Don’t Play the Blame Game 8/23/98

Genesis 3:1-7
Page 4 Come Alive Bible

Jesus Christ said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

Later, before Pilate the inquisitor asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). There should be no criticism of Pilate asking the question. The lament is he didn’t stay around to get the answer.

To the believer the Bible is distilled truth. It is the objective truth revealed by God. As such it becomes the standard of faith and practice of followers of Christ.

John Calvin said of the Bible, “It obtains the same complete credit and authority with believers, when they are satisfied of its divine origin, as if they heard the very words pronounced by God Himself.”

Most persons know the part of a verse which says, “Man shall not live by bread alone…” However, many don’t know the rest of the verse which says, “…but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4: 4).

The Greek word for our word “inspiration,” THEOPNEUSTOS, means “breathed out by God.” Every word proceeds from the mouth of God.

The first question asked in the Bible related to the validity, authority, and reliability of God’s Word: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden…” (Genesis 3:1).

Loss of confidence in the authority of the Bible has caused a loss of respect for all authority. Without its absolute truths to guide us we establish our own self as authority.

II Peter 2: 16 – 21 indicates how reliable God’s Word really is.

Verse 16 states it does not consist of “cunningly devised fables.”

Reference is made to being “eyewitnesses of His [Christ] majesty.” Have you ever thought how wonderful it would have been to have seen Christ in action.

In a court of law a witness under oath who says, “Yes, your honor I was there and saw what happened” is considered a creditable witness. Peter and others there with him were creditable eyewitnesses.

Verse 17 reveals God said, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Peter said “We heard this voice.” In a court of law a sworn witness who says, “Yes, your honor I was there and I heard it when it was said…” is considered a creditable witness.

Verse 19 refers to a more creditable witness than an eye or ear witness. We have “the prophetic word made more sure…” That is a reference to the Bible.

The text goes on to tell how we got the Bible: “prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

My friend Zig Ziegler said, “A perfect God would not have any trouble producing a perfect Bible.”

Confidence in God’s word is elemental to spiritual stability. If you don’t believe Genesis 1: 1 you can’t believe anything else, Believe that and you can believe all else. There is a new scholarly book out entitled, The Theory of Everything which underscores the concept of creation from the perspective of science. The Christian scientific community was tardy in gleaning evidence to support creation having accepted it by faith. Now faith is being joined by volumes of creditable scientific evidence. Regardless of what concept one holds of origins it must be by faith. For a matter to be considered scientifically creditable it must meet two tests. It must be:
1. Observable. No one saw creation.
2. Repeatable. No one can replicate creation.

Counterfeit concepts of origins continue to crop up. A relatively new group claiming 40,000 adherents showed up on Miami’s chic South Beach recently to raise funds for a new embassy. The embassy is for aliens from our galaxy but not our solar system. The aliens called Elohim have promised the cults leader they will come to earth if provided an embassy. They would like to visit earth to examine their creating. According to the groups leader these aliens created human beings in their laboratories. So far the group has raised over $7 million for the embassy.

Satan has to be subtle to pull that one off.

“Now the serpent was more subtle” (Genesis 3:1) that is, clever, smart.

We should never feel we are clever enough to match wits with the devil. He is the fourth ranking super power in the universe. Therefore, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Corinthians 11:3).

Every generation has to defend itself from counterfeit religions. To help encourage our diligence to the subtlety of Satan it is revealed he often deceives by “transforming himself into an angel of light” (II Corinthians 11: 14). Such ones often represent themselves as “super Christians” knowing more than anyone because of a fuller revelation.

Note what God said: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

I. THREEFOLD ADAPTATION
ADDED SOME: “ye shall not touch it.” God never said that. They could have hung an old tier by a rope and made a swing in the tree and that would not have violated the command. They could have built a tree house in it, but they could not eat of it.

The Bible’s plus is the basis of most cults.

ALTERED SOME: She changed God’s “surely” to a “maybe” (“lest ye die”).

OMITTED SOME: She left out, “thou shalt surely die.”

Satan began by planting a doubt about God’s word followed by a denial resulting in a delusion: “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

How very subtle this was. Until then they had known only good. Now Satan presented evil as being as good or better than good.

II. THREEFOLD APPEAL
BODY: “saw that the tree was good for food”

SOUL: An aesthetic appeal, “pleasant to the eye”

SPIRITUAL: “A tree to be desired to make one wise”

In salvation these 3 steps are reversed.

There is the immediate justification of the spirit.

The progressive sanctification of the soul.

The ultimate glorification of the body.

Once Adam and Eve ate of the tree in the midst of the garden they began to play the blame game. Adam said, “the woman you gave me she…” He blamed not only “the woman” but God for giving her to him.

Eve responded, “the serpent he tricked me.”

When you foul-up, goof-off, or sin take the hit. Accept the blame. Members of our society have become master players of the blame game.

A teen recently shot a friend and blamed Celine Dion for singing the theme song from the “Titanic.” He said every time he heard it he was moved to violence.

A student snatched $10.00 from the hand of a student waiting in the lunch room line and ran. When caught the student said, “It was her fault, she shouldn’t have been holding it out.”

Locally a student was arrested for buying marijuana. When arrested his mother said it wasn’t his fault the person shouldn’t have been there selling it.

The German soccer team lost to Croatia in the World Cup. A member of the German team blamed the Chancellor for the loss saying he advocated the creation of the nation of Croatia and if he had not there would not have been such a nation and they would not have lost.

Adam said,”the woman,” the woman said, “the serpent.” The serpent looked the other way.

III. THREEFOLD AFFECT
HEAD: He hid from God. He had a wrong concept of God.

Often it is said of a well educated person involved in a cult, “How can such a brilliant person believe that?”

Before Satan’s fall he was an angel known as Lucifer. He was “full of wisdom” (Ezek. 28:12). Next to God he was the most brilliant being in the universe. As a fallen angel he retained the highest of all created intelligence. Though he retained that wisdom it was now warped and perverted. Intelligence is no guarantee of faith. Some of the greatest people of faith have been people of great intelligence.

Johan Kepler the founder of physical astronomy discovered the laws of planetary motion and demonstrated the heliocentricity of the solar system was a man of great faith. He wrote:

“Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.”

Francis Bacon the man responsible for the establishment of what is known as the “scientific method,” a devout believer of the Bible wrote: “There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent us from falling into error; first, the volume of Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the Creatures, which expresses His power.”

Blaise Pascal the great mathematician established the science of hydrostatics and laid the foundation for differential calculus was a man of great faith. He was also a brilliant philosopher and wrote: “How can anyone lose who chooses to become a Christian? If, when he dies, there turns out to be no God and his faith was in vain, he has lost nothing — in fact he has been happier in life than his nonbelieving friends. If, however, there is a God and a heaven and hell, then he had gained heaven and his skeptical friends will have lost everything in hell.”

Churches in scientific communities such as Huntsville, Alabama, Houston, Texas, and the area around Cape Canaveral are populated with thousands of scientists of great intellect and faith.

Teddy Roosevelt speaking of the evil within persons said an ignorant man may steal from a boxcar. Educate him and he will steal the railroad. Intellectual brilliance is influenced by sin.

HEART: “The heart is ‘deceitful about all things, and desperately wicked'” (Jeremiah 17:9). Satan’s deception causes a wrong concept of God. When God came looking for Adam and Eve after their sin they thought God wanted to destroy them, that He hated them. For the first time after their sin they feared God. Until then theirs was a rewarding fellowship with God.

HANDS: Went out and sewed leaves together in an attempt to cover the evidence of their sin. By this means they sought to make themselves acceptable to God. They, by their works, sought God’s approval. Every system of religion based on works salvation is in keeping with this false concept. Every attempt to make ones self acceptable to God is a counterfeit religion based on the false concept of salvation by works. Ours is a salvation that works, but it is not by works.

IV. THREEFOLD ACTION
SALVATION IS A GIFT – God provided skins as a covering.

SUBSTITUTIONARY SACRIFICE WAS REQUIRED. The lamb was slain.

SALVATION IS BY THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD.

It’s Love That Makes the World Go ‘Round: Part Three

Colossians 2: 1 – 3

Jesus said, “If you love Me keep My commandments.” (John 14: 15) The followers of Christ in the first century complied and it was said of them, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” (Acts 17: 6)  They had warmed their hearts by the fire of Christ’s love for them. The agape type love taught and modeled by Christ carried such a spiritual wallop that it overwhelmed people’s minds. It divided people into two camps. One camp for and the other against the concept. 

Those for it were transformed overnight into reckless joyous followers of Jesus, ready to lose property, go to prison, or even be tortured to death for Him.

Those who opposed this agape love quickly became cruel, bloodthirsty persecutors of the new revolutionaries of love.

None who heard the news of agape could remain neutral. None should.

Corrie ten Boom. Her family had all died in the Nazi concentration camps. Somehow Corrie survived. The war had ended, the camps had been liberated. She writes in her best-selling book, “The Hiding Place”:

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, [my sister] Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

“He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.’ He said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’ His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

“Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

“As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

God is our source of love, and his supply never runs low. When you have trouble loving someone, whether friend or enemy, ask God for the love you need. He will surely supply it, for it is in his very essence and will.” 

It’s Love That Makes the World Go ‘Round: Part Two

Colossians 2: 1 – 3

Jesus said, “If you love Me keep My commandments.” (John 14: 15) He then said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you love one another.” (John 13: 35)

Satan is a counterfeiter. Christ says we are to love. Satan runs in a substitute and redefines love. A counterfeit is intended to look like the original. A counterfeit of what Christ meant will for a time pass for love?  Emotions or feelings answer the call.

The Greeks had a word for the kind of love of which Christ spoke, it is “agape,” meaning selfless love. The prototype is the love Christ has for us.

The Greeks had a word that is somewhat definitive of emotions and feelings. It is “eros.” It is used for sensual or emotional feelings.

When the Scripture says, “Husbands love your wives,” it is not an appeal to have a warm fuzzy feeling regarding them. It means to be committed to them as Christ is to us.

Feelings change. In the matter of feelings most marriages have highs and lows. Surprise, if you thought yours was the only one that did. 

In marriage and all relations there are times when the flavor has faded. Then from a feelings standpoint it is difficult to comply with Christ’s command to love. When you, the subject don’t “feel” in love, that is time for your love for the object, Jesus Christ, to take over. Then your desire to please Him is stronger than your desire to fulfill your own feelings.

The challenge is complicated by ours being a sensate society in which we are taught directly and indirectly that the most important thing in life is our own feelings.  “If it feels good, do it!” is the mandate of the moment. The problem is feelings change. Christ doesn’t. Therefore, for balance and stability we need to live to please Him.

Love is not dependent —
on the nature of the one loved,
but on the nature of the one who loves.

Love is not contingent —
on the beauty of the one loved,
but on the appreciation of the lover.

Love is not conditional —
on the constancy of the beloved,
but on the faithfulness of the one who loves.

In an office I saw this on the wall:
“Someday after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides,
We shall harness for God the energy of love,
And for the second time in history man will discover fire.” T.R. deJordan 

Go now and start some fires.

‘Till He Appeared 12/6/98

I John 3:5, 8 & 4:9
Page 1777 Come Alive Bible

Jesus Christ laid aside His robes of eternal glory and became enshrouded in swaddling clothes for a purpose. This was the greatest extraterrestrial rescue mission ever attempted. It had more peril programmed into the mission than Apollo 13 multiplied a thousandfold. There was no escape vehicle for the cosmic Christ.

His mission had been pre-programmed and chronicled over a period of 1500 years. More than 330 exact details were penned by Old Testament prophets. There was to be no lack of understanding of the mission.

After the accomplishment of His mission to liberate and extricate doomed human beings one of His earthly companions wrote of the reason for it. John, who shared His earth walk gave three reasons for this daring undertaking.

I. TO PARDON I JOHN 3: 5
“And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” The word “manifested” or “appeared” translates the Greek word PHANEROO, which means to remove a lid, or pull a curtain. It speaks of divine revelation. That is what happened in Bethlehem. God was unveiled and revealed as never before.

John 1: 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Persons who master more than one language know that in some languages you can say things you can’t say in certain other languages. There are no words by which certain words can be translated.

Literally, the Greek structure says, “Before time began to begin the Word was…” Time was a part of creation. Creation involved time, matter, and space – all three. Before time began to begin Christ existed.

The word “Word” translates the Greek word Logos. “In the beginning was the Logos.” Or, “Before time began to begin was the Logos.”

To find the meaning of a word look to see how it was used during the time it was employed. At the time of John’s writings “Logos” was used of Philo meaning, “all that is known or knowable about God.” John used it as a reference to Christ meaning, “All that is known or knowable about God is in the person of Christ.”

When the virgin Mary pulled back the cover and let persons see her new born baby she was manifesting, unveiling God.

There is a complex rule of Greek grammar when applied asserts emphatically that Jesus is God. The rule is: When two nouns in the same case are connected by the Greek word “and” and the second noun is not preceded by the article, the second noun refers to the same person or thing as the first noun, and is a further description of it.

Titus 2: 13 refers to “the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” The rule of grammar identifies Jesus Christ at God.

This is further emphasized by the fact the Greek word for “and” can be translated “even.”

II Peter 1: 1 also refers to Christ as “God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” He is God.

When applied to Titus 2: 13 it is even clearer: “the great God even our Savior Jesus Christ.”

In Bethlehem the unveiling began.

The purpose of this unveiling of God was to take away sins.

He did this for every infant that dies before reaching an age of reasoning. We are all born with an old sin nature variously called our Adamic nature. Jesus Christ being born of the virgin had no old sin nature. Therefore, when He died on the cross He acquitted all of us of our old sin nature.

He lived without any personal sin. We all have personal sins. He died without any personal sins for our personal sins. For His gift of salvation to be applied we must respond to Him in loving acceptance.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).

He came to – – – – –

II. PROTECT I JOHN 3: 8
“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8).

The word destroy means “to render ineffective, to rob of power.”

A missionary in Africa returned to his house to find in it a large python. He retreated to his truck and got his 45 pistol. Quietly he got as near the snake as possible and fired a mortal round right between the snakes eyes. The python didn’t die instantly. The missionary ran outside as the monstrous snake began to thrash around. The missionary heard things crashing, falling, and breaking. Soon all was quiet. Upon returning to the house he found the place in a mess. In dying the snake had caused a lot of damage. Christ mortally wounded Satan on the cross but he continues to do damage. Christ wants to repair that.

Is there a work of Satan in your life presently that you need to enlist Christ’s help in destroying? In these moments I want to deal with the one considered by some to be the number one sin of church going Christians. It is bitterness.

Guilt is what we feel when we hurt someone.

Bitterness is what we experience when someone hurts us.

Bitterness comes from within us. If a container of sweet water is jolted sweet water comes out. If a container of bitter water is jolted bitter water comes out. What is within is what comes out of us.

If you keep bitterness inside you it will make you sick.

If you vent it on others it will make them sick —– of you.

Get rid of it.
Admit you have been wronged.
Concede the person who wronged you deserves to be punished.
Resolve to release the offender of his or her debt.

You get rid of bitterness unilaterally. It doesn’t matter what the other person did or that they don’t seek forgiveness. Don’t concentrate on the offender. What he or she did is her problem. What you do about it is your problem. When you refuse to rid your life of bitterness you are the puppet of the offended. That person controls your emotions. Let Christ control them instead.

If you were to competitively run a race for a prize had you rather run alone or strapped to the leg of another as in a three legged race. When you refuse to get bitterness out of your life you are strapped to the offender and limited by that person.

Let Jesus destroy the word of Satan in your life. Get all bitterness out.

III. PROVIDE I JOHN 4: 9
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (I John 4:9).

He gives us strength by which to live.
He gives us peace in which to live.
He becomes the object for which to live.
This life is a reference to the fullest development of our highest powers, both of understanding and enjoyment.

Life with Christ gives even adversity purpose. Cripple such a person and you have Sir Walter Scott. Put him in a prison cell and you have a John Bunyan. Nearly bury him in snow at a place like Valley Forge and you have a George Washington. Have him born in abject poverty and you have a Lincoln. Put him in a grease pit in a train roundhouse and you have a Walter Chrysler. Make him second fiddle in an obscure South Africa orchestra and you have a Toscanini. Hardships with Christ as our companion don’t crush us they challenge us.

Christmas is not just the story of a baby born. It is the story about the person into whom the baby grew, who came to redeem us from our sins and to call us into partnership with His great and mighty purpose. That’s living.

It’s Love That Makes the World Go ‘Round: Part One

Colossians 2: 1 – 3

Jesus said, “If you love Me keep My commandments.” (John 14: 15) He then said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you love one another.” (John 13: 35)

Loving our kind is easy.

Then Jesus made sure we knew just how big the envelope was by saying, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you …If you love those who love you, what credit have you? For even sinners do the same.” (Luke 6: 27, 28, 32)

Then we are pressed to the wall by a divine definition of love being given in I Corinthians 13. Let’s pull back this veil very slowly for an understanding of all that is said on the subject is dependent on our understanding of what love really is. First, insight as to what love is, then what it isn’t.

Husbands and wives, persons who are dating, and children in relating to friends should not compromise on these facets of love.

WHAT LOVE DOES: It is patient… acts kindly… rejoices in truth… bears all things…believes all things… hopes all things… endures all things.

WHAT LOVE DOES NOT DO: behave rudely… seek its own…get easily provoked…thinks evil…rejoice in iniquity… envy… get proud and puffed up. Having considered this subject just briefly we are already pretty deep.

First, Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commandments. Then He said a sure sign to others that we are His disciples is that we will love one another. If He had only stopped there! No, He continued by commanding us to love our enemies who hate us and despitefully use us so much that we by doing good to them, blessing them even when they curse us, and praying for them. How?

We must decide that our truths are objective truths. That is, truths coming from an object outside ourselves. That object is Scripture as personified by Jesus. Our truths are not subjective. That is, I as the subject will not base my own beliefs and feelings on my own individual opinions.

Now simplify and apply that. Jesus said love your enemies. That command is difficult to comply with in light of those who despitefully use you. Right? 

That which makes it possible to comply is not merely the cold command to love, but our love for Jesus Christ. If we love Him properly we will want to please Him, the object, from which comes our objective truth, not our own subjective feelings. In effect, we love Him so much we would rather please Him than satisfy our own emotional response. By loving Him, keeping His commands is made easier.

Expressing love for those like us, and those unlike us, and those who don’t like us is made easier if we do so out of loving obedience to Jesus Christ. Such love makes all other forms of love better.