February 1, 2007

Reverend

[This article was written by Tim Haile.]

King David said of God, “He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: holy and reverend is His name” (Psalm 111:9). David exalted God’s name as being “holy and reverend.” David gave this description on the basis of God’s ability to send redemption and establish His eternal covenant. Obviously, these two things are utterly impossible for man to do, so man is not in this classification. “Holy” means “set apart,” and “reverend” means “to fear, to be afraid, to stand in awe of.” So, in this context David describes God’s name as “holy” because it is set far apart from any ordinary name, and God’s name is “reverend” because God is to be feared and honored for His greatness, glory and power.
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February 1, 2007

Training Our Senses

Bible study

In Hebrews 5, the writer began a discussion in which he compared Jesus Christ with the high priest Melchizedek. He broke from this discussion in verse 11 before picking it up again in chapter 7. The reason for this interlude was because there was “much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” So the writer had to pause to reinforce some more basic truths before finishing this discussion. By this point, these Christians should have been mature and able to consider such a discussion about Melchizedek; yet they were not. The mature are those who have trained their senses (Hebrews 5:14).

What is meant by the term senses? This is the part of us that can perceive or judge right and wrong. We might call this our conscience. The writer said that our senses – or our conscience – should be trained in such a way that it can “discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). We are striving to develop an inherent – almost subconscious – sense of right and wrong. This passage shows how we can train our senses in this way.
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January 31, 2007

Achieving Obedient Faith

[Article written by Matt Nevins. Originally published in his email newsletter “The Lamp.”]

Despite external forces working to put out lights of righteousness, the potential of maintaining purity is just as high as in the first century. Times of great wickedness can often give opportunity for demonstration of the strongest faith. God noted that the intent of individuals’ thoughts in the ancient world were continually and only upon evil (Gen 6:5). Yet we also read of a man who did all according to what the Lord instructed and achieved salvation by the grace of God (Gen. 7:5, 23). Noah is described as a man of faith in Hebrews 11 because of his obedience to the word of God. Men and women today are capable of having a caliber of faith equivalent to that of Noah or a host of other examples in the Bible.
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January 25, 2007

Glorifying God

Jesus prayed to the Father, “I have glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). Likewise, since Christians “have been bought with a price,” they must “glorify God in [their] body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

How do we glorify God? People may invent many different ways to try and glorify God. But instead of doing what we think will glorify God, we should look to Jesus – our perfect example (1 Peter 2:21). How did Jesus glorify God? He “accomplished the work” which was “given [Him] to do” (John 17:4).
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January 15, 2007

“A Good Work” – Really?

[This article was written by Tim Haile]

Religious people often attempt to authorize their religious practices and programs by labeling them “good works.” This label is too often attached, not upon the basis of Bible authority, but upon the basis of human preference and of the end justifying the means. These folks reason that if some good is accomplished by their action, then God must be pleased with it. Of course, this is human reasoning, and it arrogantly assumes that man’s approval of a thing makes it approved also by God! Jesus taught the danger of this reasoning in Matthew 7:22-23. He said that “many” will stand before Him in the day of judgment and claim justification on the basis that they had performed “many wonderful works.” The modern day my-work-is-a-”good-work” crowd might assume that such people will most certainly be admitted into Heaven, but not so! Jesus said that He is going to tell these people to “depart from” Him, for He “never knew” them! What had they done that was so wrong that they will be barred from Heaven? They had worked “iniquity” (lawlessness) (Matthew 7:23). Though their works were esteemed as “wonderful” by them, they were not so esteemed by God. Jesus classified these so-called “wonderful works” as acts of rebellion against God. It is sinful to invent “good works” and perform them “in the name of” Christ.
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January 5, 2007

Looking at the Big Picture

“The sum of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160).

Considering only one verse to prove a point can be dangerous. Many verses, when taken out of context, have several plausible interpretations. But if we settle on one interpretation without considering the sum of God’s word, we can easily find ourselves with an improper understanding of God’s will. Consider the following example with reference to salvation:
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January 1, 2007

The Priesthood of Christ

The writer of the book of Hebrews repeatedly spoke of things under the law of Christ as being better than those under the Law of Moses. With Christ, we have a better hope (Hebrews 6:19-20; 7:19), better covenant (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6), better promises (Hebrews 8:6), and a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:23-28). The writer told his audience, “Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1). The role of the high priest was to offer sacrifices for sins (Hebrews 5:1) and be an intercessor between God and man (Hebrews 7:24-25). The nature of Christ’s priesthood is one of the things that is better under the new law. Let us consider the priesthood of Christ.
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