____________________________________________________ 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). ____________________________________________________ June 6, 2004 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) Keeping Oneself in the Love of God (Tom Edwards) 2) They Just Could Not Believe It (Clarence R. Johnson) ____________________________________________________ -1- Keeping Oneself in the Love of God by Tom Edwards To the thinking of many of our religious friends today, there is an absurdity to the idea of a person -- in any way -- trying to save himself. For to their reasoning, salvation is totally up to God -- and independent (or without the cooperation) of anything that man could ever think, say, or do. For to them, man is born into this world totally depraved; and, therefore, without not only the ability to obey God, but also without even the desire to even want to do so. False concepts, such as these, often become greatly espoused, built upon, and propagated to the extent that their prevalence has misleadingly influenced multitudes to accept these untruths as gospel-truth. For "if it is what the majority believe, it must be right" seems to be the reasoning of many today. But how wrong that notion can sometimes be. It is sad to realize that the majority of those who would consider themselves Christians today are not even teaching God's full plan of salvation. Rather, the world abounds with various false plans devised by man. For instance, we often hear that one merely needs to "pray a sinner's prayer," or "just believe that Jesus died for your sins," or "just repent," or "just confess your faith in Christ," etc. Does it not seem inconsistent, though, that individuals who would profess that man has no part in his salvation -- since "it is all entirely up to God" -- would then turn around to tell man of these things that he must "do" in order to be "saved"? Why pray? Why repent? Why confess? Or why even believe in Jesus if there is nothing that man needs to do to be saved? However, the Bible makes it quite clear that man does have a role to play in his salvation; and if he doesn't comply with that, then -- as great as the Lord's sacrifice was, and is -- the Lord's death will be nothing more than a vain, ineffectual thing to the individual who is merely a hearer of God's word, but not a doer of it (Jms. 1:22). Let us briefly consider some additional passages that also clearly show of a need for man's cooperation with God in order for man to obtain salvation: While preaching to the people on the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter declares, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:40). What would be the purpose of Peter exhorting them to do such a thing, if man's salvation did not pertain to anything he could do? Peter, however, addressed them in this way because he was well aware of the responsibility that each accountable person has toward responding to the gospel. This same type of responsibility is also implied in Joshua's exhortation to the people of his day: "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15). There was a choice to be made; one in which they had the power to make, and one that could greatly change the course of their lives. Joshua, and his people, lived hundreds of years ago; but we today still need to make that same choice as to whom we will serve. And just as it requires our compliance to yield to God's plan for becoming a Christian, we must also continue to submit to the Lord's way by our faith and obedience; so that we don't become stagnant and aimlessly wander away from the safe shelter of God's love. Corresponding to this, Jude urged the brethren to follow through with their commitment to God in Jude 1:20,21, by saying the following: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." The need to keep ourselves in God's love suggests a danger if we do not. Young Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, for example, did not find a very good place of safety from the twister. She should have been in the storm shelter -- instead of the house. Consider the great safety, however, the psalmist expresses that he finds in the Lord: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies" (Psa. 18:2,3). With all the troubles that had beset David -- for instance, Saul and his men out to kill David -- he could still make this statement and know that he was safe in God's keeping. The Christian can also find great care and consolation in God today, but there is a need for one keeping himself in the Lord. Jesus states: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch..." (Jn. 15:4,6). How can one abide in the Lord? Is it merely through some type of mental process? From the previous verse, we can infer that it is certainly an important thing to know -- for our spiritual well-being and relationship with God depend upon it. In looking to Jesus, we are given His answer in John 15:10: "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." There's the method: obeying the precepts of God. Though we read in Romans 8 of the many things that can never separate us from the love of God, we must be on guard against the one thing that can -- though not mentioned in that passage -- and that is sin. For sin does separate a person from God (Isa. 59:1,2). Sometimes this sin comes about by Christians wrongly embracing false doctrine. Paul writes in Galatians 1:6-9 of those who were quickly deserting Christ by accepting the false teaching that one would need to keep the Law of Moses, along with the gospel of Christ, in order to be saved. They, thus, separated themselves from the love of God by doing so and had, as Paul declares, "...been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4). Though they were a highly religious people, one is not saved by merely being religious. By their going back to this old law, they were depriving themselves of the love of God, which could be received through the gospel. This is why Jude, who urged the brethren to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21), also shows that this is done when one would "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" (v. 3). The "faith" in this verse is used objectively -- just as it also is in Acts 6:7 -- to stand for the gospel itself. In 1 Corinthians 9:26, Paul states, "Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air." Why is it that Paul expresses so much purpose in doing the things he did? Because he realized that he needed to keep himself in the love of God; and if this be so for Paul, then how much more so for us? Paul could see the danger in not remaining dedicated to the Lord. "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it" (Heb. 4:1). This "rest" is the ultimate rest of eternal life in heaven. The Hebrew writer encourages the brethren so that they "be on their toes" and keep themselves in harmony with the Lord. For one of the promises they had not yet received is what we have already seen in Jude 1:21: "keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." "And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary" (Gal. 6:9). ____________________________________________________ -2- They Just Could Not Believe It by Clarence R. Johnson Mark says of Jesus' disciples, "Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him. 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again'" (Mark 10:32-34). Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to bring His earthly ministry to its intended conclusion. The animosity in the hearts of the chief priests and elders toward Him was no secret. The last time He was in Jerusalem previous to this trip, His enemies had tried on two occasions to stone Him. After He had proclaimed His deity by telling the Pharisees, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.' Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by" (John 8:58-59). On that same visit to Jerusalem, again He proclaimed His deity by saying, "'I and My Father are one.' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him" (John 10:30-31). Then John tells us in verse 39, "They sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand." No wonder His disciples were both amazed and afraid as He continued to journey to Jerusalem in spite of the danger that awaited Him there. But even though the apostles sensed the enmity of the scribes, the Pharisees and the priests toward Jesus, and knew they would destroy Him if they could, strangely enough they could not bring themselves to believe that Jesus would actually be arrested, condemned, and executed. Now, here in Mark, chapter 10, for at least the third time, the Lord tries to make His apostles aware of what awaits Him in Jerusalem -- and that it is a part of God's eternal plan. He had already told them these same truths in Mark 8:31 and in Mark 9:31. And yet, with all their forewarnings and foreboding, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took them completely by surprise. In his parallel passage to our text, Luke tells us, "They understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things that were said" (Luke 18:34). -- Via The Susquehanna Sentinel, May 23, 2004 ____________________________________________________ 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 ____________________________________________________