving the greatest advantages from it. 3. Present communion with Christ is an earnest of everlasting fruition. II. A seemingly departing Christ may be constrained, as it were, to abide with His people. 1. By the exercise of a lively faith. 2. By fervent prayer. 3. By a suitable conduct towards him. (B. Beddome.)
Christ’s presence essential:—Nothing could supply the room of Christ to His Church; not the gospels, though they record His eventful life and death; not the epistles, though they contain the full revelation of His own truth; not ministers, though they are His ambassadors; not ordinances, though they are the channels of grace, and so many meeting places between our souls and Him whom our souls love. None of these, nor all of these together, can be to the Church, in the stead of its own Divine Redeemer and Head. Without His continued presence and aid, the Church would speedily come to an end. People may talk as they please about the omnipotence of truth, and the adaptation of Christianity to man, but in a world like this, hostile to the truth, and alienated from God, no security short of that presented in the actual indwelling of Christ in His Church, His own kingdom and house, will be sufficient. To this we owe it, that there has been a Church in the world up to this hour; to this we owe it, that there shall be a Church in it to the end of time. (A. L. R. Foote.)
The ever-present Saviour:—1. This is the language of One who had been through the passage of death and known the bitterness of separation. 2. It is difficult to realize this invisible presence; it is more real when realized. It is spiritual, always with us. 3. It conveys the idea that before the mind of the speaker all the days lay ranged in their order to the last. 4. It is an inner presence. 5. Most minds, whatever they be, do best in fellowship. (J. Vaughan, M.A.)
The charm of the Divine presence:—Suppose a friend who combines everything which goes to make your idea of friendship—intellectual, wise, modest, fond, true, good. Suppose such a person just set to your particular taste—in harmony with every thought; his society like a continual strain of music. You lean on his judgment—you are happy in his love. What a bloom on life—what a sunlight—what a charm—what a necessity that person would become to you! But what is that compared to Christ—to a man who has once learned the secret of finding His presence a reality? who knows and loves Him as his own near, dear, loving Saviour—the Brother of his soul—much more than another self. The very fact that He is there—though He did nothing, though there were no actual intercourse, though He were not seen—has an untold spell upon you. Did you never feel what the presence of a very little child would be, though there were not another man in the world? Think of what even a silent presence can be! But it is not silent. (Ibid.)
Christ’s perpetual presence:—I. What an insight we have here into the essential nature of Christianity itself, and what a guarantee for its permanence and power. It is something more than an outward revelation of facts, more than a community of brethren: it is a life. II. May we not see in this promise the designed preventative against or remedy for certain evils sure to infest and corrode the life of His kingdom. III. It is of the guarantee of the permanence and power of Christianity in Christ’s constant presence that I would now speak. The higher the principle of life the longer it is in coming to maturity; but also the surer when maturity is reached. This explains the slow progress of Christianity. (J. T. Stannard.)
Christ’s presence our stimulus:—There is a touching fact related in the history of a Highland chief of the noble house of McGregor, who fell wounded by two balls at the battle of Prestonpans. Seeing their chief fall, the clan wavered, and gave the enemy an advantage. The old chieftain, beholding the effects of his disaster, raised himself up on his elbow, while the blood gushed in streams from his wounds, and cried aloud, “I am not dead, my children; I am looking at you, to see you do your duty.” These words revived the sinking courage of his brave Highlanders. There was a charm in the fact that they still fought under the eye of their chief. It roused them to put forth their mightiest energies, and they did all that human strength could do to turn and stem the dreadful tide of battle. And is there not a charm to you, O believer, in the fact that you contend in the battle-field of life under the eye of your Saviour? Wherever you are, however you are oppressed by foes, however exhausted by the stern strife with evil, the eye of Christ is fixed most lovingly upon you. (D. Wise.)
Christ’s presence all-sufficient:—When Christ saith, “I am with you alway,” you may add what you will: to protect you, to direct you, to comfort you, to carry on the work of grace in you, and in the end to crown you with immortality and glory. All this and more is included in this precious promise. (John Trapp.)
Presence superior to memory:—He promises His presence. How different the case would be if He had only said, “The memory of My life and work shall be with you always.” What a difference there is between a mere memory and a presence. At first, indeed, when we have just lost a relation or a friend, memory, in its importunity and anguish, seems to be and to do all that a presence could do, perhaps even more. It gathers up the past and heaps it on the present; it crowds into the thoughts of a few minutes the incidents of a lifetime; it has about it a greatness and a vividness which was wanting while its object was still with us. But even a memory decays. That it should do so seems impossible at first. We protest to ourselves and to the world, that it will be as fresh as ever to the last day of our lives. But memory is only an effort of the human mind, while a presence is independent of it; and the human mind has limited powers which are easily exhausted; it cannot always continue on the strain; and so a time comes when the first freshness passes away, and then other thoughts, interests, and occupations crowd in upon us and claim their share of the little all that we have to give. And so, what seems to us to be so fresh and imperishable is already indistinct and faded. Oh, think of any private friend, think of any of the celebrated men whose names were on the lips of every one, and who had died within the last two or three years! At first it seemed as if you might predict with confidence that the world would go on thinking and talking about them for at least a generation; but already, the sure and fatal action of time upon a living memory, however great and striking, is making itself felt; and even in our thoughts about them they are passing rapidly into that world of shadows, where shadows soon die away into the undistinguishable haze and gloom beyond them. It is otherwise with a presence; whether we see the presence or not, we know that it is here. If our friend is in the next room, busily occupied and unable to give us his time just now, still, the knowledge that he is close at hand, and can be applied to if necessary, is itself a comfort and a strength to us; we can go to him if we like. His being here places us in a very different position from that which we should occupy if he had left us; if we could only think of him as having been with us in times past, though really absent now. A presence, I say, is a fact independent of our moods of mind, a fact whether we recognize it or not; and in our Divine Saviour’s presence there is indeed a fulness of joy which means hope, work, power, eventual victory. (Canon Liddon.)
Christ’s presence secures the Church’s victory:—This is a factor in the life and work of Christ’s Church with which persons do not reckon who look at her only from the outside, and judge of her strength and prospects as they would judge of any human society. They say that she will die out because this or that force, which has, no doubt, weight in the affairs of men, is for the time being telling heavily against her. If large sections of public feeling, or literature, or the public policy of some great country, or the influence of a new and enterprising philosophy, or the bias of a group of powerful minds are against her, forthwith we hear the cry, “The mission of the apostles is coming to an end; the Church of Christ will presently fail!” Do not be in too great a haste, my friends, about this. You have yet to reckon with a force invisible, and perhaps, as far as you are concerned, unsuspected, but never more real, never more operative than it is at this moment. You have forgotten the Presence of Christ. He did not retreat to heaven when His first apostles died; He promised to be with them to the end of time; He spoke not merely to the eleven men before Him, but to the vast multitude of successors who defiled before His eyes down to the utmost limits of the Christian ages: “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world!” With us by His Spirit; with us in the great sacrament of His love; with us amid weaknesses, divisions, failures, disappointments. He is with us still, and it is His Presence which alone sustains His envoys, and which gives to their work whatever it has had, or has, or has to have, of vigour or of permanence. (Ibid.)[4]
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Vol. 4, pp. 340–347). Moody Press.
[2] Carson, D. A. (2010). Matthew. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew–Mark (Revised Edition) (Vol. 9, pp. 669–670). Zondervan.
[3] France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 421–422). InterVarsity Press.
[4] Exell, J. S. (1952). The Biblical Illustrator: Matthew (pp. 685–688). Baker Book House.
Dr. Wilbur Chapman starts off this devotion by sharing his rule for Christian living: “My rule for Christian living is this: anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.”1 This is very sound advice and I totally agree with his four-fold rule.
E. Stanley Jones adds his four-fold description of how the Bible can affect every aspect of who we are, if we are willing to live by its precepts, when he shared the following: “The Bible redirects my will, cleanses my emotions, enlightens my mind, and quickens my total being.”2 My friends the Bible is in the transformation business and if we allow it, the Scriptures will make every aspect of our body, mind, and soul Christ centered.
Continuing with this theme of the Bible being the golden rule for living, John Flavel provides us with great insight with his three-fold proclamation on life: “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.”3 As Christians we soon come to realize, as we walk with the Lord, that the Bible is our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. It’s our instruction manual and guidebook that teaches us, in the words of Flavel, how to live, suffer, and die.
And A. W. Tozer tells us why we need this supernatural book called the Bible in order to learn the answers to the most foundational questions in life, when he stated: “The Holy Scriptures tell us what we could never learn any other way: they tell us what we are, who we are, how we got here, why we are here and what we are required to do while we remain here.”4 Tozer’s five-fold list of questions can only find adequate answers if they are divinely revealed to us. And the only book of divine revelation given to man is the Bible.
To sum up what Chapman, Jones, Flavel, and Tozer have shared in a single sentence I would like to close with this distilled wisdom from Charles Spurgeon who once said: “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”5
1 The Word of God – Quotations and Illustrations | Precept Austin
2 https://www.stresslesscountry.com/quotesbible.html
3 Profiting from the Puritans for Devotional Reading – Banner of Truth UK
4 The Word of God – Quotations and Illustrations | Precept Austin
5 45 Charles Spurgeon Quotes – Spurgeon Quotes on Faith (christianity.com)
The post The Bible – The Golden Rule for Christian Living appeared first on Bible Apologetics – A DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
Source: When Evil Rules – Part 1 of 2
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), King David playing the harp; image from Wikimedia Commons; {{PD-US}}.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.
Editor’s note: This is the nineth installment of a series on the Apostles’ Creed. Rev. Campbell Markham is a Presbyterian minister in Perth, Australia.
“[I believe in] the forgiveness of sins.” (The Apostles’ Creed, Article 10)
The author of a large part of the Bible did some desperately wicked things.
I’m talking about David, Israel’s greatest general and king, and author of at least seventy-three of the Psalms.
It is about 1000 BC, and David has been king for some time. His realm is expansive, his rule is secure, and his armies are off campaigning.
We find him strolling on his rooftop (2 Sam. 11). The sun sets over Jerusalem. The scent of smoke and evening meals fills the air.
David sees a woman bathing on her rooftop, a very beautiful woman. He makes inquiries.
She is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David’s greatest soldiers—a friend and brother-in-arms. Uriah is away with the army.
David orders Bathsheba to be brought to his chambers…
Weeks later she sends him a note: “I am pregnant.”
David attempts a coverup. He calls Uriah back to Jerusalem for “news from the frontline.” He then sends him home to his wife Bathsheba with a gift.
But there’s no way that Uriah will enjoy an evening with his wife while the Ark of the Covenant and his brothers-in-arms are out in the field. Uriah sleeps outside.
Frustrated, David tries again. This time he gets Uriah drunk before sending him home to his wife. Again, Uriah sleeps outside. He is a good soldier, a man of principle.
David writes an order to Joab, his general: “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die” (2 Sam. 11:15).
David has Uriah carry the order himself. He makes a faithful friend carry the instructions for his own murder.
As planned, Uriah is struck down in battle. David marries Bathsheba. The Lord is displeased. He presses on David’s conscience.
Later, David wrote about this time: “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me” (Ps. 32:4).
For a year David refused to confess his sin, but his God-stricken conscience groaned. Finally, David relented:
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Ps. 32:5)
David confessed his lust, betrayal, scheming, manipulation, cruelty, adultery, and murder.
And God forgave him. Literally, he “covered” David’s sins; he did not count his evil against him.
This is what Christians believe, that if we humble ourselves before God and “confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
The Bible shows God forgiving a very great sinner like David his very great and foul sin so that no one will think that they are beyond redemption. We all may, and must, seek God’s forgiveness with humble confidence.
This costs us nothing but our pride.
It cost God the lifeblood of his only Son.
Justice demanded that David’s sin be punished, and it was punished in the sacrificial crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Jesus bore David’s sin and condemnation so that David could be forgiven. The wickedness of all who confess their sins and believe in Jesus Christ is forgiven. “His blood makes the foulest clean.”
May we, the forgiven, in turn forgive. Pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
https://www.beautifulchristianlife.com/blog/i-believe-in-the-forgiveness-of-sins-the-apostles-creed
While it is important to understand current events and how they will affect our lives, remember who has the ultimate authority over your life. Be sure to start each day in Scripture and prayer.
Author of Beyond the Noise
Finding Comfort in an Uncertain World
By Laura Bailey
“Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.” – Ephesians 6: 6 NIV
Political tension has been high in the last few years, but recent events seem to indicate that people across parties are experiencing uncertainty and doubt in governing authorities. While it may be the first time we have experienced political unrest in our lifetime, the Bible is replete with examples of wicked leadership, divisiveness, and abuse of earthly authority.
Not one to overly concern myself with the happenings in our national capital in the past, recently, I found myself gripped with fear and anxiety over the direction of leadership. When my heart begins to race, and I feel tempted to gnaw at my fingernails or grab the box of cookies, I’ve turned to the Scriptures for comfort. Specifically, I’ve meditated on Ephesians 6: 5-9 and the words of Paul on how we should submit to earthy authority. While this section of text speaks specifically to enslaved people, there is much we can apply to our lives today.
Paul is telling enslaved people and servants the importance of obedience to the ones who are in charge of them: their masters. Paul shares three ways to obey: with respect and fear, sincerity of heart, and as if they were submitting to Jesus Christ.
Paul is not advocating slavery or justifying the actions of those who enslave others, as Paul often speaks against slavery and works to free those in bondage. Remember, Paul was held in chains and jailed numerous times, encouraging us, no matter the circumstance, to live for the glory of God. Paul never let his circumstances, the countless times he was beaten, unjustly accused, or imprisoned, dampen his enthusiasm for Christ and sharing God’s love.
Other texts often use the term “slave” or bondservant to describe one’s relationship with Christ. A bondservant always served with a heart’s desire to bring glory to God—not just when people were looking, not when it was advantageous for them, but when no one was around—because they knew they ultimately served the Lord.
And the Lord sees everything we do! As believers, we don’t live for today; we have an eternal hope. For those of us alive in Christ, our eternal rewards are far greater than anything we can experience on this earth.
As we think about this today, those in positions of authority need to take extra care and think of how they treat those they lead. Leadership shouldn’t be taken lightly, and it’s crucial that if we find ourselves in a position of authority, we continue to ask the Lord to create a clean heart, making our motives pure and our desires aligned with His will.
While on earth, we make distinctions between social classes, job titles, and economic backgrounds, God makes no distinction; we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. God is the ultimate righteous judge and requires that we live a life worthy of the gospel in whatever our authority position (or lack thereof). Abuse of authority is not to be tolerated. Instead, this relationship ( like a husband-wife) should be marked by a mutual desire to honor the Lord.
I’ll be honest: this section can be hard to digest. They are, as I like to say, “ preach easy, live hard” kinds of messages. But, the key takeaway in these verses is that when we have the proper perspective, we understand that everything we do, the reason we were created, is to bring glory and honor to God. It is clinging to eternal hope in Christ that we can obey and submit to the earthly authority that the Lord places in our lives because we know that it is not human masters we serve but the Lord.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
As we embark on the upcoming political season, let me encourage you to find a healthy balance of media consumption. While it is important to understand current events and how they will affect our lives, remember who has the ultimate authority over your life. Be sure to start each day in Scripture and prayer. Pray for those in authority; pray that the Lord will guide their decisions.
Further Reading:
Romans 13:1-6
As a Christian, How Involved Should I Be in Politics?
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Enterline Design Services LLC
Laura Bailey is a Bible teacher who challenges and encourages women to dive deep in the Scriptures, shift from an earthly to an eternal mindset, and filter life through the lens of God’s Word. She is the author of Beyond the Noise, and loves any opportunity to speak and teach women of all ages. She is a wife and momma to three young girls. Connect with her on her website, www.LauraRBailey.com, Facebook and Instagram.
Right doctrine is essential to right living. It is impossible to live a faithful Christian life without knowing biblical doctrine. Doctrine simply means “teaching,” and there is no way that even the most sincere believer can conduct a life pleasing to God without knowing what God Himself is like and what sort of life God demands of His people. Those who set biblical theology aside also set aside sound Christian living. And this happens more often than you might think.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
We moved to a different house a few year ago. We’d only been in our new home a few days, when the garbage disposal stopped working. So, I got on my knees and peered under the kitchen sink until I found a little red reset button. I pushed it and the garbage disposal worked once again.
Most appliances can easily be restarted by simply pressing the reset button.
Unconfessed sin, like the garbage disposal, can stop us from being joyful and leading productive lives. King David states in Psalm 38 that he suffered because his sin led to health problems and separated him from God–then he confessed his sin.
That is what we must do to reestablish our fellowship with God. Although, when we accept Christ to be our Lord and Savior, we will always be His child (John 1:12), but sin separates us from having fellowship with God.
We can use the reset button and have fellowship with God again. When we confess and turn from our sin, we can be sure that God will forgive us and cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1:9). He gives us a new, clean beginning and restores fellowship with Him.
I encourage you to take a moment to ask God if there is anything in your life that displeases Him. Listen to His voice. If He brings specific things to your mind—take the time to admit to the act or attitude as being sinful and receive His forgiveness.
When my brother, at the age of 40, understood for the first time that his sins, past present and future, were forgiven, he jumped up and down, shouting, “I’m free, I’m free!
We all can be free.
“Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have been directing my own life and that, as a result, I have sinned against You. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I now thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit.”
By Katherine Kehler
used by permission
• God’s Plan – A Study on God’s Destiny for Me?
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The post Reset Button can be found online at Daily Thoughts about God.
“All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.” Ezekiel 3:7 (KJV)
Are there any exceptions to being “impudent and hardhearted“? No, not even one. Even God’s chosen people are described this way.
If the “best” are this bad, then what about the “worst”? My friend, consider how you share in this universal accusation, and when you examine yourself, be ready to honestly assess your own guilt.
The first charge is impudence, or being “stubborn” (NLT). Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no conviction, hear of my guilt and remain unhumbled, and even freely admit my evil and feel no humiliation. When an unrepentant sinner goes to God’s house and pretends to pray to Him and praise Him, that’s hypocrisy of the worst kind!
Even after the day I was reborn, I have doubted my Lord to His face, murmured unashamed in His presence, worshiped before Him in an unworthy manner, and even sinned without repenting. If I weren’t so impudent and stubborn, I would have much more holy fear, and much deeper conviction of my spirit. I admit I am just like those in the impudent house of ancient Israel.
The second charge is “hardheartedness“, and I can’t plead innocence here either. Once I had nothing but a heart of stone, and although through grace I now have a new heart, much of my former obstinacy remains. I’m not moved by the death of Jesus as I ought to be. And I’m also not moved enough by the sin of my fellow human beings, the wickedness of our world, the attacks of doubters against my heavenly Father, and my own failures.
I wish I were rid of this ball and chain of hardheartedness within me, and I pray that my heart would melt at the recital of my Savior’s sufferings and death. This is why I must gladly proclaim
“Blessed be the name of the Lord“, because this disease of the heart is not incurable. The Savior’s precious blood can render you clean, and even me it will effectually soften, until my heart is fully modest and entirely compassionate, like that of our Savior Himself.
Question: What is a favorite verse or passage of the Bible that gives you comfort when you feel the (very real) conviction of your own sin?
By Charles H Spurgeon
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009
The post Hard Hearted can be found online at Daily Thoughts about God.
1 John In this week’s studies, we look at the purposes and major emphases important for understanding 1 John.
Theme
A Historical Faith
The second purpose that John had in writing his letter is related to the first one, but it is rightly considered a distinct purpose, in that by it John was dealing with a new and dangerous movement in his day and was warning Christians about it. The movement was what today we would call an early form of gnosticism, and John’s objective in writing against it is to stress the historical origins of Christianity.
It is hard to speak of the precise nature of gnosticism in John’s day because the only documents which we have concerning gnosticism date from a much later period in church history. Nevertheless, from the statements in the letter and from traditions which relate to this period several characteristics of the movement seem certain. First, there was the principle which we might call “salvation by intellect.” The Gnostics put themselves forward as being “the knowing ones,” which is the essential meaning of the word “Gnostic,” while at the same time insisting that salvation was primarily by knowledge, that is, by an initiation into the mystical and allegedly superior knowledge which they possessed. In most forms of gnosticism this meant that the importance of moral conduct was denied. The Gnostic might say that he had no sin, that what he did was not sin, or that he could have fellowship with God even though he continued sinning. In view of this characteristic John insists that Christians are the true “knowing ones” and that their lives must be marked by righteous conduct.
The second characteristic of the Gnostic system was its belief in the radical distinction between spirit and matter coupled with the conviction that matter was inherently evil and that spirit alone was good. This view was held in common by most other systems of thought at this period. On the one hand, it clearly accounted for the denial of the importance of the moral life, as already noted; for salvation was in the realm of the spirit or mind, which alone was good. On the other hand, it produced a type of philosophical religion which was divorced from concrete history. Here, quite obviously, gnosticism came into conflict with authentic Christianity. For, given this system, any real incarnation of the Son of God was impossible. If matter is evil, then God could not have taken a human body upon Himself. And if this is so, then the incarnation of God in Christ must have been in appearance only. In some forms of allegedly Christian gnosticism the incarnation was therefore expressed by saying that the spirit of God merely came upon the man Jesus at the time of His baptism, remained with Him during the years of His ministry, and then deserted Him just before His crucifixion.
To have adopted this view would have made Christianity popular in the Greek world of the first century, no doubt. But John correctly saw that to do so would have destroyed the essential content of the faith. If Christianity is no more than a set of ideas, then it is no more valid than any other philosophy. Its truths are relative (true now or true for some people, but not true in any absolute sense); and its values are pragmatic (good only if they help). Such a system can obviously be phased out. On the other hand, if, as John teaches, Christianity is more than ideas—if it is something unique which God has done in history—then it has a claim to being true for everyone and true for all time. Moreover, it requires that a person become conformed to the revelation of God which it embodies rather than that the faith constantly be readjusted to the individual or to “modern” thinking.
This concern is uppermost in John’s mind at many points throughout the epistle, but nowhere more than in the opening verses in which he stresses faith’s historical character. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)—that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us” (1:1-3).
This same note needs to be sounded today, whenever the historical basis of the faith is questioned or salvation is imagined to consist in anything other than that which God has done in Jesus for the redemption and sanctification of those who believe on Christ and follow Him.
Study Questions
Application
Reflection: What false ideas about biblical Christianity are found among unbelievers in the world today?
For Further Study: Download and listen for free to James Boice’s message, “God’s Grand Old Gospel.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
https://www.thinkandactbiblically.org/wednesday-a-historical-faith/
Matthew Henry’s “Method For Prayer”
For the wonderful and mysterious incarnation of the Son of God and his coming into the world.
I bless you that when the fullness of time had come, you sent forth your Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that your people might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5(ESV)
That the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among men, and there were those who saw his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14(ESV) Great indeed, I confess, is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16(ESV)
I bless you that for this purpose he was born and for this purpose he came into the world, to bear witness to the truth; John 18:37(ESV) and I believe and have come to know that he is the Christ, the Holy One of God; John 6:69(ESV) that it is he who should come, and I am to look for no other.
I bless you that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost; Luke 19:10(ESV) that he has come that I might have life and have it abundantly; John 10:10(ESV) and that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8(ESV)
Lord, I receive the saying as trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the foremost. 1 Timothy 1:15(ESV)
I bless you that since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. Hebrews 2:14(ESV) That it is not angels that he helps, but his people; and that he was made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people; Hebrews 2:16-17(ESV) and that he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Hebrews 2:11(ESV)
And that the firstborn was brought into the world with a charge given to all the angels of God to worship him. Hebrews 1:6(ESV)
The late atheist Christopher Hitchens once described the unusual circumstances under which he came to terms with death: “It was only when I watched [my son] being born,” he comments, “that I knew at once that my own funeral director had very suddenly, but quite unmistakably, stepped onto the stage.”1
We usually avoid thinking or talking about death and dying. The reasons are numerous. We grieve at the deaths of our loved ones, perhaps because their deaths show us a glimpse of our own unavoidable end. Others view death with fear, uncertain about what is to come.
The Bible, though, has a different view. The writer of Ecclesiastes, for example, says it’s better to go to a funeral than a party, “because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all” (Eccl. 7:2 GNT). Rather than avoid the thought, the Old Testament writer urges us to reflect soberly upon it.
Since death is a fact we must face—and face it we eventually will—Psalm 90 gives counsel for God’s people on this side of eternity. Really, the psalmist raises and answers two crucial questions: Why does death come around so quickly? And why do we have to die at all?
We’re introduced to the author of Psalm 90 right away: “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.” Moses, who led the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness, must have composed the psalm somewhere along the journey—and he begins by addressing God as the eternal, unchanging, and immortal God: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations” (v. 1).
If we think about that phrase for a moment and the context in which it was written, we know Israel had no dwelling place at this point. They were in the wilderness, setting up and then packing up as they went. But these realities didn’t alter the fact that God, not Israel’s earthly dwellings, was their dwelling place.
And God continues this way with believers. Those in Christ find their dwelling place in God Himself. Our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3); our “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).
The psalm goes on to describe God’s immortality in terms of His eternality (v. 2). In reflecting on God, we’re often tempted to begin with ourselves and then extrapolate out to Him. But it’s instead when we descend from (to quote Spurgeon) “a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead”2 that we can understand our purpose. And this is what the psalmist does. Before the earth and its features were created—before the formation of the Grand Canyon or the pyramids or Stonehenge—Moses reminds us that there was the everlasting God.
Immediately, the psalm contrasts the eternal God with mortal man, who returns to the dust from which he was created (v. 3)—an allusion to the early chapters of Genesis. It’s for this reason that in funerals, the words of committal include “And now we commit the body of our dear brother to the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
The prospect of our mortality, when contrasted with God’s eternality, puts our short lives into perspective. Even if we were to live for a thousand years, that would be nothing to the God who sees a millennium as but one day (2 Peter 3:8). It would be like how a billionaire views a hundred-dollar bill: a drop in the bucket compared to his total portfolio. Most of us have seventy or maybe eighty years (Ps. 90:10). That’s a life: gone!
Thinking in this way isn’t some form of morbid introspection. The realism the psalm provides is necessary to bring foolish, self-centered humanity to our senses. We see it time and time again in the Bible:
O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am! (Ps. 39:4)
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and come to their end without hope. (Job 7:6)
What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)
Having spoken to the felt brevity of life, the psalmist moves to consider a second question: Why do we have to die? Neither the atheist nor the secularist has an explanation. The Bible has the answer. Psalm 90:7 says, “We are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.” In other words, death entered the world through sin (Gen. 2:17). And death is the punishment for man’s rebellion.
It makes sense. God—who is perfect, immutable, eternal, perfect in justice and wisdom—isn’t indifferent to man’s rebellion. We don’t want an indifferent God, much like how we wouldn’t want to play golf with someone who says there are no rules. Rather than sweeping our rebellion under the rug and saying it doesn’t matter, God deals with it, because it does matter.
The settled reaction of God is revealed, the psalmist tells us, not only in the passing of time but in the reality of our guilt: “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (v. 8). In verse 11, too, he asks, “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?”
In short, the notions of death and guilt are inseparable. Whenever we think carefully on death, we will also have to reckon with the guilt we’ve incurred in relation to God. The culture explains away death with axioms like “Well, it’s just inevitable” or “There’s nothing to fear because there’s nothing here.” But the biblical worldview says that after death, we will stand before the God against whom we’ve sinned—and unless He does something on our behalf, we die under His wrath and without hope.
Fittingly, the psalm ends with a string of requests from the psalmist and to the everlasting God. As we reflect on death and dying, we would be helped to make the psalmist’s requests our own.
First, Moses prays to God, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (v. 12). He isn’t asking for increased mathematical acumen; he’s requesting godly wisdom. Like all of us, he needs to be taught.
Part of the nature of our rebellion against God is that we don’t want His wisdom. We reject thinking His thoughts after Him (Rom. 1:21–22). Humbly, then, we need to approach God and ask. The wise person doesn’t avoid thinking about death; he filters the prospect through God’s Word, God’s promises, and God’s wisdom: “Teach us…”
Next, Moses prayers that God would “satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (v. 14). The context of this psalm makes this verse precious. The psalmist has come to terms with God’s immortality (v. 2), man’s frailty (v. 3), and the relationship of God’s wrath to man’s sin (vv. 7–11). And now he prays, “Lord, satisfy us and make us glad in you.”
We know in full what Moses, writing at this time in history, knew only in part: God’s covenant love finds its fulfillment in “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). For the Christian, our death has been handled by the death of another; our life is found in the life of another.
This is our hope in death: God in Christ has entered into our realm of rebellion, suffering, and sin. He’s taken upon Himself these things so that those who turn to Him in repentance and faith need not fear death but can actually rest in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Perhaps you’re in your early decades of life, and the notion of death is far off. Gaining a heart of wisdom means not waiting until you’re older to reckon with matters of eternity. “Remember … your Creator in the days of your youth,” the writer of Ecclesiastes urges you, “before the evil days come” (12:1).
And to the old, for whom death is a real prospect: now is the time! Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). Make the psalmist’s prayer your own: “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us” (v. 15). He will surely do it.
This article was adapted from the sermon “Frail as Summer’s Flower” by Alistair Begg.
Source: A Brief Theology of Death
If a true Christian struggles with sin and never conquers it, it does not mean he goes to hell. Our salvation does not depend upon our ability to do good and not too bad. It depends upon the faithfulness of Christ and our faith in Him. Of course, I’m not saying it’s okay to sin. We are to repent of it and not live in it (Acts 17:30; Rom. 6:1–2). The Lord wants us to keep His commandments (1 John 2:4). He wants us to have victory in our lives. But sometimes, people struggle with various types of sin to different degrees. But it does not mean that they are not saved. After all, that’s what we Christians do. We struggle against our sins. This is something Paul the apostle had to deal with as well.
Romans 7:19–22, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,”
If Paul the apostle struggled with his sins (we don’t know which ones) and yet was still saved, how much more will we be saved? Are we better than Paul the apostle? Of course not.
But what about really bad things that people do? Let’s say there is someone who truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is struggling with particular sins like drugs, sex, or pornography. Does that automatically mean that such a person is not saved? No, it does not. Now, I have to be careful. I want to clarify that abiding in such sins may mean someone is not saved. If there is no conviction or desire to repent, such a person is probably not saved. It is not permissible to keep doing them without conviction or attempts to repent and believe we are saved. We are saved for sanctification, not so that we can sin. But the reality is that sometimes people are trapped in old habits and hold sins they struggle against – even if they know they are wrong. I don’t automatically condemn someone if they are in a real struggle with serious sin. I ask about it and give counsel to help them obtain victory in Jesus. But, their struggle is sometimes long before they have the final victory. However, the point is that the struggle against sin, along with this condemnation and repeated attempts to repent, is evidence that such a person is saved. Dying in such a condition does not condemn someone to hell.
We are justified by faith alone, not by faith and our goodness (Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9). But this does not mean it is okay to sin. We are to repent of it. Yet, not having complete victory over sin does not mean we are not saved. It means we are struggling – even as Paul the apostle struggled.
The post If someone struggling with sin dies, will they go to Hell? appeared first on Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry.
Source: If someone struggling with sin dies, will they go to Hell?
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:3
Scripture reading: Colossians 3:1-4
The Apostle is drawing out the further implications of what he has already said in the previous chapter. In Verse 12 of Chapter 2, Paul said that “You have been buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Paul has reminded his readers of that which was emblematic of their baptism – that when they came as families and individuals to be baptized, their old lives were left behind, and who they were going to be from that point forward was to be determined by the Lord Jesus.
When God sees you, he no longer sees you for who you used to be; for the old you has died. When God sees you, he no longer sees you in light of all your sins and your failures. But when God sees you, He sees His own dear Son, in Whom you have been hidden. And what a great source of encouragement this should be for us here and now.
Whatever sins may have marred your identity in the past are now covered by perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your spiritual bank account is filled with His righteousness, and you are so secure in God’s heart that He has already granted you Christ’s heavenly status.
Suggestions for prayer
Thank the Lord for the reality that your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Seek His grace to live before Him in the confidence of this truth.
Rev. Bryce De Zwarte is a native of Pella, Iowa and a graduate of Dordt University and Mid-America Reformed Seminary. Rev. De Zwarte has been serving as the pastor of the Adoration URC in Vineland, Ontario since April of 2020. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. This devotional is made available by the Nearer To God Devotional team, who also make available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.
Source: August 21 – A new humanity: Hidden with Christ in God
“To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”
Do you remember visiting family when you were a child? Perhaps some visits were met with dread because the person you were visiting wasn’t someone you felt close to or warmed to. But then there were the special visits with those you really loved. Maybe you were greeted at their door with a hug or the smell of freshly baked cookies. You couldn’t wait to see them! They were precious to you, and you looked forward to being in their presence.
For the apostle Paul, Jesus was such a person. Paul was joyful, even while imprisoned, because of what Christ meant to him. He looked forward to the prospect of being ushered into His presence. Jesus was his all in all.
Can you and I say the same about Jesus? Or is our joy earthly, fixed on temporal matters like our marriages, children, livelihoods, or influence? If all that thrills your soul and all that forms your identity is wrapped up in worldly matters, then being with Jesus loses its allure. So we would be wise to remember that our identity is found in Him, because one day everything else will be left behind.
You may have heard of someone being so heavenly-minded that they’re no earthly use. Well, we can also be so earthly-minded that we’re no heavenly use. Sometimes, we are tempted to want things like perfect health, an end to sorrow, and life without any uncertainty right now. The reality is that we are going to lose loved ones, receive dreadful hospital reports, or face disappointment and disaster. But that is all part of the now. Paul’s dilemma in this letter was balancing the now with the next. Although he desired to depart, it was not so that he could escape his current circumstances. He certainly endured many difficult trials, but for him, heaven was not simply relief from earthly suffering. He was not shuffling off life to embrace death; he longed to be with Jesus because he knew it would be fantastic.
Living faithfully in the present while anticipating the reality of being with Jesus is something we all have to work out. Paul recognized that while he still drew breath, he was to continue steadfastly in his earthly ministry until Christ called him home to heaven. So spend some moments considering Christ in all His loving perfections. Then spend some time enjoying the great truth that one day you will see Him as He welcomes you into His glory. Then reflect on the truth that the doorway to that moment is death. This is your future. One day, it will be your present. And until then, you can do what Paul did and live all in for Christ, knowing that death will be only gain.
Going Deeper: 2 Timothy 4:6–18
Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.
Source: Now and Then
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