If You Didn't Repent, You Weren't Saved

Whereas in the past, repentance was another side of the same coin as faith, it is now preached against as some sort of accursed addition to the message of the Gospel. It is no wonder there is so little true conversion happening. People are getting their ticket to heaven and then going on with their sinful lives, because "they prayed a prayer one time" or "accepted Jesus as Savior." They aren't repenting, Christ isn't becoming their Lord, they are just getting a flu shot to prevent Hell. Yet, the New Testament refers to Jesus as Lord 925 times and as Savior 16 times. So if you've only accepted Him as Savior and not as Lord, then you've missed the emphasis of the Bible and you're still in your sins.

In Luke 24, Jesus says that "He suffered death, was raised, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations." His and the apostles teachings nearly always mentioned repentance next to faith. If it is so critical, then what does repentance mean exactly? The Greek literally means reconsideration or a change of mind. The change of mind is about sin and consequently a change of heart naturally occurs. For example, when I changed my mind about abortion, my heart ached at my past support of the murder of babies, leading me to change my conduct. In the same way every true Christian will experience a change of mind, leading to guilt over sin and so will begin trusting and obeying Christ. 

May the Lord bring back preachers who will proclaim "repentance and the remission of sins" to America. It is currently the most needed and missing message.

"Kill the Midianite Boys"

Does it ever make you angry that in Numbers 31 God commanded the killing of males of all ages in the Midianite camp? Does it make you doubtful of God's goodness? Most people with at least half a heart would say it's disturbing and upsetting. Do you not find killing disturbing? You ought to. God says "I do not delight in the death of the wicked." So why does He do it? Why did God kill the boys if He does not delight in their deaths, not a single one? What had the boys done wrong? Are you ready for this?

I don't know. 

The Bible doesn't state their specific sins, but I think there is one thing we always know with the killing passages. The wages of sin is death. Everyone that dies is dying as a result of being a sinner. When I die it will be because of my sin. When you die it will be because of your sin. The boys died, because they were sinful and they would certainly grow up to be even more sinful than their parents. It is the tendency of generations to surpass the previous ones in wickedness. God stopped it. The other side of the coin is why does God NOT kill an entire camp when clearing it out of the land of Canaan? They were terrible people! Their camps were full of murder, rape, incest, and child sacrifice. The poor kids right? Wrong, they were going to grow up to do the same thing! The adults doing those wicked deeds were once kids too!

I often think of Hitler when reading passages like this. What would I have thought if somehow I knew that God killed a little baby in Austria? I might be tempted to feel upset, but I don't have the foreknowledge of God in all his actions. Yet, if I knew who it was, I might be tempted to rejoice that the baby died, because that baby was just an undeveloped mass murderer. Why is it ok when God does that and not Hitler you might object? Because no one has the right to sentence but a judge. Here's the simple truth: God would and will be completely justified in destroying this whole wicked world. He knows the innumerable sins of man. However, what has He done rather than just kill everyone? He sent Jesus Christ to pay that price of our sins. Jesus Christ was killed in our place. If you're a Christian, you would be like the Midianite boys, but because of Jesus, you are given eternal life with a loving God instead. Repent and believe the Gospel. Praise the Lord.

Why isn't that Christian Giving to the Poor?

There is a wrong reaction that too many people, believers and unbelievers alike, have to the spiritual disciplines of Christians. Someone prays a lot, reads the Bible a lot, or memorizes scripture, and so people, fueled by jealousy and conviction, say "why don't they go serve the poor!?" Yet if the same Christian spent their free time watching Netflix, they'd have no complaints! Why is this?

I think the Bible has an answer, because Judas had the same complaint about a Christian. When someone wanted to honor and serve Christ Himself with a perfume to make him smell good in a time when people didn't smell so good in general, Judas asked this, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." Wow Judas, you're so spiritual! You care about the poor so much! Well, maybe he did care about the poor a bit, but the next scripture says he asked this because he used to grab some extra money for himself in the coin box. Not only did he want money, but he couldn't understand the affection and love for God that drives people to give directly to Him, in our case to give time to pray and read the Bible consistently! This gets to the heart of things, because most of the time people's problem with a Christian being holy just points to a lack of holiness in the people themselves. Maybe there is a bit of concern for the poor there, but the way they use money themselves is for mainly selfish things anyway. We ought to examine ourselves if we are looking for an area where they are less holy, because that could be a sign of jealousy or some other sin.

Please don't misunderstand my point though, because a true Christian practices all spiritual disciplines, including serving the poor with their time and/or money. One really good organization I can recommend is run by a brother I know who will not misuse funds. So I'd encourage you to check out Thirsty Ground International if you want to help a Christian in the Middle East serving Syrian refugees with the Gospel and physical needs.

Has Your Soul Ever Felt Tormented?

Mine has.  Maybe you and I are unique in this.  It's possible we've suffered feelings of despair the average Christian never really encounters.  It is possible, but not likely.

We tend to think more highly of our own trials than we do of those of others. We cast ourselves as the maligned and mistreated protagonist, worthy of pity and honor for what we've had to endure.  Whether we are agonizing to find a spouse, discouraged by the same besetting sin that has plagued us for years, or afflicted with chronic physical pain, it just feels like other Christians have it easier than we do.

Be careful with this kind of prideful thinking.  It has an isolating effect; keeping us from loving each other, and making us easy prey for the devil.  Paul encourages the church in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man."  Statistically and biblically speaking, most of us are average.  That's not to say we haven't faced intense struggles, but that the intensity of our struggles should inform us as to what the rest of the body had to overcome in order to make it to church today.

As we fellowship, let's assume the brother we shake hands with, or the sister we awkwardly side-hug, has had to press through hard trials and resist every effort of the devil, just as we have.  This should remind us to encourage, give grace to, and boast in each other.

God Made the Gospel Go West

Reading through The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah has brought a lot of clarity to my understanding of what life was like for Jesus. I want to save you time if you don't plan on reading this book by the genius, Jewish convert to Christ, Alfred Edersheim. Below I'm going to quickly tell you about the state of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus.

In the days of Christ, the people of Israel were referred to as the 'dispersion' due to their no longer being centralized in Israel. Most Jews were living in the East at Babylon, but they were largely scattered throughout the entire Middle East. The reason for the majority living in Babylon was that they never returned home from their exile in the days of Daniel. There was much prophecy in the book of Ezekiel about a restoration and return home... only that physically never happened. That's because Jesus is the spiritual Christ (Greek word for Messiah) that came to bring about a spiritual restoration, first to the Jews, then to the Greek.

              

The other half of the Jews were living in the West. These were called the Hellenists, as they were effected by Greek culture and thought. These Jews were not as absorbed in tradition and Law as their Eastern brothers. They were seen with contempt from them for their lack of piety by the letter, but they sought to honor the God of Israel in their lives just the same, and saw many Jewish converts. How does this scattering and division fit with God's purposes though? Look at this prophecy.

"I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds I judged them." - Ezekiel 36:10

God said He would scatter them, so He did. It may seem like God failed His chosen people by never physically bringing them back, right? Not at all. He purposely spread them out so that when the Gospel went forth, it would go West to a land where the soil was already tilled (Jewish converts became Christian converts). At that time, the traditional, by the letter Jews in the East, were hardened, they were like a brick wall for the Gospel. Hence the Gospel going West instead. It's amazing and we still feel the effects of it today, being a largely, albeit nominally Christian country.

Praise the Lord for His wisdom.

Photo by Amira

How to Find Wisdom

"The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom." -Proverbs 4:7

Reading through Charles Spurgeon's autobiography can get a little dry sometimes to be honest. I'm currently reading a chapter called In Scotland. Scotland's great and all, but there are parts of Spurgeon's life and vacations I really don't care 100 pages about However, like with the Bible, there are some treasures hiding in the areas that require deeper swimming. What I swam down to today was this quote from Mr. Spurgeon to a friend in a letter, "I think I am well acquainted with the book you have culled from; indeed, I would go far to see a proverb-book which I do not know."

Not much special about that right? What are we supposed to take away from Spurgeon reading a lot of proverb-books? Well if you kept the title of my post in mind, it's to be an imitator of this great Christian and seek wisdom with the same zeal he did. The first step in being wise, is admitting the need for wisdom and getting help like he did. Does that mean you have to read all of the proverb books? No, that just means we should be the type of person that cares enough about obeying God's word to seek wisdom diligently. Buy proverb-books, ask teachers and fellow Christians for advice, seek wisdom from God in prayer, and search the scriptures. The Bible says the beginning of wisdom is to be a wisdom-seeker. You won't find wisdom waiting for it to find you, that's what that verse means. Are you actively seeking to grow in wisdom through knowledge and practice? As children of God, we stand at the edge of an ocean of wisdom in God, let's obey His word and dive in after it!


                      


Photo by Vincent Sheed

The Natural Tree House of the Word

"I was sitting, one day, in the New Forest, under a beech tree. I like to look at the beech, and study it, as I do many other trees, for every one has its own peculiarities and habits, its special ways of twisting its boughs, and growing its bark, and opening its leaves, and so forth. As I looked up at that beech, and admired the wisdom of God in making it, I saw a squirrel running round and round the trunk, and up the branches, and I thought to myself, 'Ah! this beech tree is a great deal more to you than it is to me, for it is your home, your living, your all." Its big branches were the main streets of his city, and its little boughs were the lanes; somewhere in that tree he had his house, and the beech-mast was his daily food, he lived on it. Well, now, the way to deal with God's Word is not merely to contemplate it, or to study it, as a student does; but to live on it, as that squirrel lives on his beech tree. Let it be to you, spiritually, your house, your home, your food, your medicine, your clothing, the one essential element of your soul's life and growth.'"

-Charles Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography: Volume 2