The Carpenter's Chapel (4)

Amen, we need a Bible view of sin and the Biblical courage to expose sin as sin.

 

Thank you Watchman.

Blessings

Sheila

 

Great handling of a tough verse - thank you Watchman!

 

Saturday May 29, 2004

"And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore." (Matthew 22:46)

"There is no such thing as a dumb question."
That is what I have heard as an employee, as well as what I would say to subordinates when I was a manager. Asking questions is a great way to learn and grow, not only in this life, but in our Christian life as well. Sadly however, the Jewish leaders during His life here in the flesh was not interested in learning; what they wanted was to find a way to trip Him up in His answers so that they would be able to accuse Him. This is evident in verse 15: "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk."

So now we come to three questions in Matthew 22.
The first question was about paying taxes to Rome.
"Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" (v.17b) A yes or no question that they hoped He would answer yes or no. If Jesus said "yes", this could cause Him trouble among the people, for they detested Rome and the taxes Rome had them pay. If He answered "no", they could say to Roman authorities that He was advocating rebellion against Rome. But Jesus defeated this scheme with His answer: "Render therefore to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (v.21b)

The next question was from Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection. This was about a man who married and died having no children and six brothers in a row all married her, but all
died having no children. "Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." (v.28) Jesus answered that those after the resurrection do not marry, but they are like the angels. (v. 30). And then He corrects them and states that there is, indeed, a resurrection:
"But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,'I Am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (vs. 31&32)

The third question the Lord Jesus Himself asks, and it is a question very much relalaed to His question elsewhere when He asked, "Whom do you say that I Am?"
"What do you think about Christ? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The Son of David." He said to them, "How does David in the Spirit call Him Lord saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool? If David calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?" (Matthew 22:42-45)

Christ's argumentation was based, in the latter two cases, on the determinative authority of the Scriptures. For Christ the Scriptures were inerrant, and of full and final authority, and they could not answer His claims without rejecting the Scriptures which they professed to believe.

Dear Christian, You could be asked some tough questions in your walk with Him. How ready are you to give an answer for the hope that is in you?

 

We need to be in the Word - so we know the Word - so we can answer questions from the Word.

Thanks Watchman!

 

Sunday May 30, 2004

"Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.'" (2Peter 3:3&4)

It is my pleasure to take up a subject this morning that I am sure that almost everyone here on the Baptist Board agrees on. No, that was not a poor effort at humor. The matter(s) of contention, when we look at eschatology (future events), centers around exactly what happens at what time.
It is not my intent here to advocate a certain eschatological view, but, to look at a fact that, indeed, almost all of us agree on: The fact that The Lord Jesus Christ is returning to this earth; That God will keep this promise, just as He has kept, or will keep, all of His promises.

Has Christ forgotten His promise? After His resurrection, He returned to heaven to wait as Peter said, "...until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."
(Acts 3:21).
Ever since the primeval promise in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15), God's inspired prophets have kept assuring the people of God that He would come as Savior of the world and then again as everlasting King, removing the curse of sin and death and bringing in everlasting life and righteousness.

But the centuries have come and gone, age after age and the world continues to decay, growing worse and worse. With global pollution, disease pandemics, ever-increasing crime, and countless other intractable problems, there may be nothing left if He doesn't come soon!
He has not forgotten His promise. Peter says, in the same chapter:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slacknes, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (v.9)

He has not yet returned because there are not yet enough who have "come to repentance."
We need not dispair, but simply: "...consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation..." (v.15)
His promise is sure, and one day He will return indeed! Therefore Peter concludes:
"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (v.13)

Let us not be as the scoffers, but let us join in the refrain of the apostle John, in the next to last verse of the Bible:
"Even so, come Lord Jesus!"

 

Amen!

Thank you Watchman!

 

Amen.

And as we await the coming of our Lord let us be sure to keep short accounts with Him.

Thank you Watchman.

 

Monday May 31, 2004

"So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.'"
(Revelation 5:4&5)

Memorial Day

It is a good thing on this day to remember and thank God for all those who have given their lives in defense of our nation and its freedoms and great principles. Let us not forget those also, who, as I write, are putting their lives on the line enforcing the laws of the land. Without our police authorities (whom Paul does call the servants of The Lord), we would have anarchy.

It is also good to remember the great political statesmen who were the founders of our country and the framers of the Constitution; men who believed in God and the Bible as they labored and planned and prayed.

The same would apply to the great scientists who founded and developed our various sciences and who also believed in God, the Bible and creation.

Let us remember the Christians who came before us, who have defended and expounded our Biblical faith; sometimes, it was at the cost of their very lives.

More than all of these, of course, we think of "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." He is elsewhere referred to as, "The Lamb of God."
It is He Who overcame far more formidable opponents than any that have faced other warriors: That is, sin, death, hell and the devil. He conquered these foes by His death on the cross and rising from the grave the third day.

A well known World War II General would never approve of this: winning by dying. (And I would not dare quote General Patton exactly!)
"No (one) ever won a war by giving his life for his country."
But that which does not work against earthly foes, worked wonderfully against spiritual foes. Now, for the believer, the sin debt is paid, death has no sting, hell is avoided and the devil is defeated.
Now we can sing, in the words of that great hymn:
"Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow."

 

Thank you Charles and God Bless,

Sheila

 

Thank you Charles!

 

It is wonderfull that God gives abilities to men, but far above that is if we have love for God (Dt. 6:5) and love for everyone else (Lev. 19:18).
Thank You Jim

 

Thank you Jim!

 

Thank you Jim,

God bless

Sheila

 

Thank you Jim!

 

Thank you, Jim.

God Bless

Sheila

 

Thank you Jim for your take on a difficult verse. Sometimes I have wondered if "That which is perfect", is Christ being formed in the believer. This was during the first century; And so, this believer, when he is rooted and grounded in Christ, no longer needs the display of the, "Sign" gifts to believe. The equivelent today is the Christian rooted and grounded in God's Word and is not swayed ("Tossed") any longer. Just a thought.