September 29, 2014
I Corinthians 15:12-19

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

An Enigma is “a perplexing or baffling matter….” – Webster.  And the Enigma of the Gospel is its simplicity and its complexity, at the same time!

The last point about the importance of the resurrection I want to make is that which Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:12-19:

    Now if Christ is preached that He has been raise from the dead, how do
    some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if
    there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.  And if
    Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain.  
    Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
    of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up — if in fact
    the dead do not rise.  For if the dead do not rise, then is not Christ risen.  
    And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  
    Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If in this
    life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable.

In the very next verse, I Corinthians 15:20, Paul exclaims, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  Here is what Proverbs 3:9 and 10 says about firstfruits:  “Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”  The first offering goes to God – with the expectation that He will bless you and give you a whole lot more!

Jesus – being the firstfruits of the resurrection – is the guarantee that there are a whole lot of other people who will be resurrected!  This is plainly stated in I Corinthians 15:23:  “Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ’s at His coming.” So, the logical negative argument is as it says in I Corinthians 15:14 and 15:  “…if Christ is not risen…the dead do not rise.”

There are several things that come out of Paul’s argument in our scripture:  “…if…there is no resurrection of the dead…” (I Corinthians 15:12)…

•    …if that part of the gospel is false, what part can we trust to be true?!  The resurrection is presented as an essential part of the gospel! (Romans 10:9).

•    …God and the whole Bible then cannot be trusted to be true! (John 3:33; 14:6; 17:17).

•    …if Jesus was not raised, He died a tragic death as a common man!  Our sins are not then expiated, and we remain condemned and lost before the Holy God!             (I Corinthians 15:14).

•    …there is no hope of new eternal bodies that are pain free, sorrow free, and death free! (I Corinthians 15:44 through 57; Philippians 3:20 and 21; I John 3:2; Revelation 21: 3 through 5).

•    …we will never see our believing loved ones again, because “…those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” (I Corinthians 15:18).

•    …we Christians are depending on empty promises with an empty faith because we will simply remain dead – eternally! (Revelation 21:8).

•    …we are deceived by a deceitful message, and we then spread that deceit to others when we witness to the gospel! (I Corinthians 15:15).

•    …“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (I Corinthians 15:19).

•    …“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (Isaiah 22:13; I Corinthians 15:32).

“But now Christ is risen from the dead…”! (I Corinthians 15:20).  It is true!  God and the Bible can be trusted!  Jesus was not just a common man!  Our sins are gone when we trust in Him!  We are not condemned!  We do have the hope of new bodies!  We will see our  believing loved ones again!  We are not depending on empty promises with an empty faith!  We are not deceived!  We are not most pitiable!  It is not just all about this life!

Certainly, this study of Gospel Enigma is not exhaustive.  But perhaps you can see in some ways how the simple gospel is also very complex!  So go and share the gospel simply.  And when more complex questions arise, be ready to give an explanation!

September 26, 2014
I Corinthians 15:1-4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

If you have been following the last four blogs of Gospel Enigma, I think you can see the complexity of the Good News.  Yes, it is also simple.  But an enigma is, according to Webster, “a perplexing or baffling matter….”  Its simplicity is seen in Acts 16:31:  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….” (Acts 16:31).  Its complexity in I Corinthians 15:1 through 4:

    Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
    which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
    saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you
    believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
    ceived:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
    that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
    the Scriptures….

Let’s look at the last of three declarations Paul makes in verses 3 and 4:

Verse 4 – “…Christ….rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…”  On the truth of this statement stands the whole validity of the Gospel!  Paul gives it as an intrinsic part of salvation in Romans 10:9:  “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  So why is the resurrection so important?  There are several reasons:

•    Jesus had said several times He would rise from the dead, as He did in Matthew 16:21:  “…Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must…be killed, and be raised again the third day.” (see also Matthew 17:23, 20:19, 27:63; Mark 8:31, 10:34; Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:46; John 10:18).  If He didn’t rise from the grave, He would be considered a liar or a false prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:20 through 22!

•    The Old Testament scriptures predicted He would be resurrected through prophesy and types.  In Acts 2:29 through 32, Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, quoted Psalm 16:9 through 11 as such a prophesy applied to the Messiah:

    Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest
    in hope.  For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your
    Holy One to see corruption.  You will show me the path of life….

Consider also Hosea 6:1 and 2:

    …He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.  
    After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that
    we may live in His sight.

And in Isaiah 53:10 it is written:

    Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.  When You
    make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong
    His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

In Genesis 22:1 through 14, Isaac is seen to typify Christ as the obedient sacrifice when Abraham was commanded by God to offer his own son as a burnt offering.  According to Hebrews 11:17 through 19, that type of Isaac also included the resurrection:

    By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac…accounting that
    God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also re-
    ceived him in a figurative sense.

Another type of Christ was “…Melchizedek king of Salem…and…priest of God Most High.” (Genesis 14:18).  According to Hebrews 7:2 and 3, this “‘…king of righteousness’ and…‘king of peace’…” is described as “…without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God…a priest continually.”  Then in Hebrews 7:16 and 17, God testified, “…according to the power of an endless life… ‘You are made a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ ”

And so it is written in Luke 24:45 and 46 concerning  Jesus’ interaction with the Emmaus Road disciples:

    …He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the [Old
Testament] Scriptures.  Then He said to them, “Thus it was necessary for
    the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.”

•    The resurrection is God the Father’s stamp of approval on the work of God the Son at Golgatha.  The author of Hebrew put it this way in chapter 10 and verse 10: “…we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

•    It had to be a living Savior who, as High Priest, presented that offering of Himself before the Father.  In Hebrews 9:11 and 12 it says, “…Christ came as High Priest…with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

•    The sending of the Holy Spirit necessitated a living Lord – John 16:7:  “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

•    It is also the living Lord who carries on the intercession ministry described in Hebrews 7:24 and 25:

    …He continues forever…an unchangeable priesthood.  Therefore He is also
    able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He
    ever lives to make intercession for them.

This blog is already too long!  I will finish the series Gospel Enigma next Monday.

September 24, 2014
I Corinthians 15:1-4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Let’s continue with the Enigma of the Gospel – “a perplexing or baffling matter….” – Webster.  We have seen the simplicity of the Good News in Acts 16:31:  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….” (Acts 16:31).  Yes, it can be that simple and still be effective to save the humble repentant!

But it is also very complex.  And we have used I Corinthians 15:1 through 4 to show this aspect:

    Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
    which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
    saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you
    believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
    ceived:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
    that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
    the Scriptures….

There are still two more declarations to consider that Paul makes “according to the Scriptures…” – “…Christ…was buried, and…Christ…rose again the third day…”

•    Verse 4 – “…Christ…was buried…according to the Scriptures…”  There is no detail in the Bible that is not important, for if God did not think it important, He would not have included it in His Word!  As it says in II Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness….”

So why is it important to know that “…Christ…was buried…”?  Oliver B. Green, in his commentary on I Corinthians, states why:

    The second point is that He was buried – “according to the Scriptures”
    (Isaiah 53:9).  The fact that Jesus was buried is essential to the doctrine of
    His bodily resurrection “according to the Scriptures.”  Isaiah prophesied,
    “He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.”  
    Therefore it was imperative that the body of Jesus be put in the grave, even
    though afterward the tomb was found empty.

Unsaid here by Paul, but emphasized in the gospels by Jesus Himself, are the three days the Savior was entombed (see Matthew 12:40; 27:63; Mark 8:31; 14:58; and John 2:19).  Why three days?  In Jewish tradition, third century AD scholar Rabbi Eleazar ben Eleazar ha-K.appar (Talmudic form – Bar Kappara) is cited concerning this in Midrash Rabbah, Genesis [C:7 (994)]:

    Bar Kappara taught, “Until three days [after death] the soul keeps on returning
    to the grave, thinking that it will go back [into the body]; but when it sees that
    the facial features have become disfigured, it departs and abandons it [the body].

In other words, the three days of Jesus being in the tomb ensured that He was really dead!  This would emphasize the miracle of Him rising from the dead, especially in Jewish minds.

There is also the theological debate concerning what happened to the Lord’s spirit during those three days.  In Ephesians 4:8 through 10, Paul wrote:

    When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to
    men.  (Now this, “He ascended” — what does it mean but that He also
    first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is
    also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill
    all things.)

David had prophesied this in Psalm 16:10 (quoted by Peter in Acts 2:27), “…You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”  In place of Sheol, Peter used Hades.  Both refer to the realm of the dead – for the wicked and for the righteous. (see Luke 16:19-31).  In that “…He led captivity captive…,” apparently Jesus went to Paradise (see Luke 23:43) to claim the righteous souls who were in ‘captivity’ waiting to be transferred to heaven, the place of the Father’s throne.  But in I Peter 3:19 and 20 it says, “…He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah….”  This may refer to the Lord’s announcement to the pre-Genesis flood damned that their fate was sealed by their rejection of God’s patient call to repentance – spanning 120 years before the deluge came (see Genesis 6:3).

Yes, it is complex!  Especially the last subject covered in this blog.  Christ’s activity during the three days of His bodily death have been argued for centuries!  But it is all part of the Gospel, and we will continue with Gospel Enigma on Friday.

September 22, 2014
I Corinthians 15:1-4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

The Enigma of the Gospel is “a perplexing or baffling matter….” – Webster – because it involves both its simplicity and complexity.

•    The Gospel is Simple because it is in its simplest form – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….” (Acts 16:31)

•    The Gospel is Complex because there is so much more to it – as brought out in I Corinthians 15:1 through 4:

    Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
    which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
    saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you
    believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
    ceived:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
    that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
    the Scriptures….

In our last blog, we saw The Logic of Missons.  Paul told the Corinthian church in our scripture above, “…I delivered to you first of all that which I also received…” (verse 3).  What did the apostle receive?  Three things – “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” (verses 3 and 4).  Let’s consider what lies behind these three declarations.

•    Verse 3 – “…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures….” This is a subject which the learned have tried to explain for two millennia!  How could God become man – for He would have to become a human being to represent man in the offering He was going to present on the cross.  It was the work of the Triune God:  

▸    I John 4:14 – “…the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.”

▸    Philippians 2:5 and 7 (KJV) – “…Christ Jesus…was made in the likeness of men.”

▸    Luke 1:35 – “The Holy Spirit…” impregnated Mary.

But here we run into the difficulty of how do we explain the triune God?  Saint Patrick used the shamrock with its three leaves to explain ‘three in one’.  Other attempts have included an egg (yoke, white and shell), and even 3 in 1 shampoo!  All fall short of the inexplicable truth – One God in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It was the Son – The Lord Jesus Christ – who left the glories of heaven and came to earth.  He was born of the virgin Mary, He lived a perfect life by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then He voluntarily laid down His life as a sacrifice for sinners.  He took upon Himself all the sins of the world – past, present and future – and fully paid the penalty by actually becoming the guilty sinner before the holy Father.  The Father then poured out His wrath upon the Son, and in the three hours of darkness – from noon until three – Jesus somehow experienced eternity in hell for all who “…have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).

But there was more that happened on the cross.  Two major victories were wrought at Calvary.  The first, already stated above, was what the Lord accomplished concerning the record of sins for man – also called in Colossians 2:14, “…the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us…He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”  He paid for our sins!  And so Isaiah could prophesy in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.  Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

The second victory Jesus Christ accomplished was providing for man His own righteousness, worn like a robe (see Isaiah 61:10), and replacing the soiled rags of our iniquities (see Isaiah 64:6).  So those who receive Him as Savior stand before God as perfect – the perfection of Jesus Christ Himself.  And thus “…He has made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6).

Volumes have been written on what in just a few paragraphs I have presented here.  And there will be a few paragraphs more!  In our scripture of I Corinthians 15:1 through 4, there are still two more truths to be considered that the Apostle Paul received  “…Christ…was buried, Christ…rose again the third day according to the Scriptures….”

September 19, 2014
I Corinthians 15:1-4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

An Enigma is “a perplexing or baffling matter….” – Webster.  And the Enigma of the Gospel is its simplicity and its complexity, at the same time!

In Acts 16:31, Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….”  How simple!  And according to the account that follows, the jailer “…believed in God with all his household.” (Acts 16:34).  His household was his family and probably his servants.  We don’t know exactly the further explanation Paul and Silas gave on this occasion, but in Acts 16:32 it says, “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all that were in his house.”  However, that is all it takes – simply “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….”

But the gospel’s complexity is brought out in I Corinthians 15:1 through 4:

    Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
    which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
    saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you
    believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
    ceived:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
    that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
    the Scriptures….

As we pointed out in the last blog – and according to the first two verses of our scripture – the Corinthian Christians had already done three of the things Paul emphasizes:  “…the gospel…you received…,” “…the gospel…in which you stand…,” and “…the gospel…by which you are saved….” However, these three are conditioned by the rest of verse two:  “…if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”

What Paul says in verse two:  “…the gospel…which I preached to you…,” tells us something about that gospel – and the responsibility that it lays upon its recipients!  Paul elaborates in Romans 10:14 and 15:

    How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how
    shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they
    hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they be sent?

This is called The Logic of Missions.  Every Christian stands in that privileged position of belief because – in one way or another – someone else told them about the Lord Jesus Christ!  Even Paul confessed in verse two, “…I delivered to you first of all that which I also received….”  He received witness from Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 – and by others he persecuted as Saul the zealous Pharisee.

Anyone standing in saving belief are then held responsible to tell others – either personally or by sending out others as missionaries!  This is simply the fulfillment of what Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8:  “…you shall be witness unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Start where you are when you put your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and then spread the good news out from there!  

No wonder the apostle wrote in I Corinthians 9:16, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”  He would be disobeying the Lord, and lose his reward for doing so! (See    I Corinthians 3:11 through 15).

Also in verse two of our scripture, Paul admonishes his hearers, “…hold fast that word [the gospel]…unless you believed in vain.”  This should set us to serious thinking – even quaking in fear if we are not increasingly manifesting Christian faith and growth in our lives, and fear for others in the same situation!

You see, you can believe in vain!  Vain belief is not real ‘heart’ belief, but ‘head’ belief!  The difference, someone has said, is about 14 inches – the distance between the brain and the heart!  Just a mental knowledge of the gospel will not save you!  It must be deeper – as deep as what Paul said in Romans 10:9 and 10:

    …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
    that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart
    one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to
    salvation.

And didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 15:8, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me….”

So get it right – both in real godly belief, and in The Logic of Missions!  

To be continued….

September 17, 2014

I Corinthians 15:1-4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

According to Webster, an enigma is “a perplexing or baffling matter….”  So what is so perplexing or baffling about the gospel?  It is – at the same time – both very simple and yet very complex!

I cannot think of a more simple statement of the gospel than what Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31:  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….”  A child could understand that!  And many children have come to Jesus Christ in simple faith and so have received salvation.  After all, the Lord Himself said in Mark 10:14, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.”

As a Baptist minister, I hold to what is called, Believer’s baptism – that one should first put their faith and trust in Jesus before they are baptized – and baptized by immersion!  But I once baptized Sarah, who – at seven years old – was but a child.  However, Sarah was a spiritually precocious child, and understood more about her faith than many adults do!

So, yes, the Gospel is simple!  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved….”  But it is also very complex!  And I think the scripture that brings this out the best is another from Paul – I Corinthians 15:1 through 4:

    Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
    which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
    saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you
    believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
    ceived:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
    that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
    the Scriptures….

There are three things in verse 1 that the Corinthian believers already had done:

•    Verse 1 – “…you received…the gospel….”  They had received what had been preached to them.  And it is more than just receiving the words of the gospel.  John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name….”  So it is receiving and believing the testimony of Jesus Christ – the Gospel – and also receiving Him into your heart and life!

•    Verse 1 – “…the gospel…in which you stand….”  Paul wrote in II Thessalonians 2:13 through 15:

    But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of
    the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through
    sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by
    our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  There-
    fore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught,
    whether by word or our epistle.

The Corinthian Christians were already standing fast !  True, they had a lot to learn, and problems to straighten out in their church, but they were zealous to keep strong – to stand – in the gospel.

•    Verse 2 – “…the gospel…by which you are saved….” Paul is referring to the present standing of the Corinthian believers.  They are saved !  But it might be a good time to remind ourselves of the three tenses of salvation:

1.    Past tense – We have been saved from the penalty of sin, which is separation from God, and resulting in death – both physical and spiritual.  There was no sickness and/or death until sin entered into human experience through our first parent (see Romans 5:12).  And if that sin issue is not properly addressed in this phase of life through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will result in permanent separation from God – spiritual death – called hell!

2.    Present tense – We are being saved from the power of sin, which Jesus addressed in John 8:34:  “…whoever commits sin is the slave of sin.”  Since we are all sinners (see Romans 3:10 and 23), we are then all enslaved to sin!  But, “…if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:35) – free to not sin, and to serve the Lord God Almighty.

3.    Future tense – Someday we will be saved from the presence of sin!  “…we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3;2) – sinless and perfect!  And it says in Revelation 21:27 and 22:15 that there will be no sin in heaven!

We will continue this discussion of Gospel Enigma on Friday.

September 15, 2014
Matthew 7:13, 14

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

From investor.bk.com – Burger King’s official Investor Relations website – came the following announcement on May 20th of this year:

    Burger King Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:BKW) announces today a new brand
    outlook they’re calling, “BE YOUR WAY”.  A spin on their famous, 40-
    year old brand positioning “HAVE IT YOUR WAY®”, “BE YOUR WAY”
    reminds people that no matter who they are, they can order how they want to
    in BURGER KING® restaurants and that they can and should live how they
    want anytime. It’s ok to not be perfect. Self-expression is most important and
    it’s our differences that make us individuals instead of robots.

“BE YOUR WAY” is one of the most dangerous philosophies of life there is!  Consider again this statement:  “…no matter who they are…they can and should live how they want anytime.” – emphasis added.  This is the philosophy of the devil’s domain – “…all the kingdoms of the world…and their glory…” (Luke 4:5 and 6).  And it is exactly opposite of what God wants for human beings!  

What is the way of the Lord?

•    Proverbs 6:23 – God’s “…commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”

•    Isaiah 35:8 (KJV) – “…an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness…”

•    Matthew 7:13 and 14 (our featured scripture) – “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

•    John 14:6 – “Jesus said…‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ”

•    II Peter 2:2 and 21 – Peter calls it “…the way of truth…[and] the way of righteousness….”

As a matter of fact, the earliest descriptive name given to the disciples of Jesus Christ was simply “…followers of The Way!”

What is the way of natural man?

•    Proverbs 4:19 – “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”

•    Proverbs 16:25 (KJV) – “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

•    Jeremiah 5:4 – “They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord.”

•    Romans 3:10 through 12 and 16 through 18 – “As it is written:  ‘There is none righteous, no, not one:  there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God….Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ ”

Jeremiah, in chapter 17 and verse 9 summed up the reason for the wrong choices involved in the way of natural man:   “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Man needs a new heart, a new nature – called a new creation in II Corinthians 5:17  – and that only comes about from being born again (see John 3:3 through 5).  And that occurs only when one accepts the Lord Jesus Christ into his or her heart and life – having their sins forgiven and washed clean before the Father.

So, “BE YOUR WAY”?  As Mollie Zeigler Hemingway put it in the article “Happy Warrior” – National Review, August 11, 2014 – “A culture that tells whoppers in order to sell Whoppers isn’t a healthy one.”

I think I will buy my burgers at Wendy’s!

September 12, 2014
Mark 10:17, 18

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

I have heard people say – people who don’t necessarily believe that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh – that Jesus was a good man!  And He certainly was!  There was and is never any better!  But to say “He is good ” without saying “He is God ” is both dangerous and illogical!

It is dangerous because of what John wrote in I John 4:2 and 3:

    By this you know the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesses that Jesus
    Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess
    that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.  And this is the spirit
    of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the
    world.

I surely do not want to be associated with the spirit of Antichrist!  Revelation 20:14 and 15 says those who follow the Antichrist – the actual incarnation of the devil then, as well as his present spiritual rebellion against God now – will be “…cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”  Eternal hell awaits those do not hold “…that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh…” (I John 4:2), because such denial takes away His deity.

It is illogical because Jesus pointedly said He was God!  In John 8:24 and 28, He twice stated that very fact: “…if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins….When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I m He….”  In the KJV – as well as the New KJV, “He” is in italics, meaning it is an added word to help one understand the meaning of the text.  Unfortunately, it actually muddies the waters!  The text of the New American Bible – Saint Joseph’s Edition has it right – “You will surely die in your sins unless you come to believe that I AM….When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize that I AM….”

Anyone familiar with the Old Testament can see where Jesus was going with this!  When God confronted Moses in the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3, there is this famous interaction between the Lord and the man – verses 13-15:

    Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and
    say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me,
    ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”  And God said to Moses, “I
    AM WHO I AM.”  And He said, “Thus shall you say to the children of Israel,
    ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall
    say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of
    Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’  This
    is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.

This name, I AM – translated Jehovah in many Bible editions, and Yahweh in some – is so holy among pious Jews, that it may be written but never pronounced!   In John 8:24 and 28, Jesus is claiming to be “The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob….”  (See also John 1:1 through 4 and 14; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3 and 8; and many other scriptures that show Jesus is God come in the flesh.)

Finally, to our scripture, Mark 10:17 and 18:

     And as He [Jesus] was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before
    Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit
    eternal life?”  So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good?  No one is
    good but One, that is, God.”

Of course, this is the beginning of the incident of The Rich Young Ruler who “…went away grieved, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22).  He was complimenting Jesus for being good – and I’m sure that was his honest opinion.  But the Lord was not going to let him get away with that!  If Jesus was good, He was also God!  For He claimed to be God, and someone good would not be good if he was a liar!

If Jesus is good, He is also God!  What belief do you hold about the Lord Jesus Christ?

September 10, 2014
Ephesians 3:14-19

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

In 1669, Blaise Pascal’s defense of the Christian religion, Pensées, was published in France posthumously. In that book, he wrote:

    What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was
    once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print
    and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in
    things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none
    can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immut-
    able object; in other words by God himself.

This quote has been altered over the years, and it is popularly stated that Pascal wrote, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”  But the concept of A God-Shaped Hole, or vacuum in the soul of every mother’s child is valid.  And it has scriptural backing.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:14 through 19:

    For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from
    whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant
    you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
    through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts
    through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to
    comprehend with all saints what is the width and length and depth and
    height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may
    be filled with all the fulness of God.

Two facts mentioned in the Apostle’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians speak to Pascal’s quote:

•    Verse 17 – “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith….”

•    Verse 19 – “…that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.”

We are designed by God to be filled with Himself.  After all, He told us in Genesis 1:26 and 27:

    Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”
    …So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created
    him; male and female He created them.

But we lost that image, and God’s presence within when sin entered into the human race.  And now, as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “…there is not a just man on earth who does good, and does not sin.”  And Paul adds in Romans 3:23, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  So all of us are left empty, restless and searching!

Saint Augustine (354-430 AD) – concerned with the same ideas above, wrote in his Confessions – “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

Restless, empty and searching – human beings try in many ways to fill that God-Shaped Hole!  The problem is that they try to fill it with all the wrong things!  For only God can fill A God-Shaped Hole!

Now, think about it….  You might be able to put a square peg in a round hole – its four corners touching and supporting it to keep it in place – but there would be a lot of space left around that square peg, and not filled in!  That’s a lot of room for whatever is stuffed in there to leak through!  No, it has to be a round peg of the proper size!  Only then is it a snug fit – one made for the other!

God is unique!  And we – created in His image, have that same unique pattern within.   If it is not God through Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit snugly filling that God-Shaped Hole, we will constantly be losing whatever we try to pour in – continually trying to refill that empty void!  And however temporarily full we might get with whatever we try to stuff in, it is not really satisfying in the long run!  

What about you?  With what are you trying to fill that God-Shaped Hole?  Have you asked the Lord Jesus Christ to enter your life?  Have you asked Him to fill the void within you?  And, Christian, are you doing what God directs you to do to keep that fulness – dwelling richly in His Word, communing with Him in prayer, worshiping and fellowshiping with others of like faith?  Are you daily obeying Him as your Lord?

May God give you understanding concerning the God-Shaped Hole within all of us!

September 8, 2014
I John 3:8; John 10:10

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

In blogs over the last year and a half, we have seen the purpose of the devil plainly spelled out in the Word of God.  The longest series on this website – a 21 part series between May 6th and June 21st, 2013 – was entitled, Know Your Enemy!  And perhaps you should review that.  But I believe the best summary of Satan’s purpose is found in John 10:10, where Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

Just look around this old world – a world which Satan controls, according to Matthew 4:8 and 9; and Luke 4:5 through 7.  He pulls society’s strings in all the kingdoms that are (or have been) upon the earth!  Yes, God rules over all.  But He is allowing the devil to have command in this temporal realm – for the Triune God’s own glory, and until He says, “That’s enough! ” And then, as it is written in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world [will] have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Until then there will be “…wars and rumors of wars…famines, pestilences and earthquakes…” (Matthew 24:6 and 7), as well as persecution against God’s people (II Timothy 3:12).

But the last part of the I John 3:8 presents a great promise – an encouragement to Christians:  “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  Since the works of the devil are characterized by destruction, Jesus Christ came to Destroy Destruction!

What are the works of the devil?  They include…

•    “…oppos[ing] and exalt[ing] himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped…” (II Thessalonians 2:4).

•    …blinding the minds of those “…who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them..,” (II Corinthians 4:4), and they would then be saved!

•    …keeping unsaved people in slavery to sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:20) and headed for eternal hell (Revelation 21:8).

•    …preventing Christians from maturing in Christ lest He be manifested in and through them (II Corinthians 4:10 and 11).

•    …lying, “…for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44).

•    …being “…the accuser of our brethren…who accused them before our God day and night…” (Revelation 12:10).

•    …leading his legions of demons – “…principalities…powers…the rulers of the darkness of this age…spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 6:12).

•    …preparing mankind to receive the antichrist and to participate in the final assault against God Almighty (Revelation 19:19).

Now this is the negative side of Jesus’ work – Destroying Destruction!  The positive is concisely put forth in the second half of John 10:10:  “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  This abundant life comes by means of the Holy Spirit, and includes…

•    …redeeming people from Satan’s grasp, sin, death and hell.  For it is written in Hebrews 2:14:

    Isasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself
    likewise shared in the same; that through death He might destroy him who
    had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear
    of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

•    …giving “…them eternal life…” (John 10:28), to dwell with God forever (Revelation 21:3).

•    …providing for “…all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 4:19).

•    …making available “…the fruit of the Spirit…love, joy peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control…” (Galatians 5:22 and 23).

•    …bestowing on His people “…spiritual gifts…given to each one for the profit of all…” (I Corinthians 12:1 through 10).

•    …inspiring and interpreting the Bible, the Word of God (II Peter 1:21; I John 2:27), “…which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified…” (Acts 20:32).

So you can easily see the contrast between Jesus Christ and the devil.  Both have come to destroy, but Satan causes rampant destruction against God everywhere he can!  And Jesus came to Destroy Destruction – both Satan’s work and the devil himself!