Thursday, June 30, 2016
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Hiram GA Outreach
Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ -
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. - Psalm 34:8
What a wonderful time it was at Ben Strickland Memorial Park in Hiram, GA in sharing the Gospel with many people. Thank you to everyone who had prayed for us while we were there. Your labors were not in vain. We started our morning at Starbucks in Hiram where we had the opportunity to exhort one another in the Lord and share the gospel with some customers and one of the employees there who is attending a 7th Day Baptist church. I gave this man my number and email as well as a card to our church
When we arrived at the park around 10:00AM it was virtually empty. We spent some time testing the acoustics at the amphitheater and found it to be a wonderful place to host open-air services. We decided to go to the pavilion to pray and met two women whose hearts were open to the Lord and professed to love the Lord Jesus. Both were orginally from Jamaica. After a brief conversation with them we noticed the park begin to fill with people. The women joined us in prayer for a time there and we began to go out to share the gospel with people in the park and in the parking lot as many people drove to park in the parking lot to eat a meal. This proved to be a fruitful place to speak with people as they were coming and going. One of the brothers brought water in a cooler which became a great blessing to many. One family had a daughter who was quite thirsty and they had forgotten water. As the day progressed the basketball courts filled up with young men who were able to share the gospel with as a group and one-on-one. One of the main messages that was on our hearts to share with the people was the necessity of the new birth. We asked the question to many if they had ever heard such a teaching and we were amazed to hear that many had never heard such a doctrine before. It was a true joy to open the Scriptures to them and show them their need of being born again and way through Christ Jesus alone.
We also invited everyone who did not have a home church to visit with us at Berean Baptist Church in Hiram. Many took our church cards and several expressed their desire to find a home church. Nearly everyone we talked to did not have a church they were a member of or regularly attending. Some we met had recently moved to the area and had been wanted to find a place to attend.
We met a man who was part of a church that teaches and preaches a false prosperity Gospel. We spent several minuted reasoning from the Scriptures with this man about the Gospel and many other subjects. He had remarked that he had prayed an hour before coming to the park to the Lord to give him direction and felt his meeting us was an answer to that prayer. When we opened the Scriptures to him that contradicted the things he was teaching, he remarked that he could not argue against the Word of God.
Praise the Lord for accompanying the speaking of His Word with power and conviction. We also met a brother in Christ at the park who was attending another church, but it was far from his home. He rejoiced to see us sharing the Gospel and giving water to people as an act of love. He said he was going to consider coming to our church as it has been his desire to find something closer to home. The Lord's will be done.
We all left greatly encouraged of the Lord to continue this work and continually seek out people to speak to about their state of their soul. We know that we saw great success this day because of the blessing of the Lord and many prayers of the saints for us. We saw a great need to have some godly women to accompany us as there was much need to minister to women. I learned from this experience that not only should I have sought to point people to Christ and a good church, but I should have sought to get their contact information for follow-up and to add to our church email list. Next time I will ask people to provide name, phone, and email so that we can continue to reach out to those who expressed interest.
Praise the Lord for this outreach. May many, many more follow it to the glory to God.
Soli Deo Gloria
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. - Psalm 34:8
 |
| Basketball at the Park |
When we arrived at the park around 10:00AM it was virtually empty. We spent some time testing the acoustics at the amphitheater and found it to be a wonderful place to host open-air services. We decided to go to the pavilion to pray and met two women whose hearts were open to the Lord and professed to love the Lord Jesus. Both were orginally from Jamaica. After a brief conversation with them we noticed the park begin to fill with people. The women joined us in prayer for a time there and we began to go out to share the gospel with people in the park and in the parking lot as many people drove to park in the parking lot to eat a meal. This proved to be a fruitful place to speak with people as they were coming and going. One of the brothers brought water in a cooler which became a great blessing to many. One family had a daughter who was quite thirsty and they had forgotten water. As the day progressed the basketball courts filled up with young men who were able to share the gospel with as a group and one-on-one. One of the main messages that was on our hearts to share with the people was the necessity of the new birth. We asked the question to many if they had ever heard such a teaching and we were amazed to hear that many had never heard such a doctrine before. It was a true joy to open the Scriptures to them and show them their need of being born again and way through Christ Jesus alone.
 |
| Sharing the Gospel in the Parking Lot |
We met a man who was part of a church that teaches and preaches a false prosperity Gospel. We spent several minuted reasoning from the Scriptures with this man about the Gospel and many other subjects. He had remarked that he had prayed an hour before coming to the park to the Lord to give him direction and felt his meeting us was an answer to that prayer. When we opened the Scriptures to him that contradicted the things he was teaching, he remarked that he could not argue against the Word of God.
Praise the Lord for accompanying the speaking of His Word with power and conviction. We also met a brother in Christ at the park who was attending another church, but it was far from his home. He rejoiced to see us sharing the Gospel and giving water to people as an act of love. He said he was going to consider coming to our church as it has been his desire to find something closer to home. The Lord's will be done.
We all left greatly encouraged of the Lord to continue this work and continually seek out people to speak to about their state of their soul. We know that we saw great success this day because of the blessing of the Lord and many prayers of the saints for us. We saw a great need to have some godly women to accompany us as there was much need to minister to women. I learned from this experience that not only should I have sought to point people to Christ and a good church, but I should have sought to get their contact information for follow-up and to add to our church email list. Next time I will ask people to provide name, phone, and email so that we can continue to reach out to those who expressed interest.
Praise the Lord for this outreach. May many, many more follow it to the glory to God.
Soli Deo Gloria
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Update on Dayspring
http://dayspringchildrenshome.blogspot.com/
Please click the link to my other blog for an update on the ministry in India. Pray for this work and for us as to how we can help and support.
Please click the link to my other blog for an update on the ministry in India. Pray for this work and for us as to how we can help and support.
Friday, April 10, 2015
The sad ignorance of the unbeliever and of Frank Bruni
This obscure, unknown blog and blog post will most likely be lost in never, never land of the internet. Nonetheless, there are some things that out to be out in view if per chance someone may happen across it.
I came across Frank Bruni's opinion piece posted on the New York Times entitled "Bigotry, the Bible, and Lesson of Indiana." It is appalling the rhetoric certain people and talking heads want to take regarding the Holy Scriptures and followers of Jesus Christ. They rally to themselves every liberal thinking person, religious or not, and flatter themselves to have accomplished something. I saw this many years again in the university with agnostic and atheistic professors who would point to this or that Christian group and say "See, they do not accept the resurrection of Christ, and yet are still Christians!" To which could be answer, "Sir, what defines Christianity?"
I think that if Christ Himself came and rebuked these men they would brand Him a bigot and seek to crucify him afresh. And so these religious freedom laws bring the subject to the minds of many Americans of an issue that has been boiling over for some time in this nation. As we Christians have watched our brothers and sisters Christ in America gladly face the loss of their livelihoods, jobs, and goods confiscated for their stand for righteousness and biblical fidelity, many of us have been emboldened and encouraged. I think of such verses as 1 Peter 3:14, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye..."
We are willing, if it be God's will, to not only suffer the loss of all these things for Christ's sake, but our own lives also knowing we have a better country and an everlasting inheritance given to us. Nor are we angry or bitter against those who do these things to us knowing that we also were once foolish and blind and ignorant just as they are. We walked in lived in the same flood of dissipation until the mercy and grace of God appeared to us and washed us from our transgressions, healed our blind eyes, and made us alive in Christ Jesus. Now our hearts are filled with His love and His Word is on our lips.
Frank says homosexuality and Christianity don't have to be in conflict in any church anywhere. But this is not true. This reflects such a gross and fallen understanding of Christianity that one sometimes wonders if the world is really hearing the message clearly. To refer to a Christian church is to refer to those who are born of God by His word and Spirit and who are washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. The Church is the Body of Christ and wife of the Lamb of God. Men ought to turn the Bible that they suppose supports their erroneous notions and there see instruction in Ephesians Chapter 5 where the Bible instructs both husbands and wives, and quotes Moses regarding a man leaving his mother and father and joining to his wife. Moreover, the apostle teaches that while he is indeed giving instructions to husbands and wives, he speaks a mystery concerning Christ and His church.
The reality is the earthly picture of the union of a man and woman is a picture of the union of Christ and His church. In the beginning God created mankind male and female, and in His own image He created them in this fashion. This is why all true Christians testify against homosexuality because it is contrary and antagonistic to the image of God. It mars and destroys the picture of the union Christ and His church. And therefore it is no wonder that in its rhetoric it is vehement and violent to the Christian.
Frank wants to extend an olive branch to the Christian who thinks Christianity is opposed to homosexuality by saying we are trapped by our tradition. If that tradition be regarded as the plain teaching and examples laid out in Holy Scriptures then we agree. Moreover we happily bound in this Scripture tradition! But this is not what he means. He attempts to set other knowledge over and above the clear teaching of the Bible and thus attempt to set aside biblical teaching for new ideas. He suggests that the continued view that all forms of homosexuality are sin is a choice. Perhaps I will agree, if that choice means that I am going to choose to stick with the Bible's teaching rather than fashionable notions of the day.
You see, we true Christians believe the Bible is the eternal Word of God written. It is true today, tomorrow, and forever. In fact, this is the very nature of truth isn't it Frank? Truth does not change. And while the advances of science and knowledge may have brought some good things, such "advances" are not advances at all if they depart from the truth. They are nothing more than lies.
To suggest to us Christians that the authors of the Bible have biases and blind spots is to call into question and accuse of error the writings left behind by them. And that is to impugn the prophets and apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. This we can never accept. Neither do we ignore biblical interpretation, but like all true Christians agree together that the Bible has one interpretation. The fact that many disagree and debate the Bible's teaching has never been a mark against the text but a testament to the blindness and sinfulness of mankind.
I am happy to look honestly at all forms of homosexuality. And what do I say or see? A sinner in need of Christ Jesus. More or less flawed? No sir. Ruined in sin. More or less dignified? No sir, a sinner through and through and worthy of wrath of God just as the rest. What can we say to these things but "Repent, and believe the Gospel."
While you may think we need to be freed from these opinions, we think you need to be freed from your sins. And surely we will be also accused of self-righteousness in saying so, but nothing could be further from the truth. We were just as you are!
To lay before me 10,000 protestants, evangelicals, and roman catholics to give aid and support to your viewpoint is to present to the true Christian 10,000 apostates who have forsaken the Lord Jesus. Religion is not going to be final holdout and most stubborn refuge for homophobia. Mankind in his sinfulness will create a religion and compromise in 10 million ways to live in and love his sin.
It will be biblical Christianity that will hold fast. It will be true Christians that hold against any acceptance of all forms of homosexuality. Let God be true, and every man a liar. To tell you, Frank Bruni, and every other person who loves and practices sin, that such things are not an offense, that such things are ok, when God's Word clearly and plainly say otherwise, would be to become again like you and love and practice a lie.
Homosexuality is a sin. Those who defiantly practice it will face severe judgment and wrath from God. Those who turn from this sin, and all their sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may have mercy and forgiveness of their sins by His blood. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world...not confirms mankind into it.
Soli Deo Gloria
I came across Frank Bruni's opinion piece posted on the New York Times entitled "Bigotry, the Bible, and Lesson of Indiana." It is appalling the rhetoric certain people and talking heads want to take regarding the Holy Scriptures and followers of Jesus Christ. They rally to themselves every liberal thinking person, religious or not, and flatter themselves to have accomplished something. I saw this many years again in the university with agnostic and atheistic professors who would point to this or that Christian group and say "See, they do not accept the resurrection of Christ, and yet are still Christians!" To which could be answer, "Sir, what defines Christianity?"
I think that if Christ Himself came and rebuked these men they would brand Him a bigot and seek to crucify him afresh. And so these religious freedom laws bring the subject to the minds of many Americans of an issue that has been boiling over for some time in this nation. As we Christians have watched our brothers and sisters Christ in America gladly face the loss of their livelihoods, jobs, and goods confiscated for their stand for righteousness and biblical fidelity, many of us have been emboldened and encouraged. I think of such verses as 1 Peter 3:14, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye..."
We are willing, if it be God's will, to not only suffer the loss of all these things for Christ's sake, but our own lives also knowing we have a better country and an everlasting inheritance given to us. Nor are we angry or bitter against those who do these things to us knowing that we also were once foolish and blind and ignorant just as they are. We walked in lived in the same flood of dissipation until the mercy and grace of God appeared to us and washed us from our transgressions, healed our blind eyes, and made us alive in Christ Jesus. Now our hearts are filled with His love and His Word is on our lips.
Frank says homosexuality and Christianity don't have to be in conflict in any church anywhere. But this is not true. This reflects such a gross and fallen understanding of Christianity that one sometimes wonders if the world is really hearing the message clearly. To refer to a Christian church is to refer to those who are born of God by His word and Spirit and who are washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. The Church is the Body of Christ and wife of the Lamb of God. Men ought to turn the Bible that they suppose supports their erroneous notions and there see instruction in Ephesians Chapter 5 where the Bible instructs both husbands and wives, and quotes Moses regarding a man leaving his mother and father and joining to his wife. Moreover, the apostle teaches that while he is indeed giving instructions to husbands and wives, he speaks a mystery concerning Christ and His church.
The reality is the earthly picture of the union of a man and woman is a picture of the union of Christ and His church. In the beginning God created mankind male and female, and in His own image He created them in this fashion. This is why all true Christians testify against homosexuality because it is contrary and antagonistic to the image of God. It mars and destroys the picture of the union Christ and His church. And therefore it is no wonder that in its rhetoric it is vehement and violent to the Christian.
Frank wants to extend an olive branch to the Christian who thinks Christianity is opposed to homosexuality by saying we are trapped by our tradition. If that tradition be regarded as the plain teaching and examples laid out in Holy Scriptures then we agree. Moreover we happily bound in this Scripture tradition! But this is not what he means. He attempts to set other knowledge over and above the clear teaching of the Bible and thus attempt to set aside biblical teaching for new ideas. He suggests that the continued view that all forms of homosexuality are sin is a choice. Perhaps I will agree, if that choice means that I am going to choose to stick with the Bible's teaching rather than fashionable notions of the day.
You see, we true Christians believe the Bible is the eternal Word of God written. It is true today, tomorrow, and forever. In fact, this is the very nature of truth isn't it Frank? Truth does not change. And while the advances of science and knowledge may have brought some good things, such "advances" are not advances at all if they depart from the truth. They are nothing more than lies.
To suggest to us Christians that the authors of the Bible have biases and blind spots is to call into question and accuse of error the writings left behind by them. And that is to impugn the prophets and apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. This we can never accept. Neither do we ignore biblical interpretation, but like all true Christians agree together that the Bible has one interpretation. The fact that many disagree and debate the Bible's teaching has never been a mark against the text but a testament to the blindness and sinfulness of mankind.
I am happy to look honestly at all forms of homosexuality. And what do I say or see? A sinner in need of Christ Jesus. More or less flawed? No sir. Ruined in sin. More or less dignified? No sir, a sinner through and through and worthy of wrath of God just as the rest. What can we say to these things but "Repent, and believe the Gospel."
While you may think we need to be freed from these opinions, we think you need to be freed from your sins. And surely we will be also accused of self-righteousness in saying so, but nothing could be further from the truth. We were just as you are!
To lay before me 10,000 protestants, evangelicals, and roman catholics to give aid and support to your viewpoint is to present to the true Christian 10,000 apostates who have forsaken the Lord Jesus. Religion is not going to be final holdout and most stubborn refuge for homophobia. Mankind in his sinfulness will create a religion and compromise in 10 million ways to live in and love his sin.
It will be biblical Christianity that will hold fast. It will be true Christians that hold against any acceptance of all forms of homosexuality. Let God be true, and every man a liar. To tell you, Frank Bruni, and every other person who loves and practices sin, that such things are not an offense, that such things are ok, when God's Word clearly and plainly say otherwise, would be to become again like you and love and practice a lie.
Homosexuality is a sin. Those who defiantly practice it will face severe judgment and wrath from God. Those who turn from this sin, and all their sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may have mercy and forgiveness of their sins by His blood. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world...not confirms mankind into it.
Soli Deo Gloria
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
The Siren Song of Pornography
It has been my custom, by God's grace, these last few months to read and contemplate on the Proverbs. As a way to work through them systematically have endeavored to read a chapter a day and by this method work through the book of Proverbs monthly. This has been done to great profit to my soul and delight in my heart. I have now nearly silenced the voice that says that each time I begin there will be no benefit. The pernicious discouragement certainly comes from a foul source that now only serves to cheer me on more.
Today, being the 7th day of January, I read Proverbs 7 once more. Today my heart yearned and groaned about those men and women of the world caught in the snares of pornography. This plague has spread over the face of the whole earth infiltrating hearts and homes through the internet never conceived even possible in any age of man till now. We have seen our leaders of state and home destroyed by this vice more times that we like to admit. The insanity rages on as our society even tries to normalize it and say it is good and permissible. The truth of the matter is that it is no more than adultery and fornication vicariously carried out by men and women though their computer and television screens. If a man were to creep to the window of a neighbor's home and gaze upon them in the nakedness and intimacy, and were caught, he would be arrest and charges brought against him for being a peeping Tom. Yet our society stealthily peeks through public and private computer, TV, and movie screens to obtain their immoral and adulterous thrills.
Proverbs 7 seems a fit chapter in applying the truth to our hearts in this matter. If I be permitted to walk through the chapter and adding some commentary to apply it to the licentious practice of modern society is engaged in perhaps some might be saved from this pathway that surely leads to hell and destruction both in this life and the next.
A Proverbs 7 Paraphrase/Commentary
My son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange (other) woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding....
Channel surfing through cable television, searching the web, near her shows and web pages, and he went the way to her domains, in the early hours, late in the evening, in the black and dark night. And, behold, there she met with him, the woman, clothed like a prostitute and with a subtle heart (but she is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay at home but is outside in the streets or on the corner like a prostitute looking for her next victim. She is not what she seems).
So she caught him when he finally chose the video/picture to watch, and she kissed him in his minds eye and in his heart with a saucy face and said 'I am free and at peace and have no obligations except to be with you. I am free and have made my bed and place that are filled with delightful and wonder things for you to enjoy. All of it looks good and the smell of my perfumes are intoxicating. Stay with me a long time and let us enjoy ourselves all night long and be comforted with pleasure. There is none in heaven or on the earth around that can stop us or will see us! You can delete the history from your computer and hide your tracks and no one will know.
And with her sultry speeches, beauty, and sultry lips she enticed him beyond resistance and greedily he ran to all her images and delights like a cow goes to the slaughter or as a criminal goes to prison. He did not know that he was being led to his doom and prison until the arrow struck him through his liver and like a foul beast caught by a trapper and took his life away. Into bondage he went, and no satisfaction was his.
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
O dear reader, if God would give but one straying soul to happen across this little unknown blog and warn them I should count myself blessed and be forever grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Both unbelieving and sometimes believer in Jesus are found to be ensnared by the adulterous without having to leave their homes. In the comforts and privacy of their offices, computers, smartphones, and the like they pass near her corner and go the way to her house. They do not know or consider that the Lord of Heaven has looked through the window of His house and seen what you do.
She has caught you in all her subtleties and deceived you with her images. She has lied to by telling you in your heart that none see and you will not be in trouble for your deeds. Hear the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom!! You may go on believing this until the day comes when the arrow of God's truth will strike through you inmost parts and catches you like bird who hurries along to the trap. She has told you that in her place are pleasures forevermore but she has made her bed in hell. And that is exactly where you will find you resting place unless you repent.
Drive this woman from your hearts, your homes, your computers, and your smartphones. Do not think that it will be easy. As a fish hook often tears the guts out of the fish that swallows it to remove it, so will removing your heart from these pernicious ways and practicing tear at your mind and heart. Do not let despair also lie to you and say that it is impossible.
"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee, keep my commandments, and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye, bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart..."
Friend, be you young man or old, young woman or old, the Lord Jesus is able and willing to forgive. He is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Lay hold of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Set His words upon your heart. Store up His commandments within you. Run by the door of His house and live! Take the bane of filth and immorality out of your eye and make God's law the apple of it. Let your fingers cease searching for sexual immorality and let them lay hold of His commandment.
Do not delay and do not wait. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart...while it is still called today.
Today, being the 7th day of January, I read Proverbs 7 once more. Today my heart yearned and groaned about those men and women of the world caught in the snares of pornography. This plague has spread over the face of the whole earth infiltrating hearts and homes through the internet never conceived even possible in any age of man till now. We have seen our leaders of state and home destroyed by this vice more times that we like to admit. The insanity rages on as our society even tries to normalize it and say it is good and permissible. The truth of the matter is that it is no more than adultery and fornication vicariously carried out by men and women though their computer and television screens. If a man were to creep to the window of a neighbor's home and gaze upon them in the nakedness and intimacy, and were caught, he would be arrest and charges brought against him for being a peeping Tom. Yet our society stealthily peeks through public and private computer, TV, and movie screens to obtain their immoral and adulterous thrills.
Proverbs 7 seems a fit chapter in applying the truth to our hearts in this matter. If I be permitted to walk through the chapter and adding some commentary to apply it to the licentious practice of modern society is engaged in perhaps some might be saved from this pathway that surely leads to hell and destruction both in this life and the next.
A Proverbs 7 Paraphrase/Commentary
My son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange (other) woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding....
Channel surfing through cable television, searching the web, near her shows and web pages, and he went the way to her domains, in the early hours, late in the evening, in the black and dark night. And, behold, there she met with him, the woman, clothed like a prostitute and with a subtle heart (but she is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay at home but is outside in the streets or on the corner like a prostitute looking for her next victim. She is not what she seems).
So she caught him when he finally chose the video/picture to watch, and she kissed him in his minds eye and in his heart with a saucy face and said 'I am free and at peace and have no obligations except to be with you. I am free and have made my bed and place that are filled with delightful and wonder things for you to enjoy. All of it looks good and the smell of my perfumes are intoxicating. Stay with me a long time and let us enjoy ourselves all night long and be comforted with pleasure. There is none in heaven or on the earth around that can stop us or will see us! You can delete the history from your computer and hide your tracks and no one will know.
And with her sultry speeches, beauty, and sultry lips she enticed him beyond resistance and greedily he ran to all her images and delights like a cow goes to the slaughter or as a criminal goes to prison. He did not know that he was being led to his doom and prison until the arrow struck him through his liver and like a foul beast caught by a trapper and took his life away. Into bondage he went, and no satisfaction was his.
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
O dear reader, if God would give but one straying soul to happen across this little unknown blog and warn them I should count myself blessed and be forever grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Both unbelieving and sometimes believer in Jesus are found to be ensnared by the adulterous without having to leave their homes. In the comforts and privacy of their offices, computers, smartphones, and the like they pass near her corner and go the way to her house. They do not know or consider that the Lord of Heaven has looked through the window of His house and seen what you do.
She has caught you in all her subtleties and deceived you with her images. She has lied to by telling you in your heart that none see and you will not be in trouble for your deeds. Hear the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom!! You may go on believing this until the day comes when the arrow of God's truth will strike through you inmost parts and catches you like bird who hurries along to the trap. She has told you that in her place are pleasures forevermore but she has made her bed in hell. And that is exactly where you will find you resting place unless you repent.
Drive this woman from your hearts, your homes, your computers, and your smartphones. Do not think that it will be easy. As a fish hook often tears the guts out of the fish that swallows it to remove it, so will removing your heart from these pernicious ways and practicing tear at your mind and heart. Do not let despair also lie to you and say that it is impossible.
"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee, keep my commandments, and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye, bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart..."
Friend, be you young man or old, young woman or old, the Lord Jesus is able and willing to forgive. He is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Lay hold of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Set His words upon your heart. Store up His commandments within you. Run by the door of His house and live! Take the bane of filth and immorality out of your eye and make God's law the apple of it. Let your fingers cease searching for sexual immorality and let them lay hold of His commandment.
Do not delay and do not wait. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart...while it is still called today.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
The Authenticity of 1 John 5:7
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." 1 John 5:7
I am posting only to mainly quote Dr. John Gill regarding this passage as it is so very good and so very lost upon the modern Christian mind. Perhaps it would be pleasing to the Lord to have this little witness out there in support of this verse as the authentic Word of God which so many deny today.
This is such a clear and strong text of Scripture to support the doctrine of the Trinity none can deny. What they have denied is that this verse is Scripture at all and was inserted by a scribe or by Erasmus. Why we are so quick to accept such views without doing our own research is just a symptom of the age and times we find ourselves in. Consider Dr. Gill's commentary who wrote in the 18th century when all texts of the Greek scriptures and body of knowledge was to be had including the Alexandrian Greek texts which our modern translations make too much of. This portion simply deals with the authenticity of the text itself.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven,.... That is, that Jesus is the Son of God. The genuineness of this text has been called in question by some, because it is wanting in the Syriac version, as it also is in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; and because the old Latin interpreter has it not; and it is not to be found in many Greek manuscripts; nor cited by many of the ancient fathers, even by such who wrote against the Arians, when it might have been of great service to them: to all which it may be replied, that as to the Syriac version, which is the most ancient, and of the greatest consequence, it is but a version, and a defective one. The history of the adulterous woman in the eighth of John, the second epistle of Peter, the second and third epistles of John, the epistle of Jude, and the book of the Revelations, were formerly wanting in it, till restored from Bishop Usher's copy by De Dieu and Dr. Pocock, and who also, from an eastern copy, has supplied this version with this text. As to the old Latin interpreter, it is certain it is to be seen in many Latin manuscripts of an early date, and stands in the Vulgate Latin edition of the London Polyglot Bible: and the Latin translation, which bears the name of Jerom, has it, and who, in an epistle of his to Eustochium, prefixed to his translation of these canonical epistles, complains of the omission of it by unfaithful interpreters. And as to its being wanting in some Greek manuscripts, as the Alexandrian, and others, it need only be said, that it is to be found in many others; it is in an old British copy, and in the Complutensian edition, the compilers of which made use of various copies; and out of sixteen ancient copies of Robert Stephens's, nine of them had it: and as to its not being cited by some of the ancient fathers, this can be no sufficient proof of the spuriousness of it, since it might be in the original copy, though not in the copies used by them, through the carelessness or unfaithfulness of transcribers; or it might be in their copies, and yet not cited by them, they having Scriptures enough without it, to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, and the divinity of Christ: and yet, after all, certain it is, that it is cited by many of them; by Fulgentius (z), in the beginning of the "sixth" century, against the Arians, without any scruple or hesitation; and Jerom, as before observed, has it in his translation made in the latter end of the "fourth" century; and it is cited by Athanasius (a) about the year 350; and before him by Cyprian (b), in the middle, of the "third" century, about the year 250; and is referred to by Tertullian (c)about, the year 200; and which was within a "hundred" years, or little more, of the writing of the epistle; which may be enough to satisfy anyone of the genuineness of this passage; and besides, there never was any dispute about it till Erasmus left it out in the, first edition of his translation of the New Testament; and yet he himself, upon the credit of the old British copy before mentioned, put it into another edition of his translation."
I am posting only to mainly quote Dr. John Gill regarding this passage as it is so very good and so very lost upon the modern Christian mind. Perhaps it would be pleasing to the Lord to have this little witness out there in support of this verse as the authentic Word of God which so many deny today.
This is such a clear and strong text of Scripture to support the doctrine of the Trinity none can deny. What they have denied is that this verse is Scripture at all and was inserted by a scribe or by Erasmus. Why we are so quick to accept such views without doing our own research is just a symptom of the age and times we find ourselves in. Consider Dr. Gill's commentary who wrote in the 18th century when all texts of the Greek scriptures and body of knowledge was to be had including the Alexandrian Greek texts which our modern translations make too much of. This portion simply deals with the authenticity of the text itself.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven,.... That is, that Jesus is the Son of God. The genuineness of this text has been called in question by some, because it is wanting in the Syriac version, as it also is in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; and because the old Latin interpreter has it not; and it is not to be found in many Greek manuscripts; nor cited by many of the ancient fathers, even by such who wrote against the Arians, when it might have been of great service to them: to all which it may be replied, that as to the Syriac version, which is the most ancient, and of the greatest consequence, it is but a version, and a defective one. The history of the adulterous woman in the eighth of John, the second epistle of Peter, the second and third epistles of John, the epistle of Jude, and the book of the Revelations, were formerly wanting in it, till restored from Bishop Usher's copy by De Dieu and Dr. Pocock, and who also, from an eastern copy, has supplied this version with this text. As to the old Latin interpreter, it is certain it is to be seen in many Latin manuscripts of an early date, and stands in the Vulgate Latin edition of the London Polyglot Bible: and the Latin translation, which bears the name of Jerom, has it, and who, in an epistle of his to Eustochium, prefixed to his translation of these canonical epistles, complains of the omission of it by unfaithful interpreters. And as to its being wanting in some Greek manuscripts, as the Alexandrian, and others, it need only be said, that it is to be found in many others; it is in an old British copy, and in the Complutensian edition, the compilers of which made use of various copies; and out of sixteen ancient copies of Robert Stephens's, nine of them had it: and as to its not being cited by some of the ancient fathers, this can be no sufficient proof of the spuriousness of it, since it might be in the original copy, though not in the copies used by them, through the carelessness or unfaithfulness of transcribers; or it might be in their copies, and yet not cited by them, they having Scriptures enough without it, to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, and the divinity of Christ: and yet, after all, certain it is, that it is cited by many of them; by Fulgentius (z), in the beginning of the "sixth" century, against the Arians, without any scruple or hesitation; and Jerom, as before observed, has it in his translation made in the latter end of the "fourth" century; and it is cited by Athanasius (a) about the year 350; and before him by Cyprian (b), in the middle, of the "third" century, about the year 250; and is referred to by Tertullian (c)about, the year 200; and which was within a "hundred" years, or little more, of the writing of the epistle; which may be enough to satisfy anyone of the genuineness of this passage; and besides, there never was any dispute about it till Erasmus left it out in the, first edition of his translation of the New Testament; and yet he himself, upon the credit of the old British copy before mentioned, put it into another edition of his translation."
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Jesus: The Lord of the Sabbath
I want to continue my study of the Sabbath Day by now looking at the teachings and interactions the Lord Jesus had as recorded in the Gospels. The first one that I am examining is where the Lord teaches that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. One note before looking at this teaching regarding something that has stood out to me in my reading of the Scripture recently is worthy of noting. It has had the effect of humbling me and instilling the fear of the Lord in my heart and I hope it does the same for you as well.
In Matthew 5:17-19 we read the following, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (NKJV).
While this verse is sometimes quoted in support of the Christian Sabbath Day teaching, it is not my design here to use it for that reason. While the Lord is speaking specifically regarding the law and the Prophets, and the fulfillment of all those things, I think it is safe to say that this means anything taught in the Bible. There is no doubt that men and women today and in history have mis-taught, mis-used, and twisted the Bible's teaching. Some have done this ignorantly while others have done this for their own wicked purposes. What stands clearly out to me in this text is that the ones who break even the least of these commandments, and teach others to as well, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. This is terrifying. It is enough to never want to be a teacher of the Bible! Yet, by not teaching it to others I am not acquitted from my obligation and responsibility to obey it. Therefore, to understand it more fully and completely is of utmost importance to me.
For me personally, I cannot escape teaching the Bible to others because I am a father--and that of seven wonderful children! I am responsible before God to train them in the things of God, to fear Him and obey Him, and therefore I must teach them His Word. I am also a husband of one wife. I am commanded by God to wash my wife with the water of the Word and help her as much as possible to grow in Christ Jesus.
This is sobering and a fearful thing for me. I never want to disobey the Word of God myself nor teach my house to do so because of my lack of understanding. Nor do I wish my reader to come away with a false teaching that would either lead them to legalism nor licentiousness. To make this applicable to our subject, with the fear of the Lord in my heart, if there is a Christian Sabbath Day taught by the Holy Scriptures, and I teach my house they do not have to obey this, then I will have both broken the law myself and have been found to teach others also. If there is no Christian Sabbath Day and I will have taught others there is, then I will be found to having added to God's law things He did not enjoin upon them and be guilty of putting burdens on others He has not.
What a great responsibility this is! O Lord Jesus, be merciful to your people and to all the teachers of Your Holy Scriptures. Keep us from error and help us understand Your teachings that we may obey and do them as You have commanded and for those of us who must teach others, that we may teach them to obey all that you have commanded and not a syllable more. Enable us by your great power to strengthen our minds and hearts to labor hard in the Word of God in our studies and prosper the work of our hands. Amen.
In the Gospels of our Lord Jesus we find the account of Jesus walking through the grainfields with His disciples on the Sabbath day. This account is found in all but the Gospel of John. We find this event spoken of in Matthew 12:1-8, Luke 6:1-5, and Mark 2:23-28. Each witness here gives a clear picture of what took place that day and each one with a unanimous testimony: the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Each one also adds a bit of information to paint a more clear picture for us. Matthew shows us that these men who questioned Him missed essential meaning regarding the Sabbath. After a couple questions Jesus says, "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." v.7. Mark recording the same account bears witness of Jesus' mention of Abiathar the high priest setting the historical context for the happenings of King David when he took and ate the showbread thus furnishing us with a witness to the reliability of the Old Testament Scriptures. Moreover, Mark by the Holy Spirit gives us these words of Jesus, "..The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath..." not found in the other Gospels. What precious truth is here! At a closer examination of the text I found that in the original Received Text the Koine Greek places the definite article upon the word "man" so that it would not be improper to translate this as "the man." Hardly any reader can look at this and not recognize that Jesus is referring to Adam, the first man. And Adam, in that day, standing in the place as head of the whole human race, we have here from our Lord Jesus that the sabbath was given to mankind. Luke brings us, as it were, into the grainfields with the disciples and the Lord so that we can walk beside them as Jesus teaches us. "...and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing the in their hands." v.1 Here we are close enough to see the disciples rubbing the wheat in their hands doing that which these pharisees believed to be unlawful.
I am so thankful to Jesus that this part of the life and teaching of Jesus is recorded. John tells us that not everything Jesus did and taught is written. But the things that are written are written that we might believe, and believing we might have life in His Name. (John 20:30-31) This is recorded in three Gospels for our instruction. This was a significant controversy in those days. How controversies change! In those days the contention was over breaking the Sabbath. Today the controversy is over whether this is one at all. The issue was raised by the legalistic Jews of Jesus' day, the Pharisees. It therefore a question of lawfulness they were primarily concerned. It may prove helpful to understand this group of people to aid our understanding of the text.
I am so thankful to Jesus that this part of the life and teaching of Jesus is recorded. John tells us that not everything Jesus did and taught is written. But the things that are written are written that we might believe, and believing we might have life in His Name. (John 20:30-31) This is recorded in three Gospels for our instruction. This was a significant controversy in those days. How controversies change! In those days the contention was over breaking the Sabbath. Today the controversy is over whether this is one at all. The issue was raised by the legalistic Jews of Jesus' day, the Pharisees. It therefore a question of lawfulness they were primarily concerned. It may prove helpful to understand this group of people to aid our understanding of the text.
The Pharisees
The pharisees have been known in Christian circles in mainly a negative context. They are, after all, subject to many scathing rebukes from Jesus. In our texts they are corrected in their understanding of the Law of God of which they were supposedly experts. The word pharisee means separated. This most likely was a term others applied to them for their strict view of uncleanness, not only just keeping themselves separate from the unclean heathen nations, but also from other Jews they deemed to have also been affected by pagan culture (Unger's Bible Dictionary, 854). The pharisees called themselves Haberim, meaning associate. This was to mean someone who associated themselves with the Law so that it may be observed strictly against the rising tide of Hellenism (Hellenism is a term referring to the influence of Greek culture, language, customs, style, and/or thought). It is good to keep in mind that the pharisees generally held the sway
with the people. This religious group were generally those who the
people listened to. While the pharisees were certainly a real sect along with the sadducees and essenes, they can also be thought of in terms of concept, In concept then, pharisaism represents a reaction to the influence of the surrounding culture. The differences between pharisaism and sadducaism can be understood in how each group reacted to the influence of pagan/unholy culture. The pharisees were running to (and too far) adherence to the Law to the degree that they added to it their own teachings and practices, and the sadducees adopting, too much, the Greek culture, became more like the heathen around them. This led the saducees, also receiving many rebukes and corrections from Jesus, to hold ideas and practices that today we might label as liberal. For example, the saducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead while the pharisees did. A parallel could be drawn with the rise of modernism in the late 1800s that in many ways denied religious belief. When this modernism began to influence the Christian churches the "liberals/sadducees" began to adopt the ideas of the surrounding culture by denying miracles or the virgin birth of Jesus for example. This was seen as a danger to fundamental, or core, Christian belief and was responded to with a series of essays published from 1910 - 1915 called The Fundamentals. In time, those who adhered to the fundamentals began to see "modernism" everywhere and took on similar characteristics of pharisaism focusing more on external things as separation from the culture than a pure heart. Eventually, certain groups of these Christians attempted to separate themselves more and more, and like the pharisees of old, began adding to the Word of God their own teachings and practices.
Understanding pharisees and pharisaism is helpful in understanding the Lord's teaching on the Sabbath here. I have heard it said by some in defense of not keeping a Sabbath day that Jesus broke the Sabbath. Well-meaning Christians (at one time, myself included) do not realize what they are saying when they make this statement. To suggest that Jesus broke the Sabbath day would make Jesus out to be a law breaker against God's Law. Jesus was, according to the Scriptures, born under the Law and lived without sin. Breaking the 4th commandment was a sin punishable by death. My dear brethren, if Jesus actually broke the Sabbath day then he was a sinner! God forbid!! Jesus never once broke God's Law. What Jesus did break were the additions this group added to the Law of God and the ways in which they attempted to keep the Law but didn't.
In these accounts Jesus teaches us something very important about the Sabbath. Our text in Matthew, Mark, and Luke show us that the Lord's practice and teaching was for the purpose of correcting this. The pharisees were offended that Jesus and His disciples went though the grainfields and were plucking heads of grain and rubbing them in their hands in order to eat. When wheat is rubbed together in the hands the chaff is rubbed away and the grain, or seed, is exposed and is edible. How beautiful a picture this gives to us. As His disciples were rubbing the chaff away to bring out the good seed to nourish themselves, Jesus' teaching was rubbing away the false ideas the pharisees had encased the Sabbath in. Jesus was not teaching that we do not have a Sabbath Day to keep. He was correcting and stripping away a false understanding of it. From our three texts I have drawn the following points.
1. The questioning of the pharisees was one of lawfulness.
2. The pharisees inability to see the true meaning of the sabbath was their pride.
3. The true meaning of the Sabbath
4. Jesus is Lord of the sabbath.
1. The questioning of the pharisees was one of lawfulness.
2. The pharisees inability to see the true meaning of the sabbath was their pride.
3. The true meaning of the Sabbath
4. Jesus is Lord of the sabbath.
1. The questioning of the pharisees was one of lawfulness.
"At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" Matt 12:1-2.
It is plain from this text that this statement from the pharisees is a legal one of which the pharisees considered themselves experts. In Mark and Luke's gospel we do not have these words posed as a statement like we read here, but rather as a question. I found this interesting because very often I have asked the Lord questions that haven't really been questions. I have been asked questions by skeptics that haven't really been questions, but have been more accusations and challenges. The Gospel of Matthew gives us this bit of information that is helpful in understanding this passage. Seeing how Jesus answers the question confirms this.
Their accusation was that what His disciples were doing was not lawful. They had judged that what these disciples were doing was breaking the Sabbath. Is this the proper understanding of the Law? The pharisees were men of the Word. They believed the Scriptures, zealously followed the Law, and separated themselves from things and others in order to keep the Law blamelessly. There is a part of me that can relate to these men. I must confess myself a pharisee also. In my zeal for personal purity and holiness I have separated myself from many things. And there is a truth here that ought be forsaken. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor 6:17-18). This exhortation we find given to us from the Apostle Paul, himself of the sect of pharisees, who understood and taught the Gospel of grace in truth. The Lord has not called us to uncleaness but to holiness (1 Thess 4:7). But like the pharisees of old I have at times gone too far and falling into the same prideful trap they did. Thanks be to God who gave us these Scriptures to help us learn from them so we may know how to walk as we ought to walk without forsaking mercy.
2. The pharisees inability to see the true meaning of the sabbath was their pride.
Jesus is a master physician who first seeks to clear and clean a festering wound before trying to bind it up. "Have ye not read.." He says in verse 3 of Matthew. "Have ye not read so much as this.." We read in Luke 6:3. "Have ye never read.." we find in Mark 2:25. Jesus lays the ax at the root of their pride which is at the heart of all pharisaism. These were the most read men in all Israel. These were the most learned and skilled in the law. And yet the Lord asks them if they have ever read about an account of King David! Of course these men have read this. They read it and did not understand it. The prided themselves on their learning and if they are to learn anything at all this pride has to go.
What Jesus teaches in this regard both hacks off the pride of the pharisees and instructs us on what indeed is lawful to be done on the sabbath day. Now, concerning the question on whether or not there is a sabbath day for the Christian believer, these passage do not offer support for saying there is not. Rather, they offer instruction for a proper understanding of what is lawful on the sabbath day. One has to admit that it would be quite odd for Jesus to teach these things if He intended to remove the sabbath day altogether.
3. The true meaning of the Sabbath.
There are two examples that Jesus sets before us for what lawful sabbath day obedience looks like.
First, King David and the men that were with him. "But he said unto them, have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?"
This account is given in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. I will not quote the passage entirely, but it gives the account of David coming to Ahimelech the priest asking for bread. The priest tells David that 'there is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread.." This was the bread set aside for the temple service and was not be eaten. But this was all that was in the house to give and the Scriptures says the priest gave this bread to David which he and his men surely ate. The sentence of death was upon those who were not proper to even touch these things (Num. 4:15) let alone take and eat them. Yet David did this and lived. Why? Because the Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice. The Lord desires compassion. Did the pharisees understand that the purpose of the temple service, the showbread, the sacrifices, the incense, and all these other most holy things pertained to giving mercy to God's people? Does God need bread to eat that it cannot be taken from His service to be given to those who needed food for the bodies God had made and for the men who were hard at work in the service of the Lord?
This example Jesus gives us shows us that it is not unlawful to be merciful on the sabbath day. To do the work of mercy is lawful. "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Matt 12:7. This clearly shows us that neither Jesus nor His disciples were actually breaking the sabbath. What Jesus is teaching here is to help us and pharisees of any sort understand that they had misunderstood how to keep the sabbath day.
Second, the priests performed much work on the sabbath day in the service of temple. "Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" We can look to Numbers 28:9-10 to see works done on the sabbath day that would normally be considered profaning or dishonoring the sabbath.
Numbers 28:9-10 "And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: this is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering."
There was a great deal of work that went into these preparations. Yet this work was not counted against the priests as breaking or profaning the sabbath. Why? They were obeying the commandments. This shows us two things. First, that the sabbath day is kept even when some work is being done. Second, that which Mark's Gospel reveals, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." Mark 2:27. Under the old covenant sacrifices needed to be made on the sabbath day according to the Law of God and therefore it was lawful to perform the work necessary to accomplish this. Therefore, works of necessity to the service of God and man are lawful to be performed on the sabbath day.
"But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple."Matt. 12:6. The priests under the old covenant did not break the sabbath by doing the temple service any more than the disciples of Jesus did by their actions. It was merciful to permit the hungry disciples refresh themselves as they continued to labor in the Lord.
4. Jesus is Lord of the sabbath.
A final point should be made and that is what we have from Jesus: "..the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." What right had Jesus to declare that what His disciples were doing was not profaning the sabbath day? The same as He taught us regarding David and the priests. By the authority of God Himself. Jamison-Faussett-Brown's commentary contains one of the most sublime and poetic I have found so far on the passage. Consider what they say,
In what sense now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbath day? Not surely to abolish it - that surely were a strange lordship, especially just after saying that it was made or instituted for Man - but to own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it, by merging it in the “Lord’s Day” (Rev_1:10), breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily unknown before, and thus making it the nearest resemblance to the eternal sabbatism.
In other words, Jesus is the Lord of sabbath and it is His rightful place to restore the sabbath day to its pristine beauty and benefit to mankind that it was meant to be.
It is plain from this text that this statement from the pharisees is a legal one of which the pharisees considered themselves experts. In Mark and Luke's gospel we do not have these words posed as a statement like we read here, but rather as a question. I found this interesting because very often I have asked the Lord questions that haven't really been questions. I have been asked questions by skeptics that haven't really been questions, but have been more accusations and challenges. The Gospel of Matthew gives us this bit of information that is helpful in understanding this passage. Seeing how Jesus answers the question confirms this.
Their accusation was that what His disciples were doing was not lawful. They had judged that what these disciples were doing was breaking the Sabbath. Is this the proper understanding of the Law? The pharisees were men of the Word. They believed the Scriptures, zealously followed the Law, and separated themselves from things and others in order to keep the Law blamelessly. There is a part of me that can relate to these men. I must confess myself a pharisee also. In my zeal for personal purity and holiness I have separated myself from many things. And there is a truth here that ought be forsaken. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor 6:17-18). This exhortation we find given to us from the Apostle Paul, himself of the sect of pharisees, who understood and taught the Gospel of grace in truth. The Lord has not called us to uncleaness but to holiness (1 Thess 4:7). But like the pharisees of old I have at times gone too far and falling into the same prideful trap they did. Thanks be to God who gave us these Scriptures to help us learn from them so we may know how to walk as we ought to walk without forsaking mercy.
2. The pharisees inability to see the true meaning of the sabbath was their pride.
Jesus is a master physician who first seeks to clear and clean a festering wound before trying to bind it up. "Have ye not read.." He says in verse 3 of Matthew. "Have ye not read so much as this.." We read in Luke 6:3. "Have ye never read.." we find in Mark 2:25. Jesus lays the ax at the root of their pride which is at the heart of all pharisaism. These were the most read men in all Israel. These were the most learned and skilled in the law. And yet the Lord asks them if they have ever read about an account of King David! Of course these men have read this. They read it and did not understand it. The prided themselves on their learning and if they are to learn anything at all this pride has to go.
What Jesus teaches in this regard both hacks off the pride of the pharisees and instructs us on what indeed is lawful to be done on the sabbath day. Now, concerning the question on whether or not there is a sabbath day for the Christian believer, these passage do not offer support for saying there is not. Rather, they offer instruction for a proper understanding of what is lawful on the sabbath day. One has to admit that it would be quite odd for Jesus to teach these things if He intended to remove the sabbath day altogether.
3. The true meaning of the Sabbath.
There are two examples that Jesus sets before us for what lawful sabbath day obedience looks like.
First, King David and the men that were with him. "But he said unto them, have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?"
This account is given in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. I will not quote the passage entirely, but it gives the account of David coming to Ahimelech the priest asking for bread. The priest tells David that 'there is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread.." This was the bread set aside for the temple service and was not be eaten. But this was all that was in the house to give and the Scriptures says the priest gave this bread to David which he and his men surely ate. The sentence of death was upon those who were not proper to even touch these things (Num. 4:15) let alone take and eat them. Yet David did this and lived. Why? Because the Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice. The Lord desires compassion. Did the pharisees understand that the purpose of the temple service, the showbread, the sacrifices, the incense, and all these other most holy things pertained to giving mercy to God's people? Does God need bread to eat that it cannot be taken from His service to be given to those who needed food for the bodies God had made and for the men who were hard at work in the service of the Lord?
This example Jesus gives us shows us that it is not unlawful to be merciful on the sabbath day. To do the work of mercy is lawful. "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Matt 12:7. This clearly shows us that neither Jesus nor His disciples were actually breaking the sabbath. What Jesus is teaching here is to help us and pharisees of any sort understand that they had misunderstood how to keep the sabbath day.
Second, the priests performed much work on the sabbath day in the service of temple. "Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" We can look to Numbers 28:9-10 to see works done on the sabbath day that would normally be considered profaning or dishonoring the sabbath.
Numbers 28:9-10 "And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: this is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering."
There was a great deal of work that went into these preparations. Yet this work was not counted against the priests as breaking or profaning the sabbath. Why? They were obeying the commandments. This shows us two things. First, that the sabbath day is kept even when some work is being done. Second, that which Mark's Gospel reveals, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." Mark 2:27. Under the old covenant sacrifices needed to be made on the sabbath day according to the Law of God and therefore it was lawful to perform the work necessary to accomplish this. Therefore, works of necessity to the service of God and man are lawful to be performed on the sabbath day.
"But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple."Matt. 12:6. The priests under the old covenant did not break the sabbath by doing the temple service any more than the disciples of Jesus did by their actions. It was merciful to permit the hungry disciples refresh themselves as they continued to labor in the Lord.
4. Jesus is Lord of the sabbath.
A final point should be made and that is what we have from Jesus: "..the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." What right had Jesus to declare that what His disciples were doing was not profaning the sabbath day? The same as He taught us regarding David and the priests. By the authority of God Himself. Jamison-Faussett-Brown's commentary contains one of the most sublime and poetic I have found so far on the passage. Consider what they say,
In what sense now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbath day? Not surely to abolish it - that surely were a strange lordship, especially just after saying that it was made or instituted for Man - but to own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it, by merging it in the “Lord’s Day” (Rev_1:10), breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily unknown before, and thus making it the nearest resemblance to the eternal sabbatism.
In other words, Jesus is the Lord of sabbath and it is His rightful place to restore the sabbath day to its pristine beauty and benefit to mankind that it was meant to be.
In conclusion of this initial examination of the Scriptures, it is clear that these passages do not teach that Jesus broke the sabbath day. They teach how the sabbath is truly kept holy before the Lord. It warns me not to take this day in my hands like the pharisees and make of it what they did. It teaches me to remember mercy and do to good on the sabbath. These texts also teach me to consider not only this commandment but all the commandments under such light of mercy and truth.
May the Lord help me and all to a better understanding.
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