Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: truth

  • A Foundation of Truth

    A Foundation of Truth

    My father was a builder when I was a boy. He and my uncle and the men who worked for them built houses from the ground up.  My dad could look at a piece of ground and survey it with his eyes and see a finished house. What just looked to me like piles of dirt being moved about progressed into a hole deep in the ground with leveling lines of string and cement blocks tapped with a hammer were set just so, one by one below the foundation of the house.  We watched these men set block by block on the dirt in the raising of a house over a strong foundation where they would walk on the dirt floor from room to room knowing the outline of what was to come.

    In many ways reading the Bible becomes a foundation to the foundation of truth. Daily devotional time with God becomes a leveling of all that seems out of kilter in our lives. Regular worship with like-minded Christians and perspective from the sermons of a God-fearing Spirit-filled pastor/preacher becomes a plumb line for our ascent into a higher place nearer to truth and the certain hope of our salvation in Christ Jesus.

    I paint you this picture as introduction to what I attempt to do in my personal life.

    • I read the Bible. It is 66 Books. I have read all of them, most numerous times. Every time I take on a book of the the Bible to study I learn more about God.

    READ & STUDY a book of the Bible. THEN, read another.

    • I pray. (More than once or twice daily.)  It is personal conversation with God. I do not hear God as well as I ask God for the needs of others and sometimes my own desires.

    I need to pray much more. Do you?

    • I worship with others. I don’t just ‘go to church, I try to be part of Christ’s church. I am a member of our local church and try to worship with our church every Sunday. I have done this in different places, buildings and denominations most of my life. God is a relational God. Jesus is a relational Savior. The Holy Spirit is a relational Counselor. AND Christians must, according to scripture, have a relational love for each other and the whole church.

    We are Christ’s church, the bride of Jesus. We are one with Him and with one another.

    I say all of this a introduction to an introduction (a borrowed thought) from a lesson on Titus I recommend to you.

    In addition to my daily time set aside for the Bible and prayer, I listen to Truth for Life and the teaching of Alistair Begg. I read and listen to the teachings of others as well. Do not rely on any one man (or woman) for the truth of Biblical teaching.

    The risen Jesus Christ sent out twelve Apostles to different churches in different places to lead and instruct the church. An Apostle to the Gentiles (once known as Saul of Tarsus) encountered the risen Christ, who in turn instructed others how to instruct the church. By the Spirit, Paul wrote many of the letters of the New Testament for Christians. Two letters to Timothy and one to Titus are considered as ‘Pastoral Epistles,’ letters to the church through these two pastors of certain churches.

    Pastor Begg suggests reading this short Letter of Titus every day.

    This teaching from Truth for Life will follow this short letter daily on the radio and online in January 2014 for a series of lessons titled: “Get It Right, Volume 1.”  I would like to recommend these to your daily devotional time.

    Christ’s servant,

    Roger Harned

    (site administrator) http://talkofJesus.com

     

  • Are you Christ’s? Or are you NOT?

    Are you Christ’s? Or are you NOT?

    Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV 

    4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

    Going forward, do we backslide?

    This question of our christian life, as witnessed by the church and especially others is most serious.

    What does it mean that we “were once enlightened?” Do you, fellow believer have the saving knowledge of the cross of Christ Jesus? If so, you are also enlightened.

    Have you been offered the heavenly gift of grace, forgiveness from your sins of the past? Have you tasted the good word of your redemption in Jesus Christ as your Lord IF you follow Him? Do you follow OR did you just hear of it once or more?

    Here is the point of the sharpened word (in verse 6): IF you or any fall away, it is a most serious matter of your salvation. You do NOT have salvation and eternal life (you cannot lose it, IF you have it) if by not ‘following’ Christ you actually sin against the Cross of Christ by your worldly unrepentant actions.

    Yes, christians are NOT covered by the grace of Christ’s cross IF we will not repent of our former lives of sin and turn back from our worldly ways of the flesh. Die to the flesh and live as Christ! Christ Jesus must be our Lord. We must be obedient to Jesus as our personal Lord. (It is not enough to just say that we are christians, while in fact we witness against His Holy Sacrifice on the Cross.)

    Repentance of such christians is a most serious matter for Christ’s church; for an unbeliever might be persuaded that your unholy life is one acceptable at the judgment seat where He will say to these, “I never knew you.”

    Let us, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, look to the context of this important teaching for us as we look forward into a new year (and hopefully not backward onto our sinful nature, before our commitment to follow Christ Jesus as our Lord) – personally, and in every aspect of our lives.

    Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

    Do you, unrepentant christian sinner, sit in church week by week as a kindergartner who ought to be held back?

    Is your desire to learn the doctrine of Christ so immature that your daily life is constant witness to a grace without foundation?

    Christ’s church, His bride for whom He will return, is His constant love. Christians have a relationship of love – a constant and loving relationship with Jesus, the Groom and our Lord. And as members of His perfect royal family, Christians have constant and loving relationships with one another – this is the doctrine of His love – this is the maturity of our witness.

    This is the essence of our vow and witness: Jesus IS Lord.

    4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

    How are you ‘celebrating’ this New Year?

    Are you Christ’s? OR are you NOT?

    Happy New Year OR Blessed New Year (as our Lord would say in the Beatitudes: blessed are you).

     

  • The Whole Truth

    The Whole Truth

    John 14: 6 Jesus said to him,

    “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

    There’s always something someone does not tell you when you meet them. You buy a house or rent an apartment and they don’t mention that the toilet doesn’t flush right. An acquaintance tells you about their great job, but they fail to mention how they were fired from a previous job. You meet someone who claims to love their kids and discover later how their children have little respect for their own parent. In fact, we encounter hidden truths every day as we discover more and more of the hearts and lives of our loved ones. We are all sinners (and hypocritical to some degree).

    At one time our courts would ask: ‘Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?’ ‘I do,’ was the expected response. Now the ‘I do’ response has no more expectation of truth than the promise of marriage, by rule without God by courts contemptible to the Law and also to truth. *But that controversial topic is for another discussion. Any two may be married by law and easily divorced by their own will without consent or knowledge of the other. *The lawyers are manipulators of justice and challengers to righteousness, as was so often the case in conversations with our Lord, Christ Jesus.

    Jesus Christ made a claim: “I am the only way to the Father.” What does that mean? What does it mean to Christians? What does it mean to faithful Jews, faithful Muslims, faithful Hindus, Buddhists and the like?

    Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to God.

    Have you ever truly considered the judgment seat of Christ? Considering that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and eternal life, how do you think these others will do? And how will you fare before the Throne of God’s judgment?

    Guilty? or Innocent?

    What is HIS verdict?

    O, foolish follower – O, rebellious believer – O, obstinate perishing vessel of flesh:

    You have no hope without Christ Jesus. This is the truth.

    God’s Righteous Judgment

    2 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience,not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

    6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

    God’s Judgment and the Law

    12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when,according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

     

    Yes, the Jews have the Law by which to be judged. A few Jews are most righteous (though many are as selfish and ungodly as many of our christian sisters and brothers).

    Matthew 5:17-20

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

    17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

    May God have mercy on those many Jews, many Muslims and many christians who do in practice and by the fruit of their faith have such righteousness as exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

    In fact, why do I pray for these lost ones, even christians?

    Life is not life in our body, as so many feed by the pleasures and comforts of the flesh. Life is life in the spirit. You are the spirit within you, not just the brain and the blood, the neurons and the organs. It is the heart, in the sense of the soul (not the heart of muscle and corpuscle) of with the Bible speaks. It is your heart which is judged and your soul with will suffer.

    You have no need of the further torment of your flesh eternally or the temporal joy of that which is passing.

    Jesus is life to you. Jesus is life to me. He IS the resurrection and the life.

    John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

     

    And a less familiar reminder to christians who have turned from the whole truth of Jesus Christ and those attracted to Him:

    5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

    Judgment Before the Great White Throne

    11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

    Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

    15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

     

    The Revelation of the risen Christ Jesus to the Apostle John speaks of ALL SOULS.

    Christ uncovers the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

    As you stand naked in your sin before the Sinless One, what is your plea?

    Dear Lord, Have mercy on me, a sinner.