Series

Life Sketches – Meeting the Lord Together

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One of the first letters written by the apostle Paul and recorded in the New Testament gives a straightforward explanation concerning the state of the dead, and of when Christians will be reunited with their loved ones who have died in Christ. Yet many Christians consider this still a mystery.

While Paul was evangelizing in the city of Corinth and making tents with his companions, Aquila and Priscilla, he was comforted by the arrival of two of his working companions. Silas and Timothy had come from Thessalonica and reported to Paul some struggles they were having in the newly formed church. He found out that there were some who had fallen into mistaken ideas concerning those who had died after their conversion. They had believed that they all would live to see the second coming of Christ. However, some of their friends had died and they were upset, thinking that now it would be impossible for them to behold that desirable event—to see Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven.

So Paul wrote a letter to the Thessalonian church explaining the true condition of a person in death. He said, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep [died], lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep (dead). For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).

The Thessalonians had eagerly grasped the idea that Jesus was coming to change the faithful, who were alive at that time, but they had forgotten what Paul had taught them about the state of the dead and the fact that there would be a reuniting of those who had fallen asleep in Christ when He returned. For this reason, Paul said they were not to sorrow as others who had no hope. When his letter was received the people were greatly comforted, knowing their loved ones would rise again from their graves to a holy, happy, and immortal life. For now they would sleep in their dusty graves waiting for that great reunion when Jesus would receive all the righteous, alive and dead, to make their journey together to the holy city.

Three times in this passage death is referred to as a sleep. The Old Testament also refers to death as a sleep. In fact, David called it “the sleep of death” (Psalm 13:3). This epistle gave great hope and joy to this young church. When accepting the gospel, they learned so many new, strange things that it is not surprising that they forgot some of the things that they had been taught. But no longer was there any darkness that enshrouded the sepulcher of the dead, because they had assurance that their friends who had fallen asleep in Jesus would be resurrected from the grave and also enjoy immortal life in the kingdom of God.

Notice, however, that this passage only talks about the resurrection to immortal life being given to those who have died in Christ. If you are in Christ, whether you live or die, your eternal future is secure. The question is: Have you committed your life to Christ to be your Lord and Saviour? Is it your desire to be like Him in character, or is your experience a mere profession?

Paul also reminded the church concerning events of the last days. “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–4).

Paul warned that the day of the Lord will come as an overwhelming surprise. But why would that be when there are so many other warnings given in the Bible for us to know when the last days begin? There are many Bible prophecies that point out clearly the exact time, the exact year, when the “last days” would begin, and today we are living in that period of time.

If we have this information, then why is it that the day of the Lord will come as a thief? Paul told the Thessalonians that they were not in darkness, so do not sleep as others. The careless and unbelieving, those who close their eyes to the evidence that the Lord has been pleased to give, seek to quiet themselves from all apprehension. But at the same time, the signs of the times are rapidly fulfilling all over the world today, showing us that the world is rapidly going toward that period of time when the Son of man will be revealed in the clouds of heaven. If we are not in darkness, what should we be doing?

Notice, Paul said, “You, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us … be sober” (verses 4–8).

To be sober means that you have not taken any intoxicating alcohol into your body. There are many today, even professing Christians, who see nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in moderation. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Both Paul and Peter clearly teach that Christians who are preparing for the second coming of Christ will not use intoxicating drink. (See Titus 2:11–14; 1 Peter 1:13–16). They will be sober.

It is impossible to be both sober and intoxicated at the same time. By drinking alcohol and becoming partially drunk, you are partially intoxicated and not really sober. We are instructed to be sober, to watch what is taking place in the world, and to prepare for the future, seeking for purity in our lives. The Bible says, “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Are you doing all in your power for the cause of God in the world? Christians living in these last days are going to experience severe trials. (See Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Paul said, “We urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all” (1 Thessalonians 5:12–15).

Many practical instructions were given at the close of Paul’s letter. He said, “Pray without ceasing” (verse 17). This means to always be in an attitude of prayer. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies [or prophesying]. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (verses 18–22).

O, friend, are you following those injunctions? Are you abstaining from every form of evil? Are you a sober, watchful Christian or among those who make a profession but are drunk in the night? Those who are not watching and not praying will not be ready and the day of the Lord will overtake them suddenly as a thief. It will come as an overwhelming surprise and it will be too late at that time to be saved. When Jesus comes again in the clouds of heaven with His reward, it is then too late to be saved (see Revelation 22:11, 12). All decisions will have already been made. Paul told the Corinthians, “Now is the accepted time; … now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Now is the time to make that decision to commit your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and choose to follow and obey Him, which will result in eternal life. The Holy Spirit has been promised to all who seek Jesus. It will transform your life, enabling you to live a completely different life.

Paul’s letter brought wonderful comfort, hope, joy, and excitement to the Thessalonians. However, they were confused when he said, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).

When Paul said “we,” he is referring to the people in the Christian church who are alive when Jesus comes and are ready to meet Him. But some people interpreted that to mean that he was including himself and that he would be one of those who would live until Jesus came. This misunderstanding resulted in Paul writing his second letter. In fact, there were some people who thought the Lord would return so soon that they decided they did not need to work. This mistake was corrected when Paul wrote, “If anyone does not provide for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8, literal translation).

Even today some people think the apostles expected the Lord to come in their day, in the first century. They did not. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul sought to correct misapprehensions about when the day of the Lord would come. His letter begins by commending them for their faith, and looking forward to the time when all of their suffering would be over. He said, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer” (2 Thessalonians 1:3–5).

“Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed” (verses 6–10).

He then continues to talk to them about the coming of the day of the Lord when they would receive rest, when all persecutions of the Christians would be at an end. Those who died in Christ would be resurrected and taken with the living to heaven. They would be given immortality (1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4). They thought it was going to happen very soon but Paul continued, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2). It was common then for unscrupulous people to send forged letters in the names of important people, so Paul warned that if they were to receive a letter telling them anything different, to know it is not so. He gave this very emphatic warning not to be troubled or even think that the day of the Lord was at hand, because there were more events to happen before He would return.

Paul wrote, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless [until] the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition” (verse 3).

This man of sin is the antichrist. It says in verses 4 and 5, concerning him: “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God [the church], showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

The coming of Christ would not occur until after a great apostasy occurs in the Christian church and the antichrist is revealed. Antichrist does not just mean somebody that is against Christ, but somebody that stands in the place of Christ. The antichrist would arise in the church first. He says, “And now you know what is restraining, that he [antichrist] may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one [the antichrist] will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (verses 6–8). That is a very interesting verse.

Some people believe that the antichrist is going to appear after the Lord comes. But this verse teaches us that when the Lord comes the antichrist will already have been revealed and will be destroyed when He comes. “The coming of the lawless one [antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders [miracles], and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (verses 9, 10).

Do you love the truth, friend? If you don’t love the truth, you are going to be deceived. It says, “because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” (verses 10, 11).

God will never force anyone to believe or accept or follow the truth. In God’s government, there is freedom and the power of choice. All who are willing to look at the weight of evidence will find plenty of evidence to know truth. But God will never give you so much evidence that you will be forced to accept it against your will.

Paul goes on to say, “For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (verse 11). The lie is that a person can be saved in his sin.

The truth has always been unattractive to those who have pleasure in unrighteousness. “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17). “… sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4 KJV). So to have pleasure in unrighteousness means to have pleasure in sin. Or, to put it even more simply, to enjoy breaking God’s law. To choose the pleasures of sin is so temporary. To choose Christ and live for Him is to have eternal life and pleasure forever.

As Joshua said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

 

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Life Sketches – Victory for the Gospel

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No sinner has ever fallen so low or become so vile that he or she cannot find deliverance in Christ. The good news is that there is hope for deliverance from the power of Satan and the infirmity of one’s own sinful nature.

After the apostle Paul left Athens, known as a city of learning, art, and science, he went to one of the largest mercantile cities of the world at that time, Corinth, a city in direct communication with Rome and other large cities by either land or water. Because it was a trade center catering to all nationalities that travelled through, it offered a tremendous opportunity to the apostle Paul for the spread of the gospel. There were many people there for both business and pleasure, having little thought or care for anything other than the affairs of this present life.

Paul knew that if the gospel were established in Corinth it would be readily communicated and spread to all parts of the world. However, he was not oblivious to the serious obstacles that he would face in the prosecution of his work. Corinth, at that time, was almost entirely given over to idolatry. Venus was the favorite goddess. A large number of dissolute women were employed in connection with the worship of this deity for the purpose of attracting devotees of popular vice, so much so, that the Corinthians had become conspicuous, even among the heathen, for their gross immorality.

In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 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 6:9–11).

In addition to the problem with idolatry, Corinth was populated by a larger number of Jews than at any previous time. They had become arrogant and insubordinate, not just to the Christian religion, but also to the Roman government. In fact, they manifested such a malignant spirit of envy and hatred, and created so much sedition and insurrection, that they had been driven away from Rome with many of them finding refuge in Corinth. Among those Jews who found refuge in Corinth there were many who were innocent of the wrongs that some of their countrymen had perpetrated. From this class there was a man and his wife by the name of Aquila and Priscilla, who afterward became distinguished followers of Christ.

Aquila and Priscilla were tent makers as was the apostle Paul who was also a tent maker by trade. Acts 18:1–3 says, “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.”

The Jewish people had been instructed by God through Moses to train up their children with industrious habits. For this reason, the Jewish people looked at indolence as a great sin. Their children were all required to learn some trade by which, if necessary, they could earn a livelihood. Failure of a Jewish young person to learn a trade was considered a departure from the instruction of the Lord. Labor was considered elevating in its nature and children were taught to combine religion and business.

At the time of Christ, the Jews, although they had become wealthy as a nation, still followed this ancient custom. Paul, being a Jew, was highly educated and was admired for his genius and eloquence. He was a leader among the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, but, in spite of that, his education had not been considered complete until he had learned a trade. The apostle used his trade of tent making to be self-sufficient while preaching the gospel among the Gentiles.

Paul refers to this a number of different times throughout his epistles. In 1 Corinthians 4:12 he says, “We labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure … .” Again, he refers to it in 2 Corinthians 11:7, literal translation: “Did I commit sin in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?” Then again, in 2 Corinthians 12:13: “For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong!”

Again He talks about it in his epistles to the Thessalonians. Paul was an earnest, energetic, self-sacrificing disciple of Christ. He was one of the world’s greatest teachers. He crossed the seas and traveled far and wide until a large percentage of the people who lived in the world had heard from his lips the story of the cross of Christ. Yet, in spite of this, he earned his own living by working with his hands.

He might have claimed support from the churches to sustain him, but he forewent this entitlement, even though he was feeble in health. He labored and toiled a large share of the night, frequently all night, that he might make provision for his own and other’s necessities. As he worked he instructed those who were making tents with him in the way of salvation. You might think of that today, if you are a gospel worker, if the Lord has called you to spread the gospel. If you think you are suffering great hardship and privations because you are not working in an occupation which brings large financial returns, remember Paul’s experience and witness to those in the work place around you.

Paul was in full-time ministry and entitled to receive support for his labor as an apostle of Christ, but he supported himself. His zeal and industry are a rebuke to anyone who claims to be a Christian and is indolent or a lover of selfish ease. In Athens, Paul had matched logic with logic. He had matched science with science. He had engaged in philosophical discussion with the Athenians, but when he reviewed the time and labor that he had spent in Athens and the number of converts, he decided he would follow a different plan of labor in the future.

Paul would no longer engage in elaborate arguments and discussions of various philosophical theories. He said, “I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).

Jesus gave a promise when He was on earth that if you continue in His word so that you are His disciples, following and obeying His word, then a miracle will happen in your life and you will be set free from the bondage of sin. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone’ ” (John 8:31–33, first part). That was a lie. “ ‘How can You say, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed’ ” (verses 33, last part–36).

Jesus said that those who live in sin are in bondage to sin. If you are committing sin you are a slave of sin, because sin is an enslaving power that brings men and women into bondage. Do not claim that you are not in bondage to anybody or anything. The fact is that if you are committing sin, you are already in bondage. No slave to sin will experience eternal life and abide in the house forever. Only the Son who abides forever can set you free from the bondage of sin, so that you are not living a life of sin. When the Son sets you free, you will be truly free.

Friend, has Jesus set you free from sin? Are you continuing in His word and following the instructions? The Jews all over the land when Jesus was on earth were notified to watch His movements, as their religion felt threatened by His influence. Jesus was continually followed by spies who took notice of every word and act that they might be able to use against Him. Paul had to meet the very same spirit of opposition and prejudice.

In Corinth, Paul reasoned from Moses and the prophets and showed from Old Testament types and ceremonies that they were prophetic concerning the ministry, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Messiah. He showed that the Christian religion was the fulfillment of the Hebrew religion, and that, unless you accepted Christ, all of those ceremonies were meaningless. He brought his hearers down through the types and shadows of the ceremonial law to Christ. He showed how the Old Testament predicted the crucifixion of the Messiah and His priesthood in the sanctuary in heaven.

Paul showed that, according to the prophecies, the Messiah would be of the lineage of Abraham and David. He traced His descent from Abraham through David and proved from Scripture what was to be the character and works of the promised Messiah and the reception and treatment He would receive and that all of these predictions had been fulfilled.

The most convincing proof given to the Jews was that the gospel was simply the development of the Hebrew faith. The gospel is the consummation, the glory of the entire Jewish system. Paul then showed that repentance for their rejection of Christ was the only thing that could save the Jewish nation from impending ruin.

Paul rebuked the ignorance of the Jews, showing that the very scriptures that were their chief boast and glory, if they had understood them, showed that they were guilty. He exposed their worldliness and love of station, titles, display, and their selfishness. He appealed to them that even though they were responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord of glory, if they would repent, the impending ruin coming upon the Jewish nation could be averted. These were the final appeals given to the Jewish people.

Unfortunately, the Jews of Corinth closed their eyes to all the evidence that was clearly presented by the apostle and they refused to listen to his appeals. It says in Acts 18:4–6, “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ ”

When Paul chose to go to the Gentiles, he started right next door to the synagogue. Notice what it says in Acts 18:7, 8: “He departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized.”

Paul showed those who listened that in spite of the dissolute, immoral life that they had been living, they could find deliverance in Christ. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He [that is, Jesus] is also able to save to the uttermost [that is, completely, or entirely, perfectly] those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.”

Paul had had an amazing experience on the Damascus road. He was shown that all the ceremonies, rituals, and forms of religion that he had been so careful to observe, were useless. King David also had a conversion experience. After he had grievously sinned by stealing another man’s wife and attempting to cover his sin by having Uriah killed, he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. … For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:10, 11, 16, 17).

O friend, have you repented of your sins? Have you chosen to follow Jesus Christ? Have you asked that you may not only be forgiven, but that you may receive the Holy Spirit so that you will have the power to live a new kind of a life?

Paul had a measure of success. Many Corinthians were baptized, but, as the apostle looked at the depravity of that city—he had been opposed and rejected by the Jews and the Gentiles were so immoral and so depraved—he thought that this was not a very good place to stay working and try to build up a church.

He doubted the wisdom of building up a church from the material that he found in that city. Paul thought that Corinth was a very questionable field of labor and decided that he would leave and look for a more promising area. He was anguished in spirit because of the depravity among the Gentiles and the contempt and insult which he had received from the Jews, but the Lord who reads the hearts of all men had another plan that He revealed to Paul.

“Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city’ ” (Acts 18:9, 10).

In spite of the wickedness of that sinful city, God knew there were many people there susceptible to the truth. If they heard and understood the gospel they would repent, confess, and forsake their sins and be able to receive the Holy Spirit and begin to live a new life through the Spirit’s power. Paul’s preaching was a manifestation of the Spirit and power of God to change into saints of God people who had been ruined by sin.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul addresses them as saints of God. He describes the sins of their former lifestyle and says that the unrighteous people who do those things will not inherit the kingdom of God. He goes on to say that though some of them were like that, they had now been washed, sanctified, and justified. Paul understood from this vision that God wanted him to stay in Corinth. It was a guarantee from the Lord Himself, that He would give an increase to the seed that was sown in the preaching of the gospel. Paul was so strengthened and encouraged that he continued to labor there for a year and 6 months.

Many of the people in Corinth who had been most dissolute and immoral accepted the gospel and were changed, becoming monuments of God’s mercy and of the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse from sin and from all uncleanness. Paul saw much success in presenting Christ to the people.

The unbelieving Jews again attempted to stir up trouble, going to the Roman proconsul in their attempt to get Paul arrested. “When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, ‘This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.’ And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, ‘If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.’ And he drove them from the judgment seat” (Acts 18:12–16).

The result of the Jews’ opposition to the gospel being preached in Corinth resulted in a signal triumphant victory in that city.

Friends, the gospel is soon going to triumph over all the world. Jesus invites all to be part of that victory.

 

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches – The Unknown God

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Some people believe that everything has its origin in blind chance. Others believe that there exists an over-ruling providence, a living center of all government. Why it is that many intelligent people believe unproven theories?

While preaching the gospel on his missionary journey from Thessalonica to Berea, Paul found that the people in Berea were Bible students. He said, “These [people] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). When people honestly desire to know what is right, they will check what they have been taught by the Scriptures and it will produce a result similar to that found in Berea. However, too many people today are just the opposite of the Bereans. They may not be able to controvert the doctrine that has been presented to them from the Bible, yet manifest the utmost reluctance to even investigate the evidence that has been presented in its favor.

Often the assumption is that even if it is the truth, it is really a matter of little consequence whether it is accepted as such, believing that if the faith and customs that they have was good enough for their fathers to follow, it is good enough for them. So why change? But the Lord has sent out His ambassadors with a message to the world, and will hold the people responsible for the manner in which they treat the words of His servants. God will judge us according to the light that we have had the opportunity to receive. It is our duty to investigate, like the Bereans, to see whether it is true or not.

Jesus said, “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” (Luke 12:47, 48).

So much has been committed to the people of our generation. The Bible is more accessible to people in first world countries than it has ever been before. Are you taking advantage of this opportunity? The prophet Hosea delivers a strong warning: “My people [the Lord’s people] …  are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6).

If people today were like the Bereans and checked the Bible to find out the truth, there would be thousands of people loyal to God’s government and His law, where now there is only one. Many who profess to love God have no desire to change from error to truth and they cling to the pleasing fables that the Bible predicted would abound in the last days.

Error blinds the mind and leads from God, but the truth is light to the mind and life to the soul. Error cannot sanctify.

Paul left Berea to escape from the Jews and went to Athens, a city that was the metropolis of heathen religions and philosophy. There he spent a period of time alone. This city was completely different from Lystra where Paul had been stoned. Lystra was home to an ignorant, credulous populace, but in Athens, there were people who were famous for their intelligence and education. The city was adorned by the many statues of their gods and deified heroes from their history. There were poetry, paintings, architecture, and images all over town that represented the glory and popular worship of heathen deities.

The Bible says in Acts 17:16, 17, “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.”

A tremendous amount of money and wealth had been expended in producing all of the sculptures, shrines, and the vast gallery of art. The average person’s senses are taken in with pleasure at seeing such a spectacle of wealth—the beauty, the grandeur, and such beautiful displays of human workmanship. But when the apostle Paul looked on this city full of idols, he was stirred with jealousy for God, whom he saw dishonored on every side.

The second commandment, Exodus 20:4–6, which is also the second longest commandment of the ten, strictly prohibits any kind of idolatry. God hates idolatry. In Revelation, the Lord pronounces that there are going to be certain people who will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven but will be left on the outside. It says, “Outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie” (Revelation 22:15).

In Athens, the people were intellectually great, but they were given over to idolatry. Paul perceived that this human art deified vice and made falsehood attractive and understood that the joy and splendor of these riches would never give eternal life. To him, all earthly pomp and glory was valueless if you failed to receive eternal life. Jesus said, “What will it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul” (Mark 8:36, literal translation)? Looking at the magnificence of the city and costly displays, Paul saw the seductive influence over the minds of those who were lovers of art and science. Paul had a job to do; he understood that he had been given a life mission just as Christ has given a commission to all of His followers (see Matthew 28:19, 20). That mission is to bear the tidings of salvation to people who had no intelligent understanding of God and His plans.

Paul was not in Athens to gratify a desire to see new things or have new experiences. He was there on a mission from God, and was grieved as he saw idolatry abound everywhere and sought to reason with the people. Paul realized that the religion of Athens, of which they made great boast, was of no value, because it was destitute of the knowledge of the true God. Like much of the religions of today, their religion consisted of art worship, beautiful music, a round of dissipating amusement and festivities, and religious rituals, but lacked the virtue of true goodness. Genuine religion of the heart and mind results in victory over the sinful nature, victory over sinful habits. (See Romans 6 and 8, John 8; 1 John 3.)

If your religion is merely intellectual and wanting in the realization of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your life, it will not be able to raise you above the sinful desires of the sinful nature so that you can enjoy victory over sin and live in harmony with the law of God. Paul preached in Athens about the resurrection from the dead. With all their philosophy, they did not have any system of religion that could bring deliverance from death, and they knew it.

Paul gave one of the most scintillating and intellectually challenging discourses that you will find in all the Bible. He was in a very dangerous situation and knew that if he should make a direct attack on their religious beliefs, his life would be in danger. Paul used a very interesting technique here, and approached them with great tact as he exposed the futility of their religion. The Bible says, “Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,’ because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.’ For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:18–21).

Paul stood on the top of Mars Hill, at the most sacred place of the city, the Areopagus, and said to them, “ ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious’ ” (verse 22). This was true; the city had all kinds of idols and shrines, religious paintings, and sculptures everywhere. He continued, “ ‘… for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you’ ” (verse 23).

He told them that they were already worshiping the unknown God, one they did not know that they honored with an idol, and that it is the God they didn’t know that he was going to tell them about.

Who is this unknown God? Paul said, He is “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (verse 24). There were many temples in that city, but Paul told them that the God of whom he spoke made the heavens, the earth, and everything in it, and does not need a man-made temple to dwell in.

In fact, Paul said in verse 25, first part, “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything.” He’s not worshiped by objects of art or manmade sculptures or anything that can be made by our hands, “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (verse 25, last part).

Then Paul said in verse 26, concerning this God, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” This is a very interesting statement. As human beings, we are tempted to have racial prejudice, political prejudice, religious prejudice, and national prejudice, but the apostle Paul says, that God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. We are all related to every other human being by blood.

O, friend, the Bible does not teach that we are to look down on some other nationality, some other race, or people of some other religion. All are created in the image of God, all are made of one blood, and therefore we should look at all others as brothers.

He says, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (verses 26, 27, literal translation). He challenged them to consider their purpose, to seek and find this Lord, the One who’s made heaven and earth, the One who gives to all life, and breath, and all things; He can’t be worshiped by something made by human hands, as though He needed anything, because He is the One that gives all, gives life, and breath, and everything they have.

“For in Him we live and move and have our being” (verse 28, first part).

Paul showed them that he was familiar with their religion and their heathen authors when he said to them, “As also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring’ ” (verse 28, last part).  He says, “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising” (verse 29). He showed them that these idols they were worshiping were actually useless, because they were controlled by human power. They could only move as human beings moved them showing that those who worshiped them were in every way superior to what they worshiped. He appealed to them that they should not think that the divine nature is something like this. Man was created in the image of God and was blessed with intellectual power, a perfect and symmetrical body, so we should not think that God can be likened to something that man can make.

Finally, this very interesting excuse was given for their ignorance of the true God. “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (verse 30). O, friend, have you ever thought through that text? God has overlooked the time in your past life when, maybe, you didn’t know any better, but when you find out the truth, the Lord says that you need to repent; you need to change your mind. Also, we know from this verse that there is no human being that is infallible, because an infallible being does not need to repent, but it says, “God commands all men everywhere to repent.”

Repentance is one of the first steps toward being saved. It is one of the first steps in the plan of salvation. When John the Baptist came, he preached to the people that they should repent. When Jesus began to preach, He said to the people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost he said, “Repent” (Acts 2:38).

When Peter preached to people who did not know the truth, he explained that there is a God in heaven who made everything and doesn’t need anything from us. We cannot do anything to add to His power or glory. He explained that in the time of their ignorance, God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent.

Paul said, “God … now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained [Jesus Christ]. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30, 31).

God has appointed a day, a certain time in the future, when He is going to judge this whole world in righteousness.

O, friend, are you ready for the judgment? You will never be ready for the judgment unless you have repented of your sins. Have you surrendered your heart to the Lordship and sovereignty of Jesus Christ, or are you worshiping other gods? It may not be a god of gold or silver. It could be a philosophical god. Some people worship their own or other’s intellect, neglecting to worship the One who made it. There were few people who accepted the apostle Paul’s teaching and became Christians. The majority refused having too much confidence in their own philosophy.

The Bible says, “In the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

O, friend, it is the same today as it has been in all ages. Those who think that they are very wise do not accept the wisdom that comes from God alone.

How is it with you? Are you wise in your own sight, or are you willing to accept the knowledge of God that He has revealed in His word? The choice is yours.

 

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

 

Life Sketches – The Love of the Truth

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Every year the state of this world seems to decline. Many wonder how much longer it can be sustained. Will nations continue in their present state or will there be a transition into another world-wide kingdom? Bible prophecy predicts the future of the nations of our world.

After Paul and Silas had been beaten,  placed in prison, and finally delivered by the Lord in the city of Philippi, they went to Thessalonica, a significant city where a large church had been raised up. Recorded in the Bible are two letters that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.

We are told in Acts 17:1–4 that, “When they (Paul and Silas) had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.”

Many of the people there had formerly been Greeks, idol worshippers, and philosophers, but had become Christians. The evidence that primarily induced these Jews and Greeks to see the light of truth was when Paul showed them from Old Testament prophecies what was predicted in regard to the Messiah. He was to come as a poor man. He would be despised and rejected by the Jews and finally killed. (See Isaiah 53; Psalm 22.)  Every prediction about the Messiah was fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He was crucified to pay the price of the sins of the world. He was resurrected on the third day. He ascended to heaven and He is coming back to this world someday to establish a universal kingdom.

The evidence proved there was only One whom that could be. Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled every prophecy of the Messiah. He was born at the right place, Bethlehem, according to Micah 5:2. He came at exactly the right time, predicted in Daniel 9. He came in His ministry to the right region. Isaiah predicted that He would go to Galilee, and He died in the way predicted in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. He was resurrected, and He led captivity captive (Psalm 68:18). When Paul preached all of these things, many people became Christians and were convinced not only of fulfilled prophecy, but believed what was predicted for the future.

The apostles taught that in the future, Christ would come again the second time and establish a universal kingdom. The early Christian church believed that. However, in the city of Thessalonica, just as in other cities, there were Jews who didn’t believe what Paul preached, and they raised an insurrection in the city and caused Paul to be taken out of town.

It says in Acts 17 that they made an assault on Jason’s house, and they took security from Jason (verses 5, last part, 9). In the meantime, Paul had escaped, and they went to another town by the name of Berea. The apostle says concerning the Bereans in verse 11, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” They were commended for not just taking man’s word but searched the Scriptures to see if Paul’s words were truth.

Paul used the same teaching technique as Jesus. Speaking to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus Jesus said, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25–27). His life, His death, and His resurrection all fulfilled Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. Verse 44 says, “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ ”

In the first chapters of the book of Acts, you will find that the apostle Peter followed the same technique, showing from the Old Testament that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Paul showed the people that it was impossible for them to explain the Passover without Christ as revealed in the Old Testament, and how the brazen serpent that was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness was a symbol of Jesus Christ lifted up upon the cross. He taught them that all of the Jewish religious services and ceremonies would be valueless if they should reject the Saviour, whom the ceremonies represented. Paul taught that Jesus Christ was the key that unlocked the meaning of the Old Testament and gave access to its rich treasures.

Paul showed the people in Thessalonica that the expectation of the Jews in regard to the Messiah coming as a ruler was not according to prophecy. The Old Testament predicted that He would come as a humble person, He would be poor, He would be rejected, He would be despised and killed. Then he showed them that at some time in the future, Jesus would return to this world a second time in power, and great glory, and that He would establish His kingdom upon the earth and would subdue all authority and all the rulership of the nations.

The Second Coming of Christ was very prominent in all the apostles’ teaching. They had received this information, not only from the Lord Himself in person (see Matthew 24; Luke 17), they also received it from the angels who were present when the Lord ascended to heaven. In Acts 1:9–11, it says, “Now when He [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’ ”

One of the foundational doctrines of the apostolic Christian church was that someday Jesus would return to this world in the clouds of heaven, just as He went. In fact, it is stated that not only will He return, but He will return in the glory of the Father, and the glory of His angels with Him. It will be an event that will be witnessed by the entire world.

Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” They will mourn because they are not prepared to meet their Maker. They are scared. This is one of the most detailed accounts anywhere in the Bible of exactly what will happen when Jesus returns to this world.

Paul said, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we (the believers) who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).

When a Christian dies, it is different from those who have no hope of eternal life. For the Christian there is hope, for death is a temporary sleep. When Jesus returns, those who believe on Him will be raised again to life and be given eternal life. However, Paul, in the same letter says what is going to happen to those who are not ready for the Lord to come. He says, “Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–3).

However, the Thessalonians expected Jesus’ return in their lifetime; so a second letter was written in which Paul tried to make very clear their misunderstanding so that they would not be confused in their faith. Disappointment often results in unbelief. It is very important that our faith be based only on what the word of God says, and not on what we think or hope will happen.

“It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble (persecute) you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:5–10).

These things that the apostle Paul taught made a deep impression on the minds of the people, but, there were still some who got confused, expecting to happen during their lifetime what Paul had predicted. Their confusion made it necessary for him to explain some things more clearly, which is a very great help to us, so that we understand exactly what he was trying to teach them. Paul went on to point out that he didn’t teach them that the Day of the Lord was going to happen in their lifetime, as they thought.

Some people today are confused, thinking that the apostle thought that the second coming of Christ would occur in the first century A.D. The apostles did not believe that. Peter did not believe it and Paul did not believe it. Peter predicts what would happen after his death, and Paul makes it very clear that they were not to expect the Day of the Lord to occur in their day.

Notice what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (that is, the apostasy) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (that is, the antichrist). Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

Paul reminds them that when he was with them he told them that the Day of the Lord would not come unless there had first, in the Christian church, come a tremendous apostasy, a falling away, from the truth.

Notice what Paul told the Ephesians: “Therefore take heed to yourselves (the elders of the church at Ephesus) and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure (after Paul’s death) savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

“Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:28–30).

Notice that Paul here is talking to the clergy, the elders of the church, and he says that from among the clergy or leaders of the Christian church, there would rise up men who would speak perverse things, and draw the disciples after themselves.

He then admonishes them, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (verse 31). This is prominent in the writings of Paul, and not only Paul but both the apostles John and Peter predicted the very same thing (1 John 2; 2 Peter 2). They predicted that a great apostasy would develop in the Christian church after the time of the apostles.

Paul, writing about it to the Thessalonians said, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:5–10).

Do you love the truth, friend? Do you want to know the truth of God and follow it and obey it? If you love the truth, you will find it for God will reveal it to you and you will be saved. But what will happen if you don’t love the truth? Paul says, “For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” (verse 11). The lie, of course, is the idea that you can be saved while you are living a lawless life. The mystery of lawlessness is the idea that you can be lawless, a breaker of God’s law, and still receive eternal life. The Bible says, “… that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (verse 12).

But why is it that people do not believe the truth? Jesus told the Jews it was because they “had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). How is it with you? Do you love truth and do you want to follow the truth of the Bible or are you living a life of pleasure in unrighteousness?

All who have pleasure in unrighteousness will be deceived. “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17). “Sin is breaking God’s law” (1 John 3:4, literal translation.) Since all unrighteousness is sin, and sin is breaking God’s law, what does it mean to have pleasure in unrighteousness? It means to have pleasure in sin. This prophecy in the Bible predicts that those who have pleasure in sin will be deceived, because they did not love the truth and will not be ready for the coming of the Lord.

O friend, which way will it be for you? Will you be one of those who loves the truth, and obeys it or will you be one of those who has pleasure in unrighteousness and is deceived? The choice is yours.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches Series – Joy from Suffering

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The entrance of the gospel for the first time into Europe occurred when the apostles Paul and Silas entered into a ship at Troas to go to Philippi. This was accompanied by great suffering. It was in regard of his own experience that the apostle Paul wrote about the purpose of suffering.

“It happened, as we (Paul and Silas) went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities” (Acts 16:16–19).

The girl’s masters had been using her to earn money and feared that if people accepted the preaching of the apostles their source of income would cease; so they made many false charges against them: “They brought them to the magistrates, and said, ‘These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.’ Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks” (verses 20–24).

One of the most dangerous situations that any human being can get into is to be the victim of mob action. For Paul and Silas there had been no trial, no justice, no opportunity to have council or to defend themselves in a court. Their clothes were stripped off them, they were beaten until bruised and bloody before being taken into prison where their feet were put in the stocks. There they were chained to prevent them from escaping.

By night, with their feet in stocks unable to move and in great pain and with no refreshment, the Bible says, “At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do yourself no harm, for we are all here’  ” (verses 25–28). Through the influence of the apostle Paul, when all the chains were loosed and the doors were opened, the prisoners did not flee. “Then he (the jailer) called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And He brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved’ ” (verses 29, 30)?

This jailor had been impressed by the conduct of his new prisoners. They acted differently from any prisoners he had ever held before. He realized that God had delivered them from prison, but they had not run away having regard for the jailer’s life. He realized that he owed his life to Paul and Silas and a desire rose in his heart to know their God. He had heard something about what they were teaching, about the gospel, and now he wanted to know about the God that they served. Who was this God they prayed and sang to? He wanted to know what he must do to be saved. The most important question that any human being can ask is that same question, “What must I do to be saved?”

Immediately the answer came. “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household’ ” (verse 31). It was not complicated, just believe!

The Greek word translated believe means much more than just a mental assent of believing that something is true in your mind. It means to believe something enough that you make a commitment to that belief. John 2:24 says, “Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men.”

That word commit is the same word that is translated believe, or to have faith. To believe means to make a commitment. To whom was the jailer to commit? He was to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Such a phrase was very significant, for people in those days knew exactly what a lord was. Today, we who live in free countries are ignorant of the position of a lord because we are all free. But in the Roman Empire where approximately 2/3 of the people were slaves and only about 1/3 were free, they knew exactly what a lord was. A lord was somebody who had total authority or sovereignty over your life. If you want to be saved you must believe in Jesus as your Lord. “Believe in the Lord.” If He is the Lord of your life you will follow Him and you will do what He says.

Believe on the Lord Jesus, the most wonderful name in the English language that comes from the Hebrew word which means Saviour, Deliverer. Believe on Him as your Saviour, as the Lord of your life and if you do, you will be saved. It is not complicated. Anyone, at any time of their life, can choose to make that decision. But friends, it is not by just giving a mental assent that the gospel is true, or that Christianity is true, not at all. It is by making a commitment to follow Jesus in holy living. Sadly, that is what keeps people from following Christ.

John says, “He who says he abides in Him must walk as He walked” (1 John 2:6, literal translation). The Philippian jailor accepted the call. He believed in Him as his Lord and Saviour from sin. He had seen evidence of what the gospel could do in the lives of Paul and Silas. He wanted the same thing, he wanted the same Lord and Master. Acts chapter 16:32–34 says, “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”

God brought beauty out of ashes; a wonderful thing happened because of the way Paul and Silas reacted to their suffering. One of the reasons that God allows suffering among His children is so that other people can see what the religion of Christ does in a person’s life. It changes the way they react, even to bad situations. The apostle Paul and Silas sang songs in the prison after they had been beaten and tortured, with their feet in the stocks, chained and in agony. As a result of their reaction to their suffering, others saw that they were different from the other criminals in the prison. Though they were looked upon as criminals, they did not manifest criminal behavior. Their demeanor as they sang and prayed had such an effect on the jailor that his whole household became Christians.

God may allow His children to suffer, that through their suffering others may find salvation, creating friendships that will last throughout eternity.

With all that had happened overnight, the magistrates had second thoughts about the night’s events. They had found out what had happened to the girl who had been possessed of an evil spirit and been freed, and wondered if they had done the right thing. They decided that they should let Paul and Silas go free. The Bible says, “The magistrates sent the officers, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.’ But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly’ ” (verses 35–37)?

Paul and Silas did not want to be looked at as criminals by slinking away. While they insisted on their innocence and that they had been treated illegally, being Roman citizens, the magistrates were afraid they would be relieved of their jobs if an appeal were made to the Roman emperor.

“ … the magistrates … were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city” (verses 38, 39). Before they left the city, the Bible says, “They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed” (verse 40).

After they left the city the whole story spread throughout that region. As a result, a large number of people became Christians and the church in Philippi was organized. Later, when Paul was in prison again, he wrote to the church. You can read his letter to the Philippian church in the New Testament.

Paul understood that many would suffer persecution for Christ’s sake. He said, “To you it has been given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in His name, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me” (Philippians 1:29, 30, literal translation).

There is a reason that we go through suffering in this world. Peter described it this way: “This is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:19–24).

Later, the apostle Peter, who was told by Jesus Himself, that at the end of his life he would be crucified (John 21), wrote to the Christians: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? … Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:12–17, 19).

Some people have wondered how they could endure the suffering that they find themselves in. The Bible is full of many wonderful and precious promises to those who suffer for righteousness’ sake. Here are two. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:12, 13).

Paul tells of the thorn in his flesh, referring to the bodily trouble he suffered that he wanted to be relieved of. He wrote, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

These Bible promises are not just for the apostle Paul; they are promises for every person who is suffering.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches Series – Liberty for All in Jesus

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In the writings of the Decalogue by Moses you will find much instruction as to the expected behavior and diet of God’s chosen people—the children of Israel. The question remains, Is a Christian today under moral obligation concerning how he uses his body, or did the Christian religion do away with all the health laws written by Moses?

In the first Christian council held by the Christian church recorded in Acts 15, we find a record of the problems that the apostles were facing. Many people from all over the world were accepting the doctrines of Christianity, both Jews and Gentiles, but between them there were what seemed to be insurmountable barriers. Among the Gentiles it was the custom to eat the flesh of animals that had been strangled. However, the Jews had been divinely instructed in regard to the food that they used, and they had been told not to eat blood. In fact, throughout the Old Testament there is no place where God ever permitted the use of blood by His people for food.

The first time animal food was allowed by divine permission to the human race was after the flood. Genesis 9:4 reads, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”

This instruction was repeated by Moses several times. He said, “This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings; you shall eat neither fat nor blood” (Leviticus 3:17). Emphatically, he said (this time adding a consequence), “You shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 7:26, 27).

The Jews considered this issue critical and never ate blood. The Gentiles not only ate it in the meat, but they often caught the blood and drank it, which caused great distress to the Jews. Their differing dietary habits made it impossible for the two groups to eat together.

The Gentiles also bought food that had been offered to idols. The apostle Paul makes it very clear that whether the food has been offered to idols really does not matter, because an idol does not know anything. However, by eating these foods it could give the impression of condoning idolatry, which is strictly prohibited in both the Old and New Testaments. Where the Jews were very strict in this, the Gentiles who had come out of idolatry didn’t think that much about eating this food.

Many Greeks had also become Christians. The Greek nation was an extremely licentious nation.  The Greek converts understood that it was a crime to steal another man’s wife but there were some who continued to practice fornication, which the Jews knew was forbidden.  This difference of understanding caused another barrier between the Jewish and Gentile Christians.

There were many Jews who believed that if the Gentiles were really sincere about accepting Christianity, they should be circumcised and keep all of the ceremonies commanded by Moses. So the apostles came together to discuss this question. The Bible says, “Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith’ ” (Acts 15:7–9).

The blood of Jesus is able to cleanse from all uncleanness. Whatever race, whether you are Jew or Gentile, whatever skin color or nationality you are, if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, your heart can be purified by faith. Peter continues, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they” (verses 10, 11).

Peter recounted the vision he had been given in Acts 10 and how he had been sent to preach the gospel to Cornelius and his house. He explained that God was no respecter of persons and He accepted every person who feared Him and worked righteousness from any nationality. That is still true today, “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 11:34 KJV). He does not practice partiality. If you surrender your life to Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you will be accepted and you will receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will purify your heart and give you the power to live a new life. No one is to be regarded inferior to someone else because the blood of Jesus is capable of cleansing from all uncleanness.

Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Whether male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile, there is no difference with God who does not practice partiality; He is no respecter of persons.

In Galatians 5:1, 2 the apostle Paul says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.”

This yoke of bondage that both Peter and Paul spoke of was not the law of ten commandments which is spoken of in the Bible as a law of liberty. The apostle James says, “If you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:9–12).

The principles of God’s law are eternal and were laid down long before they were written on tables of stone. Adam and Eve broke the very 1st commandment, “You shall not have any other god before Me” (Exodus 20:3, literal translation), in the Garden of Eden. They broke the 10th commandment by coveting fruit which God told them not to eat (verse 17). The 8th commandment was broken when they stole the fruit which God said did not belong to them (verse 15). And in dishonoring their heavenly Father they broke the 5th commandment (verse 12).

Adam and Eve broke the law of God in the Garden of Eden. As a result of the law being broken, Paul says, in Galatians 3:19, “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions [of the moral law], till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.”

A moral law was transgressed.  “Where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15, last part).

The law was to point men toward the fact that a Redeemer was coming who would save them from the guilt and penalty of their sin. The only way they could be saved from their sin was if a sacrifice that was perfect would die in their place. Hebrews 9:22 says, “According to the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (literal translation). The Bible says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but might have everlasting life” (John 3:16, literal translation).

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, in order that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:14, 15, literal translation).

For the 4,000 years before Jesus would fulfill this prophecy, it was kept fresh before the minds of men. Ever since the days of Adam and Eve, those who believed and had faith that God was going to send a sacrifice to pay the price for their sins and offer them forgiveness, manifested their faith in a Redeemer to come by offering a lamb, an animal sacrifice, for their sin. The whole purpose of the ceremonial law and the Levitical priesthood was to provide a sacrifice and an intercessory priest to have your sins forgiven.

When Jesus offered His life for our sins on the cross of Calvary He was our sacrifice. However, after He ascended to heaven He also became our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary so that He, by virtue of His own merits, could take away the guilt of the sin of anyone who confessed and repented of their sins to Him (see Hebrews).

But, this law of ceremonies that involved animal sacrifices, a Levitical priesthood, an earthly sanctuary, and various other ceremonial laws that pointed forward to the Christian dispensation, was made null and void by the true sacrifice—the crucifixion of Christ. However, it took time for people to realize the significance of what really happened when Jesus died on the cross. The moment He died, an unseen hand tore the veil in the temple from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51, first part). Now that veil was not like just a common household curtain. It was more like a carpet or a rug, something that no human being, unless you were Sampson, could tear apart.

This act signified that no longer would believers need the services of an earthly priest to approach God. Jesus Christ was now our high priest. There is only one Mediator between God and man, as Peter said, “We are all priests who can come to our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5, literal translation). We see here that the earthly tabernacle had no more real significance because it was all a type of the reality that was to come. All of the earthly ceremonies connected with the sanctuary had no more significance, once Christ’s sacrifice was complete.

Paul describes these ceremonies both in his letters to both the Ephesians and the Colossians. In Colossians 2:14, he says, “… having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Contrary to what some have thought, the apostle Paul is not here referring to the ten commandments, but rather to the ordinances that were handwritten by Moses.

Handwriting is something that humans do. We take hold of a pen or pencil with our fingers when we write. But when God writes, He does not need a pen or a pencil. Instead, He writes with His finger (John 8:6). God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger on tables of stone. They were not handwritten.

Paul says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (that’s in the cross). So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:15–17).

The substance is of Christ; the body is of Christ. Don’t let anyone pass any judgment on you in regard to any of these ceremonial requirements, Paul said. That was the same decision that was made at the Jerusalem council—that the Jews were not to enforce these things upon the Gentile Christians.

At this first Christian council, after everyone who wanted to speak had the opportunity, the apostle James arose and said, “Men and brethren, listen to me: Simon [Peter] has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things’ ” (Acts 15:13–17).

James continued: “Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogue every Sabbath” (verses 18–21).

Notice, it was James who led out at the council and made the final decision, contrary to the belief that Peter was the head of the church. The rest of the apostles agreed with what he said and the letter was written saying, “We have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law’—to whom we gave no such commandment—it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well” (verses 24–29).

Notice, the Gentile Christians were not to be forced to keep all the Jewish laws, or any of the ceremonial laws, but they were to keep the moral law of God. They were to live righteous, holy lives, and they were not to eat blood or things that were strangled. It is interesting that out of only four things Christians were not to do we find that many Christians do today. In both the Old and the New Testaments, the use of blood as food is strictly forbidden. This is something we need to study if we want to be living in harmony with every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

At the council, the argument in question was decided by the Holy Spirit, as they say, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” That being the case, since the Holy Spirit is the leader, the guide, the king, the authority in the Christian church, our job as Christians is to know the way the Holy Spirit is leading us. At that first council the whole body of Christians was not called to vote upon the question.

The apostles and elders, men of influence and judgment, framed and issued the decree, and it was thereafter accepted generally by the Christian churches. Everybody, however, was not pleased with this decision. There was a faction of brethren called Judaizers, who assumed to engage in the work on their own responsibility and indulged in murmuring and fault-finding. They continued wherever they went to try to get Christians to keep the ceremonial law. The church has had such types of obstacles to meet ever since the beginning and it will continue until the end of time.

Even some of the apostles were not prepared to accept the decision of the council, remaining zealous for the ceremonial law. They regarded Paul with jealousy, thinking his principles were lax in regard to the obligation of the Jewish law. It took time for them to understand these things and there were times when the apostle Paul had to stand all alone. He was regarded by many of the Jewish Christians as a teacher of dangerous doctrines. However, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit taught them is still in force today. We still need to live by the principles that this first council passed if we want to be approved by the Lord in the Day of Judgment.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches – God’s Unchangeable Law

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There is a question that has been argued by antinomians since the time of the apostles: “If you become a Christian, are you then free to break the law of God?” The New Testament addresses this question after the death and resurrection of Christ.

There is a law that is unchangeable, that is unalterable, that will remain as long as this universe remains. Jesus said, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:17). A tittle is a word referring to just a part of a Hebrew letter. Jesus here used strong language, for it says in the New Testament that it was Jesus Christ who created everything in the universe (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:15–17), and He is the One who upholds everything by the word of His power (Hebrews 1).

Everything—the suns, the galaxies, the solar system and everything in space—is held in position by the “word of His power” and He who created it all said that He would destroy the whole universe and start over again before allowing a part of a letter of His law to fail.

Many years after the cross, the apostle James tells us that this law is the standard of the judgment. Every person in the world must face this law at some time. Notice what it says in James 2:10–12: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

All will be judged by this law which James calls the law of liberty. If everybody on earth kept this law there would be no need for prisons, no need for locks on your house, or car, or the necessity to store your possessions in some secure place. How wonderful this world would be if everybody kept God’s law. James makes it clear which law people will be judged by because he quotes the sixth and seventh commandments.

It will not be enough to come to the Lord pleading that you have kept part of it and expect a good pass. James tells us that if you break any point of it you are a transgressor and will be judged by it.

God’s people in the last days will be keeping His commandments. John wrote, “The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). God’s people are also described in Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

Later in his book, John wrote, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral [those who break the 7th commandment] and murderers [those who break the 6th commandment] and idolaters [those who break the 2nd commandment], and whoever loves and practices a lie [those who break the 9th commandment]” (Revelation 22:14, 15). We see here that the commandment keepers will be inside the city and saved while the commandment breakers will be outside the gates of the city and eternally lost.

However, in spite of all these very plain declarations, there are still people who are confused, saying, “Doesn’t the New Testament say that the law was abolished or done away with?” When the law was given in Exodus, it says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them’ ” (Exodus 24:12). There were commandments, a law that God Himself wrote with His finger on tablets of stone. It was God Himself, who spoke and He called it a law. “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” (Deuteronomy 5:22). In addition to this law, because God’s people had been in slavery for many years, God gave Moses minute instructions so that people would understand the principles of the law that God had written on stone.

You would think it was so plain that nobody could misunderstand. For example, God spoke the 7th commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” and then told Moses to spell it out so that no one would make a mistake as to its meaning. If you read Leviticus 18, and 20, and Deuteronomy 22 you will find that there are people even today who are unwittingly breaking the 7th commandment, not understanding the principle behind it that was explained by Moses in his writings.

Consider the 8th commandment, stealing. There are many ways a man can steal. God wanted to be sure His people understood how abhorrent it was to steal from another human being. He said, if a person kidnaps somebody else and then sells him as a slave somewhere, that person is a thief and breaks the 8th commandment. The penalty is death. (See Exodus 21:16.)

The 5th commandment predicts that in the last days children will be disobedient to their parents  (Exodus 21:17). In ancient times the penalty for cursing your father or your mother was death. The same remains true in the final judgment of souls. Many people will be surprised at the record God has of their lives in that day. Moses wrote in a book the principles surrounding the ten commandment law spelling it out in detail. That book was put in the outside of the ark, which held the tables of stone on which God had written His law.

As well as the explanations of the moral law, Moses also recorded many ceremonial laws that were given to the people and designed to point them to a coming Messiah. Those who are living after Jesus Christ came into the world look back to His birth in Bethlehem, His 33 year life, His crucifixion, death and resurrection on the third day and His ascension 40 days later. However, if you lived before Christ came to earth you would have looked forward in faith to His incarnation.

There is only one plan of salvation. Those who lived before the cross of Christ, that will be saved, are saved by the very same merits of Jesus Christ as those who have lived after the cross. The apostle Paul explains that there were some ceremonial laws that would no longer be in effect after Christ came.

He said, “Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary” (Hebrews 9:1). The first covenant that no longer exists had ordinances of service, religious rituals and services and an earthly sanctuary. Under the new covenant, there is no longer an earthly sanctuary and we look toward what Christ is doing for us as our High Priest in the sanctuary in heaven (Hebrews 8 and 9).

Referring to the old covenant, Paul said, “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing” (Hebrews 9:6–8).

“It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation” (verses 9, 10). He goes on to say that it is through the sacrifice of Christ and His mediation in the sanctuary in heaven that the people from Old Testament times are saved (verse 15).

Notice, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1–4).

If it were possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, then Jesus Christ would not have needed to come and die on the cross. But the Jewish people had been practicing this now for fifteen hundred years before Jesus was here. If you have a custom or a ritual or a practice that has been in vogue, and has been practiced not only by you, but by your father, your grandfather, and back for fifteen hundred years, that custom would have become firmly entrenched. Even the apostles, who were also Jews, were slow to learn that these ceremonies did not need to be followed anymore.

This fulfilment and therefore discontinuance of the ceremonial law resulted in a huge conflict within the Christian church in the first century. After Paul had been stoned at Lystra and returned to Antioch at the end of his first missionary journey, a tremendous conflict arose. “Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’ ” (Acts 15:1).

There was no argument amongst them about the need of keeping the commandments. In fact, you will not find any argument anywhere in the New Testament about whether or not God’s law must be kept. All were agreeable to that fact. They understood that the commandments are not alterable and will be the standard of judgment for all time. Even in the last days, God’s people will be keeping them as they were written and will be saved while those who break them will be eternally lost.

The argument in the early church was never about the moral law which all will meet again in the judgment. The argument was about circumcision, a ceremonial law. The Jewish Christians believed that unless the Gentiles were to keep all of the ceremonies that were enjoined in the old covenant they could not be saved.

When this happened, Paul and Barnabas had a huge argument with these people. The Bible says, “Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them” (verses 2–4).

“But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses’ ” (verse 5). A big controversy was developing from the sect of the Pharisees who had become Christians. At that time, as a result of the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas, many Gentiles were becoming Christians. Certain Jews from Judea had raised this consternation in the church in Antioch about circumcision saying, “Nobody can be saved unless they are circumcised.” Paul and Barnabas opposed this position, which resulted in a great controversy.

There was much discussion and want of harmony in the Christian church; so Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem to the council to see how it could be resolved. However, the Jews were not generally prepared to move as fast as the Providence of God led the way. The Jews saw that the Gentiles would eventually far exceed the number of Jews who were Christians. They believed that if the ceremonies and restrictions they had under Jewish law were not made obligatory upon the Gentiles, then the national peculiarities of the Jews would pass away.

The Jews had prided themselves upon the fact that they had divinely appointed worship services and ordinances. That was true, and nobody could successfully argue otherwise. They thought that which had kept them distinct from all the world would finally disappear from those who are Christians. They concluded that since God had once specified the Hebrew manner of worship, it was impossible that God would ever authorize a change in any of the specifications of divine worship. So, they decided that Christianity must connect itself with Jewish laws and ceremonies.

The Jewish Christians were slow to discern the end of that which had been abolished by the death of Christ and that all of their sacrificial offerings had only prefigured the death of the Son of God in type. When Jesus died on the cross, type had met antitype. So, the divinely appointed ceremonies that were part of the Jewish religion and involved the sacrificing of animals, a human priesthood, and an earthly sanctuary, which were all part of the Jewish religion, were no longer in effect. In fact, Matthew records the events just prior to Jesus dying on the cross that signified the end of the ceremonial services. He said, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:50, 51).

The veil of the temple was not just like some curtain that you may have in your house. This veil was more like a solid tapestry, thick like a rug. It was something that no human being, unless you were Samson, could ever tear apart. But divine power tore that veil in two from the top to the bottom giving a message to the human race that it was no longer necessary to come with animal sacrifices to an earthly sanctuary for the forgiveness of sins.

That system is no longer in effect, since the veil into the earthly Holy of Holies has been torn in two. We are now able, by a new and living way, to approach God by faith in the heavenly Holy of Holies, in the heavenly sanctuary where our High Priest ministers in our behalf.

We can have a Most Holy Place experience; we can go into the courtyard, this earth where Jesus was crucified, and enter by faith into the first apartment where we partake of the showbread—the word of God and become the light of the world. We offer our prayers to our heavenly Father that are fragranced by the Holy Spirit. We then enter behind the torn veil where we see our Saviour before the throne of God. Now there is a new and living way by which we may approach God.

However, these Jews did not understand that. They were dealing with a custom that had been going on for over fifteen hundred years. Paul himself had been very strict in following all of these customs. He had been a strict Pharisee, but after he met Jesus on the Damascus road and was converted, he understood the significance of the former dispensation of the old covenant and the difference between living faith and a dead formalism. Paul still claimed to be one of the children of Abraham and kept the ten commandments in spirit and letter, just as he had done before his conversion to Christianity.

All of the typical ceremonies and ordinances of service of the old covenant had only shadowed forth something that was to happen in the future. Now the light of the gospel was shed upon the world offering a new and better way.

The big question today is, Do you clearly understand what law was abolished by Christ’s death on the cross? Have you gone by the new and living way and approached Jesus as your High Priest and asked Him to deliver you from the guilt and power of sin, and to make you His child so that you can be saved?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches – Will You Stand?

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Many people would obey and follow God if He would only remove the struggles and tribulations that they are going through. But since God does not immediately remove their trials, they remain uncommitted and follow the path of least resistance. But the question is still asked, “Why do Christians worldwide suffer so many troubles?”

Jesus said that whatever we give to others will eventually be returned to us. He said, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:37, last part, 38).

This is an eternal principle that God has established in the universe. As we give to others, the same will come back to us, whether we give good or evil.

Before his conversion, the apostle Paul was the leading persecutor of Christians in the world. He was responsible for having men and women put in prison just because they were Christians, and also for the death of many of whom we do not know the number.

The Bible says Paul was present and consenting to the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was stoned to death. However, when he was converted on the road to Damascus, the Lord said to Ananias concerning him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15).

Saul’s name was changed and he became the apostle Paul. He suffered many things for Christ’s name sake. He was beaten, put in prison, shipwrecked a number of times. He even suffered the same fate that he had consented done to Stephen when on his very first missionary journey he was stoned. The persecutors left him for dead, but after a while he came to and then left town. There is no doubt that during that experience he remembered what he had allowed to be done to Stephen and thought his end had come, but it was not his time to die yet.

After that experience, Paul went back through the cities where he and Barnabas had preached the gospel. Acts 14:21, 22 says, “When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra (where Paul had been stoned), Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’ ”

This is troubling to many people who wonder why it is that if they choose to become a Christian, the only way they can get to the Kingdom of God is through many tribulations.

There are several texts in the New Testament that explain why this is so. In John 7, Jesus’ brothers told Him to go and show people what He was doing and declare Himself to the world as the Messiah (see verses 3, 4). Then it says, “For even his brothers did not believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil’ ” (verses 5–7).

In John 15:18–25, on the night that He was betrayed, Jesus said to His disciples, “ ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his Master.” If they’ve persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, “They hated Me without a cause.” ’ ”

Jesus told His followers that they were following Him because He chose them out of the world and because the world hated Him they would also hate His followers. The apostle John, in his letter in 1 John 3:10–15 explains why they are hated: “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 who 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.”

In 1 John 5:19, literal translation, John says, “The whole world lies in wickedness.” The Christian, without even saying anything, by the very fact that he exists and is living in harmony with the law of God, his life is a rebuke to those who are transgressing the law of God. So, according to worldlings, something must be done to get this disturbing element out of the way. That is exactly what happened with Cain and Abel. Cain wanted to get Abel out of the way so he would not show him up. This resulted in Cain killing his brother.

John says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15–17). Before He left them, Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). His followers soon found these words to be true. Paul was stoned. Peter was crucified. James was killed with the sword. In fact, the Jews tried to kill all of Christ’s apostles. Every one of them was martyred except for the apostle John. The Jews tried without success to kill him but God still had a work for him to do – write the book of Revelation on the lonely Isle of Patmos.

Christ’s followers stood out from the crowd. The way they lived was a rebuke to the Jews so they did their best to eliminate them. So, the world today does not like to be rebuked for its lifestyle.

There is a story that has been told of a man who lived in the southern United States before the emancipation proclamation, who had slaves, one of whom was a Christian. He said to this slave, “Why are you having so much trouble? Look at me, I’m not a Christian and I do not have all the trouble that you have.” The slave replied, “When you go hunting with your bird dogs and you shoot a bird and it falls down dead, the bird dog doesn’t go over to it because the bird is dead. But then you shoot another bird, and it is not dead but just wounded, the bird dog goes after that one.” He continued, “That is like you and me. The devil is not after you, because he’s already got you. But he is after me, because I am just wounded and that is why I am having a lot of trouble.” The devil is the one that brought suffering, sickness and sin into this world that results in death.

As long as the devil exists there will be conflict in our world between good and evil. Eventually, every person is going to be totally on either one side or the other. Today there are still many people who are in the valley of decision trying to figure out on what side of the great controversy between good and evil they want to be. Do they love sin so much that they are willing to do whatever they can to be on that side? Or, would they like to have eternal life? Eternal life can only be given to the person who chooses to surrender his sinful nature and follow the Lord.

O, friend, what is happening in your life? Are you like the bird that is dead, or like the one that is wounded, and having a lot of trouble? Remember, it is the devil that causes so much trouble for those who are on the path that leads to everlasting life, but they are not alone in their journey. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, last part).

If you’re not following the Lord, Jesus said, “All those who hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36). “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In Matthew 10:34–39, 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. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake, will find it.”

The apostle Paul said, “… all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). But do not be discouraged for God has promised His people who are suffering trouble because they have chosen to be Christians that, “As your days, so shall your strength be.” “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:25, 27).

God has promised to never forsake His own. He has promised to be with them to strengthen and help them in all the troubles and trials that they go through. In Psalm 9:9, 10, it says, “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Isaiah says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord, forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:3, 4).

Reading the New Testament we find promises equally comforting. Notice what the apostle Paul said about the Christian who is suffering trouble and trial because he has chosen to follow the Lord: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:12, 13).

Peter also speaks to those who suffer because they are Christians: “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). God is a faithful Creator; He does not forsake His own. Even though they go through trials and troubles, He has promised to be with them, to support them, to sustain them, to help them, right up to the moment of death.

However, there is coming a time when the tables are going to be completely turned. Jesus will say, “Enough!” God will avenge His people, when all cases have been decided. He is going to judge this world and bring judgments upon it because of its sin.

The book of Revelation is very clear that in the last days, because of the wickedness of the world, the Lord God of heaven is going to come down and walk through the whole earth, spreading desolation everywhere. (See Revelation 16.) That is called the “seven last plagues.” These plagues will come upon the people who deliberately choose to remain in violation and rebellion against the law of God. To be in rebellion against the law of God means you are in rebellion against the government of God, and against God Himself.

As we approach the time of the end of the world, it is going to become more and more wicked. Jesus talked about it Matthew 24. Paul talked about it in 2 Timothy 3. John talked about it in the last half of the book of Revelation how the wickedness in this world would become so great that God would finally say, “It’s not going to go on anymore.”

The Lord is going to come to this world in judgment. When that happens, those who have been obedient will not suffer the plagues that are to come upon the rest of the world. In the Old Testament, foreseeing what would happen at the end of time, the Lord predicted the protection that He was going to put around His own. Notice Psalm 91:4–7: “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”

Then the Lord will say to His people, “Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain” (Isaiah 26:20, 21). Up until now, when people die, we bury them and the earth covers up the dead. But there is coming a time when the earth is not going to cover the slain anymore. It says, “ ‘And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day,’ says the Lord God—‘Many dead bodies everywhere, They shall be cast out in silence’ ” (Amos 8:3).

Jeremiah 25:32, 33 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth. And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.’ ”

When that time comes, the Lord says to His people, “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling” (Psalm 91:7–10).

O, friend, although Christians suffer a lot in the world and have for thousands of years, there is coming a time when the tables are going to be turned. Those who break God’s law and persist in their wickedness are going to receive God’s judgments while His people are protected. When that time comes, where will you be? Whatever troubles, or trials, or tribulations that you are suffering right now because you are following Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, they are temporary. That is a wonderful thought. All of a Christian’s troubles are temporary; they will all be over soon. The question is, “Will you be one of those who is accounted ready when your Lord comes?”

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Life Sketches – A Clean Heart

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There are many people today who believe God must be worshiped specifically within a certain protocol to be acceptable. This thought is due to early training in their church.

Amongst the Jews, there was argument with the apostles and early Christians about the Messiahship of Jesus but there was never argument over clean and unclean foods. In fact, there is no record anywhere in the New Testament of the apostles eating anything unclean. The early Christians believed that God had given instruction as to what was acceptable for food in Leviticus 11. Many Christians today believe God has given permission to eat all manner of unclean foods when He gave Peter the vision recorded in Acts 10. However, the Lord was teaching Peter something quite different.

“While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them’ ” (Acts 10:19). So Peter went and met Cornelius who fell down and worshiped him. “But Peter lifted him up, saying ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.’ And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, ‘You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean’ ” (Acts 10:26–28). Here we see that Peter understood that the vision he saw was not in reference to food but in judging people.

Peter had been taught from birth that the Gentiles were unclean and the common thought was that Gentiles could not be saved. This belief caused many arguments with Jesus who told His disciples that there would be some surprises in the Kingdom of Heaven. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31).

Today, we all must learn the same lesson as the Jews needed and not look upon any human being as unclean or common. They may be steeped in sin, but if they receive the gospel they could turn around and be saved from the power of their sinful habits. The gospel message is open to every human being and not one is excluded. Jesus made that very clear in Revelation 22:17: “And the Spirit says, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

“Whoever” means that anyone who wants to be saved can come to Jesus, but some think their lives are so steeped in sin that they would never be accepted. This is Satan’s lie. Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

If you come to the Saviour and commit your life to Him, you will be saved from the guilt and power of your sins. That could happen for you today just as it has happened to Cornelius and his house.

Peter said, “ ‘God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?’

“So Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.” So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.’

“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him’ ” (Acts 10:28–35). God shows no partiality. He does not respect a person of one race more than another.

“The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him, will receive remission [forgiveness] of sins.” (verses 36–43).

The Scripture says, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues [languages] and magnify God. Then Peter answered, ‘Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days” (verses 44–48).

Gentiles, who had never been circumcised, became baptized Christians and received the Holy Spirit. This raised a huge question in the Christian church whether they should be allowed to be part of the church without keeping all the law of Moses with its Jewish rites and ceremonies, including circumcision.

When Peter returned home he found himself in a lot of trouble with the brethren. “The apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, ‘You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!’ But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But I said, “Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.”

“ ‘But the voice answered me again from heaven, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, “Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.

“ ‘Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, “John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?’ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’ ” (Acts 11:1–18).

It was a hard lesson for the Jews to learn. God had granted to Gentiles, the people that they had looked down upon all their lives as being common, unclean, and steeped in sin, the same offer of salvation, that if they repented, their sins would be forgiven, and they also could receive the Holy Spirit.

However, the issue did not rest there. Some of the brethren came down to Antioch from Judea and said, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). The issue of circumcision was agitated yet again. As they saw what was happening in Antioch and other places where many Gentiles were becoming Christians, many of the Jewish Christians were concerned that there would be more Gentiles in the Christian church than Jews.

The Jews became fearful that they would lose their national customs and distinctiveness from other nations as Christians and demanded that these Gentile Christians come into harmony with all Jewish laws and practices. They believed that they all must worship God the way their forefathers did by being circumcised according to the custom of Moses. The issue was not about breaking God’s law, the ten commandments. There was no argument over the Sabbath, idol worship, adultery, theft, dishonesty or anything forbidden by God, but only those things connected with the ceremonial law, the law of Moses.

To Moses was given ceremonial laws that were a shadow of things to come. They were all representative or prophetic of what would happen when Jesus would come. Paul understood they were temporary until Christ came (Galatians 3:19).

The issue became a hot topic. The Bible says, “Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question” (Acts 15:2).

So, they went up to Jerusalem for a church council. “And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.’

“Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe” (verses 4–7). Peter here referred to his trip to Caesarea when Cornelius and his family and friends believed and received the Holy Spirit for which he was criticized. He got in trouble for preaching the gospel. He got in trouble for sitting down to eat with an uncircumcised Gentile.

The church at that time was racially prejudiced against the Gentiles. Peter said, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them” (verses 8, 9).

God does not make distinctions among people who belong to different churches, different races, different nations, different languages. When Jesus met people He did not ask them about their philosophy or ask what church they belonged to or what they believed. He simply said, “Do you want to be saved? Do you want to have eternal life? Follow Me. I will take away your burden of sin. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, My Spirit, the Holy Spirit.”

When Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler, came to visit Jesus one night, Jesus told him that unless he experienced change, unless he received the Holy Spirit and was born again of the Spirit, he could not be saved and go to heaven. Nicodemus was shocked at these words of Jesus. He was a religious leader and teacher of the law.

It does not matter whether you are a religious leader. It does not matter even if people consider you to be a holy person. There are a lot of people who are considered holy because they look that way outwardly, but their hearts are corrupt. That was the condition of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. Jesus said to them, “You look righteous on the outside, but your heart has not been cleansed. In your heart there is lawlessness and hypocrisy” (Matthew 23:28, literal translation).

God asks, “Are you willing to accept My only begotten Son as the Sovereign of your life and your Saviour from sin? Are you willing to follow Me?” Or, “Are you on the other side of the great controversy and want to run your own life independent from Me?” Everyone makes their own choice.

The Bible says, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). That is a simple equation. No one else in the universe can give you eternal life, only God’s Son. Would you like to be saved? Do you want to be saved badly enough to make a commitment to the One that can save you? Peter said, “God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8, 9).

God does what is impossible for us to do ourselves: He can purify a person’s heart. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, what race you are, what religion you are, what social class you belong to, high or low, what nation you belong to; none of those things matter to God. All that matters is, “Are you willing to make a commitment?” Jesus said, “If you believe enough to make a commitment, if you will commit to Jesus Christ as the Sovereign of your life, the Ruler and Master of your life, the One that you will obey and follow, I will give you eternal life.”

The Christian religion is the most spiritual of all religions because it has everything to do with the decision of your mind and not with some formal religious ritual. Sadly, Jesus said of the Jews, “But you are not willing to come to Me that you might have life” (John 5:40), but if you will come, God promises to purify your heart.

Someone may say, “I go to church.” But has your heart been purified? Someone may say, “I’ve studied theology.” But has your heart been purified? Another may say, “I read the Bible.” But has your heart been purified? And another may say, “I spend this much time in praying, and in meditating, and devotions.” The same question must be asked, Has your heart been purified?

O, friend, unless your heart is purified, it doesn’t matter what religious ritual, what form of worship you go through. If you are going to be saved at last in the kingdom of heaven, your heart needs to be purified. That is the question that needs to be answered. That is the question you need to pray to God about and ask, “Lord, I want my heart to be purified by faith, not just with ceremonies and outward observances but with a pure purpose.”

David said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit” (Psalm 51:10–12 KJV). This should be our own prayer.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Life Sketches Series – Worship God

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Racial prejudice is nothing new. It has existed in the world for thousands of years. In fact, we read about racial prejudice clear back in the book of Genesis, thousands of years before the time of Christ. In the time of Christ, racial prejudice between different nations and races of people was as strong as ever. Two groups of people prejudiced against each other were the Jews and the Samaritans. Once when Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink, “The woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9).

During the conversation, the woman wanted Jesus to tell her where to worship, in Jerusalem according to the Jews, or the mountain where the Samaritans believed was the right place to be. Those kinds of prejudices have continued right up to the present day, not just among Jews and Samaritans, or Jews and Gentiles, but also between various Christian groups, so much so, that we find many instances of two nations, both calling themselves Christian nations, at war with one another.

Racial prejudice is a terrible thing which Jesus addressed more than once during His time here on earth. Jesus had just entered Capernaum, a city that had become a headquarters for His work, where many of His most mighty and powerful miracles had been worked. The Bible records that a centurion, a Roman soldier who was over a hundred other soldiers, “pleaded with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, “Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come,” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel’ ” (Matthew 8:6–10)!

Jesus then made a statement that to the Jews around Him was absolutely astonishing. This text shows us that many of the people that we tend to be prejudiced against are going to be saved but the people that have prejudice will be lost. Notice what it says in Matthew 8:11, 12: “ ‘I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ”

Here Jesus addressed, very directly, the problem of racial prejudice. However, the disciples were slow to learn the lesson. Jesus told them again just before He ascended that they were to take the gospel, not just to the Jews, but even to other nations that the Jews despised. Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem …,” to the Jews, “… and in all Judea …,” to the Jews, “… and Samaria …” to the Samaritans, “… and to the end of the earth… ,” the Gentiles (Acts 1:8).

But the disciples were Jews. This prejudice had been received as a part of their society and culture since birth. When you have learned something and believed it all of your life, it is difficult to change your beliefs. So, the disciples preached the gospel to the Jews, but they were slow to learn the lesson that they were also to preach it to the Gentiles, not just to some Gentiles, but to all the Gentiles to the end of the earth.

Jesus had no racial prejudice toward people of other nations. He had the same love and compassion for people of all races. Another Roman centurion is mentioned in Acts 10:1–4: “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day [3 p.m.] he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius!’ And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, ‘What is it, lord?’ So he said to him, ‘Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.’ ”

God knows about every detail of every life. Cornelius’ generous deeds did not go unnoticed by God. He does not miss anything. Every good deed you do to help your fellow men, God knows about. He saw that Cornelius was an honest man who feared the Lord and wanted to do what was right. He did not know the gospel and he did not know about Jesus or the sacrifice that had been paid on the cross of Calvary that could take away all of his sin and the sins of his family and make it possible for him to have eternal life. But he was a God-fearing man and the Lord decided that He would arrange for this man to receive more light.

If you are living up to all the light that you have, then you put yourself in a position so that God can reveal to you more spiritual truth. But why should God send more light to anyone who is not living up to the light that they already have? The important thing to consider is not how much spiritual light you have, but that you are living up to the light you do have. Cornelius was living up to all the light he had.

The Lord said to Cornelius, through the angel, “ ‘Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.’ And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout solder from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa” (verses 5–8).

Part of the reason for the awful racial prejudice that exists in the world is our difference in habits and culture. This was one of the main reasons for the prejudice that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans and between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews looked upon the Gentiles as unclean, and it is true that the Gentile world was steeped in every kind of sin. Sin is what makes a person spiritually unclean. The Gentiles were involved in idolatry. The Jews had received the law of God and had received information on how abhorrent idolatry is to Him.

Notice what it says in Deuteronomy 4:15–19: “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything the creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.”

The Lord had said, “Watch out that you do not get involved in idolatry.” The Jews abhorred idolatry. It was idolatry that caused them to incur Babylonian captivity before they had learned that lesson. The Greeks and the Gentiles were steeped in worshiping all manner of idols. Not only that, but God, the Creator of the human body, has a right to tell us how to take care of the human body and how to live. He gave instructions in the law written by His finger about how to live for our best benefit. He gave us perfect freedom within the boundaries of this law, but said that there are certain things that are not acceptable.

The 7th commandment says to not commit adultery and spelled out through Moses exactly what that meant (see Leviticus 18, 20; Deuteronomy 22). It does not mean just stealing someone else’s spouse.

The Jews understood, but the Greeks did not. The Greeks knew it was wrong to steal someone else’s wife, but were not concerned about having sexual relations with someone else who was not married—fornication. The Jews and the Greeks had these barriers because of their differences in habits and because of the sins with which the Gentile world was permeated.

Another issue was food. God gave to the children of Israel laws concerning what they should eat and what they should not eat (see Deuteronomy 14; Leviticus 11). The Lord had told the Jews which foods are permitted and which foods are unclean: “You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate [sanctify] yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Leviticus 11:43, 44).

The disciples were Jews and they were very strict in the observance of these food laws. They were also commanded, “It’s to be a law throughout your generations that you are to never eat blood or fat” (Leviticus 3:17, literal translation). The Gentiles ate anything, including the blood and fat. The Jews sacrificed their animals in a way that drained all of the blood to comply with their food laws. The disciples were familiar with all these laws and kept them. Peter had never disobeyed any, but now these men from Cornelius were on their way to Joppa and Peter does not know what is going to happen, but he is going to have a little surprise.

It says in Acts 10:9–16, “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour [noon]. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.”

Then Peter woke up and he did not understand what he had seen in the vision. He wondered what his dream meant. It says, “Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.’ Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, ‘Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?’ And they said, ‘Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.’ Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him” (verses 17–23).

So Peter goes to visit a Gentile, a Roman, a person against whom he has been very prejudiced all of his life. The Jews called the Gentiles unclean, but Peter was told that what God has cleansed, he was not to call unclean.

“The following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man’ ” (verses 24–26).

This was the apostle Peter, a leading apostle. He enters into a Gentile’s house. This man wanted so much to hear what this man would tell him that he falls down and worships him, but Peter won’t allow it. The Bible teaches that not only are we not to worship Peter, not only are we not to worship anyone who could call himself a successor of Peter, we are not to even worship an angel.

John wrote in Revelation 19:10, “I [John] fell at his [the angel’s] feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ ” Notice, it was an angel from heaven who gave John the message, and when the apostle falls down to worship him, the angel told him not to worship him, but to worship God only.

This happens two times. Revelation 22:8, 9 says, “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’ ”

Peter would not allow anyone to fall down and worship him; an angel from heaven would not allow anyone to fall down and worship him. But we are living in a world today where the whole world is full of idolatry—people worship. Today, people may not worship physical idols of gold and silver, maybe they worship living idols. If you are worshiping another human being, or an angel from heaven, then you are worshiping a living idol, but it is still an idol. Nothing or any person is to be worshiped, only the God of heaven.

Did you know that the second longest commandment in the law of God deals with idolatry? There are some commandments that in the Hebrew language are only two words long, the 6th and the 7th. But there are two that are much longer than the rest. These two are the commandments that have been almost universally broken by mankind, both by Christians and non-Christians alike.

Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.” God’s people have been commanded in all ages to be obedient, to be loyal, to be true to His law. God’s people in the last days will not be worshiping any idols. They will not be worshiping idols of gold or silver. They will not be worshiping philosophical idols. You can make an idol of philosophy, human intelligence, just as much as you can make an idol of wood or stone, or gold or silver. God’s people in the last days will not be worshiping living idols. There are some people who worship their spouses. Others worship religious leaders of various kinds. It all comes under idolatry. Peter would not allow a Roman centurion to worship him.

Revelation 22:14, 15 say, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

Do you want to be saved? If so, you must forsake all idolatry and worship God alone. Surrender your life to the Lordship, the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and follow Him as your Lord and Saviour. It is worth everything to gain eternal life. To have eternal life, all idolatry must be forsaken. There will be no idolatry in the Kingdom of Heaven. What is your goal?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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