All The Counsel of God

A MESSAGE FOR THE CHRISTMAS

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 Christmas and forget Christ. Christ is frequently crowded out of this special day, which is 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 is 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 turn back to that perfect prescription of the old doctor and spend a quiet moment with his words. “…unto you…” This 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 acknowledgement 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 do with Christ this Christmas? “…a Saviour…” Yes, this is the powerful source of the prescription. The road from Christmas to Calvary is really a short one, for the 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.

C – Comfort. The Christ of Christmas promises, “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5)

H – Hope. “…Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27)

R – Redemption. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

I – Inspiration. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (2 Timothy 3:16)

S – Salvation. The Bible says, “…now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

T – Truth. Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6)

M – Mercy. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 103:8)

A – Assurance. “…the effect of righteousness guietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah 32:17)

S – Satisfaction. “…he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107:9)

 

All these longed for blessings can be yours today. They are all wrapped up in one “…unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15) – Jesus Christ. What better time is there than this sacred season to receive Him into your heart and life?” “Bust as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)

 

Long ago David was searching for a way to show thanks for all his blessings. He cried out, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12). In Psalm 116:13, he answered his own question, “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD,”

Strange words, aren’t they? Showing gratitude by taking some more. Yet, it shouldn’t be so hard to understand. The cup of salvation is the finest gift God has to offer us. It was prepared at great cost because it meant the blood of His own son. None of His blessings in nature have cost that much. He created all the marvelous resources of this earth out of nothing, but the cup of salvation was costly-God had to surrender His own Son for that!

We are quick to take whatever we can get our hands on in the way of earthly abundance. We even set aside a national Thanksgiving Day. But don’t we look ridiculous when we refuse the cup of salvation for our souls?

How can you say thanks to God for food, shelter, health, freedom, and happiness if you have refused His cup of salvation? The real test of your thanksgiving is what you have done with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

On the walls of a large room in a public building are two small instruments. As one glances at them casually, their appearance is similar. Upon closer inspection, however, we find that the one is a thermometer, while the other is thermostat.

The thermometer does its job well. It records the temperature in the room. It is affected by its environment, but it does nothing to change the environment.

The thermostat, on the other hand, is also affected by the heat or cold of the room, but instead of merely reflecting the temperature, it proceeds to do something to make the temperature as it should be in case it is too low or too high. It determines, in fact, what the temperature of the room shall be.

We meet people like that sometimes. Some are “thermometers.” They are affected by their environment, associates, circumstances – whether good or bad, they reflect that environment. They take on the mannerisms, habits, and conversation of associates. They “do as the Romans do.” They go up or down with their environment, but they never do much, if anything, to make that environment better, more helpful.

Then we occasionally meet some “thermostat” folks. They too, are affected by environment, in that they quickly sense whether it is good or bad, proper or improper, helpful or degrading. If it should be raised in its standard, they proceed to do something about bettering it.

The thermometer cannot do anything to change the temperature of the room because it hangs by itself. It has no connection with the source. The thermostat, on the other hand, is connected with the heating plant. It reaches and controls the source of power. It can and does, change things. A Christian is like a thermostat in some respects. He is sensitive to conditions around him, and he knows that it is his duty to do something to help make them better, both for himself and others. He is connected with the Source of Power – God. He can reach the throne of grace through prayer. That makes the difference, and the results are according.

A thermometer and a “thermometer person” conforms to the environment about him. A thermostat and a “thermostat person” transforms the environment.

If we are merely conforming, merely reflecting present conditions about us, thermometer-like, perhaps we are out of touch with the Source of Power. T thorough check-up would be helpful.

Everything is new when you become a Christian. The Bible says, “…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).

You Have A NEW FATHER

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12)

You Have A NEW HEART

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

You Have A NEW LIFE

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

You Have A NEW HOME

^“ In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

You Have A NEW HOPE

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13)

You Have A NEW WALK

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:” (Colossians 2:6)

You Have NEW THINGS TO DO:

Talk to God

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalms 55:17)

Let God Talk to You

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalms 119:105)

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Tell Others About Jesus

“Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” (Mark 5:19)

Every day you live, you are getting nearer the time of Christ’s Return.

When he comes, will you be ready to leave the world and go to be forever with Him, like Enoch?

Enoch disappeared one day, and the Bible says it was because God took him. Why did God take him? Because he kept good company. The Bible says that “…Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

It will pay you to examine your situation and make sure you are keeping good company. The apostle gave sound advice when he exhorted the believers to separate themselves from the lawless, the people who walk in spiritual darkness, the people who make idols of earthly things. To those who separate themselves from these people, God says, “..I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

Paul posed these questions to the Corinthians but did not answer them, for the answer is self-evident. You may say, “But we have to work together, and live in the same neighborhood. We have to be friendly and cooperative.” Yes, but we don’t have to be intimate.

What Paul is opposing is the yoking together of believers and unbelievers. This would include the marriage yoke, the business yoke, the social yoke-any voluntary binding of oneself together in intimate association with unbelievers. He calls it an unequal yoke. It can be a very galling yoke.

How different is the yoke of Christ! Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

When the Lord comes to catch away his people, it will pay us to be found keeping good company and walking with God, like Enoch.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

1. TRY THEM

1 John 4:1-3  ^“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

2. MARK THEM

            Romans 16:17 “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”

3. REBUKE THEM

            Titus 1:13 “This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;”

4. HAVE NO FELLOWSHIP

            Ephesians 5:11 “¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

5. WITHDRAW THYSELF

            2 Thessalonians 3:6 “ Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.”

6. RECEIVE THEM NOT

            2 John 1:10-11 (KJV) “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

7. HAVE NO COMPANY WITH HIM

            2 Thessalonians 3:14 (KJV) “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.”

8. REJECT THEM

            Titus 3:10 (KJV) “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;”

9. BE YE SEPARATE

            2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV) “ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”

Too many people are looking to man for guidance rather than the clear teachings of the Words of God.

There are some practices and some phrases of worldliness which are so clearly unscriptural and inconsistent with true Christian testimony that there is no question as to the right and wrong of them. They are clearly recognized as in violations of proper Christian conduct. But there are other things which are not so obviously contrary to the Bible concerning which many Christians young people, and other folks alike, are puzzled. Desiring to be true to the Lord and obedient to His Word, and yet wishing to avoid unreasonable extremes, they sometimes find it difficult to decide as to their participation in a particular thing.

The Bible has a lot to say about the world. It uses the word world in three different ways: 1) The world of lost men. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16); 2) The material world we live in. “For we brought nothing into this world…” (1 Timothy 6:7); 3) The third use – the one we are interested in – refers to the conditions and the influences around us that are opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Jesus said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).

Jesus is saying that believers are in the material world, but they do not belong to the system that controls it! In other words, there is an invisible “world” of evil that uses the material world and its activities to keep people from coming to Christ and obeying Him. It is that unseen system controlled by Satan that we refer to when we talk about the “world.” “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” (Ephesians 2:2)  “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

True Christians are recognized because they have no part in the activities of the Christ-opposing world around them. What a powerful testimony! “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) “…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4) Take notice and you will find that in all places where man finds his worldly enjoyment, he shuts out Christ-lest He should come in and spoil his pleasures.

We realize that part of the problem today is that standards are drastically changing. Deed and acts that were once labelled “unbecoming” for a Christian or “worldly” are now accepted and acknowledged without shock or shudder. What is your attitude toward all this? Are you going to accept the lowered and lowering standards around you? May God help you to say, “Most surely not!”

May you seek to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and to daily guard your conduct. His standards have not changed – nor should ours.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)

“If we allow natural affection and human admiration or the lack of these to govern our efforts, we will surely fail in our work and our lives shall be ruined. To obtain genuine fruitfulness, we frequently need to disregard fleshly relationships. Our thoughts and desires must be offered completely to the Lord.” -Watchman Nee

 

When Jacob Deshazer went as one of Jimmy Doolittles raiders on Japan on April 18, 1942, he was an atheist. He was captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. He saw two of his companions shot by a firing squad. He saw another die of slow starvation.

During the long months, he pondered the question of why the Japanese hated him, and why he hated them. He began to recall some of the things he had heard about Christianity.

Boldly, he asked his, jailers if they could get him a Bible. At first they laughed boisterously, as at a good joke, then grew ugly and warned him to stop making a nuisance of himself. But he kept asking.

A year and a half later – May 1944 – a guard brought him a Bible, flung it at him, and said, “Three weeks you have. Three weeks, then I take it away.”

True to his word, in three weeks the guard took the Bible away, and DeShazer never saw it again.

In 1948, DeShazer, his wife, and infant son were on their w back to Japan as missionaries, all because he asked for a Bible and a Japanese guard gave him one for three weeks.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12)