EITHER IT IS OR IT ISN'T!

"...if it were not so, I would have told you."

(Jn. 14:2) 

My beloved mentor and friend, Dr. Joe Henry Hankins used to say, "If all we hold dear in this life as well as that which is to come were not true, our precious Lord tells us He would have told us so." God made it a very easy thing concerning all that the Good Book speaks of— either it is or isn't true. There is no middle ground! 

The old-time evangelist D. L. Moody said, "One of three men wrote the Bible: bad men, good men, or God's men. The first wouldn't have; they would never condemn their own wickedness. The second group couldn't have written it; they said it was all God's Word when it wasn't, thus making themselves liars. The last group is the only logical answer: holy men wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as the scriptures teach." 

Joshua told those of his day they must choose between either IT IS or IT ISN'T; Elijah called upon his generation to choose between IS and ISN'T; and our Lord made plain throughout His earthly life that it all comes down to a simple question of IS or ISN'T! That is, the Christian teaching about God, heaven and hell, Jesus, the Kingdom of God, truth etc., is or isn't so. How did the great intellect Paul feel about the question? "Let God be true and every man a liar."

God will not make the choice for you, but He will tell you which is the best choice, Deut. 30:19.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

(Heb. 11:6)

By an Old Disciple

A LESSON FROM A FISHERMAN ON HOW TO EAT FISH

"Our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

(2 Pet. 3:15-16)

Peter was a forgiving and humble man. I say this because in spite of the fact of being openly rebuked before other brethren by Paul, he still refers to him as "Our beloved brother Paul." The greater, at the time, was rebuked by the lesser. Not many of us could or would react or respond so. The wise man in Proverbs teaches us that reproofs are a way of life.

From what Peter tells us, many of Paul's epistles were then in circulation. He goes on to inform us that he had read all of them even though there were some things, "hard to understand." Although he was considered the chief spokesman of the twelve and Spirit filled, he had the same problems that we do in the reading of the scriptures.

But not understanding some things did not hinder him from reading the other things. He knew, when eating fish and you come to a bone, you don't stop eating; you simply lay it aside and continue your tasty meal. He didn't spend his time and attention on analyzing the bone[s]. Far too many of us waste our time on things we don't understand.

Personally, in my Bible reading through the years, I have accumulated quite a sizable portion of bones; the stack has grown considerably. Had I gone ahead and eaten some of them, I have no doubt I would have choked to death. Some things are better left alone until God sees fit to open our spiritual understanding. We need to learn to wait for God's timing.

It is good to remember, when reading the Word, that we should never take an obscure text over a plain text. Witty Mark Twain commented, "It is not the things in the Bible I don't understand that bother me, it is those parts I do understand." A man or woman that goes by, and obeys the light they do have, will find more light will be given them in time. 

By An Old Disciple 

AN OFT REMINDER

“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth...Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance...Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance...This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.”
(2 Pet. 1:12,13,15; 3:1)

To quote a portion of a Zig Ziglar saying, “Repetition is the mother of learning…” Although Simon Peter seemingly had no formal education, he was nonetheless Bible taught and knew from Isaiah’s inspired writings that the best way to teach was by repetition. "Whom shall he teach knowledge? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line…” (vv. 9-10)

Those familiar with their Bibles are conscious of its repetition of certain truths. God knows we need to be constantly reminded of certain things in our Christian lives; He reviews truths. A truth that lies dormant will soon become stagnant. 

One of the truths I try to keep regularly before my readers is that opposites often go together - as conjoined twins, or the two wings of a fowl. As the old song goes, “Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. You can’t have one without the other.”  

Many saints desire a singular thing in their lives at the exclusion of the undesirable thing that accompanies it; that is, runs alongside of it. They want peace without fear, a joy with the absence of sadness, victory with any battle, etc. But how would we ever know we had the true one thing we longed for without the presence of the unwanted element to test the one? 

One outstanding text that proves my point is found in 1 Cor. 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” In Joseph’s temptation, God did not remove

Pharaoh’s temptress wife, He made a way for Joseph to escape; she remained.

It is possible to enjoy friends, food, and life itself in the midst of storms. Jesus did. He ate a meal with His disciples, enjoyed their fellowship, and sang a song...all in the darkest hour of His life.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

(Vivian Greene)

By An Old Disciple

GOD IS MY HELPER

"He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear..."

(Heb. 13:5-6)

It is when, "He hath said...[that] "we may boldly say...THE LORD IS MY HELPER." As the old camp meeting preacher said, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." I might add, it is still true whether we believe it or not!

There is a text in Psalms 89:9 that has always caught my attention. God, speaking of David says, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty." But studying the context you will see it has a far more reaching interpretation than that of David. It speaks also prophetically of "the greater than David," Who, like David, will be the helper his elect people.

The world says, "God helps those who help themselves." There is some truth in that statement, taken in the right setting. But the Word of God teaches that God helps those who cannot help themselves. The paralytic in John chapter five would give testimony to this fact. When Jesus asked this bedridden man of thirty-eight years if he wanted to be whole, his answer was that he had no one that would help him. But after so long a time he found the One of whom it was written, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty."

O, blessed be God! He can and will get a man or woman back on their feet again; no matter how dire their  helplessness. HE IS THE HELPER OF THE HELPLESS! The only condition is reaching out the hand of faith and saying, with so many found in scripture and in Church history "Lord, help..." 

David said, "The Lord helped me; the Canaanite woman cried out, "Lord, help me"; the apostle Paul gave testimony, "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day." As the writer of Hebrews says, "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of...." The list goes on and on. 

My admonition to you who are at this present time in great need of help, is found in the words of the following song:

"It is no secret what God can do

What He's done for others, He'll do for you."

By An Old Disciple

THE GREAT ECLIPSE

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you."

(Isa. 59:2)

Not only our vices but our virtues can come between us and our God. Good, whoever or whatever it may be, becomes bad when it gets between the two of us. Just as sinful pagan idols hid God's face from His people Israel, so godly Moses and Elijah obscured Jesus’ face from Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration. (Isa. 59:2)

 The loneliest saint on this earth is that man or woman who has allowed something or someone to pass between them and the Lover of their souls, thus hiding His blessed face. Such a person can say with David, "I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long." Psa. 38:6 Sadness marks saints in whose life is no light!

"Nothing between my soul and the Savior,

So that His blessed face may be seen;

Nothing preventing the least of His favor,

  Keep the way clear! Let nothing between."

MY SURE FOUNDATION

"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation...Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure...For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

(Isa. 28:16;2 Tim. 2:19;1 Cor. 3:11)

The saintly expositor Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, "When things seem shaky and unsure in the Christian's life, he or she, needs to always come back to their Foundation.” Jesus told the now well-known children's Bible story of the two men who build their houses, one on sand the other on a rock. Both went through the terrible storm, but only the one whose foundation was a rock stood. C.S. Lewis said, "There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it."

O child of God, be assured of this truth: the devil may huff and puff but he will never be able to tear down what you have built upon the Rock, Jesus Christ! The rains may be in torrents, the winds a deafening sound, and all around you crumblings of manmade edifices to the ground, but our blessed Lord said these things cannot shake our superstructure. Therefore when the tempest comes lustily sing,  "On Christ the solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand." 

By An Old Disciple

MIND YOUR MIND

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

(2 Tim. 1:7)

I am not a student of psychiatry, nor am I a student of psychology, but I do profess to be a student of theology. I find in the study of our great God and Creator that He has much to say about His creatures’ mind, as found in mankind. We find, in one sense of the word, man's mind is the control center, so to speak. It’s central command!

What scripture gives a good amount of time and space to we give very little. We’re prone to devote most of our time to the body rather than the mind. But both are equally important to the Lord. The old-time mothers used to say to their young ones, “Mind your manners”; Mind your chores”; “Mind your words”; and such like. Meaning, give attention to or priority.

During the Cold War a Communist Manifesto was found that purportedly had for one of its articles, “Get an individual to think your way and you have conquered him.” Satan knows if he can control our mind he can control us. The battleground in the Christian’s life is the battle for the mind. It is there that our victory or defeat is determined.

One of the pieces of armor we are to adorn in our battle against spiritual wickedness is the “helmet of salvation.” That is how David defeated Goliath; he became overconfident, apparently, and removed his helmet. And this is the way Jesus will finally do in Satan (Gen. 3:15). As the title of this article says, we need to “Mind our Mind.”

This being true,Paul tells us what to think upon, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

“An idle mind is the devil’s playground.”

By An Old Disciple

SICKNESS IN THE LIVES OF SAINTS

“Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.”

(Jn. 11:3)

   Saints that Jesus dearly loved became ill, like the rest of humanity. Sadly, it is part of the curse that the Fall passed down to us. The “health and wealth” preachers like to use the text found in Matt. 8:17, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” to prove their point. Arguing the fact that since He took our sins away, He took our sicknesses away. Yes! He bore my sins, suffering the curse; but I still possess a sinful nature and body. He bears our infirmities and sicknesses in His body so that He might sympathize with us in our sufferings. He doesn’t take them away; He shares in them, (Isa. 63:9). 

When John mentions in his third epistle that he wished the brethren be in health, it was not a specific promise, but a personal desire; like any of us would write to friends. And when God mentions that if His people live for Him they would not suffer the diseases other nations suffered (Ex. 15:26), He is speaking to the nation of Israel, with a Theocratic Kingdom. The truth of the matter is, both then and now, the godly among God's elect have suffered with the same ills as the world- cancer, HIV, heart attacks, etc.

Throughout Psalms we find David making references to his sicknesses and asking God to heal him; godly Hezekiah was sick; Jacob suffered sickness; saintly Elisha died from his sickness; Job, Daniel, Isaiah, Lazarus and Paul all had their times of being sick. Some were temporary, and others were lifelong. 

Most certainly there are cases where a saint is sick because of his or her sin (1 Cor. 11:30); but more often than not, it is fulfilling the purpose of God in the saint's life. And of course, some sicknesses are just part of everyday life: colds, headaches, rheumatism, etc. added to the fact that often we do not take care of ourselves.

Don’t let the devil or some super-saint tell you that it’s all your fault that you’re suffering. My dear friend and evangelist, Dr. John R. Rice, used to say, “Healers die too!”

By An Old Disciple

WHEN JESUS MARVELED

“Jesus...marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel...And He [Jesus] marvelled because of their unbelief.”

(Matt. 8:10; Mk. 6:6; please read the contexts)

Twice in the gospels we’re told that Christ marvelled. Several times we find others marvelled concerning His divine attributes, but He only twice. The first was at the Centurion's “so great faith.” The second being at the Galilean’s “unbelief.” 

The Centurion was a Gentile, without any sort of godly religious training or background, it’s supposed. On the other hand, the Galileans were Jews and were raised believing in the One True God of the Holy Scriptures. Our Lord had done so many miracles and had taught great numbers of people in this city. 

Each of us can give Christ cause to marvel: either by our “so great faith,” or our “unbelief.” As to the first, the Word of God will never betray the faith placed in it; ask the Centurion. In the case of the second, disbelief is the denial of Truth. Someone has said, “We need to believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts.” Not the opposite!

“The degrees of faith: No faith; little faith; great faith; and so great faith.”

By An Old Disciple