____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ May 4, 2003 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) "Well, It Seems So Right" (Tom Edwards) 2) Sins Forgiven, But Consequences Remain (Tom Edwards) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- "Well, It Seems So Right" by Tom Edwards A few weeks ago, we considered those who sometimes base what is right or wrong on what seems fair or unfair (from a human standpoint). It was pointed out, however, that that is not always a good standard -- especially in spiritual matters. Rather, we need to look to the standard of God's word to make the right judgments. Similarly, have we ever heard anyone make the statement to justify a particular action, by saying, "Well, it seems so right"? Again though, this is not something based on God's word, but rather a matter of personal conviction or feelings. For example, to Peter's thinking (in Matthew 16:21,22), it seemed so right that Christ should not have to suffer and be killed that Peter actually rebuked Jesus, by saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." Peter meant well, but his feelings had mislead him. Jesus then, in turn, reprimanded Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; and you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's" (v. 23). Years ago, when I was trying to persuade a lost friend to accept the gospel plan of salvation, he (who thought he was already saved) responded by saying that the Holy Spirit wouldn't have given him such a peace in believing what he did if he were wrong about it. To him, one can be saved without baptism. So he rejected it as being part of God's plan for having sins forgiven and becoming a child of God -- even though the Bible clearly sets forth its necessity: Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21, etc. Apparently, because he had believed that the Holy Spirit was "speaking" to him through his feelings, he put more confidence in those feelings than in what God's word was actually saying. Like many people in our time, he had felt "saved" and that he already was a "Christian" when, in reality, he was not. We need to understand that his misconception of how the Holy Spirit is working today is pretty typical to many religious people of our time. They have also wrongly assumed that the Holy Spirit will directly communicate with them -- apart from the written revelation -- and would perceive their heart (mind, feelings, etc.) as being the channel whereby the Holy Spirit is imparting His guidance to them. Of course, one question that might come to mind is, "If the Holy Spirit is directly communicating God's word to all those people who claim that He is, then why is it that they all believe so many different things from one another?" Would the Holy Spirit, for example, teach one person that "Salvation can be lost," and then teach another individual that "Salvation can never be lost"? Obviously, if people (even if they claim to be led by the Holy Spirit) are teaching conflicting Bible doctrines then that certainly could not all be the work of the Lord; for "God is not a God of confusion" (1 Cor. 14:33) -- nor One who would teach something false, nor lie (Titus 1:2). An even more unusual case of one trusting in her feelings as to justify something by what "seemed so right," pertains to an individual who married a fellow when she didn't have the scriptural grounds to do so. It had "seemed so right" to her, however, that she also concluded that the Lord wouldn't be letting her feel so good about her marriage if it were wrong. Then, several months later, this same woman was having problems in her marriage. As a result, she split up with her husband so that they could live in separate homes -- though still married. She now believed that it was unscriptural for them to be married. Well, she was right on that point. After a couple months, however, things seemed to start working out pretty well between them. They moved in with each other again. In her happiness, she now believed that their marriage was scriptural; and God was now giving her the "okay" once again. It's amazing how blinded we can sometimes be by our own feelings of what "seems so right." You would think that this woman would have been able to have learned through her own experience how deceptive emotions can be -- and that, surely, the Lord would not be telling her one month that her marriage was scriptural and the next month that it was unscriptural, and vice versa. I'm not going to judge this woman's heart, but was she really concerned about God's will or was her attitude more like the sentiments in that old song that said, "If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right"? Or maybe closer to the truth: "If loving you is wrong, I'll just pretend that it's right." What we need to realize is that feelings and conscience can be misleading -- as in the case of Paul, prior to his conversion (Acts 26:9-11; 22:4; 23:1). Jesus told His apostles that there was a time coming in which "everyone who kills you" will "think that he is offering service to God" (John 16:2). Imagine that! Though they would think they are doing right unto the Lord, they would actually be guilty of murder. So if we want to strive to have the right convictions about things, then we need to look into God's word; for that is the way that the Holy Spirit will "speak" to us -- through the written revelation. As seen in Acts 2, it was the preaching of the Gospel that caused 3,000 Jews to be "pierced to the heart" (v. 37) and become Christians. The message caused them to believe in Jesus, convicted them of their sins, and showed them the way to get right with God. And, for another example, it was Paul's letter to the Corinthians that had produced a "godly sorrow" that led to their repentance (2 Cor. 7:8-10). In other words, the Holy Spirit worked through these messages. God's word is "sharper than any two-edged sword"; and it is used by the Holy Spirit as His instrument to deal with people today, as Ephesians 6:17 also points out: "And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." With this instrument, the Holy Spirit can pierce to the heart, cutting out unbelief, impaling with the conviction of sin, and penetrating deeply with the knowledge of truth and salvation. In looking to the gospel, therefore, we can be sure of what God expects of us -- rather than relying on our personal feelings that can often be wrong. As Paul explains to Timothy, "...I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God..." (1 Tim. 3:15). The apostle didn't say that the Lord wanted each Christian to "tap in to his or her inner feelings" to know how to serve and please God; but, rather, Paul shows that this knowlege would be acquired through the written revelation, which would be their guide. Our very salvation is not based on what we feel; but, instead, on what God's word says. As John states, "These things I have written to you who believe in the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 Jn. 5:13). Their assurance of salvation was not in their personal convictions or feelings, but rather it was from the Scriptures. If, however, the Holy Spirit were directly imparting into our hearts all the things we need to know about what is right and what is wrong (and without the written word), then why would we need to even study God's word or be exhorted to do so? We think of the Bible as being the only book that has been given to us by God -- and rightly so -- but how often do we live as if that is not the case, or as if we have forgotten that He really is its ultimate source? The greatest author in the world -- or all the great authors combined -- cannot even come close to the superiority of the One who gave us His holy and divine revelation. But what little regard we are sometimes guilty of having toward it. It is the means whereby our eternal Creator speaks to us; but sometimes we just walk away, ignoring Him. Let us, therefore, respect God's word for what it is and use it to guide us in all we do -- rather than just letting our own feelings be our guide, which can often be misleading. For in the judgment day, we won't be judged according to what "seems so right" or what "seems so wrong"; but, rather, of those things that the Lord has set forth in His word as being good or evil: Jesus Himself says, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day" (Jn. 12:48). Do we fully know the words that Christ spoke? If not, they are in the Scriptures for us. Furthermore, Paul declares, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10). As we can infer above, the "good" and the "bad" can be learned through the words of Christ; but the words of Christ are not limited to merely the "red" words in the "red letter edition" of the Bible -- for all the gospel is God's word to us. For example, though John wrote the Revelation letter many years after Jesus ascended back to heaven, the apostle begins this epistle by saying, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ...." So we must look to all the New Testament. John states: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds" (Rev. 20:12). "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (v. 15). Your eternal destiny of heaven or hell isn't something you should just "flip a coin" over. Don't take the chance of living on only hunches -- for what is right or wrong -- when your soul is at stake. An appropriate verse, which you might have been thinking of throughout this article, declares that "There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death" (Prov. 14:12). Let us, therefore, avoid that way and travel, instead, on the "highway of righteousness," which is based on the sure foundation of God's word! For it is not only the right course, but it is also the only course that will lead us to heaven and keep us from going astray on all those sinful paths; which include those that might "seem so right" -- but, yet, be so wrong. ____________________________________________________ -2- Sins Forgiven, but Consequences Remain by Tom Edwards The last couple weeks, we considered various thoughts based on that classical work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. Though to our moral judgments, the punishment inflicted upon Hester Prynne seemed excessive; to the Puritan mind of those days in Massachusetts, however, it was actually a leniency. For, in those early days, they had a law that "provided the death penalty for adultery, though it was rarely inflicted" (William C. Nichols, Encyclopedia Americana, p. 192). In Hester Pyrnnes' case, as the book implies, one of the extenuating circumstances was that her husband (who had been absent for about 2 years) had most likely drowned at sea, which led to their lessening her sentence from the death penalty (p. 63). A misconception some might have inferred from those articles is that if someone has been forgiven then NO PUNISHMENT should ever be rendered to that one. Today's article, therefore, is to point out that there can still be consequences of sin -- even after one is forgiven of that transgression. A young teenager, for instance, thinks it's okay to see how fast his new car will go on a country road that has a speed limit of just 45 MPH. His last glance at the speedometer -- before losing control of his vehicle in a sharp turn, plowing through a fence, demolishing a hen house, and slamming into a large oak tree -- showed he was going more than 100 MPH. He sinned in clearly violating a law of the land, which in turn was a violation of God's command to obey the civil authorities (Rom. 13:1-7). And though he can be forgiven by the Lord, that won't eliminate the injury done to his broken body, restore the property damage he was responsible for, nor make him unaccountable to the law he broke. Sin can have some serious consequences -- this side of the judgment day -- even after having been forgiven by God. For another example: God can forgive a person of murder -- but that doesn't bring back the murdered victim. Nor does that forgiveness mean that the one who had murdered will now be exempt from having to pay the penalty for murder. For even if he had appealed to the Lord's "bar on high" for mercy and pardon -- and was granted that -- there is still a judicial system, here below, that he will also have to submit to, due to his murderous act. So, though he can be forgiven by the Lord -- and set free spiritually -- this one who had been guilty of murder will still have to face the earthly consequences for his crime, which might mean many years behind bars -- or even the death penalty. These are just a couple of the many examples in which sin can be forgiven by God (and even by many others); but, at the same time, that forgiveness will not nullify all the consequences. ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes We are glad that June Farmer's recent surgery went well, and she is back home. Let us pray that she will heal swiftly. Though it was primarily the one knee that brought problems from her recent fall, let us pray that Joan Farmer will completely heal from that accident. It is good to see everyone back who had been away due to sickness or vacation. ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________