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People of The Living God |
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April 2022
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU?
Alfred King
After the United States and the Allies pulled out of Afghanistan last year, the Taliban quickly overthrew the Afghan government. They were totally unprepared for the determined might of the Taliban. The turmoil and disorder that followed was tragic for many in the country and especially for Christians. The Taliban began to locate their places of worship and even marked the homes of Christians. They were preparing to deal with Christians in the way Islamic nations always attack in their attempt to crush Christianity and to force Islamic ideologies.
Christians (and others who stood firmly against Taliban rule) faced cruel and devastating atrocities. They could do nothing as their wives and daughters were taken captive by ruthless and depraved barbarians, sold as sex slaves, and many times having to watch as their wives and girls were raped right before their eyes. Christians in Afghanistan have been imprisoned, persecuted, and some have been murdered, all because they were “Christians.”
Such atrocities are difficult for us who live in America to conceive, because we know nothing of persecution. We feel we are being persecuted when someone says something bad about us. We live in the age of such “wokeness” that our high schools and universities have to provide “safe spaces” for America’s youth who fall to pieces if something negative is said, especially if that negativity is “Truth.” Mentioning Jesus around many of these sends them to counseling. One wonders where they would go if they were living in Ukraine today. Of course, none of us know exactly what we might do if the U.S. were facing the things the Ukrainians are experiencing.
What we see happening in Afghanistan begs the question: Who are you and what are you? Would we honestly proclaim that we are Christian if we were faced with what the Afghan Christians are facing today?
How do we identify ourselves? If asked, “Who are you” we would give our name. If the person asking knows some of our family members we might associate ourselves with them and say “so and so is my spouse” or “my parents are …” We identify ourselves with our family.
When asked, “What are you” we frequently identify ourselves by our occupation. We may be a welder, a truck driver, a teacher, pastor, nurse, or doctor. Yet, as Christians, we are identified with Christ Jesus and above all we are His disciples. We are Christians first, before everything else, for we are born again believers and disciples of Christ primarily, our occupations are secondary. As Christians, this is our first response as to our identification. Our identity in relation to family is that we are children of God.
I am fully persuaded that every message that Jesus gave was anointed by the Father through the Holy Spirit. When Jesus returned from some of His travels to Nazareth, He went to the synagogue and He stood and read from the book of Isaiah. His words are recorded in Luke4:18-19. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” After reading this passage, He sat down and everyone in the synagogue was looking at Him. He followed those words by saying, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke4:21).
Notice the first part of this passage, “The Lord hath anointed me …” Jesus was anointed to preach and teach and also to bring deliverance to those who were bound because of their fallen natures.
Now, with this thought in mind, let us consider one of Jesus’ anointed messages found in Matthew 23. Jesus begins this discourse by speaking to His disciples, warning them concerning the ways of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus tells His disciples to obey the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees because they sat in Moses’ seat. But then He states that they say the right things, but they will not do what they teach. They place heavy burdens on people, but they won’t even begin to lift those burdens themselves. Their works they do to be seen of men, making broad the phylacteries and enlarging the borders of their garments. He exposed them for their love for the uppermost seats at feasts and in the synagogues, they loved the praise and honor they received in the markets, and made long prayers to appear holy before men, and they especially liked to be called, “Rabbi.”
After speaking to His disciples, Jesus then turns to the scribes and Pharisees and addresses them directly (and it was anointed). Seven times in this chapter of Matthew, Jesus calls them, “hypocrites.” These evil men shut up the kingdom of God from men and would not enter themselves and hindered those who would enter from entering. They stole from widows and disguised it with long prayers. They tirelessly labored to bring in a person to their thinking and once accomplished made him “twofold more a child of hell” than themselves.
From there, Jesus continued to upbraid them and expose their hypocrisies calling them “blind leaders of the blind” and “fools and blind.” He scolded them for the hypocrisies, pointing out how they would tediously pay tithe of their gardens but turned from the important issues of God’s law. These men were those who would “strain at a gnat” but would then “swallow a camel.” They “make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within, they are full of extortion and excess.” They were “whited sepulchers which appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.”
Profession without commitment is deception. The scribes and Pharisees were deceived for, while they made great professions, they were not committed to God, which was made evident by their works.
Who And What Is Jesus
If one desires to see who and what Jesus is, he must go to scripture. Let’s examine just a few portions of scripture to answer these questions.
Jesus is the only begotten Son:
John 1:18 “…the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father…”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
I John 4:9 “…God sent His only begotten Son into the world…”
Jesus is the Savior of the world
John 12:47 “…I came not to judge the world, but to save the world”
John 3:17 “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.”
I Tim. 1:15 “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”
Jesus is the Creator of the world
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
I Cor. 8:6 “…there is…one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by Him.”
Eph. 3:9 “…God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”
Col. 1:16 “For by Him were all things created…”
Jesus is the revelation of the Father
Heb. 1:3 “Who (Jesus) being the brightness of His (Father’s) glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power…”
John 14:9 “…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father…”
Col 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
Jesus is God; He is deity
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Heb 1:8 “…unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever…”
There is much more that could be included to show who Jesus is, but the above should be sufficient of His identity. We now come to identifying who and what we might be. It is important that we consider what’s cooking in the kitchen of our own hearts. We might be surprised to find who and what we are.
We have already covered who and what the scribes and Pharisees were and found they were hypocrites, a den of serpents, clean outside but filthy inside. They were egotistical, arrogant, hardhearted, deceivers, and liars who professed to know the way of righteousness but knew not that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. God is not looking only at the outside but He is peering into men’s hearts, looking for hearts that desire Him and are allowing Him to change them on the inside. John the Baptist said, “He must increase but I must decrease.” That’s the heart of a man that is seeking after God.
Let’s Consider Judas And Elymas: Who And What Were They?
Judas the thief
In John 12:4-6 we have the account of Jesus being anointed with a very expensive oil, which Mary poured upon His feet. It was Judas who said, “Why was not this oil sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” Verse six informs us of what Judas was, “This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief…” So we see who Judas actually was, a thief.
Children of the devil
John 8:44 Jesus speaking again to some of the Jews and the Pharisees: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” Acts 13:10 gives us another account of a child of the devil. In this account, Elymas, a sorcerer was hindering Paul and Barnabas from preaching the gospel to Sergius Paulus. Paul addresses Elymas: “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness…”
The question then for us is: Who and what are we? Jesus came to show us the way to live our lives and to offer us eternal life. That everlasting life is attained through the blood of Christ. The blood is not only the power to cleanse us when we are born again, but it is also to “purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb.9:14). Think seriously upon the following points.
Phil 2:5-6 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Jesus was already God before He came as a babe in Bethlehem. He was still God although in the flesh. He was sent to deal with several issues:
Save men from sin and death
Destroy the power of Satan
To make it possible for the Holy Spirit to dwell within men’s hearts
For men to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit
For the enduement of the power of God.
In order that those saved could aspire to Godliness, Christ-likeness.
Can we say when asked, “Who and what are you?” that we are disciples of Jesus Christ? We are children of God? Can we say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”? (Gal.2:20) Can we say, “God is increasing and I am decreasing?”
Remember: Profession without commitment is deception.
$3 WORTH OF GOD
Billy Linthicum
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1Cor.6:19-20).
There’s a great little story that touches on the essence of those two verses in 1st Corinthians:
A little boy built a red model sailboat. He worked on it for days until it was just right. Then he took it down to the creek behind his house to sail it. Unfortunately, when the wind caught its sails, the string attached to it broke. The boy had to watch his red boat sail down the creek and out of sight. He was heartbroken.
Days later, he happened to walk by a secondhand store and saw his sailboat in the window! He ran inside and told the man at the counter, “That’s my boat in your window. I made it and it’s mine.”
The man said, “Son, I paid someone for that boat. If you want it back, you’ll have to pay for it.”
The young boy was angry but determined. He worked every job he could find until, finally, he put together enough money to buy back his boat. It was a joyful day when he marched into the store, put his money on the counter, and took his boat from the window.
As the little boy carried his red sailboat home, he hugged it to his chest and said to it: “Now you’re mine twice. I made you the first time, and I bought you the second.”
This story reminds me of how Jesus gave His all for us, but I sometimes have to question whether we have done the same for Him?
At one point during World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, considered taking refuge in the United States where he was teaching, but he decided to return to Germany to continue his work in the resistance.1
Because of his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews, He was arrested on April 5, 1943, and spent the next two years in prison. At the end of his imprisonment, Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and was quickly tried along with other accused plotters. He was stripped of his clothing and led naked into the execution yard where he was hanged on April 9, 1945. 2
It is said that early on the morning of his death, he preached his final sermon, and a fellow prisoner recounts that he stated, “This is for me the end, the beginning of life.”3
In his famous book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer wrote: “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Bonhoeffer didn’t just write about discipleship but he demonstrated – with his life – that following Jesus is costly – it is all or nothing.
In stark contrast, someone once mused, “How much of God do I really want? Enough to feel warm and fuzzy…or…even to make me feel righteously indignant about injustices I see…but…perhaps not enough to make me get off my butt and have a changed life.”
In a humorous poem, author Wilbur Rees sarcastically added to that thought when he penned:
I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but enough to equal
a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love an enemy or pick beets with
a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please.”4
Leonard Ravenhill declared that "The world out there is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity; it's waiting for a new demonstration of Christianity."
Where will that demonstration come from? It will appear when there is once again a passion in the pulpits and a flame burning, out of control, in the hearts of God's people – His precious Church!
I once read of a man who, when people asked if he was a Christian, would reply, “Go and ask my enemies, or the poor, or my neighbor and if they say I am a Christian then I suppose I’m a Christian.”
That’s an interesting thought. What would your enemies, or your neighbors, or the poor say about you?
When people look at you, what do they see?
A devoted follower of Christ or $3 worth of God?
EndNotes
1 Bonhoeffer was known for his opposition to National Socialism. His ties to the July 20, 1944, conspiracy to overthrow the Nazi regime led to his execution in 1945. His theological writings are regarded as classics throughout the Christian world. – Source: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Holocaust Encyclopedia
2 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Source: Wikipedia
3 This Day in History: The Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Crossway
4 From Wilbur Rees' book by the same title, Three Dollars Worth of God
THE DWINDLING CONSCIENCE
Wesley Owen
Our society has elevated pride to the position of its being a virtue. We are encouraged to seek development of our own personal dignity which enhances our self-esteem. Positive thinking, not to be confused with thinking optimistically, used in order to control our condition, is certainly in vogue. In fact, many in our culture have adopted these theories as truths that can solve all of our social ills. These hypotheses sound great and certainly appear as if they could solve many of the problems of our society. Even more frightening, one can see moral responsibility being replaced by “victimism,” which trains us to blame someone else for our personal failures and iniquities, claiming that it is our environment or background that causes us to react in an unacceptable manner to given situations. The unacceptable behavior that is being displayed is really not the fault of the doer, but rather the fault of some other persons or things in the doer’s environment.
We can see this happening all around us. Juries are now acquitting murderers on the ground it was not the murderer’s fault that he or she killed, but rather the fault lies with another person who mistreated the victim, or it was the fault of the person’s environment. These ideas or hypotheses are in direct conflict with the Biblical teachings about human depravity, sin, guilt, repentance and humility.
Even more alarming is the fact that the church has accepted these fads, or worldly opinions, as proven methods of treatment – especially in the area of psychology and self-esteem. Many Christians mimic the worldly thinking on the psychology of guilt and the importance of feeling good about oneself. The adverse effect on one’s spiritual life can hardly be underestimated.
Modern Christians are rapidly losing sight of sin as the root of all human anguishes. Many are denying that their sins can be the cause of their afflictions. They attempt to explain their dilemma in psychological terms such as addiction, dysfunctional families, the child within, co-dependency, and the list goes on. (I am not referring to psychological conditions that are the results of a medical condition such as Schizophrenia.) But what they are doing is removing the reality of sin, which in turn takes away the possibility of repentance. This abolishes the doctrine of human depravity, which is the foundation of the divine plan of salvation. When the notion of personal guilt is removed, then the need for a Savior is eliminated.
As Christians, we should be unrelentingly entailed in our own sanctification and not trying to purge all society’s ills until our life and the church is in order. The sin we should be concerned with is our own sin. We should be diligently seeking a change in our own hearts. We are foreigners to this world, as the Apostle Peter states: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul” (IPeter2:11). Therefore, we must commit ourselves as God sees us in regards to our sins: that we deal honestly and swiftly with these sins.
The Problem With Guilt
Our culture has declared war on guilt. The very concept is viewed by many as medieval, obsolete, and unproductive. People who are troubled by guilt are referred to therapists whose tasks are to remove the personal guilt from their clients; this is done by boosting their client’s self-image. No one should feel guilty, since guilt is not conducive to dignity and strong self-esteem!
Dr. Wayne Dyer in his book, Your Erroneous Zones, was one of the earliest influential voices to condemn guilt all together. He labeled guilt as “the most useless of all erroneous zone behaviors.” To Dr. Dyer, guilt is nothing but a neurosis. “Guilt zones must be exterminated, spray-cleaned and sterilized forever,” he wrote in his 1975 mega-bestseller.
As a Christian you might ask, how do we “spray-clean and sterilize our guilt zones?” By repenting and seeking forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Not so according to Dr. Dyer. His advice to readers suffering from guilt: “Do something which you know is bound to result in feeling of guilt…Take a week to be alone if you’ve always wanted to do so, despite the guilt-engineering protestation from other members of your family. These kinds of behavior will help you tackle that omnipresent guilt. In other words, defy your guilt. If necessary, spurn your own spouse and children. Attack that sense of self-disapproval head on. Do something that is sure to make you feel guilty, then refuse to heed the cries of conscience, the duties of family responsibility, or even the appeal of your own loved ones. You owe it to yourself.”
Unfortunately, guilt is rarely treated seriously anymore. It is characterized as a usually groundless emotion that has the potential of taking all the fun out of life.
People are victims, according to our modern thinking. Victims are not responsible for what they do. They are casualties of what society does to them. Consequently, the victim’s behavior is described in terminology of how the perpetrator has been victimized. We, as civilized people, are supposed to be “sensitive” and “compassionate” enough to see that the very behaviors we once labeled “sin,” are more accurately labeled as evidence of victimization. “Anyone can escape responsibility for his or her wrong doing simply by claiming the status of a victim” (JohnMacArthur). He further states, “Victimism has become almost as influential within the evangelical church as it is in the unbelieving world.”
Guilt And Conscience
In the seventeenth century, Puritan Richard Sibles wrote, “The conscience is the soul reflecting upon itself.” Our conscience is at the heart of what distinguishes man from other creatures. Humans, unlike other creatures, can contemplate their own actions and make more self-evaluations. That is the very operation of our conscience. Our conscience beseeches us to do what we believe is right, and will check us from doing what we believe is wrong. When we violate our conscience it condemns, triggers feelings of shame or disgrace, remorse, fear or anxiety. When we follow our conscience it praises us, bringing happiness, serenity, self-respect, and the sense of well-being (Rom.2:15).
We also need to realize that the conscience is not infallible. Nor is it a source of revelation concerning right and wrong. The role of the conscience is not to teach us moral and ethical ideals, but to hold us accountable to the highest standard of right and wrong we know. We also need to know that the conscience is informed by tradition as well as by truth; consequently, the standards it holds us to are not necessarily Biblical ones (ICor.8:6-9). Therefore, the conscience can be needlessly condemning in areas where there is no Biblical issue. It could try to hold us to the very things the Lord is attempting to release us from (Rom.14:14, 20-23).
The conscience is cleansed through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb.9:11-14). This is done at the moment of our salvation. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (IPeter2:24). God declares us not guilty and receives us as fully righteous. To maintain this righteous status, we must sustain a sound conscience which goes hand in hand with assurance of salvation (Heb.10:22). A Christian must maintain the proper focus of faith in order to have a conscience that is perpetually being cleansed from guilt. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (IJohn1:9).
It is our obligation, as Christians, to guard the purity of a regenerated conscience. Paul had a great deal to say about this: “…My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day” (Acts23:1). “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts24:16). “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (ITim.1:5). “Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith” (ITim.1:18,19). “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience…” (IITim.1:3).
Guarding The Mind
No sin is more destructive to the conscience than the sin that takes place in the arena of the mind. The practice of indulging in evil thoughts is the most crippling habit that could occur to our conscience. When the thoughts are defiled, the conscience instantly is, too. “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus1:15).
We choose to behave as we do, even those many times the enemy would lead us to believe differently. One does not “fall” into adultery. The adulterer's heart is molded and formulated by lustful thoughts before the actual deed occurs. The murderer is the product of anger and hate. And the heart of the thief is bent by covetousness. In fact, we are safe in saying that all sin is first incubated in the mind.
“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt.15:18-19). Jesus taught this truth to His disciples which certainly applies to us, too. In the New Testament, “the heart” is the seat of man's mind, imagination, affections, conscience, and will. So we can see that our Lord was condemning the wickedness of a contaminated thought life.
The most difficulty we often face is the fact that our minds are filled with memories that can easily become temptations. These memories can be triggered by a sound or a smell or even a sight which causes flashbacks which, in turn, can start a battle with temptation. Possibly David was battling such thoughts when he wrote, “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions” (Psalm25:7).
These problems are not unique to sexual sins. Some people like to rehearse all kinds of memories, from memories of anger to the time they were not caught for a sinful act. Keep in mind that Satan will take all the garbage out of your past and try to drag it back through your mind so that you will relive it. T.V. and movies are filled with images, themes, and story lines that tempt us into sinful thought patterns.
How do you battle such a scheme? When the thought first enters the mind you immediately take a stand against that thought and command it to leave. Cover yourself afresh with the blood of Jesus Christ. Quote scripture until the thought passes. A stand against such thoughts will stop it before it develops into a temptation. Paul was warning against these attacks and advising us to be prepared for them when he said, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Rom.13:14).
How does one handle the problem of evil thoughts? The procedure is like mortifying any other sin:
(1) Scriptures make it clear one first must confess his sin and then forsake his sin. “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isa.55:7). Whatever the sin, whether it be immorality, anger toward someone, sins of vengeance, sins of bitterness, covetousness, or whatever, confess it and then leave it. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness” (IJohn1:9).
(2) Reject sinful thoughts immediately. Reject these thoughts before they become temptations. Force yourself to think pure thoughts. When you find your mind slipping into old ways of thinking, take a solid stand against these thoughts. Firmly rebuke these thoughts, Satan, and all of his forces in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “…Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James4:7). “Remember that the life of God is in the Blood of Jesus…As soon as any Christian takes the precious Blood of Jesus on his tongue and sings it, talks it, or pleads it, the devil gets terribly disturbed…But as soon as we honor the Blood of Jesus in an active sense, we stir up demons to a fevered pitch. It is like fire in a hornet's nest…To plead the Blood of Jesus is to confess to God that we are depending wholly on His mercy, 'Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to thy cross we cling.' When we plead the Blood of Jesus, it immediately pleads for us, because it is SPEAKING BLOOD. It speaks mercy from the mercy seat in Heaven where Jesus is seated with His Father. This is why we plead the Blood of Jesus” (H.A. Maxwell Whyte, The Power of the Blood). There is more power in the Blood of Jesus than you can ever imagine. Christ said, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke10:19). “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Rev.12:11).
(3) Feed or nourish your mind with the Word of God. God's Words insulate the mind. It strengthens the heart. “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against thee” (Psalm119:11). Part of the Armor of God is the Word. “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph.6:17). As we learn to use the Word of the Spirit skillfully then are we able to mortify our fleshly imaginations.
(4) Dodge evil attractions. Don't allow yourself to be exposed to activities, images, or conversations that arouse evil thoughts. Simply forbid yourself of any tendencies that might draw your imagination into wickedness. This is what Jesus meant, figuratively, when He said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matt.5:29-30).
(5) Cultivate the love of God. When we set our minds on things above, things on the earth will lose their fascination for us. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col.3:2).
As a godly person, your focus should be: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm19:14).
If your conscience is not secure in the hands of the Lord, then it is your responsibility to see that it is. As the saying goes, “Get a hold of yourself and make it change.”
VICTORY OVER SIN
C.F. Woodard
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (IJohn2:1).
The term “my little children” is not complimentary! John is addressing the immature in Christ. There is more to being a mature Christian than going through religious motions. He goes on to express the true signs of a Christian.
“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (IJohn2:3).
Grace is not abrogated by the demand to “keep His commandments.” One of these commandments was given: “She said, no man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more” (John8:11).
Notice the conditional preposition in IJohn2:3 above. We may have assurance of our relationship to Christ by the sign of keeping His commandments. It does not say that we are saved by keeping His commandments, but that we may know we are saved.
The Light of the World goes on to explain victory over sin as the “Light of Life.”
“This spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John8:12).
The “Light of Life,” spiritual knowledge and understanding, is contingent upon following Jesus and not walking in darkness.
The opposite of victory over sin is defeat and death in sin: “Then said Jesus again unto them (Jews), I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: Whither I go, ye cannot come” (John8:21).
Doing what Jesus says is victory over sin! This is why His mother could say: “His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (IJohn2:5).
Would you like to see a miracle in your life? Do what He says, sin no more, and Jesus will manifest His glory.
Many pastors and Christian leaders have formed their doctrine from some denomination or person, not from the Scriptures. The Scriptures teach victory over sin! The sin nature must die:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom.6:1,2).
Sin, or the bent to sin, must be destroyed: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom.6:6).
This does not mean we cannot sin, but that we can live above sin; we can have victory over sin! We can live the crucified life: “For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom.6:7).
We declare we are saved. We must also reckon or declare we are dead to sin:
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.6:11).
How is victory over sin accomplished?
“Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom.6:13).
THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
Randall Walton
There is much confusion among Christians regarding the observance of the holy days which were given to ancient Israel. This confusion has resulted in division among the people, division so strong that a multiplicity of denominations has been brought forth, with each faction claiming they are right and all others are walking in darkness. Most of the different groups will not fellowship with those who disagree with them, and the result of this disfellowship has been a weakening of the body.
It is our desire to place this topic in the proper perspective so that the body of Christ may rise above the pitfalls of factionism and unite themselves in the love of Christ. Only through the unity of the body will the church be powerful to wage warfare against its common foe, Satan.
Opinions on this topic fall generally into one of three categories: 1) we are to keep all of the feasts; 2) we are to keep some of the feasts; 3) we are to keep none of the feasts. Many people believe that the annual observance of the Lord’s supper is the proper method for observing the Passover, while many others disagree with that view.
The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the main Old Testament sources for consideration. And, in order to derive an over-all view of the topic, it is necessary to examine all of these books. The following references are most relevant: Ex.12:1-51; Ex.23:14-16; Ex.34:18-22; Lev.23:4-44; Num.28:16-31; Num.29:1-40; Deut.16:1-17. It is only by consulting all of these passages that an understanding can be gained about this subject.
Three Important Points
1. Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread were given before Sinai (the giving of the law), and they therefore stand in a class by themselves. Also, these two were concurrent, and in many instances when one is mentioned, both are included: “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover” (Luke22:1).
2. The other feasts were for Israel to observe AFTER they had reached Canaan “When ye be come into the land which I give unto you” (Lev.23:10). Israel was an agrarian people. They were to till the soil and produce food for the people and feed for their livestock. Their feasts were to include both animal sacrifices and meal offerings, made from the produce of their farms. Of course, no farming was done during their 40 years’ wandering in the wilderness.
3. Every holy day or festival included a day or more of convocation, and that day was called a Sabbath, a day of rest (Do not confuse this with the weekly seventh day Sabbath). A convocation was an assembly, a gathering of the people for worship and ministry to the Lord. Thus, Passover had two Sabbaths (the first and seventh days); the feast of trumpets and the day of Atonement were Sabbath days, and the feast of Tabernacles had two Sabbaths, the first and eighth days.
Seven Feasts In All
Let us now consider these feasts in consecutive order, beginning with Passover since it was first in the year. 1) Passover was in celebration of the death angel’s passing over the houses of the Israelites while they were in Egypt. The one redeeming feature of the Passover was the blood of the lamb which was sprinkled upon lintels and doorposts of their houses. Remember, this feast was in regard to deliverance from death. The meal which was eaten included unleavened bread, and this marked the beginning of the feast of Unleavened Bread. 2) Unleavened Bread. This was kept in honor of Israel’s being delivered from Egypt, “for in it thou camest out of Egypt” (Ex.23:15). Deliverance from bondage is the theme of this feast.
These two feasts (concurrent) began on the 14th day of Abib at sundown. This date is found today by counting 14 days from the first new moon after the vernal equinox. Incidentally, this day usually coincides with the full moon.
3) Feast of first-fruits (Lev.23:10-14). This annual celebration began after Israel was in the promised land. It occurred in conjunction with the Passover, the day after the Passover sabbath, and consisted of a newly cut sheaf being waved before the Lord by the priest. Other offerings were also made: a lamb without blemish, fine flour with oil, and a drink offering of wine.
Paul spoke of Jesus as the FIRST-FRUIT in ICor.15:20-23, and this was in regard to His resurrection. It is possible that the waving of the first-fruit on the day after Passover prefigured Jesus and His resurrection, and if so, then it has certainly been fulfilled.
4) Feast of Weeks. This was called feast of weeks because it occurred seven weeks (plus one day) from the day after Passover (Lev.23:15,16). This was known as Pentecost, which means 50, and was also called the first-fruit harvest. The first-fruits feast consisted of waving a sheaf on the day after Passover. The sheaf may have been no more than a few stalks of the winter wheat or oats which was grown in those days. But fifty days from that time, the crop was ready for harvesting, and they were to use this to make two leavened loaves of bread. No doubt this pointed to the day of Pentecost in Acts2 when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the early church and a harvest of souls was brought into the kingdom. The use of two loaves of leavened bread is most significant in view of the fact that the church was leavened with sin, tradition, and people of a questionable character.
5) Blowing of Trumpets. This feast took place on the first day of the seventh month and was a memorial day. It was a Sabbath, and a convocation was called. Trumpets were used in Israel for a number of purposes: 1-music; 2-to call an assembly (gather the people together); 3-to sound an alarm (usually as a call to battle) (Num.10:1-10).
Since this feast was a memorial (in honor of past events), we can only speculate as to what the trumpets were blown in regard to. Throughout the travels of Israel in the desert, they were used to call the people together, to assemble the tribes, either for moving to another location or for warfare. Although trumpets were prominent in prophetic accounts for the last days (Matt.24:31; Rev.8:2), this feast appears to have no significance for the church today.
6) The Day of Atonement. This was the one day when the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle (or the temple). See Lev.16:1-34. This ceremony was the means of cleansing for the people for their sins and transgressions. It was a picture of the work and ministry which Jesus accomplished on the Cross with the shedding of His blood. Not only was the literal, material tabernacle and altar cleansed (which prefigured the heavenly), but also the fleshly temple or sanctuary.
Paul stated in Romans5:11, “our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Jesus’ death, then, certainly meant the fulfillment of the feast of Atonement.
7) Feast of Tabernacles (tents) (Lev.23:34-43). This festival was celebrated by the people by erecting booths made of tree boughs and branches. This served to remind them of their origin and the fact that they had lived after this manner when they first arrived in Canaan (Lev.23:43).
This feast was also called the feast of ingathering (Gen.23:16), or harvest, as it occurred in the seventh month (the end of the civil year) after their crops had been gathered (Lev.23:39). Many Christians believe that, since this feast was at harvest time, it had some significance in regard to the time of harvest at the end of the age (Matt.13:39). However, there is no positive evidence that this view is correct, and there is no corroborating substantiation in the New Testament.
The New Testament Speaks
The best method for determining whether any of these feasts are valid for the church is to consult the New Testament testimony. All of the feasts were obligatory throughout the lifetime and ministry of Jesus, even up to His death. But the question remains, were they carried past that point?
In our study of the Scriptures, we have concluded that of the seven feasts which were kept by Israel, only Passover (and Unleavened Bread) are carried over to the New Covenant era. This conclusion is based upon the following Scriptures:
“And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke22:14-18).
Jesus actually is stating that there is yet to be a fulfillment of the Passover! A check of Matthew and Mark will reveal that the message there is comparable to Luke. The inference that we make in this statement of Jesus is that 1) they would continue to eat of the Passover; 2) it has not been completely fulfilled; 3) after it has been fulfilled, Jesus will partake of it again. Jesus Himself, then, carried the observance of the Passover and Unleavened Bread over into this dispensation!
It is appropriate then to ask, “What significance did the feast of Passover have other than that which is obvious in the Old Testament?”
The Conquest Of Sin And Death
The original Passover with the feast of Unleavened Bread was in respect of deliverance from both death and bondage. That bondage was signified by leaven. Leaven of course typifies, other than bondage to Egyptian slave masters, a type of sin, corruption, false doctrine, and traditions of men. Both of these, death and sin, were conquered and dealt with through the death of Jesus on the Cross.
“But now is made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (IITim.1:10).
“…in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb.9:26).
Without question, Jesus fulfilled completely His part in the matter of death and sin. He abolished death and put away sin! Now, it is perfectly in order for us to ask whether Christians still die. Of course, they do! Do they still sin? Of course, they sin! Are they still in bondage to anything? Yes, many of them are! Even though Jesus abolished death and did away with sin, saints are yet involved in both of these dreadful circumstances. What is the answer, then, to these things?
State Versus Standing
In order to understand the objectivity of the accomplishments of Calvary, it is necessary to consider the difference between the legal status of the saints and their actual state.
We refer to the legal status as the standing or divine reckoning. This is how God reckons or evaluates the saints based upon the finished work of Jesus upon the Cross. God accounts His people as clean, pure and holy because of the blood of Jesus which was, and is, efficacious, not only for forgiveness of sins, but for the total cleansing from sin (IJohn1:7-9).
Paul spoke of Abraham’s faith being so steadfast that God imputed righteousness unto him (Rom.4:3,22), and stated that He will impute the same unto us – if we believe on Him (verse24).
Now, our actual state is usually far below that of our standing: we are far from being perfect, but God calls us perfect (Phil.3:15; Heb.10:14), because He looks upon us through the blood of Jesus – “Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev.1:5).
The unceasing labor of the Holy Spirit is to help us bring our actual state into harmony with our standing. The Spirit of God works night and day encouraging, strengthening, reproving, correcting, and instructing the saints in their upward journey. We are in the process of being made partakers of the divine nature, putting on the new man, putting on Jesus Christ, being conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus, apprehending that for which we have been apprehended, and entering into His rest (IIPeter1:4; Eph.4:24; Rom.13:14; Rom.8:29; Phil.3:12,13; Heb.4:11).
Jesus has already finished His atonement and has made full provision for the people of God to acquire this wondrous goal. The people, however, have not fulfilled their obligations and commitments for the achieving of this high and heavenly calling, and they are living and walking far below God’s standard. Passover and Unleavened Bread are a TESTIMONY that they have not yet taken hold of the call of God, and this feast points to that day when the reason for Christ’s death becomes a reality. The people will have put on Christ, and the church will be glorious and without spot or wrinkle!
A Glorious Church
The church has never had a very clean record. From its inception leaven was a problem (Acts5:1-10). Paul, in his first letter to the saints at Corinth, rebuked them sharply for permitting leaven to remain in the congregation, and he commanded them to purge out the old leaven (ICor.5:1-8). He said that they were unleavened (their standing), yet he told them to get rid of their leaven (their state). He left them without excuse for their sins, for he said, “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”
Jesus had provided for their cleansing but they refused to apply the necessary means to attain to that standing. Further, he ordered, “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.” Notice that he did not say to spiritualize the feast, he said to KEEP IT: however, purge out the leaven from your ranks, cleanse yourselves, get rid of the malice and wickedness. Jesus has died and there is no excuse for those gross iniquities. “KEEP THE FEAST…but with the UNleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
This in no way abrogates the observing of the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, but rather CONFIRMS IT in a most positive fashion. Israel of old kept the feast only in a physical manner – there was no expulsion of sin and wickedness from them. The practice did not enhance their spirituality. But now that Jesus has died, the feast is to be accompanied with cleansing of the life and heart (IICor.7:1).
This is the call to God’s people today as well. Before Jesus returns, the church will have entered into that glorious state (or state of glory). Not only will sin be completely conquered and overcome, death also will be destroyed! “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (ICor.15:26). “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” Not until the saints cease sinning and dying will the feast be completely fulfilled!
Jesus has already legally abolished death. The church is called to make this a reality. This enemy is already under His feet (Heb.2:8; Eph.1:22,23), but it must be made His footstool (Heb.10:13). Until this is accomplished, the full meaning of Passover and Unleavened Bread will not be fulfilled. But when it is fulfilled, Jesus will come forth and eat and drink with the church, and the Feast will be complete.
“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (ICor.13:10-12).
That day is fast approaching, but until that day, People of the Living God will continue to “keep the feast” in knowledge of its significance. On the night of the 14th day of the month of Abib they will eat the Lord’s Supper with unleavened bread and wine (used in place of the lamb and sprinkling of blood). Prior to this day, they will have emptied their houses of all leavening and will keep leavening out of their homes for seven days, with the understanding that this points to the complete cleansing of their own lives of everything which is ungodly and unclean.
Care will also be taken to ensure that the cleansing of the flesh and spirit is accomplished. After all, if we only remove leaven from our homes and not our hearts, we are no better off than Israel of old. God uses this feast as a vivid reminder that our state and standing are not equal, and that HE WILLS TO HAVE THEM BE.
“Let us therefore keep the feast.”
PASSOVER 2022
People of the Living God will be observing Passover this year beginning at sundown on Friday, April 15th. We observe this feast for seven days, so the feast will conclude on Friday, April 22ndat sundown. We observe the first and seventh day as a Sabbath, which means that Saturday, April 16th,will be a double Sabbath and the following Friday, April 22nd,will also be observed as a Sabbath.
People of the Living God does not believe that observance of the Passover feast is a salvation issue, but we believe the first Passover, which took place in Egypt when the Lord passed through the land of Egypt and slew all the first born in the land, is a picture of salvation. The only protection was the blood of a slain lamb which was placed on the two door posts and the lintel of their houses. The Israelites were commanded to slay a lamb and the blood on the door posts and lintel would cause the Lord to pass over those houses. God delivered His people from the bondage and tyranny of Pharaoh and the Egyptians and set them on a journey to a land He had promised Abraham 400 years before that He would give his descendants.
The Passover was a feast observed by the Israelites throughout the centuries following their departure from Egypt as a reminder of God's deliverance. We observe it today as a time of thanksgiving and praise for the reality of what that first Passover was only a shadow. It foreshadowed THE LAMB OF GOD which came and took away the sin of the world. It was a picture of our deliverance from the bondage and tyranny of sin and its consequence, death. So we use this time to remember what Christ has done for us and how He has set us on a journey to a land of promise which far outshines Canaan, for Jesus has promised those who will follow Him a rest (Heb.4) and an eternal home with Him in heaven when this life is over.
Passover is a reminder and a warning that we must endure to the end and not follow Israel’s example of complaining and murmuring so that we fail as Israel did in the wilderness because of unbelief.
Every year we observe this feast and we examine ourselves to be certain we are continuing faithfully and undeterred toward that city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. May God richly bless all those who keep the feast.