March 5, 2011

Your Sin Will Find You Out

Fingers crossed

Shortly before the Israelites were to cross the Jordan to conquer the promised land, the sons of Rueben and Gad came to Moses and requested that they be allowed to take possession of the land east of the Jordan rather than the land across the river where the rest of their brethren were going (Numbers 32:1-5). At first Moses objected, accusing these tribes of abandoning and discouraging their brethren as they were about to go to war with the inhabitants of Canaan (Numbers 32:6-7). But the sons of Rueben and Gad assured Moses that they would first build cities for their families and sheepfolds for their livestock, then they would cross over and fight with their brethren, not returning to their homes until the other tribes took possession of the land (Numbers 32:16-19).

Moses agreed to this proposition. If the men would cross the Jordan with their brethren, fight with them, then after their victory return to their homes, they could have the land east of the Jordan as their inheritance (Numbers 32:20-22). But Moses warned them against failing to carry out what they had promised to do: “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

These men needed to be sure they understood the seriousness of both their words and their actions, and the consequences of their failure. We need to learn these lessons today as well.
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July 3, 2010

God Wants Men to Be Free

Congres Voting for Independence

July 4, 1776, thirteen American colonies declared their independence from the British Empire. One of the fundamental reasons cited for doing this was the fact that each individual has been given freedom by God. The Declaration of Independence states that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” To this day we celebrate the birth of this nation that was founded on these principles.

As we reflect upon the principles of liberty and freedom, it is important to do so from a Biblical perspective. God wants men to be free. Let us notice what the Bible says about God’s desire for our freedom.
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June 20, 2010

The “Benefits” of Sin

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Sin separates one from God and will ultimately cause one to be eternally lost (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 6:23). Yet Satan tries anyway to convince us to continue in sin to the jeopardy of our souls. He extols the benefits (or perceived benefits) of sin, too often causing even the strong to fall for his temptations.

He has employed this tactic from the beginning. In the garden, Eve was tempted to sin and eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Despite the fact that she understood that this had been prohibited, she still gave in to the temptation.
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June 6, 2010

A Lesson from the Gulf Oil Spill

On April 20th, an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico causing oil to begin spewing into the water from the floor of the Gulf, about a mile underwater. After more than six weeks, the oil is still flowing. BP is working to try to stop the leak while other efforts are underway to try to deal with this disaster both in the water and along the coast.

No matter what work is done at the surface to deal with the oil that has already spilled into the Gulf, all of the efforts will be in vain unless/until the leak is stopped. The cleanup is important, but the cleanup will never be successful if the oil keeps spewing from the leak.
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May 4, 2010

Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross?

Crosses

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Yet there are two conflicting views as to how these sins were dealt with on the cross. On one hand, you have those who believe that our sins were placed upon Jesus and they were done away with as they were nailed to the cross. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Jesus shed His blood on the cross in order to make forgiveness possible for all those who will meet His conditions of salvation.

The first view, that Jesus literally bore our sins, is rank Calvinism. It is rooted in the idea that man cannot be saved by responding to God’s grace through faithful obedience, but rather that our sins were imputed to Christ and His righteousness has been imputed to us. Sadly, many in the Lord’s church have been influenced by Calvin’s doctrines as they relate to the death of Christ.

I came across an article today by Wayne Jackson of the Christian Courier that addresses this question: Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross? In the article, he shows the Calvinistic roots of the doctrine that our sins were imputed to Christ, and explains what the Scriptures actually teach on the subject. Below is an excerpt from his article:
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February 25, 2010

The Curse of Adam

Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden

Calvinism teaches that man is born totally depraved, separated from God, and unable to come to Him apart from a divine operation of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. Why is man allegedly in such a state? It is because of Adam’s sin.

The basic idea is this: God created Adam and Eve in the beginning. Later, these two sinned (Genesis 3). Because of Adam’s sin, all of his descendants are cursed, having inherited the guilt of Adam’s sin. One key verse for this doctrine is Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

What we need to remember is that the Bible speaks of two different types of death – physical death (the separation of the spirit from the body) and spiritual death (the separation of man from God). Adam suffered both of these. One was a punishment for his sin. The other was a consequence of his sin.
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January 21, 2010

Evil Ahab

King Ahab

“Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30, 33).

These statements are rather incredible. When we look back at the number of evil kings over Israel up to this time, Ahab was the worst. Why was he so evil and what can we learn from his bad example? The passage where these verses are found gives us a few reasons for the statements.

“Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

“It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:29-33).

There were four factors that contributed to Ahab being classified as the most wicked king. Each one is something we must guard against in our own life.
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