Bible Archives - Page 21 of 30

Honor your Parents

February 4, 2019March 9, 2018 by Michael Tucker

The Ten Commandments are not a very popular topic these days. Judges get in trouble for trying to put the Ten Commandments in the courtroom. The Ten Commandments are not extremely popular. The truth is that the Ten Commandments are not a legalistic set of regulations for us. These commandments were written by the finger of God. He wrote them as an expression of His character so that we might know Him. It is more important to view the commandments in that way than any other.

What does this tell me about the Father? What does this tell me about God? I find that God is very interested in your relationship because the first four commandments have to do with your relationship with God. The fifth Commandment is where it turns. People say that the last six commandments have to do with our relationship with others. I would like to give a third division. The first four pertain to our relationship with God. The last five involve our relationships with others. But the fifth commandment is specifically focused on the home.

The fifth commandment is concerned with your relationship with father and mother, with children, with the family, because the family is the core of society. In fact, it is good to view this as concentric circles; it begins with our love for God in the inner circle. From there we expand to another circle which is family. We need to love God; we need to love family. Then we go one more circle and that is to love everyone else as well.

We see this same pattern in the gospel commission. Jesus told His disciples they were to start at Jerusalem (The Acts of the Apostles, 32) which is where they lived, where the first church was established. Start in Jerusalem and spread the word throughout the city. Then go to Judea, which is the country in which they live, and then to Samaria, their closest neighboring country, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. We start with God and then we move out like concentric circles. The gospel begins at home and then we move out. That seems to be God’s plan.

He asks how you could love others if you don’t even love the people He gave you to live with on a day-to-day basis. We have here God’s pattern for relationships. God says that good relationships have boundaries. A relationship without boundaries is codependent and extremely unhealthy. There are boundaries in my relationship with you.

All human relationships must have boundaries. My wife has commandments that I did not realize until I got married. One commandment is, Thou shalt have no other girlfriends before me. Another commandment is, Thou shalt not take my name in vain, either in my presence or away from me—talk nice about me is what she is saying. Those commandments are not a burden to me. I have more joy keeping those commandments because I love her and they are not a burden or a legalistic requirement of me at all.

Our relationship has boundaries. She has boundaries for me and I have boundaries for her and without those boundaries we would have an unhealthy relationship. There needs to be a set of expectations that we have in relationships. That is what the Ten Commandments are all about. God tells us that the Ten Commandments are boundaries for your relationship with me. There are boundaries for your family and boundaries for the rest of the world—it would be nice if you do not kill the people you love.

Don’t take from the people you love the things that belong to them; respect their property. These are boundaries for relationships. Don’t bear false witness; don’t trash their character. Every relationship must be governed by boundaries or the relationship becomes unhealthy. When you are raising children, you have boundaries for them. There are things you are trying to teach them because you want them to grow up and become responsible human beings. You want them to understand what a healthy relationship is all about.

One of those boundaries is found in Exodus 20:12. It says, “Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you.” One of the things God does is to put men and women on the same level. This was a new thought for that time because it was a very male dominated society.

In order to understand this passage better we need to understand a concept of the Eastern mind, especially the ancient Eastern mind, and it still exists today. This commandment could also be translated as, “Be sure you don’t shame your father and your mother.” A very strong motivating force in the Eastern mind is the idea of shame avoidance—saving face. It is difficult to understand any of the parables that Jesus taught without an understanding of this basic concept of shame avoidance. We will do anything to avoid shame personally and also collectively as a society. That was a key in the Eastern thought.

Remember the parable of the man who received guests into his home late, unexpectedly, and he had nothing in the house to feed them? He goes over to his neighbor and he bangs on the door and he says, “Give me some bread so I can feed my guests.” The man says, “Leave me alone; I am in bed; I have my children in bed with me” (Luke 11:5–7). We really don’t understand that parable here in the West. We think it means that God is reluctant to answer our prayers, but if we keep knocking on the door, eventually He will answer. That is not what the parable says.

In the East, when someone came to your home, not only were they the guests in your home but they were the guests in the entire community. It would be a point of shame, not just for the man who received him into his home, but for the entire community to not meet the needs of the guests. For this man to go to his neighbor and knock on the door and say I have a guest; I have nothing to feed him; help me out, Jesus was saying, Who would not get out of bed and give him the bread? After all, he would bring shame on himself, upon his neighbor and the entire community. Of course, he is going to defend his name; he is going to honor his reputation; he is going to honor his community by getting out of bed, getting the bread so that he will have something to feed his neighbor. By the way, what the man was asking for was primarily utensils. In those days the food was put into a common pot, usually a stew, and they would take flat bread and dip in the common pot, so the bread became the utensil. So for one man to refuse to do that would bring shame upon the entire community, and no one in their right mind would do that.

The point of Jesus’ parable was when you ask for something in His name, God will always honor His name. He would not think of doing otherwise because of the concept in the Eastern mind of shame avoidance. I am going to avoid shame. That is what the fifth Commandment is based on; do not allow your parents to experience shame. Do not shame your mother and your father.

One way in which your mother or father could be shamed in their old age is especially through poverty. Poverty was seen in that mindset as a point of shame. Don’t allow your mother or father to be impoverished in their old age; you take care of their needs. Do not bring shame upon their gray heads.

Do you remember when Saddam Hussein was captured? The allies understood the importance of villages, especially in the Eastern culture. They understood the importance of shame and shame avoidance. In the photographs we saw of him being examined by a doctor and checking his hair and beard for lice, he looked old and tired and he was opening his mouth as they peered in for opium. It was to make this god-like figure experience shame in the eyes of those people he ruled over. It was a mental image they wanted to place in the Eastern mind. They were very intentional about that because they understood the concept of shame avoidance because now he looked like an old, poor, haggard man, filled with vermin. It was all about shame avoidance.

How shameful would it be for your father or mother to not have enough food to eat or to live in poverty while you have enough to eat? The commandment is telling you that you have a responsibility for your father and mother. You are to take care of them in their old age and make sure they have exactly what they need. You do not shame them. Why do you do this? The family is the core of society, so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God has given you. That promise does not mean that if you take care of them and be respectful to them that you will live to a ripe old age. It says that your community or your society will be established and you will keep the land that God has given you as a community. I will keep the core of your community strong as long as the family values are strong.

We see the disintegration of the family today. We can see that society is crumbling and standards are melting away. Anything seems to go and it starts with the home. This is why God said that the very first commandment that deals with human relationship is, “Honor your father and your mother.” Take care of the family relationships and make sure that they are in good shape and if you will do that, your society will remain strong. Your community will remain strong.

Another way in which we are to honor our father and our mother is by the way we talk to them. When our children were small, we wanted to make sure that we did not get any back talk. I have been to the store and I have seen children smart mouthing their mother and I want to go over and take the child by the nap of the neck. When our children were small, I remember one of them saying something smart to her mother and it was my job when I heard that to intervene and my wife would intervene when they spoke that way to me. When I heard her speak that way to her mother I told her to wait just a minute, that I would not allow any man on the street to speak to her mother in that way and why on earth would I allow my own daughter to speak that way. You will not speak to your mother in that way. We had no problems after that. I also spoke to her mother with gentleness and kindness and our children were respectful. They did not grow up with mother and father screaming at each other. We wanted our children to be able to emulate our response to each other. Everybody gets irritated but we need to choose our words well. Remember that every word you say trains someone else.

I wanted my children to learn to honor their mother, so I had to honor her. I wanted them to learn to honor their grandparents so I had to honor them. I wanted my children to honor men and women who are older than they and to treat them with gentleness and respect, which means that I have to model that. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear a word you say. If you say one thing and do another, no one spots a hypocrite faster than a child. All of our children need to learn how to honor father and mother. That does not stop when they leave the house.

I have seen people treat their parents who are in their 50s, 60s and older as if they were children. I have seen them speak disrespectfully to them as if this was just a child with no sense. I have seen them roll their eyes when they take so long to get up or to move from one place to another. There was a time when you were pretty slow too. There was a time when you messed your britches and when you drooled and someone took care of you. We have a responsibility to care for father and mother and to show them dignity and respect regardless of their age.

A man and a woman live their lives searching for some manner of dignity and respect in the world. They do business, they hold a job, they raise a family, participate hopefully in church and at the end of their lives when they should have earned all of this respect, all of a sudden their children treat them as if they do not have a lick of sense. The parents have lost all of the respect they spent their lives trying to earn. This is a society that worships youth and hates old age.

I remember hearing an actor answer a question about who his hero was. He said his son, who was four years old, was his hero. His son had not battled some dread disease and survived or was not a child prodigy. He was just a normal four year old. He spoke of that child as being his ideal and he did not want to teach his child anything because he thought he might spoil that purity. He wanted to be like that child. This is life upside down. Your boy needs a hero and that should be you, dad, because you teach him values. You show him the way to live as a man. You show your daughter what it is to have a man love her appropriately. You don’t worship youth; you train youth.

We respect our elders by recognizing that they have something of value to give us. Honor your father and your mother.

We honor our father and mother by living lives of dignity, respect, purity, truth and honesty. When you are a man or woman of integrity, you give honor to your father and mother. I met a young man who was sharp, well-spoken and he seemed to live by good values. He seemed to have his head together and he seemed to know where he was going in this life. He knew what he wanted to do and what he wanted to accomplish. He knew who he was and what life was all about.

I was so impressed with him that I made a comment to my wife that someone had taught this young man well and that he must have come from a good home. When I had an opportunity to talk with this young man, particularly about his family, I found out just the opposite was true. His father, when he was a child, had been very abusive of the boy and before he had reached his teenage years, his father had abandoned him and he had not seen him in years. His mother was a drug addict and after his father left he saw a long procession of boyfriends move into the house and move out. They had taught him nothing but yet, somewhere along the line, someone had influenced him so that he had become a young man of integrity and dignity. Do you realize that the choices this young man made honored his father and mother who really did not deserve it or may not even be aware of it? And as you have chosen to live lives that honor God this will bring honor to your father and mother.

Honor comes from a root word for heavy or weighty, giving weight to. This can be taken in a positive way. When you consider a weighty matter, it would be something of significance, some substance or value. So when you add weight to this matter you are adding significance, substance and value. That is a positive way of looking at honor. The negative way of looking at honor is when it becomes a heavy burden to carry.

If you grew up in a home where father and mother did their best to care for you and raise you right and they made their mistakes along the way just like any other parent, then this matter of adding weightiness and substance to their lives is a positive command. Now you can respect them, their wisdom, their stories and their history and that becomes a part of your story and adds credence and value to your life, weight to your life. You are honored to give significance to their life at the time of anniversaries, birthdays, retirement and by visiting them. You are there to give honor to your father and your mother.

My family used to run a nursing home and there are a lot of people who were simply placed there and abandoned until they died. You never saw son or daughter or grandchildren; nobody came by until we sent the notice that they had died and they needed to pick up their things. To treat them positively is to add weight to their life and to show up, to be there and to love them and celebrate the moments with them and to thank them for what they have done for you. That is the positive way of looking at the commandment.

There is also a negative side to this. Not everybody grew up in a loving home. Many grew up in homes that were extremely abusive; they were abandoned or molested. This happens in American homes with far too great a frequency. What about those people whose lives have been negatively impacted by a dysfunctional family, a family that told them they were not good enough or abused them? What do you do with a father and mother in that circumstance? That is when the weight of honoring father and mother becomes heavy.

The commandment does not say to honor your father and mother unless your father was a louse, worthless or abusive. How do you honor that father? A work of reconciliation has to be done in your heart first. You need to not gloss over the pain in your life as though it never happened, but to acknowledge it. The only Christian option is to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean that what they did didn’t matter, or what they did was right, or that it did not hurt you. Forgiveness means that what you did was wrong, it hurt me and destroyed my life but I have chosen not to carry the resentment or anger around with me anymore. I lay it at the foot of the cross and I extend to you the same grace that was extended to me. I choose to forgive you. Forgiveness is not an emotion but a decision.

Ephesians 6:1–4 tells us that there is a second side to this: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise); That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Do you see the principle here? God never gives privilege without responsibility. Fathers and mothers have the privilege of having God command that our children honor us. The responsibility is that we live lives of integrity and be honorable people.

Jesus will give you the strength that is necessary to honor your father and your mother and to be a father or mother of integrity that your children can honor and love. This is God’s law, not a legalistic requirement. It is a glorious privilege that He wants us to have appropriate boundaries for healthy relationships, relationships with Himself, relationships with the greater community and relationships at home.

Michael Tucker’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Do You Weigh Enough?

March 9, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

Every nation in the world has an account with God. An account is not only kept of the moral character of individuals but God keeps account of the collective moral character of entire nations. “With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps account with the nations. While His mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account remains open.” Prophets and Kings, 364. Is that account still open today? You can read in Daniel 5 that the account of Babylon suddenly closed. Since that night, Babylon has never been a country again.

Could the accounts of other nations be closing today? The rest of that short paragraph says, “While His mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account remains open; but when the figures …” Notice the words “the figures.” Remember what Daniel told Belshazzar: God has numbered your kingdom, finished it (Daniel 5:26)! “When the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed …” Here we see that there is a “fixed amount” that has to do with moral character for whole nations.

God has abundantly blessed the United States of America more than any other nation on the face of this earth. The people who first came here were fleeing from the religious persecution in Europe and other places and came here to this land to find religious liberty. This country used to be known as a Protestant nation, the bulwark of Protestantism for the whole world, even as late as World War II. When the Puritans first came and settled here, they lived by Christian principles and it was possible to live in one of those New England towns for a whole year without hearing of anybody getting robbed.

Once, Babylon was the greatest nation on the earth, but when their moral character was lost, they also lost God’s blessing. This nation once had a good moral character and enjoyed the blessing of God because of those people who lived here. Most people in the United States today are ignorant of this country’s heritage and do not comprehend the source of its prosperity which, in the past, came directly from the blessing of God. It was not because Americans are the smartest people in the world, or because of a certain form of government. It was simply the blessing of God as a result of the moral character of the people who lived here.

In Testimonies, vol. 5, 45, it says: “As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return.” The account then will be closed and all the other nations are going to follow the example of the United States. The word of God says, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him [the beast] whose names have not been written in the Book of Life.” Revelation 13:8.

Right now the account is still open and people can be saved. Though they be living for the devil now, they can still turn around when they hear the gospel. But once that account is closed, it will be too late to be saved. Just like with Belshazzar, a time will come when the whole nation and also the people will be weighed in the balances.

Soon, we will be told that, “The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. There is no more pleading of mercy in their behalf.” Ibid., 208. But right now there is still an opportunity to accept the mercy that God has extended. We need to be inviting people with whom we deal to take advantage of the mercy presently being offered. We are told in Patriarchs and Prophets, 165: “You who are slighting the offers of mercy, think of the long array of figures accumulating against you in the books of heaven; for there is a record kept. …” The weighing process is the same as what is called in other texts the Final Judgment. When you have been weighed, then you have been judged. “There is a record kept of the impieties of nations, or families, of individuals.” Ibid., 166.

God keeps a record “of the impieties of nations, of families, or individuals. God may bear long while the account goes on, and calls to repentance and offers of pardon [mercy] may be given; yet a time will come when the account will be full; when the soul’s decision has been made; when by his own choice man’s destiny has been fixed. Then the signal will be given for judgment to be executed.” Ibid.

While the account is open, anybody can turn around and accept the invitation of mercy; however, the account cannot be kept open forever. Jesus cannot return until the account is closed and the weighing process—the numbering process—has been accomplished.

God is weighing character. He is weighing the motives that give character to what you say and what you do. God knows the answer, but He keeps a record so it can be evident. There are many people who do a lot of good things, but for selfish reasons.

If you have things on your record that you would rather not meet in the Day of Judgment, you need to repent and say, “Lord, I want to be forgiven.” Then, the bad part of your record will be covered up by the blood of Christ. You will be forgiven and transformed into the likeness of Jesus as you receive the Holy Spirit into your life and the sin on your page removed.

God keeps records especially with Christians in churches. In Testimonies, vol. 8, 247, it says, “In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to be weighed.” Not just an individual, not just a family—a whole church is going to be weighed in the balance.

When Belshazzar got weighed, it was all over. The result of you being weighed in the balance is that you will either receive eternal life or eternal death. “In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had.” Ibid. This was a testimony written especially to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I have no question in my mind that every church is going to be weighed. The Roman Catholic Church will be weighed; the Methodist and the Baptist churches will be weighed. Every church will be weighed and we are not excluded. The Seventh-day Adventist church is also going to be weighed.

Belshazzar was not ignorant of the God of heaven. He knew the story of the three Hebrews who refused to bow to the golden idol and that they had been delivered from the fiery furnace. Belshazzar knew that his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had been judged by God as unworthy to be king over the nation of Babylon and had gone insane spending seven years out in the field eating grass like an ox before he came to his senses and repented. Those who are saved will meet Nebuchadnezzar in the Kingdom of Heaven because it is stated in the last part of Daniel 4 that he later repented and became a follower of God.

Belshazzar was weighed in a different measure than Tiglat Pleaser, an Assyrian king who had lived 200 years before. Belshazzar had information and knew things that Tiglat Pleaser had never known. He knew about the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace and he also knew about the experience of Nebuchadnezzar. He had spiritual light that Tiglat Pleaser never had so he was more accountable and weighed on a different basis and judged on the knowledge that he had.

As Seventh-day Adventists we have had more light than the people in the other churches due to the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy. All have the Bible, but they do not have the special messages sent by the Holy Spirit to God’s remnant people to show explicitly how to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ.

I personally consider the Spirit of Prophecy to be one of the most wonderful blessings that God has given to His remnant people. We have detailed instructions of our part to prepare and be ready for Jesus to come. For example, there are many people in other churches who are ignorant of the difference between clean and unclean food. The instruction is in the Bible, but we also have the Spirit of Prophecy where it is spelled out very clearly, the instruction not to be eating unclean food. Unfortunately, there are some Adventists who do eat ham today, but when our character is weighed, if an Adventist is eating ham, they will be judged differently on the additional information available to them on health, than a Roman Catholic who is eating ham ignorantly. Those having more light and rejecting it will be in a worse position than those having less light and living up to all the light they have.

The more light you have, the more responsibility you have to live up to that light. Jesus was very clear about this. In Luke 12:47, 48 it says: “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed; of him they will ask the more.”

There are some who avoid programs or prophecy seminars deciding, “I’m not going to that because I don’t want to know and that way I won’t be held accountable.” Do you know what is written down on their page in the Kingdom of Heaven? This person had an opportunity to hear the truth. When you refuse to hear the truth, you have refused the Lord, Who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

We, as Adventists, have received much truth through the Spirit of Prophecy to get us back to living by every word that is written in the Bible so that we will be ready for Jesus to come. The church that is ready for Jesus to come has to be without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing (Ephesians 5:26, 27; Revelation 19). The same thing is stated in different words in many places in the Bible. There is going to be a group of people without spot, without wrinkle and without blemish on their moral character. This is impossible unless the grace of God works a miracle in your life and with your cooperation. The Spirit of Prophecy was given in order that we would know how to cooperate so that in the judgment when we are weighed, we will weigh out all right. We are told: “The Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had.” Last Day Events, 59. Just like the Jews, we have had more privileges and more advantages than any other church. “If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence, ‘Found wanting’ [Daniel 5:27]. By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 247.

Moral character is to be weighed. For this reason, Jesus said to Nicodemus that unless you are born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5), there is no chance for you to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. Unless the heart (the spirit) is recreated by the Holy Spirit there is no chance of being in the Kingdom of Heaven.

When Jesus was asked by the father whose son was possessed of a devil if there was anything He could do, Jesus said, “Listen, it is not whether I can do something; it is if you can believe.” God can only change our character if we will cooperate. In the book, Education, 262, it says, “Success in any line demands a definite aim.”

You must believe that God can work this miracle out in your life, and then aim for that. God is going to work a miracle and get you to where you are aiming, but if you are not aiming for perfection, God cannot get you beyond where you aim. Paul said, “The One who has begun a good work in you will finish it” (Philippians 1:6). The Person who began a good work in you, He will finish it.

Has God begun a good work in you? I like the way I heard one preacher explain it. He said, “God doesn’t make junk!” God does not start something and then leave it half done. I do not know how it is with you, but sometimes when I am half through with a project it is usually a big mess. God does not start something and then in the middle just walk away from it. If God has begun a good work in you, you do not need to be afraid that you are going to fail in reaching perfection. You can say, “Lord, You have begun a good work in me and You have promised that You are going to finish what You have started and I am going to cooperate.” It will happen!

Read this encouraging statement found in February 10, 1888, The Signs of the Times. Ellen White said: “Now let us seek Christ for ourselves, and find him precious to our souls. Let us minister to our brethren both in and out of the church. It is our privilege to be constantly strengthening those around us, and shedding an influence that will bless and elevate. Do not sow the seeds of envy, strife, and doubt. Let your conversation be holy before God. Seek in every way that you may grow up into a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You must be living stones, reflecting and emitting the light of Heaven. The truth of God has quarried you out of the world to be squared and hewed and fitted for the heavenly building. The robe of your character must be washed till it is spotless, in the fountain opened for all uncleanness. Your moral worth will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and if you are found wanting, you will be at an eternal loss. All the coarseness, all the roughness must be removed from your character before Jesus comes; for when he comes, the preparation for every soul is ended. If you have not laid aside your envy, your jealousies, your hatred one against another, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You would only carry the same disposition with you; but there will be nothing of this character in the world to come. Nothing will exist there but love and joy and harmony. Some will have brighter crowns than others, but there will be no jealous thoughts in any heart among the redeemed. Each one will be perfectly satisfied, for all will be rewarded according to their work.”

Heaven is a place worth striving for, a place worth going to. It is a place where people are infinitely happy all the time. But, before anybody is allowed in, they must be weighed. When I was a boy and went to the physician’s office I would be weighed before the examination. God is weighing your moral character every day. He totals up the numbers on your moral character daily.

When somebody is trying to lose weight, they often get on the scale two or three times a day to see if there is any progress. God wants to see if you and I are making progress. There is a standard to reach to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and you cannot enter there unless you weigh in right.

There is coming a time for a final weighing in for everybody who is to be saved. There are many statements here about this weighing process. In Testimonies, vol. 5, 83, it says: “The church cannot measure herself by the world nor by the opinion of men nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting.” That applies to all churches. God is in the weighing process; the judgment is going on and if you are going to be taken to heaven, you have to weigh in at the right moral weight.

God knows where you need to be in order to be admitted. I don’t want anybody to be deceived. Although the standard is perfect, that perfection is not exactly the same for everybody. Perfection always involves being obedient to the Ten Commandments, but different people have different capacities. God knows all about what your capacities are and He does not expect from you something that you are not capable of. God is not a hard taskmaster, but He does know where you need to weigh in.

In the physical world, health charts are used to measure acceptable levels of health, taking into consideration the person’s body type and frame size to evaluate their optimal weight. God has something like that, only infinitely more complex. He knows where each person needs to be able to weigh in so that they have that perfection that is required to go to heaven.

It is necessary to aim at where God is telling you. Say, “Lord, I want every rebuke I can get; I want every correction I can get; I want everything You have for me so I’ll be ready.” The Lord will send you the information. When a person searches for truth, God makes sure they find it. One man looking for truth while driving his car one day turned on the radio and he heard Joe Crews speaking. He said, “Well, that is the truth. I want to check into that.” He ended up becoming a Seventh-day Adventist as a result of his search. The same is true after you come into the church. If you desire perfection, God will see to it and complete that work that He has begun, but don’t expect God to arrange for you to get there if you are not aiming for it.

Heaven is a good place; we have to be there, but first we have to weigh in! All of the coarseness, all of the roughness and all of our undesirable traits of character must be removed in order for us to go there.

Aim high and ask the Lord for His help.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: (316) 788-5559.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

February 3, 2019March 8, 2018 by Kenneth Cox

God says that if you will obey my voice and keep my commandments you will be a special treasure to me above all of the people of the earth. He said if you would do those things, it will be well with you. He asks that you and I walk with Him, follow Him in all that we do.

The Ten Commandments are ten great eternal principles that never change. Those are principles that God gave to guide, direct and to lead your life. They must not be viewed as rules. They are laws, they are principles but they are not rules. Many people have a tendency to look upon the Law of God as rules. When you view God’s law as a rule, it causes you to become legalistic and you will always be looking at other people to see if they measure up to the rule. Jesus and the Pharisees had conflict because of their persistence in coming to Him with some rule that they had made up regarding one of the commandments. Jesus would then give a principle which made them so mad that eventually they figured out how they could kill Him.

The sixth Commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13.

Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” This tells us that God made man in His own image and that means that you are special. There is not another individual anywhere in the vast universe of God who is just like you. You are one of a kind, unique!

If the life of an individual who is not saved or does not know Jesus Christ is taken, then that person is eternally lost. Throughout eternity there will never be another person like that one. This is a tremendous loss. You should not take something that you cannot restore and you cannot restore a life.

God is not interested in cloning. He creates. Man clones because he cannot create. God is not interested in having a bunch of people running around that look alike, speak alike, or act alike. God is interested in you being a distinct, special individual just the way He made you. David talked about this in Psalm 139:16: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed; and in your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them.” David said that God knew you before you were ever born. Life, for that reason, is special.

The last six commandments relate to loving your neighbor, whether it be your parents or the neighbor next door. In Romans 13:9 it says, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is all summed up in this, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The neighbors next door, no matter how ornery or difficult they may be, are special and there is nobody else like them. God brought them into existence and therefore you and I need to treat them with respect and love because they are special.

The law was not given to give you power to overcome or to help you. It was given to show you a direction on how you should live and which way you should go. In Hebrews 7:19 it says, “For the law made nothing perfect, on the other hand, there is a beginning of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” There is something to help you and me because the law was not given to make anything perfect. The law is going to tell you that you are guilty. There is a better hope offered to you and to me.

In Romans 5:20 it says, “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound (in other words, it points out sin). But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Unfortunately, many people do not understand grace or what is involved in grace. Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus? He said, “Good Master, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him: “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments.” And the young man responded saying that he had done that from his youth, “what lacketh I yet?” Jesus said if you want to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me (Luke 18:18-22).

What would you do if the Lord told you to go home and sell everything that you have and come and follow Him? Jesus was homeless, and did not know where the next meal was coming from and He said, I am not very well liked and the establishment would like to kill me, but sell everything you have and follow Me. How many of you would? Why would Christ ask that young man to do that? Because it was the only way that this young man would understand grace. All his life he had everything he wanted. He was not dependent on anybody. He was very wealthy and he turned away because he had great possessions. The only way he could understand grace was when he was totally dependent upon God. So with you and me; we have to be in a position where we are totally dependent upon the Lord.

What does the sixth Commandment mean when it says, “Thou shalt not kill”? In the original translation it says, “Thou shalt not murder.” The Hebrew meaning for the word kill or murder also means premeditated. That means I thought about it and then took that person’s life.

There are certain emotions that you and I have and if we do not take care of them they can cause us to commit murder. Let’s look at a few of these.

Envy—This can cause you to murder somebody. Do you remember the case in the Bible of Ahab? Right beside the palace was a vineyard owned by Naboth. Ahab was envious because he wanted that vineyard. He went to Naboth and told him that he would trade another piece of land for it, but he wanted that vineyard. Naboth told him that it had been in his family for many generations and that he did not want to sell. Ahab then offered him more than the vineyard was worth, but he would not sell it. He was so envious that he went home and moped and sulked and went on about it until Jezebel asked him what the problem was and then she took care of it. They murdered Naboth. Read about it in I Kings 21. Envy can cause murder. If you have a problem with envy, you need to look at it very, very carefully.

Hatred—If you hate your neighbor, if you hate your parents, or your brother or sister, you have an emotion that can get you into trouble and cause you to commit murder. Remember the experience of King Saul? He hated David. He did everything he could think of to take his life. Even when time and time again, it was shown him clearly that David was loyal and that he was not trying to take the kingdom, but Saul hated him so much that he continually attempted to take his life. If you hate, it can cause you to commit murder.

Anger—Uncontrolled anger can put you in situations where you will take a person’s life. If you cannot control getting angry, then you need to look at it and do something with that anger because that is dangerous. Cain killed his brother Abel because he was angry because God showed respect to Abel’s sacrifice but not his own. Anger must not be permitted to rule our lives.

Revenge—Revenge is wanting to get back for something that happened to me. I am not happy when hearing something on the news about somebody killing another person because others want to take revenge. When Samson’s wife was killed by the Philistines he said that he would go out and revenge himself and went out and killed over 1,000 of them. The spirit of revenge cannot be allowed to lead or guide the life.

I will never forget a time when I was holding a meeting and a lady atttended, with her was a young man, probably in his 30s. As we got acquainted one night I asked her about him. She said, “Brother Cox, that man killed my father. I went to the prison and told him I forgave him.” She told me she studied with him and brought him to Jesus Christ. When he got out of prison, he has been like a son to me ever since. This lady did not permit revenge to rule her life.

The Scripture does not tell us to be hateful, revengeful or angry. It says that you and I are to be kind, tenderhearted, loving one another (Ephesians 4:32).

Outside of shooting them or stabbing them, there are many different ways to kill people. In 1971 there was a song written called Killing Me Softly with His Song. Over the centuries, the preferred method for killing people was to poison them. Remember Nero who poisoned his mother who died rather quickly. Napoleon was poisoned for months before he died. In fact, poison still kills today and in many cases it is self-inflicted. What would you say to the Lord if He were to ask you, “Why did you commit murder?” You would say, “I did not murder anybody.” He would say, Yes, you committed suicide by slowly poisoning yourself by using tobacco. Every cigarette that you smoked took 11 minutes from your life. You committed suicide. How are you going to answer the Lord?

What about drugs? How do you answer the Lord when you are taking poisons and putting them into your body? The average age of a drug addict is 30 years of age. The same is true with alcohol—it does not kill you quickly; it just pickles you over time.

These poisons that are being used today we find almost acceptable and that it is all right to smoke and to chew and to use alcohol. This is not acceptable with God. To say that you just cannot quit, then you are saying that the grace of our Lord is not capable. Are you trying to say that if you turn your life over to God that He can’t take care of you and take you off those things? Would you tell God that, when He is there ready to help you?

We are talking about what God wants us to be and what we ought to be. There are some people who dig their grave with their teeth. There are women who are loving, kind and sweet wives who are absolutely fantastic cooks. The foods they fix are fabulous and they do that for their husbands, day in and day out. He sits and enjoys it and eats, not realizing that it is absolutely killing him. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?” The statement is very true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But if you prepare a wonderful meal day in and day out, and set that before him, you are asking for real problems; you are going to kill him.

I was invited to speak at a retirees’ convention. When I got up to speak and looked out across the audience of about 200 to 300 people I couldn’t believe what I saw. Ninety percent of the people in that audience were women. All of the husbands were dead. When I went through school, I worked as an orderly in a hospital and I noticed a rather strange phenomenon because a day or two before Thanksgiving or a day or two before Christmas the patient load in that hospital was way down. You could walk down that hall and there was vacant room after vacant room. The evening of Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day when you walked back through those halls every room was full and there were patients in the halls and it is because of what we eat. There has to be limits. The sin of this age is probably the gluttony of people. We need to stop that because it is killing us.

Cannibalism—When you come home from church and you sit down at the table for dinner and you eat roasted pastor or roasted brother or sister in the church you are practicing cannibalism, which is murder. Next time you think you are going to start in criticizing a pastor or a brother or sister, write down on a little pad that you just committed murder. You are not to kill. That is like that song Killing Me Softly with His Words. Step by step I put them to death. God simply says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has inherited eternal life” (I John 3:15). It is impossible to hate a brother or a sister and still make it into God’s kingdom.

The Bible says that hate, anger, revenge and envy and all those emotions come out from your heart. In Matthew 15:19–21 it says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” All of that comes out of the flesh. In order to keep from being that way, you cannot be on the throne. You do not have any choice about being on the throne because you were born there. Little babies can get on that throne quite easily; they are born that way. The choice to be made is whether or not you will get off it. God gave you a will so that makes it possible for you to make a decision that you will not ruin your life.

If you stay on the throne, then there are certain things that are inherited and called the works of flesh. Look in Galatians 5:19–21. It says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, just as I also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” You are born into this world only flesh. You need to make a decision of whether you are going to stay on the throne or let Christ reign there. Each must make that decision.

God has given each person a mind that is very smart. Your mind is a big filing cabinet which takes everything in that you hear, taste, see or touch and files it away perfectly so that anytime you want to you can pull it out and think about it. There is a lot in there you have not thought about for a long time, but if the right word is said or the right thing is done, it is immediately brought forth.

I was born in Chicago and lived the first nine years of my life there. I had never been back as far as spending any time there. I wanted to go back to the community where I was raised. I just wanted to go back and see what was there. I could not believe it, but when I walked back into the community all of the sounds and smells just flooded my soul. They were there after all of these years. Your mind files everything away very carefully.

If you are on the throne and running your own life, then you will put things into your mind that should not be there. These are the works of the flesh. You will watch the television and watch programs that encourage violence, hatred, murder, pornography and all of that will be stored in your mind. Then, you can think about it any time you want to. That produces what the Scripture calls emotions. The Bible says that when it comes to the emotions, you and I have to be very careful because it says, “Out of the heart … [Mark 7:21-23].” Heart refers to the emotions. It says to, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life” [Proverbs4:23]. What does that mean? It means that your emotions cause actions—cause you to do certain things. That is why it says to watch your emotions, take care of them because that will cause you to do certain things.

If you permit envy or anger or hatred or any of those things to dwell in your life, those emotions could cause you to commit murder. The only way you can take care of this is by making the decision to put Jesus Christ on the throne.

When you make the decision to put Jesus Christ on the throne, He then makes the decision as to what goes into your mind, because He is in control. Therefore, He is the One who is calling the shots and I am going to read those things that are good and right. The Scripture says that whatsoever things are lovely, pure and of a good report, think on these things and that produces the fruits of the Spirit (Philippians 4:8). It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” [Galatians 5:22, 23]. Those begin to operate in my life. That is how the Holy Spirit comes in and takes control of your life and changes it.

You must make the decision whether you are going to let the Lord run your life or you are going to run your own life. If you are going to run your own life, then I will assure you that the works of the flesh will be present, but if you turn it over to Christ, then the Holy Spirit will come into your life and He will do His work in your life. The only way that takes place is at the foot of the cross. Day by day I have to come to Him at the foot of the cross and turn my life over to Him and let Him work in my life.

Are you willing to put Christ on the throne and let Him control your life and let Him do His work in your life so that the fruits of His Spirit might be manifested in you?

Kenneth Cox’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Joseph and Jehovah-Jirah

March 7, 2018 by Brenda Douay

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. The ancient elders were commended for this (Hebrews 11:1, 2).

Joseph, one of my favorite Bible characters, I believe is one of the most remarkable characters in the Bible. I hope this sketch impels you to study and contemplate his life story, as the applications and lessons from his life are innumerable. My goal is to illustrate from the life of Joseph what a firm belief and obedience to the God he knew, Jehovah-Jirah, ultimately did for him and what that same belief can and will do for all who choose to believe as did Joseph.

Let’s begin by looking at the dizzying heights to which he suddenly ascended following his rather routine childhood and the inexplicably terrifying and difficult years of youth and young adulthood.

Joseph became nothing less than the second greatest person on the face of the earth. Egypt was the premier nation at this time, excelling in the arts, culture, architecture, writing, etc. And Joseph was the head, the leader, the one in power as it says in Genesis 41:41, 44. We read, “So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ … Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.’ ” Now that is power. One person only, one human being had greater power than Joseph and that person was Pharaoh.

But what led up to this position of trust and power? Did Joseph have a smooth, gradual, typical rise? Did he have the usual grooming we would prescribe for one being prepared for this type of position? How did he come to possess the qualifications for the position that he came to occupy?

Let’s travel back in time about 18 years. The time is not given exactly, nor is Joseph’s age at this time precisely known. Jacob, Joseph’s father, had left his land of sojourn and had arrived back in Canaan along with his large family. Here Joseph meets for the first time his aged grandfather, Isaac, about whom he has undoubtedly heard so much. Without doubt Joseph is drawn to this patriarch and spends much time listening to the stories his grandfather has to relate. Remember, Joseph is the undisputed favorite of his father; the son of the only woman he truly loved who is now dead. Joseph has 10 older brothers to take care of the flocks and herds. Joseph has time on his hands, and I can imagine that Jacob would naturally encourage the attachment between his own aging and beloved father and this favored son. Let’s join as Joseph listens to these stories; imagine how he would relate to them and integrate them into his own life.

We read in Patriarchs and Prophets, 209 that Joseph was intelligent, kind, affectionate, thoughtful, and pure, with moral earnestness and firmness. He would have listened intently, engaging deeply in the stories of his illustrious ancestors and cherishing the lessons illustrated by them. There is one story in particular I would like to focus on that to me must have been a most powerful influence in Joseph’s coming years. But first some background.

The story begins with the first promise God made to Abram as he was called out of Ur. God said to Abram, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you … .” Genesis 12:2. Then followed the long, the very long delay waiting for the birth of the promised heir. Joseph was told of the efforts of humans to help out God, with the utter chaos and pain that resulted. Then he was told of the miracle. Oh, the miracle of a tiny baby born to a woman of 90 and her husband of 100 years of age. We can’t truly comprehend the joy, the wonder, the awe they experienced, when after so long this yearning husband and wife, well beyond childbearing years, are granted this miracle.

Then there were many years of happiness, of training the child to worship, love, trust and fear the God who had the power to bring such a miracle to be. And Abraham had experiences to tell. And tell them he did. He was not too proud to admit his mistakes, to humbly share with this promised son what he had learned through such costly and painful lessons. And now is the story that grounded Joseph for his crucible, his trial, his time of preparation for the mighty role he was to play in the history of this world. Remember, the one relating the story is Isaac, the very Isaac involved in the story. As he relates the story, he relives it vividly, awestruck once again by the loving providences of the God he serves.

One night Abraham, now 120 years old, was peacefully sleeping, maybe dreaming of this promised son, and what a blessed young man God had given him. One night he was suddenly wakened by a voice. It was a voice he knew well. But the message was foreign, totally unexpected and totally shattered everything he knew of God. The voice said to him, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22:2.

It was crystal clear. There was no doubt. God said who? “Your son, your only son, Isaac.” God said where? “The region of Moriah.” God said what to do? “Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.” Abraham was filled with doubt and anguish, yet he knew the voice, and he must obey. Joseph, listening, was on the edge of his seat. He knew that human sacrifices were condemned by God and even at his tender age in his early to mid teens he understood something of the great test before Abraham.

Isaac continued, “My father and I often sacrificed together so that morning when he woke me early, it was nothing unusual. However, as we traveled, I noticed my father’s silence, his introspection, his unusual demeanor. It took us three days to reach the region where we were to sacrifice and he hardly said a word; just looked at me, studied me. It was not until that third day that I asked a question that had been baffling me, ‘The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Genesis 22:7. Do you know, Joseph, what my father said? He replied, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.’ Verse 8.

“Joseph, God is Jehovah-jireh. Do you know what that name means? Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide. Joseph, God will see to it. My father understood and trusted.

“So we continued on, leaving the servants at the foot of the mountain. We built the altar, we arranged the wood, and then was the time. With intense emotion my father laid open to me the instruction God had given him. Remember, Joseph, my father was 120 years old. I was 20. I could have easily overcome him and prevented what God had told him to do. I knew and understood what he was saying, what he was proposing—death. I had seen it many times before. Sacrifices—I had participated in them for years. I knew what it meant to see the victim slain, had often seen it laying bleeding on the altar, the innocent suffering for the guilty.

“However, I saw the anguish of my father. I trusted my father. I trusted that this was God’s will and I trusted God, Jehovah-jirah. How I endeavored to lighten his grief and encourage him in what he must now do. Soon, I was tied and laid on the altar. The knife was raised. I was waiting for the lowering of the knife. Time hung in the balance. But the blow never came. An angel of God called Abraham and told him, ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy.’ Verse 12. And Joseph, God, Jehovah-jirah did provide. He did see to it. Caught in a thicket close by was a ram. God provided.”

As Joseph listened to this story related by the very one laid on the altar, the lesson sank deep into his soul and he knew without any doubt that God was Jehovah-jirah.

So, friends, when Joseph was thrown in the pit, he knew that God was Jehovah-jirah and would see to it. When he was sold as a slave he knew that God was Jehovah-jirah and He would see to it. When thrown in a dungeon for his stellar integrity he knew that God was Jehovah-jirah and He would see to it.

When you have experiences such as those that Joseph went through and face them with faith and courage, they change you. From the pen of inspiration: “God brings His people near Him by close, testing trials, by showing them their own weakness and inability, and by teaching them to lean upon Him as their only help and safeguard. Then His object is accomplished. They are prepared to be used in every emergency, to fill important positions of trust, and to accomplish the grand purposes for which their powers were given them.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 86. Would you not say that this was exemplified beautifully in the life of Joseph? I believe that those early stories played a significant role in preparing Joseph for facing and learning from his trials.

What is your pit, what is your trial in slavery or what is your dungeon? I would like to challenge you to put your trust in Jehovah-jirah, the God who will provide, the God who will see to it because He does and He will.

God is still Jehoveh-jireh, the God who will see to it. Remember it, know it, act on it. Jehoveh-jireh; God will provide!

Brenda Douay is a staff member at Steps to Life. She can be contacted by e-mail at: brendadouay@stepstolife.org.

What’s in a Name?

May 7, 2020March 6, 2018 by John R. Pearson

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:11–16).

These texts contain much hidden treasure, but the ore that is to be mined in this article is the several references to a name. In the above quote, there are four references to Him who sat on the white horse.

First, we are told that He was called “faithful and true.” That probably does not need much explanation, especially considering who the rider was. The simple fact that “in righteousness He judges” clearly indicates the divine nature of the rider. He could not judge righteously were He not faithful and true.

Next there is a “name written that no one knew except Himself.” Third, we are told that “His name is called The word of God.” And fourth, we are told that “He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

Let’s begin by looking at a “name written that no one knew except Himself.” There is similar wording in Revelation 2:17, where Christ is speaking to the overcomers in Pergamum: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”

“The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era. The number 7 indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.” The Acts of the Apostles, 585.

The church in Pergamum represents the period from approximately A.D. 313 to 538. The persecution of Christians had ceased and Christianity was declared “official’ by Constantine, who is called in history the first Christian emperor of Rome. He ruled from A.D. 306 to 337. Roman Catholics and most Protestant Christians regard his conversion as the turning point in the Christian church, the point at which the persecuted Christians gained the support of the state. As a result, the Christians, through the church, eventually became the persecutors, though for that to fully develop took several hundred years.

In reality, this “legitimizing” of Christianity was the beginning of Satan’s increasingly stronger grasp on what became the Roman Catholic church. And though the Reformation was a start in freeing Christianity from the grasp of the enemy, it eventually failed in obtaining a full release from Satan’s influence. Indeed, the majority of the Protestant churches have never yet achieved complete allegiance to the word of God.

Nevertheless, after the “conversion” of Constantine and the Roman nation, taking the name of Christ no longer resulted in guaranteed persecution by the state. Indeed, just the opposite happened. If you failed to take the name of Christ in the manner dictated by the church, you became the persecuted. Having lost the power of the Holy Spirit, the church turned to the state to enforce its dogmas.

So it seems from our historical perspective that assuming the Christian appellation—that is, calling yourself a Christian—resulted in a definite change from being the one who was persecuted to one who did the persecution.

It also seems from our reading in Revelation 19:12 that not only does Christ have a name that no one but He knows, so does each of His faithful saints (Revelation 2:17). Revelation 19:8 tells us that the fine linen, clean and bright that the saints are arrayed in is their righteous acts. We also know from the inspired writings of God’s prophet to the remnant that one’s acts are a reflection of one’s character. “Actions make habits, and habits, character.” Christian Education, 92. It is easy, therefore, to conclude that the fine linen that the saints are robed in is a reflection of their righteous character, which we know can only be acquired through faith in Jesus Christ.

We also know from inspired counsel that one’s name was of great importance to the children of Israel. In Prophets and Kings, 481, we read: “Great significance was attached to the names given by Hebrew parents to their children. Often these stood for traits of character that the parent desired to see developed in the child. The prince in whose charge the captive youth [in Babylon] were placed, ‘gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego’ (Daniel 1:7).

“The king did not compel the Hebrew youth to renounce their faith in favor of idolatry, but he hoped to bring this about gradually. By giving them names significant of idolatry, by bringing them daily into close association with idolatrous customs, and under the influence of the seductive rites of heathen worship, he hoped to induce them to renounce the religion of their nation and to unite with the worship of the Babylonians.”

Thus we see the significance that is sometimes placed on one’s name. So let’s continue looking at a few of the many names that Scripture gives to our Saviour and at the significance of those names.

Isaiah 7:14 is one of the early sources for the name of Jesus: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” The significance of that name cannot be underestimated. Literally, it means “God with us,” but do we fully understand the implication, the importance, the significance of the fact that the text clearly states God with us? We need to meditate on each of those three words: “God” “with” “us.” It is indeed humbling to realize that God Himself humbled Himself—He quit being solely God—to be with (alongside, accompany, next to, among) us, sinful, mortal human beings, living on the only planet in the universe that chose to rebel against His clearly stated, loving instructions. What an incredible act of self-sacrifice!

John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This verse tells us far more than we might think on initial reading. Not only are we informed that Christ in His humanity was the fullness of grace and truth as the word of God became embodied in human flesh, but it also helps us to understand more clearly the “begotten-ness” of Christ.

Jesus Christ in His humanity was the only human being created by God through the human birth process—the “only begotten” of the Father, although in His divinity, He existed “from the beginning.”

Let’s look at a few texts that clarify Christ’s eternal existence.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he wrote in Ephesians 3:9, “And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.”

There is nothing before the beginning, else it would not be “the beginning.”

Next, let’s look at John 1:15. The opening chapter of John is full of wonderful truths and is worthy of much study in addition to the perusal we are giving it here.

“John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.” ’ ”

Have you ever contemplated what the Baptist meant when he said, “He was before me”?

When Gabriel spoke to Mary about her having a child, the chronology of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus is made clear. The exchange is detailed in Luke 1:26–37.

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’

“But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive [future tense] in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’

“Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’

“And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived [past tense] a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.’ ”

How much wonderful truth this passage contains! It is easy to get side-tracked here to dig into the treasured ore in these texts. However, we need to stick to our main subject.

Clearly, we see that John was at least six months older than Jesus, yet John himself stated that “He [referring to Christ] was before me.” In simple, unambiguous language, John is acknowledging that Christ existed before His incarnation as the Son of Mary.

For more Scriptural light on the eternal existence of Christ, see Ephesians 3:9, John 1:15, 1 John 1:1, and 1 John 2:14. Clearly it will take eternity to understand fully, if we ever can, the mystery of the incarnation and that mysterious blending of the divine with the human (1 Timothy 3:16).

Within the record of the conversation between Mary and the angel, we are given additional names for Christ. In Luke 1:31, He is called Jesus. Chronologically, this is the first time that name is given to the Lord and Saviour of mankind. As the conversation continues, Christ is referred to as the Son of the Highest, that Holy One, and the Son of God (verse 35). A bit of meditation on each of these titles will provide a deeper understanding of the divine nature of the Word Made Flesh.

In the uplifting prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, Jesus makes another statement that deserves deep thought and analysis to fully comprehend. As He prays so fervently to His Father on behalf of His disciples—not only the eleven who were with Him, but “for those who will believe in Me through their word” (verse 20)—He concludes His prayer in verse 26 with these enlightening words: “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” [Emphasis supplied.]

The Greek word translated declared means to make known or clarify. In some Bible versions it is translated manifested. This sublime truth should encourage us to make a deep study of the life of Christ to discern how He acted in the many and varied situations through which the providences of God led Him. Such a study will reveal to us not only His Holy character, but will be a wonderful lesson in righteous conduct in all situations and all circumstances.

As Peter wrote, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:21–23 KJV).

More powerful truths here! Let’s ponder the several aspects of Jesus’ character that Peter highlights in these texts.

Suffered selflessly (“suffered for us”)
Sinless (“did no sin”)
Truthful (“no … guile found in His mouth”)
Patient and forgiving (“when He was reviled, reviled not again”)
Peaceful (“He threatened not”)
Faithful and trusting (“committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously”)

In summary, we can conclude that Christ was the embodiment of the purest love. Therefore, if I claim that I am a “Christian,” do I manifest each and all of these characteristics—at all times and under all circumstances?

Power in the Name of Christ

The power inherent in the name of Christ is made evident throughout the writings of Paul.

In Romans 10:13, Paul wrote, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ” This reference by Paul to Joel 2:32 is erroneously and unfortunately used by many “broad-road” Christians today to claim that simply because they call themselves “Christian,” they are eternally saved—regardless of their conduct or character.

In 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, Paul counsels the Corinthian believers to deliver one ensnared by Satan in sexual immorality to deliver that soul “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 4). Clearly, Paul understands the power in that name.

In the very next chapter, Paul again refers to the power in that name when he lists the various sins in which the Corinthians had been engaging in when he states: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

When writing to the Ephesians, Paul notes the importance of “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). What a powerful, powerful statement, stressing the importance of (1) giving thanks, (2) always, (3) for all things, (4) to God, (5) the Father, (6) in the name of our Lord, (7) Jesus Christ. Only through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could Paul have packed so much truth into 18 words!

There are also references to the power inherit in Christ’s name and to the need of reverence for and giving thanks in the name of Christ in Philippians, Colossians, 1^stThessalonians, 1^st and 2^nd Timothy, and Hebrews. However, some of the most encouraging statements about the power of calling upon the name of Christ were spoken by Christ Himself.

In Jesus’ last interaction with His disciples, recorded in John, chapters 13 through 16, as He is providing His last words of inspiration to those who had been His most faithful followers, several times Jesus states plainly that in His name, their prayers will be answered. Interestingly, however, He does not make these statements until after Judas has left the gathering.

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).

“… whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16).

“… Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23, 24).
The Bible is clear. Indeed, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

May the peace and blessings of Jesus abide with us as we face the challenges of these last days, overcoming in the name of Jesus Christ.

All quotes NKJV unless otherwise noted.

John Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. After retiring as chief financial officer for the Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, Arizona, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, to join the Steps team. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

Is Christ in You?

February 23, 2018 by Domingo Nunez

The path on which each person walks is either heading for the kingdom of heaven or to destruction.

The night before Jesus was to be arrested, all, including the one who would betray him, were spending time together in communion. “And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” Mark 14:27. Something was about to happen that would result in all of His disciples being offended.

Depending upon whether being accused of something of which you are guilty or innocent, the reaction of an offended person will differ. But, Jesus told them that they would all be offended because of something He would do that night.

“But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.” Mark 14:29. This statement by Peter was filled with self-assurance and self-confidence, thinking that he knew better than his Lord. He really believed that though all of the others would be offended, he would not. How easy it is for us to fall for that same deception of self-reliance. “Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.” Verse 30. Here, Jesus prophesied what Peter would do before that next morning, yet Peter still neglected to admit his weakness and plead for the courage and strength that he would need to avoid denying his Lord.

How often we deceive ourselves because of our pride and selfishness and do not acknowledge our own weaknesses when struggling with trials. If we would simply humble our hearts and fall at the feet of Jesus, giving ourselves completely into His hands, all the power of heaven would be available to us to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12); to “resist the devil and he would flee from us” (James 4:7). The audacity of Peter’s confidence influenced the other disciples who then responded in the same manner. “But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.” Mark 14:31.

No one lives to himself, but all have either a positive or negative influence on those around them. Though it is not the ideal, the non-Christian judges God by the behavior of Christians who, by their very profession of faith, are His representatives here on the earth. Great wisdom and grace is required to live a righteous life to truly represent Jesus.

Peter’s confidence and arrogance was so great that he really thought he was capable of following Jesus and defending Him even to death.

Often we judge another’s reaction to certain situations believing that we would never do what they have done, but when in a similar situation we surprise ourselves. Remember that the way we act or react to trials affects those around us, whether in a work environment or at home just as Peter, by the way he responded, affected all of the other disciples. When Judas came and betrayed his Master, instead of them not being offended, they all ran away.

There is coming a day very soon, when each will give an account of his/her life. Situations or trials that arise are opportunities to allow others to witness the power of God in the life of the Christian.

The Bible is very clear that the great controversy is between Christ and Satan, good and evil, and this war will continue until Jesus comes. In the end, there will only be two groups, those who believe and have developed a relationship with Jesus and walk with Him, and those who reject the last message of mercy, refusing to follow in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ and remain on the path to destruction.

The decisions that are crucial to eternal life must be made in accordance with the Word of God. Time is running out. The prophecies tell us that before Jesus comes again there will be many wonderful signs, including earthquakes and disasters. Already, we see these things happening.

Just as Peter was under the delusion that he was ready for the prophecy Jesus spoke concerning him that would take place that very night, we also can be deluded into thinking that, in our own strength, we are ready to go through a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation (Daniel 12:1).

In Mark 14:37 it says, “And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?” Not even one hour could Peter watch. This same Peter had earlier said that he would die for Jesus, but when Jesus said watch, he slept. “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” Verse 38.

All power is available but will do us no good unless we respond to the invitation to have that connection with God and reach out to Him and receive Him, acknowledging our weakness and drawing upon His strength to overcome.

Peter had already been told that he would deny his Saviour. If ever there was a time to “watch and pray” it was that night, but instead, Peter was found sleeping.

We know that the end of the world is coming. Do we take the warning seriously? Do we recognize all the signs? Are we watching and praying to be strengthened for the final battle so that we do not fall into temptation? Or are we sleeping as did Peter?

Later that night “Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest: and when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, “And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied it saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto but he began to curse and to swear, saying I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.” Verses 54–72.

Peter reacted to the accusation of being one of Christ’s followers by cursing. Jesus saw that Peter’s heart had not been renewed and in that moment of trial the thoughts of his heart were made manifest by denying Jesus. Paul said, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2.

Peter had been under the impression that since Jesus walked with him and the other disciples, taught them and ate with them, that he was connected with Him. In that court of the palace of the high priest, Peter’s eyes were opened and he saw that he did not have that relationship with Jesus that he thought he had. He saw that the Lord did not curse or do anything to shame His heavenly Father as he had done. Every time we find that we, in the least way, misbehave, it is a reminder that our connection with God is being lost. It is not Christ who directs our bad behavior. If we continue on that path, the more we misbehave, the farther we grow from the Lord. On the other hand, the closer we grow to the Lord, we will respond as Christ would, reflecting His character.

In all of his denials and cursing, it was evident that Peter still lacked self-control. At the moment Jesus looked over to him and their eyes met, Peter was converted as he saw no condemnation, but love directed toward him. It was then that Peter ran out and wept. Everything that Jesus had prophesied that night regarding him had taken place.

Everything that Jesus prophesied about the end of the world is going to take place exactly as He described it would. If we have the attitude that “it is not a big deal” or “we can do it,” we will surely fail as did Peter. We need to recognize our humanness and weakness and our need for dependency on Jesus. The carnal nature is selfish, disobedient and very hardheaded and stubborn, but God desires to re-create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit in us (Psalm 51:10) to prepare us for the things that are coming on the earth.

How would you react if you were told, as Peter was, that you would deny your Lord this very night? What would your response be if you were told that your soul would be required of you this very night (Luke 12:20)? Maybe it would be time to “watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.” Matthew 26:41. We know that those who are not ready, those who have not been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and covered with the garment of Christ’s righteousness, will not enter into heaven. It is not by watching government conspiracies or even watching what the papacy does that will prepare us for the final crisis. This is all about a personal heart preparation.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” Luke 21:34. The Bible tells us that it will happen. All of those things will come. If you are not ready, you will be overwhelmed by anxiety. You will be involved in doing the wrong things, because you are not physically, mentally and spiritually prepared for the crisis that is coming. Peter fell after he had been in the physical presence of Jesus for three whole years. We will fall also if we are not prepared.

“For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” Verses 35, 36. It is coming upon all of us. What are we told to do? “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Verse 36. Here Jesus is talking about the end of time. We are to watch and pray that we may be accounted worthy. Peter fell because he was sleeping when he should have been watching and praying. Peter had been given warning and we are to learn from his neglect of that warning.

“Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. In other words, he says that if you are friend of the world, you are my enemy, and if you are an enemy to the world, you are a friend to me. When Peter did not stand up for his master, he was not a friend. There is no middle ground. Either you are for Christ or against Him. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Psalm 1:5. Peter found himself unable to stand up for Jesus; he followed his Master from a distance. He was afraid to be associated with Him; therefore, he came at a distance. We are told that if we walk with the Lord daily, we will have a closer walk with Him.

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 11 Timothy 2:19. We have a tremendous responsibility to stand up for the Lord and if we do not have that living connection with Him, we will go through the same experience as did Peter.

“Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” Mark 13:33. Now is the time to be watching and praying. We are to be walking with the Lord right now and gaining strength to be able to stand. If we could put ourselves in the place of Peter right now, how would we stand? Only the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven know what tomorrow will bring. Our only hope is to have faith in Christ and have that confidence that we are in connection with God, living our life and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight today. Trusting in Jesus today guarantees that tomorrow the Lord will be our strength and He will take care of us. Those who watch and pray today will find a place by His side in His kingdom.

“Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.’ ” The Faith I Live By, 126.

Tell the Lord that even though you may become offended, you want to react to His glory. Ask Him to teach you what you need to do to give Him honor and glory so that you will never be guilty of denying Him.

Situations or crises may come upon us to show us where our hearts are. The Lord is watching with interest to see how each of us responds to these trials. He is especially watching the ones who profess themselves as Christians. Christians are to be followers, or imitators, of Christ. When Peter denied Christ, he recognized that his relationship was not one of the heart. Later, Peter did truly fall in love with Christ. Peter now understood why Jesus had asked him, “Do you love me?”

Three times Jesus had asked the same question and his response was the same. Peter now understood the purpose and mission of Jesus Christ. It was to select him and His followers to be ambassadors or representatives of His kingdom. At that point Jesus said unto Peter, “Peter, feed my sheep.” Once Peter was truly converted and had received the bread of life in his heart, he was able to give it to others. He was done with the old man. He now knew his Master and could honestly say to his Lord, “I do love you.”

When Peter died, it was in honor of his Lord. At first, he demonstrated that he was not willing to die or even to stand up and acknowledge that he knew Jesus of Nazareth or to be recognized as one of His followers. He now acknowledged his love for the Lord and he understood the responsibilities and consequences of following Jesus. He understood the consequences of preaching that message under opposition, oppression, and persecution but he could finally say, “Master, I love you.”

Do we know ourselves? Are we now, while not under the threat of opposition, persecution or oppression, claiming to love Jesus? Persecution will come. Will you stand? Now is the time that we must prepare our hearts and souls by allowing the Holy Spirit to convert us, and give us the faith that will be needed to stand and serve God unto death. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6. We are to be calm and not in distress because God knows what is going to happen and we must trust in Him. We know that we have an economic crisis going on right now, but the Lord tells us not to be distressed. Let each of us watch and pray so that our connection with the Lord today is our surety that He will take care of us tomorrow.

In 1 Peter 4:7 it tells us, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” Be alert and watch and pray. Never be afraid to pray. Scripture records that three times each day, as was his habit, Daniel was not ashamed to pray in his window for any to see, even when there was a decree prohibiting prayer to anyone except the king (Daniel 6). We are told not to fear men but we should fear God. Men can destroy this body but cannot destroy the soul.

“There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to Christ will be the spring of action. Those who feel the constraining love of God, do not ask how little may be given to meet the requirements of God; they do not ask for the lowest standard, but aim at perfect conformity to the will of their Redeemer. With earnest desire they yield all and manifest an interest proportionate to the value of the object which they seek. A profession of Christ without this deep love is mere talk, dry formality, and heavy drudgery.” Steps to Christ, 44.

We know that those decrees are coming and many will deny Christ. Many today are too proud to acknowledge their weaknesses, but Satan knows them all too well. He has studied carefully each life and has become an expert at knowing what buttons to push to get the reaction he desires. Only the Lord can heal those weak spots and turn them into strengths that will resist the devil. We need to have a relationship with God. Today is the day to examine ourselves to see where we stand, for Jesus or against Him. When Peter came to Jesus that night, he assumed that he would follow the master, even to death, but he was mistaken. Peter walked on water, but as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus, he fell. As long as we preserve that relationship with God, we will go forward. If we take our eyes off Jesus, we will fall.

Today, make sure you can say, “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.

Pastor Domingo Nunez is Director of Outreach Ministry for Steps to Life. He is involved in the coordination of world mission projects and he travels extensively, encouraging the many home churches supported by Steps to Life. He can be contacted at: (316) 788-5559 or by email at: domingonunez@stepstolife.org.

Honor has Lost its Integrity

February 4, 2019February 23, 2018 by Frank Gonzales

We live in a world abounding in contracts, lawsuits, counter lawsuits, a world teeming with word processors, with delete buttons and faulty memory, but lacking in one crucial commodity—men, real men. By that I mean both men and women who would be true to their word like the needle to the pole. Our world has discovered the mystery of the atom but it has forgotten the Sermon on the Mount. We live in a world of both nuclear giants and moral midgets. The churches, the business world and even the Marines are looking for a few good men.

My maternal grandfather was a cattle rancher in Cuba. My grandfather was like Lorne Greene in the series Bonanza. At my grandfather’s ranch you could ride your horse a whole day and not see the end of it and there were thousands of heads of cattle. My grandfather was not a terribly educated man, except for the fact he was self-taught and very naturally intelligent. He was not a man of many words. I had precious few times with him, as I only lived a few years of my infancy in Cuba. My father was a businessman, so he liked the city and did not see the charm of the ranch and only once in awhile would he take me to see my grandfather, but I remember those times well.

The only thing I can remember my grandfather ever telling me is something that I remember still to this day. He said, “If you speak all the time, people will not remember what you say. You must be economical with your words. If you are economical, they will be memorable and if they are memorable, they are useful. If they are useful, they will do somebody some good.” I remember grandfather getting off his beautiful white horse and grabbing me and lifting me on top of those wooden fences. He looked at me as if he was going to speak and I thought, the world is going to come to an end; my grandfather is going to speak! I looked at him as I waited for the words to come. He said, “My boy, be a man of your word.” By that time the Fidel house was already dispossessing him of everything he owned and he may have been thinking of that, but he said to me, “The only thing no one can ever take away from you, the treasure that you will always possess, is your word. When you give your word, you are giving your own soul.”

My grandfather did not know the slogan save the trees, but he did, because he never used paper. He did not need paper. When it came to doing a contract with someone, there was no need for paper or a notary public or a lawyer. He only entered into deals with real men who he knew were real men. He would look them in the eye, shake their hand and the deal was sealed. We need that today. We need the power of the word. We need our word to become real. We need to be one with our word. We need to be known by what we say.

Two of the Ten Commandments speak about how we use the tongue. The third commandment says if we believe the good news of Jesus Christ, we shall never be guilty of taking the Lord’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7). The ninth commandment becomes a wonderful promise to the one who understands and believes just how good the good news is. You will never bear false witness (Exodus 20:16).

I once wrote a book on the Ten Commandments, which was published by Pacific Press. It is titled Ten Promises of Miracles and by God’s grace 150,000 copies have been sold. I believe that the Ten Commandments, rightly understood and connected with the understanding of the gospel through the New Covenant spectacles, which is how God sees them, are not harsh, impossible rules to obey. Instead, the Ten Commandments will be seen as ten promises of God to you. The problem is that the world has been taught a gospel less than Ten Commandments. It is as if somebody gave you a wonderful Cadillac, which looks great, and when you get into it, it is so plush, but there is no motor in it. There is no gas tank. There is no radiator. Other than that you will like it, it will not take you anywhere. It is like those wonderful gifts that you buy for your grandchildren that they have seen on television. They are all excited about it, but you did not read the small print which would turn what could have been a wonderful experience into the worse you can imagine. The small print says, “Batteries not included.” Without the batteries, without the power, it simply does not do what it is supposed to do.

The world has been told that the Ten Commandments do not come with the batteries included, because it is gospel-less and only the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). I am going to show you where the batteries are located.We obtained thousands of prints of the Ten Commandments and after being shown how beautiful they were I was asked, “What should we do with them?” I said, “They have to go into the trash.” They just stared at me in disbelief. I said, “You forgot the batteries. You have the Ten Commandments without the batteries. That is not going to help anybody.” Now we have a new poster of the Ten Commandments which includes the battery. The battery is already part of the commandments. Let me explain.

Look at Exodus 20:1: “And God spake all these words, saying …” From here on it is all God’s words. This is where the Ten Commandments actually start. Then God continues, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Those first words are the batteries. The Ten Commandments begin with an expression of the gospel and it reminds us of who the deliverer is. The Ten Commandments come with a Saviour, the One who first took little Egypt out of Egypt, and now, by His sacrifice on the cross, has taken spiritual Egypt out of Egypt becoming the Saviour of the world. That very fact is the battery power of the commandments. Do not leave the batteries out. Never start with the third verse. The Ten Commandments start after the word saying.

Here we are reminded that we have a God who is a Deliverer. It states here what God did for His people. Sometimes He went against their will and some of them wanted to go back to Egypt. He stepped in and took them out of Egypt. He physically took them out of bondage and put them where the air was pure and where the light was illuminant, where they could breathe freedom. God put the people in a free place and said to them that this is my magna carta; this is my declaration of independence. This is what I promise my citizens. This is what I will do. I pledge myself to perform this gospel work in your life. Jesus did the same thing on Calvary; God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.

He liberated us from the world, freed us from the bondage of sin. If we believe and want to be a citizen of the free kingdom of God, He will then give us the magna carta, the ruling documents of freedom and promises, the batteries so you can live your life and be free.

The Ten Commandments rightly understood are ten promises. This is good news, not bad news. God is not a stern lawgiver, dishing out the theories of impossible-to-obey rules. He is a Saviour from breaking those commandments. The only way the commandments can be kept is because of the Saviour. The only way the commandments can be obeyed is to allow Jesus to be in control of your heart. He is your battery. Christ is the Saviour of all men and especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10). This country is free to everyone, but especially to those who cherish it.

Breaking the ninth commandment is a sin, unfortunately, for which many people will lose their soul. When God says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,” Exodus 20:16, He means that we are never to tell a lie, not even one of those white lies. It commands never to give a false impression, even by a nod of the head. It forbids all gossip, including damaging the reputation of a person by remaining silent while he or she is being accused of something and you know differently and it is possible to speak up to save that person’s reputation.

We are to “speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” Zechariah 8:16. All false witness somehow comes from its true origin, Satan. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:42. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” Proverbs 12:22. They are His delight!

“A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.” Proverbs 19:5. We read that God actually hates “a lying tongue, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies” (Proverbs 6:17-19). But remember that even though God hates lying, He loves the liar and wants to save him. There are people who are as sincere as any of us, who bear false witness and have no idea of what they are doing. They are among those for whom Jesus prayed as He was being crucified, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34.

Sometimes parents unwittingly teach children to tell lies. Some people are color blind and cannot tell the difference between a red light and a green light, which can cause accidents. Though a judge would not be merciful in such a case, God is merciful to those who do not know the difference between right and wrong and He sends His Holy Spirit to teach the people.

Children in schools today are being taught that the universe is a random universe, that this universe, one among billions of universes, just happened to have everything lined up right, exactly the way it needed to be to sustain life. It is just an object of chance, like the roll of the dice! We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Scientists have had to come up with a theory to explain the incredible order of our universe. But there is no mystery. The universe is the way it is today because God made it that way to suit life. God created things just the way they needed to be. Scientists call it the big bang theory. But they are running away from the real big bang. It scares them! When the big bang happened, the elements spread so quickly that it had to have been faster than the speed of light and according to Einstein, nothing goes faster than the speed of light. For the universe to be what it is, there is only one explanation, which science does not want to accept: the big bang had an author, and His name is God.

In the last few verses of the Bible there are three warnings that tell us that whosoever loveth and maketh a lie will not be able to enter the eternal kingdom (Revelation 22:15). Fiction, which makes up the subject matter of most books and movies today, is just lies. It is not only a serious thing to make a lie, but the text says it is equally serious to love a lie.

Truth, according to Biblical principles, is very clear. We are invited to turn from fables and turn to the truth and be God’s delight. He loves those who are His true witnesses. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that … speaketh the truth in his heart.” Psalm 15:1, 2. But, “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18. In other words, smiling at someone, slapping him/her on the back, shaking his/her hand and yet hiding our hatred for him or her deep in our heart is acting out a lie and breaking the commandment. Even if it means costing your job, you may need to confront that person and be honest and truthful in all your dealings to be clean and ready to live in the heavenly kingdom.

What it boils down to is that it is impossible for any of us mortals to obey this commandment unless we are truly converted deep within. This commandment goes to the core of all things. The core of God is His Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God is one with His Word. The same is true with us. We can never escape our words. Once words are spoken they can never be unspoken and they always have either a positive or negative response. You will be remembered by what you said, even if it came out differently from what you meant to say. For that reason the counsel is to let your words be few. This reminds me of Romans 3:10. It says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Psalm 139:23, 24.

When children would say bad things to me when I was a boy growing up in the south of Florida, Mom would say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” This is such foolishness! There are times when people have said things to you that you would rather have had a broken bone that would heal far more easily than the hurt of words. Some of us are an emotional mess, having stored in our minds those words that we have heard as children, whether it be wittingly or unwittingly. The brain has a heart. When the Bible talks about the heart, it says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Matthew 15:19.

When we say that a person has a big heart it is not referring to the physical condition of the heart, which would be a serious medical condition, but the mind wherein lies all the thoughts and feelings, which is called the hypothalamus region. Jesus says that the evil thoughts are right there. When bad words are spoken and terrible things happen to you it is stored in your subconscious, in the basement of the hypothalamus, so to speak. Sometimes things are so tragic that you have put them into the subconscious, which can be very dangerous. God wants to cleanse these inner temples, our hearts. In fact, the promise of the gospel is a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). It is a cleansing out of the hypothalamus so you can be true and faithful. Part of the hypothalamus region controls the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system which regulates the inner organs. The pancreas and other internal organs do not depend on conscious decisions but are controlled involuntarily to do their work. This is why hanging onto stress or other negative emotions can cause physical sickness. To enjoy true health one must have a happy heart that trusts in the Lord at all times.

I visit a health center every so often where I have seen people go in terribly sick, in wheelchairs, etc., and come out running in a few weeks. I finally turned to the doctor one day and asked him, “Is there anybody who does not heal or get well here?” He said, “Oh yes, the people who cannot forgive. One of the things we teach those who come here is to write letters to the people with whom they have a problem, because that is often the reason for their sickness.” When God says to forgive, He not only is doing it for the benefit of the person who hurt you, He is doing it for your own sake, to help you.

This commandment is a promise from God to make you a true witness. It is impossible for you to be a true and faithful witness and also a false witness. It is a promise from God to make you a person of integrity, one who is always true to your word. It is a promise to make you one who will reflect the character of Christ and be a witness and a light wherever you are.

Frank Gonzales’ sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Methuselah’s Grandchildren

February 21, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

For many people, all that is known about Methuselah is that he lived before the flood and he lived longer than any other man, 969 years. No other descendants of Adam lived that long. The name Methuselah has come to mean something that is very long-lived, very old or ancient. Let’s review several facts about Methuselah.

Fact #1

Methuselah was the eighth generation from Adam (Genesis 5).

Fact #2

Methuselah was born when the world was still young, less than 700 years since creation.

Fact #3

Methuselah was very well acquainted with both Adam and Eve. He was 243 years old when Adam died, so his grandchildren were able to hear the story of creation and the fall from Adam himself.

Fact #4

Methuselah was the son of Enoch who was a prophet and one of the most holy men who ever lived. In Jude 14 and 15, it says, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all those harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ ” Growing up in a godly home, Methuselah was one of the leaders in God’s work during his lifetime.

Fact #5

At the time his father was translated (taken to heaven), Methuselah was 300 years old. If you do a little arithmetic, you will find that Enoch was translated just 57 years after Adam died.

Because of his long life, Methuselah witnessed many things during his lifetime. When he was about 369 years old, Noah was born. Though he had many grandchildren, the only one that we know the name of is Noah. In Genesis 5:25, 26 it says, “Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.” Even if he did not father sons or daughters during the last 300 years of his life, he could have had a lot of children in three or four hundred years. In those days when men lived such a long time, the families were very large. His sons and daughters got married, had children, and became a multitude of people. That was Noah’s generation.

Fact #6

When Methuselah was 849 years old, God told Noah there was going to be a flood in 120 years. This was not news for Methuselah who had known for over 500 years that there was going to be a flood; he just did not know the exact date until Noah told him. In Patriarchs and Prophets, 85 we are told that, “Through holy angels God revealed to Enoch [his father] His purpose to destroy the world by a flood, and He also opened more fully to him the plan of redemption. By the spirit of prophecy He carried him down through the generations that should live after the Flood, and showed him the great events connected with the second coming of Christ.” Over 500 years before, Enoch declared the prophecy that the Lord was going to come in judgment and that He would no longer put up with what they were doing (Jude 14).

Fact #7

Methuselah was the first man on record to go to the funeral of his own son who died of natural causes while the father was still alive. His son Lamech died when he was 964 years of age. Very few men have lived a sadder life than Methuselah.

A few other interesting facts about Methuselah are:

He was a gospel worker and spoke of the coming Redeemer. He was one of the most renowned gospel preachers and leaders of God’s faithful people in those days. He was a preacher of righteousness. See Christ’s Object Lessons, 126.
Methuselah aided Noah in building the ark. Somebody might ask, “Then why didn’t he get on the ark?” He died in the very year of the flood. The flood occurred 1,656 years after creation and that was the very year that Methuselah died. See Patriarchs and Prophets, 92.
Ellen White tells us that Methuselah aided Noah in warning the antediluvians. He told them the present truth that there was going to be a flood and they needed to get into the ark. See Ibid. “This hope of redemption through the advent of the Son of God as Saviour and King, has never become extinct in the hearts of men. From the beginning there have been some whose faith has reached out beyond the shadows of the present to the realities of the future. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—through these and other worthies the Lord has preserved the precious revealings of His will.” Prophets and Kings, 682, 683.

Methuselah’s many grandchildren could easily have been numbered in the hundreds and were contemporaries of Noah. We often do not realize that many of the people who heard Noah preach were his own relatives, the grandchildren of Methuselah. Usually, when we think about the flood we think about the descendants of Cain, who would have been in the great majority. Cain was Adam’s oldest son, and he was probably already married and having children before Seth was born, creating a generation jump between the two brothers.

In Patriarchs and Prophets, 90–104, Ellen White says this about the descendants of Cain:

God’s bounties were used to glorify themselves in constructing fabulous, beautiful habitations and they vied with one another as to who could build the most beautiful houses.
They reveled in scenes of pleasure.
They reveled in scenes of wickedness.
This is astonishing, being so close to creation, but the descendants of Cain denied the existence of God, even when Methuselah was right there among them and could tell them how the world came into existence. The Garden of Eden was also still on earth until the flood.
Nature was adored and worshiped.
Human genius was glorified. There were many geniuses and very skillful people.
The descendants of Cain all became idolaters and were involved in sensual worship.
Creatures were worshiped in place of God.
As a consequence of idolatry, the understanding of the character of God was lost.
Every conceivable sin was committed. Justice was trampled in the dust, and there were people who were oppressed, crying out to heaven for vengeance upon their persecutors.
Polygamy was freely practiced.
The rights of neither the marriage relation nor property were regarded.
The descendants of Cain were flesh-food eaters. Flesh food did not start after the flood. The descendants of Cain were flesh-food eaters, although God had never given permission to the human race to eat flesh food before the flood.
The descendants of Cain had no respect for life.

As mentioned previously, Methuselah’s father was Enoch.

Enoch lived apart, but: “He [Enoch] did not make his abode with the wicked. … He placed himself and his family where the atmosphere would be as pure as possible. Then at times he went forth to the inhabitants of the world with his God-given message. Every visit he made to the world was painful to him. He saw and understood something of the leprosy of sin. After proclaiming his message, he always took back with him to his place of retirement some who had received the warning. Some of these became overcomers and died before the Flood came. But some had lived so long in the corrupting influence of sin that they could not endure righteousness.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1088.

Methuselah was Enoch’s oldest son and, as the custom was in those days, when the father died, the oldest son took the place of the father as the spiritual leader of the family. After Enoch was translated, Methuselah became the spiritual leader of the movement that Enoch had started. Methuselah himself was a righteous and holy man. He was a religious leader and teacher. Therefore, we would expect that at least some of his grandchildren would be God-fearing.

Remember, those who had accepted Enoch’s message came out. The word church comes from the Greek word ecclesia, and that word means called out.

Enoch called the people out from these wicked cities. In other words, Enoch started what we would call today a revival and reformation movement or a home church movement. The sad part of the story is that Methuselah lived to see the complete collapse of the home church movement that his father had started. What would have made this development intensely painful for Methuselah was that a large number of those who backslid into worldly living were his own grandchildren.

The church is the people called out by God. Enoch called out people. Jesus called out people. They were called out of the evil of the world. Christianity is calling people out from the evil of the world today, and the people who choose to come out compose the church. Only one or two of Methuselah’s grandchildren were saved in the ark. The rest of them drowned in the flood, right along with the descendants of Cain. It was awful that the descendants of Cain drowned, but it is even more awful when you think of the fact that these people, the descendants of Methuselah, had come from a holy line. Their great-grandfather was Enoch; Methuselah was their grandfather, and he was a holy man. These people had been taught the truth, and they had, at one time, believed the truth. There were many who at first, when called out, received the warning. What happened?

In chapter 7 of Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White gives descriptions about these very people. Methuselah’s grandchildren, the great-grandchildren of Enoch, had been part of a revival and reformation movement. These were the people who had been called out and had been in the church. They had been living holy lives and were not part of the evil of the world. Yet, except for Noah and his wife, they all drowned in the flood. About these people who at first received the warning, she says:

Their faith was tested.
They did not have a true repentance.
They were unwilling to renounce their sins. In other words, they were not willing to quit all sin.
They failed to endure the trial or test, which is very similar to number one.

Point number one says their faith was tested. Point number four was that they did not endure the test. What does it mean to have your faith tested? Has your faith been tested of late? How is a person’s faith tested? These people believed that the flood was coming in just a little over a hundred years. They had a hundred years to have their faith tested, and by the time the flood came, they had all failed.

There are two very common ways that, I believe, faith is tested. The descendants of Cain, who were the largest part of the world’s population, opposed their faith, but that was not the biggest test. Their faith was tested by intermarriage. The descendants of Seth intermarried the descendants of Cain (Genesis 6) resulting in one of the reasons for the flood. Eventually the grandchildren of Methuselah were drawn in and their faith was tested, not so much by the descendants of Cain but by the other descendants of Seth, the other grandchildren of Methuselah.

Their faith was not tested as much by the people out in the world but by the people in the church. After intermarriage, the situation in the church changed; what people originally had thought was wrong, they no longer thought it wrong. Their standard of morality changed. Ellen White said they did not have true repentance; they were unwilling to renounce their sins, and they were not willing to quit all sin. If there is any sin in your life that you are not willing to give up, you are in the same situation as Methuselah’s grandchildren. These people believed a flood was coming and started to get ready for it, but before it started to rain, they were not ready to enter the ark. They were overcome by the prevailing unbelief and finally joined their former associates in rejecting the message. The standard of morality was lowered. Human beings are social creatures and do not like to live alone. They want to be with a group and to be accepted by the group. The devil knows too well how to use that principle, and Methuselah’s grandchildren were overcome with the prevailing unbelief by finally joining their former associates in rejecting the message.

There was a lot of opposition and social pressure on these people. “Some were deeply convicted, and would have heeded the words of warning; but there were so many to jest and ridicule, that they partook of the same spirit, resisted the invitations of mercy, and were soon among the boldest and most defiant scoffers; for none are so reckless and go to such lengths in sin as do those who have once had light, but have resisted the convicting Spirit of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 95. Notice, these are people in the church. These are not the descendants of Cain. These are the people who once had light but drifted away from it.

Some of them were worshipping God with idols and “they ceased to realize the holiness of His character, or the sacred, unchanging nature of His requirements.” Ibid., 96. They did not realize that His law could not be changed. “As sin became general, it appeared less and less sinful, and they finally declared divine law was no longer in force.” Ibid., 95. Sin became so prevalent everywhere in the world, including the church, that, finally, it did not look so bad anymore. As sin became general, it appeared less and less sinful, until they finally declared that the Divine law was no longer in force. They believed it was contrary to the character of God to punish transgression, so they thought Noah’s message was just a delusion.

More confidence was placed in science than in the Word of God. One of the biggest problems we have today is that there are people who have more confidence in science than in the Word of God. This is one of the reasons why the gospel in general is so unsuccessful with highly educated people.

Some of the things they said were:
“It has never rained.” That was true!
“God protected Cain after he (Cain) killed Abel.”
“God put a mark on him and would not let anybody kill him. Would God kill the whole world? He would not even let anybody kill Cain.”
“God only does good. God never does evil.”
“God is in the salvation business, not in the destruction business.”
“Have you ever thought of the fact that there is not enough water in the whole world to cause a worldwide flood?”
“Do you not know, we have talked to Adam?” Some of the older ones had. “We have talked to Seth. Don’t you know that God is a God of love? God is not a God to just destroy everything that He made.”

Hitler understood this. If you tell somebody something enough times, they will believe it. That is why the educated people believe in evolution, because they have been told about it ever since they were little children in school. They have heard it thousands of times, seen it thousands of times on television, and read it in books. That is one of the reasons we need to have Christian schools.

They talked about all these things among themselves over and over until they believed them, and they said, “Noah is deluded.” There were probably some people who said, “If God was going to do something like that, He would not tell just one person. He would not tell some woman who had only a second or third grade education. He would tell more people than that.” Have you ever heard that argument?

Another thing that got them Jesus mentioned in Luke 17. It was a time of intense worldliness. John said that they are of the world, and they talk about the world. Our speech is about God. A person who is of God listens to us. We have different things to talk about (1 John 4:5, 6). Ellen White says they continued their festivities and their gluttonous feast. They ate and drank, planted and built and laid their plans in reference to advantages they hoped to gain in the future; they went to greater lengths in wickedness. See Patriachs and Prophets, 97.

Remember, this is not referring to the descendants of Cain, but to Methuselah’s grandchildren. They became hardened by persistent rejection of light so that the truth only made a momentary impression. By the way, is there any spiritual light that you have but that you have not accepted? Are you not living up to what you know is right? If you know something is right and you are not doing it, your heart will become hardened.

There are several lessons we should learn from Methuselah’s grandchildren.

First lesson: Will your faith endure the opposition of family and friends who go back from where they were? Notice what Jesus said: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:34–38.

That was the situation in which Methuselah was. He had to watch a few of his children, his grandchildren, and the entire revival and reformation movement that Enoch had started collapse. It must have been intensely sad and painful. He had to walk alone. Noah walked alone!

Second lesson: Have you decided to renounce all sin or has the devil convinced you that it is impossible? That is what the devil has been trying to do for thousands of years. One of the things God intended to teach the world by translating Enoch was to show that His law could be kept and he did do it. The devil is still trying to convince people of this lie. The apostle John said, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” I John 3:7–10.

Third lesson: Would you remain faithful to the truth if your church family, your children, and your grandchildren went back out into the world? That is exactly what Methuselah had to do. I want to tell you something encouraging. I do not know how many people I have met who have said something to the effect, “Well, if my children are not going to be in heaven, I do not want to go either.” They will not be there either, as we read in Matthew 10. Jesus said that if you do not love Him more than son or daughter, more than father or mother, you are not worthy of Him and are not going to heaven (verse 37). But, there is some good news. Though, like many families today, Methuselah’s family was fractured, God is going to put his family back together. His immediate grandchildren are not going to be saved because Jesus said that a man’s foes or enemies would be those of his own household (Matthew 10:36). But someday his family will be put back together again and you may be part of it.

Isaiah says, “ ‘Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,’ says the Lord. ‘Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.’ ” Isaiah 54:1–3.

This is talking about all the people who are in Methuselah’s situation. He lost his whole family except for Noah and his wife. He lost nearly everything. In the Kingdom of Heaven there will be people from all ages who have come from this kind of a situation. Their families have been absolutely fractured and shattered because many members of their families went into sin, would not accept the gospel, and are going to be destroyed. But God is going to put the families of these fractured people who are saved back together again.

Does sin not appear sinful anymore to you because you have seen it so much? Remember Methuselah’s grandchildren. The natural law of the mind is that by beholding we become changed. Examine carefully the things you are reading, what you are looking at, and to what you are listening. Never forget that what you are doing in your spare time could determine your eternal destiny.

We have been called out of the world. We have to live in the world, but we do not need to be part of the evil of this world. However, if we are looking at it, watching it, and listening to it, it is going to have an effect on us that eventually we will not think it is so bad, and we will lose our soul.

Remember Methuselah’s grandchildren!

[Bible texts quoted are NKJV translation.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316–788–5559.

Sons and Daughters of God

February 20, 2018 by Domingo Nunez

We were created to be sons and daughters of God.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” I John 3:1–3.

There are people who consider it a real privilege to see a person of royalty. Some even travel across the ocean to England in the hope that they will catch a glimpse of the British royal family. The whole world looked on and mourned at the funeral of Princess Diana. However, the Christian has a much higher privilege and honor, to actually be accepted into and become part of the Most High Royal Family, as sons and daughters.

To accept this invitation means to separate from the world. The Lord invites us to, “Come out from among them, and be separate … I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters.” II Corinthians 6:17, 18. There is no need to travel to England. There is a heaven just before us and a crown of life to win, but only to those who overcome will this reward be given. “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:3. Every human being should look to heaven with reverence and gratitude, and say with amazement, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God!” Verse 1.

Claiming this relationship with God brings the tremendous responsibility for each one to represent His kingdom right here and now. How is this possible? The attributes of the Heavenly King’s sons and daughters never reflect the ways of the world. “You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:2, 3. “That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Verse 12.

By faith and repentance and through the merits of Christ, we can claim the privileges of sons and daughters of God. As we become co-workers with Jesus, sharing the good news of the gospel, a righteous character is perfected. Holiness of heart and purity of life were the greatest subjects of the teachings of Christ. Perfection and holiness—nothing short of this would give success in carrying out the principles of the heavenly kingdom.

Does this mean that because we are now the sons and daughters of God there is nothing for us to do? No, there is a judgment going on right now, and we are in the time of probation. Divine son-ship is not something that can be gained by one’s self; it is a free gift to those who receive Christ as their Saviour. There is no power within a sinner to rid himself of his own sin. No, he/she must look to the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin (John 1:29). Christ alone has the power to cleanse the heart and the promise of son-ship is made to all who believe on His name (verse 12), and everyone who comes to Jesus in faith will receive pardon.

When we receive Christ, we receive power to live the life of Christ. In separating from the world, difficulties will be experienced, but our comfort is in the Word that we are the sons of God, and even if it doesn’t look like it, when Jesus appears, we will be like Him.

There is a great responsibility on all the sons and daughters of God. Because the glory of the Lord is shining down upon His children, that light should be shining through each one and be clearly seen by others in words and actions.

“ ‘Ye are the light of the world’ [Matthew 5:14]. As the sun goes forth on its errand of love, dispelling the shades of night and awakening the world to life, so the followers of Christ are to go forth on their mission, diffusing the light of heaven upon those who are in the darkness of error and sin.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 38.

This is the manner in which glory is brought to the Father and demonstrated to the world that we are connected with heaven and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. As believers, our self-worth is based on the fact that God loves us and calls us His children. We are His sons and daughters right now. This should be our encouragement to live as Jesus lived. We are the sons of God—members of God’s family. We will be like Him and be reflections of God. The rest of the chapter tells us that we will grow victorious over sin: “Whosoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” I John 3:4–9.

Those who love God will have love for one another. “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love [of God], because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” Verses 10–18.

We will have confidence before God: “And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” Verses 19–24.

God tells us, “I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” II Corinthians 6:17, 18.

Imagine the Creator of the universe as an affectionate Father addressing you. Our heavenly Father proposes to make us members of the royal family through Jesus Christ. Now, if you call God the Father your father, you are not only acknowledging yourselves to be His children, but you are agreeing to be guided by His wisdom and to be obedient in all things that He instructs. Remember that it is through his precious promises and through Jesus Christ that we are becoming partakers of the divine nature. The more we partake of the character of Christ our Redeemer, the more we will reflect that same divine character and the less we will resemble the world.

The Christian life is a process of becoming more like Christ. Paul says that, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29. This process will be complete when we see Christ face to face (I Corinthians 13:12, Philippians 3:21). Knowing our ultimate destiny, it is now time to long for purity of soul, heart and mind.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:14–17.

All who will enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ become, by adoption, the children of God. They are cleansed and sanctified by the regenerating power of the Word, and angels are commissioned to minister unto them. They are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They pledge themselves to become active members of His church on the earth. They are to be dead to the ways of the world and through their conversation and godliness, exert a living influence for God. Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ—what an exalted, dignified position! We will be separate and distinct from the world. God’s people have pledged themselves to stand in opposition to evil.

“Of Enoch it is written that he lived sixty-five years, and begat a son. After that he walked with God three hundred years. … After the birth of his first son, Enoch reached a higher experience; he was drawn into a closer relationship with God. He realized more fully his own obligations and responsibility as a son of God.

“Enoch’s righteous life was in marked contrast with the wicked people around him. His piety, his purity, his unswerving integrity were the result of his walking with God, while the wickedness of the world was the result of their walking with the deceiver of mankind. There never has been and never will be an age when the moral darkness will be so dense as when Enoch lived a life of irreproachable righteousness.” Sons and Daughters of God, 20.

It was his constant communion with the Father that enabled Enoch to experience this close connection.

“The greater and more pressing his labors, the more constant and earnest were his prayers. … After remaining for a time among the people laboring to benefit them by instruction and example, he would withdraw, to spend a season in solitude, hungering and thirsting for that divine knowledge which God alone can impart. Communing thus with God, Enoch came more and more to reflect the divine image. His face was radiant with a holy light, even the light that shineth in the face of Jesus. As he came forth from these divine communings, even the ungodly beheld with awe the impress of heaven upon his countenance.

“We, too, are to walk with God. When we do this, our faces will be lighted up by the brightness of His presence, and when we meet one another, we shall speak of His power, saying, Praise God. Good is the Lord, and good is the word of the Lord. … And those who will be translated at the close of time, will be those who commune with God on earth.” Ibid.

The apostle Paul uses adoption or son-ship to illustrate the believer’s new relationship with God. In the Roman culture, the adopted person lost all his rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate child in his new family. He became a full heir to his new father’s estate. Likewise, when a person becomes a Christian, he or she gains all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family. One of these outstanding privileges is that of being led by the Spirit of God the Father.

We may not always feel as though we belong to God, but the Holy Spirit is our witness. His inward presence reminds us of who we are and encourages us with God’s love.

We are no longer submissive and fearful slaves; instead, we are the Master’s children. What a privilege we have because we are God’s children. We share in great treasures as co-heirs. God has already given us His best gift, His only Son Jesus, to die on the cross, taking on Himself our sins to give us the promise of eternal life. Then, as a loving and faithful Father, He encourages us to ask Him for whatever else we need on this pilgrim journey.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:4–7.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:26, 27.

[Bible texts quoted are NKJV translation.]

Pastor Domingo Nuñez is Director of Outreach Ministry for Steps to Life. He is involved in the coordination of world mission projects and he travels extensively, encouraging the many home churches supported by Steps to Life. He can be contacted at: (316) 788-5559.

To Be a Pilgrim

February 20, 2018 by Amy Pavlovik

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. … These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Hebrews 11:8–10, 13–16.

From this passage, we can gather the Bible’s description of a pilgrim and a stranger.

They obey, not consulting the consequences.

Abraham went out, not knowing whither he went. The first consideration of true Christians is: “What does God want me to do?” They are willing to give up whatever stands in the way of obedience.

They are sojourners as in a strange country.

This world is not our home, and we must live as if we believe this. We are not here to seek for personal comforts, but to perfect Christian characters and hasten the coming of Jesus. Therefore, Christians will turn away from materialism. While they may not dwell in tents, as did the patriarchs, they will keep their homes and possessions simple and not excessive.

Their goal is a heavenly city.

Others may try to persuade them to stop and enjoy the pleasures and advantages of the world, but their eye is single to their goal.

Although they do not yet see the fulfillment of God’s promise, they are fully convinced of the heavenly treasure that awaits them.

The world’s philosophy says, “Get all you can now, for you never know what will happen tomorrow.” The Christian, however, lays aside present comforts and gains for an enduring reward, as did Joseph.

They confess or plainly declare that their goal is a better country than this earth has to offer.

Christians are not ashamed of being different from the world. They let it be clearly known that they cannot participate in the world’s lifestyle, since they are pressing toward a better country.

Although they have opportunity to return to the world and its ways, they do not return.

How often the good seed springs up in someone’s heart, only to wither away after a short time! So many rejoice to hear God’s truth, but after a while they slip back into their old way of life. They view their original fervor for the truth as an overreaction, or fanaticism, and gradually pick up the worldly ways, which they had gladly cast aside at the time of their conversion. Such people have returned to the land “from whence they came” [Hebrew 11:15].

God is not ashamed to have them bear His name.

Their life fully harmonizes with their profession, thus presenting no contradiction to the watching world. They are not claiming to be preparing to meet Jesus while their conduct loudly declares, “My Lord delayeth His coming” [Luke 12:45]. Rather, they exemplify the beauty of holiness.

In these last days, God is looking for a revival of the pilgrim spirit. While we may not be led to far countries as some of His pilgrims have been, we need to be ready to go wherever He sends us, and do whatever He asks of us. We must accept the fact that we are different, that we are not here on this earth to fit in with the crowd, make a name for ourselves, or live a comfortable life. We cannot hope to just blend in with society, giving no noticeable witness for our Lord. Rather, as Christians we are destined to be different, a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

In our era, life has in many ways become easier and more comfortable than in any other age. No longer do we inhabit hot, dusty tents, or cold, drafty stone castles. We no longer need to wash our clothes by hand, harvest and mill grain, spin wool and weave cloth or haul water from the well. In some homes, convenience foods have replaced cooking to a great extent. Everything comes ready-made, from shirts to bread. Instead of chopping wood, all we need to do is flip on a heater. Dishwashers, washing machines, bread machines, food processors, computers, and many other devices now take care of jobs that once required hours. It is becoming easier and easier to settle down and feel comfortable in this world. Today we have more time and money for shopping, entertainment, increasing our possessions, or making a display than did our forefathers who carved their living out of the wilderness, yet we must guard against the temptation to become too comfortable in this world. Today, as luxury is within the reach of more people, materialism is a great temptation. Satan knows that our possessions can firmly root us to this earth, and he uses a profusion of advertising, excess income, idle time, and peer pressure to lure professed Christians into the trap.

God’s pilgrims have a peace and hope that cannot be destroyed when earthly surroundings are crumbling. Our home or possessions may be destroyed, lost, or stolen, but we still have our faith in God, and a promise of eternal life in the heavenly country. This heavenly peace in the midst of calamity is something that worldly people cannot understand.

“And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings … they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” Hebrews 11:36–38.

These people were not at home on earth. In humble garments, homeless, even persecuted, they wandered in deserts, mountains, and caves. Why? Why did they choose such a hard life? Why did men like Abraham and Moses leave home and family to go on long journeys? Why did Moses forsake riches and pleasures? Why did unnamed others consent to mockings and scourgings? Why were they content to wear goatskins and call a cave or den their home?

“And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Verses 39, 40.

These pilgrims and strangers were looking forward to a day in the future when they, with us, would receive the promise together. This will be the day when all of God’s people from all ages will receive their heavenly reward.

“That they without us should not be made perfect.” Our names can be added to the list of those faithful ones in Hebrews 11. When they receive the reward, we also can receive it. But how can this take place? Can we be borne to the heavenly treasure on the wings of ease? Or must we too become pilgrims and strangers, as were they? It is something to ponder.

Amy Pavlovik has been a teacher and missionary in Macedonia, but her highest calling at present is mother to two-year-old Naomi and helpmeet to her husband Mile Pavlovik, Bible worker at Steps to Life.