Category: General

A story is told of a school boy who was brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through that wonderful verse in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

However, when that lad arrived home and was sitting on the couch by himself, the devil began to disturb him, and tried to make him think that Jesus had not really saved him at all. At length the struggle in his heart became so fierce it seemed as though the adversary of his soul was actually under the couch talking to him.

For a while he did not know how to answer Satan and his taunting charges; but finally the Holy Spirit reminded him of James 4:7 about resisting the devil, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Opening his pocket Testament, he placed his finger on John 5:24, and then, reaching his arm under the couch, he said aloud, “There you go, Satan, read it for yourself!” In that moment victory was won, assurance of salvation was gained, and the evil one ” …departed from him…” (Luke 4:13).

Satan laughs at our powers and mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles at God’s Word!

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7).

God gave His Word to His children upon earth with the instructions to proclaim and practice it. It is not our responsibility to preserve His Word. God has promised to do that, and His is promises are sure.

“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56).

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

1. God has not promised us a fragmented preservation. In the text we are told that “The words of the LORD…” will be preserved. There are no lost books of the Bible. They are preserved! There are no lost words of God to man. They are all preserved.

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

“That which is perfect” is the complete Word of God, and it is kept in tact and kept from injury or destruction and protected by God’s promise and power. We have God’s complete Word!

2. God has not promised us a remote preservation. If God’s Words were only preserved in Heaven, that would be of little value to us who are upon earth. God gave His Words upon earth and He has preserved them upon earth.

The Old Testament was given to the Jews, “What advantage then hath the Jew?… Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3: 1-2).

The Old Testament with its completion in the New Testament was given to the church. “I have given them thy word…” (John 17:14).

God’s Words were not preserved in a cave somewhere, but God’s children have had them all the time. God’s Words were not inerrant in the original autographs only, but have been preserved to all generations. It is not a remote preservation but a present reality!

3. God has not promised us a mingled preservation. “…The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). God has not preserved His Words mingled with the words of men.

Israel was not to sow mingled seed in their fields (Leviticus 19:19)

“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled” (Deuteronomy 22:9).

The results would be defiled fruit. The result of sowing the preserved pure Words of God is true faith. Faith does not come by hearing man’s words (Romans 10:17). It is not necessary for scholars to search tirelessly through Greek manuscripts in an effort to distinguish between the Words of God and the words of men. “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6).

4. God has not promised us a reasonable facsimile preservation. God has not promised to simply preserve His thoughts or doctrines. He has preserved His Words!

The doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures is a major doctrine. It is continually under attack. Who do you suppose provokes such attacks upon God’s Words? Satan would gnaw this foundational truth away if he could, but he can’t because we have God’s promise of preservation!

CONCLUSION

To say that some of God’s Words have passed away is to charge God foolishly. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

To say this promise of preservation has failed is an attack upon God. It is in essence blasphemy! A young Christian may for a time be confused and unsettled in his beliefs, but to say that God has not preserved His Words is to call God a liar!

God’s inerrant, infallible, inspired words are preserved in the authorized King James Version.

Thank the Lord for His promise of preservation!

These words were spoken by King Nebuchadnezzar, “And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:32).

Perhaps never before in the history of the world (unless it was the “days of Noah”) has evil flourished and apparently “gotten by” us as today. Because iniquity (lawlessness) abounds, the love of many and the faith and faithfulness of many- waxes cold; and many people wonder, does it really pay to serve Jesus? Is the way of the transgressor hard? Is there any goodness, or selfishness, or love left in the world? Is a revival of true religion – Bible Christianity – possible, or has God turned everything over to the devil?

The fact is, God is Still on the Throne and rules the universe. He will never abdicate, nor share with another, the power and authority of that throne! Let us never forget that! God will stay on that throne forever.

His laws cannot be violated with impunity. The fundamental principle of The Word of God- it shall be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked- is unalterably and eternally true. The reprobate who thinks he is cheating the laws of God and nature will find out that “… God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). Some time, some how, some where, the harvest will come and that transgressor will pay up. Be not deceived; God is Still on the Throne. It is a righteous throne; it is a throne that sees all, hears all, remembers all, and pays all-in time or eternity.

Seven times in the book of Daniel God is called the God of Heaven, or a similar title. In the text before us, we are assured that the God of Heaven rules in the kingdom of men. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a great empire, a world rule. It turned his head, and he bloated with pride. He boasted, “… Is not this great Babylon, that I have built. .. by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). Were the heavens silent? No! “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee” (Daniel 4:31). The king lost his reason, turning insane. He lived for the next seven years in the wilderness as an asylum and ate grass as an ox, and his body was overgrown with hair like the eagle’s feathers, and his nails became like bird’s claws. He was humbled until, at the end of the days, his understanding returned to him, and he blessed the most High ” … whose dominion is an everlasting dominion … and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth …” (Daniel 4:34-35).

The Lord He is God! The Lord He is God! He sits on a throne which cannot be shaken. True prayer still can pierce the din and clamour and noise and confusion that prevails on earth and reach the throne! The eyes of the Lord are still running to and fro throughout the earth “… to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him …” (2 Chronicles 16:9). The promises of God have not been annulled or disannulled. Man’s unfaithfulness hasn’t changed God’s faithfulness one whit! He that sows good seeds today will surely reap an abundant harvest! Sow the Gospel, sow it in tears, and you shall surely come again rejoicing, bearing precious sheaves! (Read Psalms 126:6)

Dare to be a Daniel! Make your prayer steadfastly toward Jerusalem, though all earth, yea all Hell, be arrayed against thee. The darker the night, the brighter thy light will shine, and the more its glow will be needed.

Dare to be a John the Baptist. Witness fearlessly for thy Lord and against sin. Witness when the throngs crowd around thee; witness when thy head must be the price of they faithfulness.

Dare to be a Paul. Step out in faith in the midst of this godless and perverse generation to show that God lives! Exalt the Lord! Preach the Word! Pray with importunity! Seek and expect converts! Lengthen they cords, set out they stakes, enlarge thy borders for God, and remember that God is Still on the Throne!

His Word will never fail. His work will go on. The true church is invincible. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Let faith prevail. Let steadfastness plod on, never looking back, for “… your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

There is complete victory in Christ! Press on! Look Up! Walk with God! Be true! “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

Those faithful to the Lord will be vastly outnumbered in this day of apostacy, but stick to the right, be the crowds large or small.

Revival is needed. It may be had. God waits to give it, but it will come only on God’s conditions. A supreme need of these momentous days is to know clearly and definitely what God’s conditions for revival are. The next step is to fall in line with God. Then we shall receive the blessing that we seek.

The expressed opinions of men as to means and methods will do little to further the cause. Indeed, such may do much to hinder it. Man’s methods, consciously or unconsciously, so often is to “get up” something that is attractive. God’s method is to “get down” Someone Who is effective. God’s conditions are the only conditions upon which revival can come.

Beloved, settle it now that anything less than a whole-hearted desire for God will never yield a God-sent revival. As the result of man’s effort after revival, there may be intense excitement and much energetic movement, but all of this is possible to “the flesh” apart from God. Let us see to it that it is God we seek; and when we seek Him, we shall find Him.

So it is written, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

To meet God face to face is a heart-searching and a life transforming process. It is in His presence that we see ourselves just as we are, and “… abhor …” ourselves (Job 42:6).1t is there we see Him as the only satisfaction of our longing hearts, and appropriate Him as our all in all.

Surely it is clearly manifest where the responsibility for delayed revival lies. It is not that God holds back His gracious presence and His all-conquering power. It is because God’s people do not conform to the conditions that are needful.

Shall we face this fact individually? Shall we say with divine intention, “I will.” Others may not pay the price of these conditions to receive the proffered power, but “I will-by Thy grace, O Lord, I will.”

Humanism has had an awesome corrosive impact on the basic morality of our country. While America has more Christians than any other nation, the United States has become one of the most immoral nations on earth. Humanism, like Satan is subtle and is often undetected by the unwary- especially children and young people.

What is humanism? Please do not confuse humanism with humanitarianism. All of us should be humanitarians-showing Christ-like compassion for others. Humanism is the exact opposite of humanitarianism. A humanist believes in himself (not God) and is more concerned about his own self-preservation than he is about the needs of others. Humanism is not new. It is the ancient struggle of self-centeredness- man’s will versus God’s will. Children are easy targets for humanistic indoctrination. Humanistic thought reaches them from a wide variety of sources – public school, all forms of news and entertainment media, friends, much of our present day Sunday School materials, and sometimes even family members. Humanism impacts youngsters and young people in varying degrees in the following ways:

1. Disrespect for authority: Students in many secular schools are made to believe that they are not accountable to God, parents, pastors, teachers, or civil authorities. They are told that “anybody’s values are as good as anybody else’s,” and “whatever you choose will be right for you because you chose it.” This, of course, is the humanistic doctrine of situation ethics. The destructive spin-off of situation ethics is awesome in its impact in many lives.

2. Decline in discipline at home and at school: When youngsters believe they are their own authority they “do their own thing.” They ignore the leadership of teachers, preachers, and parents. This can result in increased resentment, confrontation, chaos; and rebellion. The rapid decline in discipline is the direct result of the rapid rise of humanistic teaching in secular schools.

3. Decline in academics: When discipline goes down, learning goes down. Teachers must have the attention of youngsters to impart learning. The “do your own thing” philosophy has led to a steady academic decline of public education over the past fifty years. Consequently, the United states is no longer the academic pacesetter of the world. It is alarming to realize that the small emerging country of South Korea has a higher literacy level than the United States!

4. Self-centeredness: The heart of humanism is the idea that man is supreme over God. It is shocking to some to learn that John Dewey, the father of”progressive education” was an atheist. He was the founder and first president of the American Humanist Association. He said, “There is no God, and there is no soul.” The American Humanist Manifesto reads, “As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.” The “man-centeredness” of humanism leads to self-centeredness, selfishness, and self-preservation. “What’s in it for me,” becomes the cry. Youngsters are taught to look out for “number one” – namely themselves. In contrast the apostle Paul wrote, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Philippians 2:4).

5. Total academic freedom: Humanists believe that children should have the right to read anything under the guise of academic freedom- anything, that is, except the Bible. Speaking of God and the Bible, a humanist said, “It is immoral to indoctrinate children with such beliefs.”

6. Total sexual freedom: Our children are going straight from babyhood to puberty as full sexual beings with no intermission. Dr. Sam Jones, in an issue of the Los Angeles Times, calls our age of sexual freedom the “death of innocence.” Humanist thinkers want to “liberate” our children from sexual inhibitions.

The answer to all of this, as far as your children are concerned, is to avoid humanistic training. True Bible-centered schools and churches, plus the all important influence of a godly family, are the best possible options for the next generation.

Many so-called gospels are preached today, and they are so different from each other that they cannot all be right. Just what is the Gospel? The question is of vast importance, for in Galatians 1:6-9 the double curse of God is pronounced upon “… any man …” or even “… an angel from heaven …”who preaches “… another gospel: Which is not another …”

The clear definition of the Gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved … For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Without controversy, that is the Gospel. But it does not tell us in this passage just how to apply the Gospel in dealing with men about their salvation. How shall we “preach the Gospel?”

When the Philippian jailer asked, “… what must I do to be saved?”, the answer was ready, “… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).

But what does it mean to “… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ … “? When one believes, he receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, and he is immediately “born”- “… born again” (John 3 :7): “… not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

So the preacher of the Gospel must “preach Christ”? Certainly! But what does it mean to preach Christ? In his own devious way the modernist preaches Christ, the Unitarian preaches Christ, the Christian Scientist preaches Christ, the Mormon preaches Christ; BUT NONE OF THESE preach the Gospel. When Paul wrote about it, his readers clearly understood that to preach Christ was to preach the Gospel in all its fullness, but this is not true in our day. We must PREACH CHRIST according to the Scriptures.

The preacher of the Gospel must preach Christ and Him crucified; he must preach the cross; he must preach the blood.

But one may do all this without preaching the Gospel at all. The Roman Catholic system preaches Christ and Him crucified, it preaches the cross, it preaches the blood, but it never preaches the Gospel.

To preach the Gospel, we must preach the Gospel of grace. We must preach that salvation is the “… gift of God.” We must preach that salvation is “… by grace … through faith …” plus nothing. Salvation is “… through faith … Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Good works are the result of salvation, but not its cause. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works …” (Ephesians 2:1 0).

Romanism preaches Christ, the cross, and the blood; but Romanism has never preached that the sinner can be saved through Christ alone. It is always “plus something” – plus the intercession of Mary, plus works of penance, plus the sacraments, and so on.

The modernist preacher today preaches another gospel which is not Christian; it is pagan.

Beware of any teaching that adds anything at all to the finished work of Christ. Christ saves all who receive Him as Saviour. He is the way, only God. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments” (Psalm 119:59-60).

There are three things that we should consider in entering the NewYear:

Reflection. “I thought on my ways …” We need to think, not just of 2020 in itself or even 2021, but we should turn our thoughts to ourselves and our own relationship to God. Are you saved, born again?

Testimony. “l…turned my feet …” This is repentance. We need to turn our backs upon sin and our faces toward God.

Regeneration. “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” This is the new birth. The new life shows itself in a desire to keep God’s Word. May we enter the New Year knowing for sure that we are saved. If you are not sure, then make sure you have received the Lord into your heart and believe God’s Word.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Multitudes throughout the nation will be making New Year’s resolutions. As another year begins, they will want to turn over a new leaf and try again to reform and to do better than before.

While this may or may not be commendable, the fact is that most resolutions are soon broken and forgotten. The new leaf quickly takes on the same old stains of sin and filthy habits. What a man tries to do through his own efforts does not effect his heart, but unless the heart is changed there will be no permanent reform.

What then is the answer for man as he enters into 2021? The answer is found in Christ. The salvation that He imparts changes the heart and gives to man a new nature, which enables him to live and to live abundantly. This change is called in the Bible the new birth.

For all who are willing to acknowledge themselves as sinners before the Lord, there is hope and help in the cross-work of Christ. His salvation is an accomplished finished work. There is nothing more that we can do except to receive Christ into our lives by faith. How wonderful it would be if you would start 2021 by committing your life to the Lord. He is able to save all who come to Him by faith.

“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved … I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:9-11).

There is something unique about the New Year that makes us especially aware of time. We look back upon the past year with its joys and sorrows and face the new one with its uncertainties. We make resolutions to better ourselves and project plans into the new year so that we have definite goals toward which to work. But despite our well-laid plans, we realize that all the time we really have is now, the now of today.

None of us know when out time will be up.

As a great French king lay dying, he begged his physicians for time. “I will give half my kingdom for a moment of time,” he cried. But time cannot be bought.

Thomas Edison expressed it in these words, “Time is the cheapest thing that exists in the world and the only thing we cannot buy.”

Fred Smith made this statement, “Great men never complained about the lack of time. They accomplished everything they ever did in twenty-four hour days.”

Benjamin Franklin said, “You may delay, but time will not.”

So it is good for us to be reminded at the beginning of this New Year that time is running out. We can misuse time and waste it, but we cannot stop it. Christians are exhorted to redeem the time (read Ephesians 5: 16). In other words, “buy up the opportunities- make the most of it.” We shall give account at the judgment seat of Christ for how we spent our days and hours.

A little while! He’ll come again; Let us the precious hours redeem; Our only grief to give Him pain, Our joy to serve and follow Him; Watching and ready may we be, As those who long their Lord to see.

The New Year is also a time when many resolve to start over. Many a man or woman whose life is troubled, tormented, and tortured by the power of sin would give anything for the chance to start life all over again. “Things would be different ifl had another chance,” they say.

Well, there is good news for those who have this desire for a fresh beginning. The Lord Jesus Christ offers you the opportunity to be born again! No, you cannot tum back the years and become an infant once more, but you can have an entirely new and wonderfully different life through the transforming power of the Saviour. He will bring into your life new motives, new ideas, new joys, new attitudes, new friends, and new ambitions. In short, He will bring newness of life. A whole new world opens up to us when we surrender ourselves into His hands. The Apostle Paul says it this way, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5: 17).

Would you like to be born again? Would you like to see your unhappy past buried in the depths of God’s love? Would you like to know that all your sins are cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like all things to become new? Then come to Christ and confess your need to Him; invite Him to come into your heart and life as Lord and Saviour, and He will meet your need RIGHT NOW!

It is Christmas! The best diagnosis of the true meaning of Christmas was given by a doctor over 2000 years ago, and it cannot be improved upon. The doctor is Luke, and the diagnosis is found in the second chapter of his inspired “prescription,” which is known to us as the Gospel according to St. Luke. In the eleventh verse, we have the very core of the message, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

Note how clear and sharp is the doctor’s diagnosis! “… unto you …”-that is personal. “… this day … “-that is present. “… a Saviour … ” -that is precious.

There is all the difference in the world between Christmas and Christ. Millions make a holiday over the former and forget the latter. Christ is frequently crowded out of this special day, meant to remember Him the most. Holiness is hidden beneath the holly. The wreath is hung higher than the cross. Often the Saviour is replaced by Santa Claus.

Yet without Christ, there is really no Christmas. Without Him, there is nothing to sing about or rejoice over. Outward merriment all too quickly becomes inward mockery to the starved soul. It is time for us to tum back to that perfect prescription of the old doctor and spend a quiet moment with his words.

“… unto you …” This is a personal message, and there can be no evasion nor denial. What have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ for this occasion? You have remembered family and friends with gifts, but have you remembered Him?

“… this day …” Yes, this day, this very moment! Thoughts of Christmas fill the air, and there is at least the passing acknowledgment of His person. But do you know that the thoughts of Christ concerning you are those of grace and eternal life? He offers you the most wonderful Christmas gift available- the gift of your soul’s salvation. What will you do with Christ this Christmas?

“… a Saviour …” Yes, that is the power source of the prescription. The road from Christmas to Calvary is really a short one, for this Babe of Bethlehem came to die as the Sin-Bearer upon Calvary’s cross. Not “Santa” but the Saviour; not “Claus” but Christ. It is only the man or woman, the boy or girl, who has truly been to Calvary, whose sinful heart has been broken at the foot of the cross, whose life has been cleansed and transformed, who can really and truly know the blessed joy of a “heavenly Christmas” within the heart.

How precious are those words, “… unto you … this day … a Saviour …”, when the heart is open to receive Him.

How is it with you? Do you belong to the Lord? Or are you still passing by the manger, forgetting that the Holy Babe long ago climbed from His cradle and died on the cross for your redemption. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, but we are “… justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

Make this redemption your own by accepting into your heart God’s gift, the Christ of Christmas, as your personal Saviour.