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JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Jesus was God’s LOGOS, His official word,
who was come in the flesh. (Please read and ponder John 1:1-14). Jesus and the
word of God are inseparable. One cannot “receive Jesus” without receiving God’s
word (John 14:23,24); neither can one receive the word of God without Jesus. In
fact, Jesus was so bold as to say that no one can get to God but by him.”
In John 12:48-48, Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words,
hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him
in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me,
he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know
that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as
the Father said unto me, so I speak.” If we are going to be judged by the word
of God, doesn’t it stand to reason that it is important to know that by which we
will be judged and live by it.
When Jesus prayed with his disciples, He asked the Father, “Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). He had told the disciples
earlier, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John
8:32). From these we learn that God’s word is truth and that the truth will make
one free from sin.
In view of this, it seems that all would want the truth above all other things
and they would seek to be God’s “true worshipers” and “worship in spirit and in
truth,” since Jesus said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. But this is not the case. In the early morning of
time, man turned away from the truth of God and the majority of the human family
have refused the truth from that time on.
The apostasy of the human race began when men “changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:25). Man is the “creature” and God the “Creator.” When
men do the things THEY want and like to do in their lives and in worship, they
are doing their own will instead of the will of God. Thus they worship and serve
the human–creature more than their Creator. This is done when people live for
their own passions, as the inspired writer illustrates in Romans 1, and devise
their own systems of beliefs, select the name they want to wear and worship the
things they like.
When the “truth of God” is taught on these things, many “turn away their ears
from the truth, and turn to fables” (2 Timothy 4:4). These are the type of
people of whom Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, “They received not the love
of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” These people
refuse God’s truth which could save them and prefer to believe Satan’s lies. God
allows them to want.
From the very beginning, man was allowed a choice, either believe what God said
to be true or believe Satan. In the Garden of Eden man was given the task of
tending and caring for it. He was told that he could eat of all of the fruit of
the Garden except “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”
(Genesis 2:17). But Satan came to Adam’s wife Eve and tempted her by asking, as
we would put it, “You can’t eat of all the trees of the Garden, can you?” This
might be a challenge to her to question God’s justice or at least ask why the
command was given.
The woman replied, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and
he did eat” (Genesis 3:2-6).
God said, “Thou shalt die.” Satan said, in other word, “No, you won’t die but
you’ll become wise as God.” Since the Devil’s lie was more “appealing” to the
human senses, Eve preferred to believe Satan rather than God. She ate of the
forbidden fruit and gave it to husband, Adam, and he also ate. Because of their
refusing to obey the truth and preferring to believe a lie, they suffered the
consequences by being driven from the Garden and the Tree of Life. Man has not
yet learned to love the truth of God which will save him but rather chooses to
follow those things which appeals to his humanity.
Many times it is the “easy route.” Even though the word of God tells man “Ye see
then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24),
many people will go right on accepting the doctrine of salvation by “faith
only.” Despite the word of God saying, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38), people will go right on teaching that a
person does not have to be baptized to be saved.
We once had a conversation with a very animate lady who pressed “faith only”
doctrine. She asked, “You people believe that you’ve got to be baptized to be
saved.” We answered, “Yes.” Then she was asked, “So you say, that a person must
believe to be saved but not baptized?” She answered, “Yes.” Then, we quoted to
her Jesus saying in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved.” “Now,” we went on, “you say, ‘He that believe and is not baptized shall
be saved,’ but since Jesus is the Savior, we’ll just have to believe what Jesus
says, instead of what Mrs. Brown says.”
When we are comparing teaching and practices, we need to remember the principle,
“let God be true and every man a liar”(Romans 3:4). If men relate to you what
God wants, accept it; if it is not the will of God, reject it. How does a person
know the difference? Luke tells us the Bereans “were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). Know
what the Lord wants by reading and studying His word. Why will anyone exchange
the truth of God for a lie if he really wants to be saved? It’s hard to
understand.
In spite of the fact that Christians are under the New Testament and are warned
against adding anything to it they continue to change and add things that are
not found there. The warning of the Lord is plain, “For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and
from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18,19).
The New Testament church met on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts
20:7). In that assembly men only taught or preached (1 Corinthians 14:26-35; 1
Timothy 2:11). There are things that men have added and changed in worship
“which have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and
neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh”
(Colossians 2:23). The early Christians in worship sang praises to God and made
melody in their hearts to the Lord (Eph 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Men were not
satisfied with these things and so they added instrumental music to the worship.
They didn’t like men only doing the teaching in one assembly, so they have added
Sunday School classes and women teachers. Men haven’t liked to drink of one cup
in the communion as Jesus and the early church did (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark
14:22-25; Luke 22:17-22; 1 Corinthians 10:16,17; 11:20-29). Therefore, they have
done what they liked and added many cups and also loaves to the Lord’s supper.
Men have demonstrated time and again that they will do as they please and engage
in “will worship” (Colossians 2:23); thus they, “worship and serve the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” When men show a determination
to have their own way in religion, they “resist the truth.” Many can be said to
be “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:8), and
are willing to follow those “by reason of whom the way of truth is evil spoken
of” (2 Peter 2:2).
Friend, if you are concerned about being right in the things you do, and more
interested in doing the will of God rather than simply following your own will
or some other man in worship and service, why not investigate the Truth for
yourself and be sure that you are standing in “the old paths” (Judges 6:16).
Remember, “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23),
and “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the
ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25).
May the Lord help us to develop hearts and minds which are described, “As the
hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God”
(Psalm 42:1). Let us be so determined to know and do God’s will that we can say,
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm
119:11).
= = = = = = =
STRENGTH FOR ADVERSITY
If you faint in the day of adversity,
Your strength is small (Proverbs 24:10)
= = = = = = =
Someone said, "The person who stays out of the church because there are too many
hypocrites in it, is doing the right thing; one more would'nt improve the
situation." The truth is that critic is making preparation to spend eternity
with all the hyprocites.
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