There Are None So... Pt. 5

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There Are None So... Pt. 5

Part 5, Frustrated

March 29, 2024 • Central Baptist Church

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March 29, 2024

There Are None So…

Part 5, Frustrated

We have spent the month looking at the theme, “There are none so…”. For example, there are none so blind as those who will not see, or none so deaf as those who will not hear. These self-imposed disabilities were first alluded to by God’s prophet Jeremiah as he warned the nation of Judah of their impending judgment and correction. [1] But like her sister Samaria (the 10 Northern Jewish tribes), Judah knowingly and willingly stiffened her national neck and she refused to see, hear, or respect her glorious God who deserved her thanks, her adoration, her service, and her praise. Consequently, as God warned, she was given over to the harsh nation Chaldea (Babylon) and her king Nebuchadnezzar, for 70 years of captivity. Ironically, what seemed to be the death of this nation, was the only way the nation could be saved from its own wickedness and self-inflicted wounds.

This then segues us into our last thought for the month: There are none so frustrated, as those who will not follow. This installment is addressed to born-again Christians [2], i.e., those who have a personal, eternal, saving relationship with the Creator through repentance [3] and then absolute faith in (and ONLY in) the blood-sacrifice of the God-Man, Jesus the Christ.

The Nation of Israel was and still is God’s chosen nation. This doesn’t mean that God loves Israel and hates everyone else. Rather it means that God sovereignly CHOSE Abraham and his lineage through the promised seed Isaac [4], to be His voice, His example, and His beacon to the other nations and peoples of this world. Sadly, Israel repeatedly rebelled and failed her spiritual mission. God used Babylon in 586 B.C., to chasten His people, and then Rome in 70 A.D. to finally scatter the nation and dissolve its national status. In a national sense, because Israel would not follow God (in love-motivated obedience and obeisance), she became frustrated; she came to political and national ruin. It is only by God’s grace and sovereign plan that this nation of scattered, dry, lifeless, and disjointed “bones” (Ezekiel 37:1-15) has miraculously risen, bone-joined-to-bone. This prophecy was fulfilled in 1948. Israel is again a national entity. [5]

Well, in the same way that Israel became frustrated nationally because they would not follow their gracious Creator, Savior, and King, born-again Christians—the spiritual offspring of God—will become frustrated spiritually when they refuse to follow Christ and inculcate His “mind” (way of thinking, or worldview) and His lifestyle. Men and women who have tasted the glorious salvation given to them freely by God’s grace when they repented, believed, and cried out for salvation, and then have turned from following Christ, to follow and embrace this wicked World’s way of thinking and living, are going to live miserable, unfulfilled, and frustrated spiritual lives. Oh, worldly Christians might appear successful, happy, and on top of the “world” (pun intended), but they have no joy, no peace, no contentment, and no power. They, like the worldlings around them, are building their lives upon the sand, and as Jesus warned, their physical and carnal investments will disappear at the next big blow or flood.

Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Praise God we can’t lose our salvation, but we can lose everything else, including our families! There are none so frustrated, as those who will not follow.

God bless and consider!

[1] Jeremiah cried out to his nation Judah, Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: 22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence… (Jeremiah 5:20-22).

[2] John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[3] The word “repent” literally means to turn from going one direction, to the exact opposite direction. In regard to salvation (the spiritual rebirth of our sin-deadened spirits) repentance involves 1) recognizing our sin (agreeing with God that we are sinners and as such separated from Him eternally), 2) having contrition because of their sin, 3) and then gladly and willfully turning from our sinful ways.

[4] Isaac, not Ishmael (the seed of the Egyptian bondmaid Hagar), was the promised seed, the lineage through which God would build his nation Israel, and eventually bring forth the Messiah, the Savior of the World. Paul in Galatians 4:21-31 uses the two sons of Abraham as an allegory of bondage vs. spiritual liberty. Gal. 4:21-31 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it isnow. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

[5] Israel stands again as a physical nation, but not as a spiritual nation. God has not yet put his Spirit within them (see Ezekiel 37:14). This day will come, again through Tribulation and grace, and as Paul prophesied, And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob… Romans 11:26.

Good and Evil, Pt. 4

April 26, 2024 • Central Baptist Church

April 26, 2024 Good and Evil Part 4, The Deadline This month we’ve been musing about the “mysteries” of good and evil, a topic that has caused countless generations to puzzle and question. We started with Part 1, The Dilemma. One of the hardest things for the natural (i.e., non-spiritual) man to rationalize is the very real presence of evil in this World system! In Part 2, The Desire, we discovered that mankind’s desire was his downfall. Eve exercised her free will, she rebelled against her Creator, Adam followed, and we’ve been living in a mess ever since! But God also had a desire, a desire to rescue humanity from their foolish choice and the consequence of rebellion. Eve’s desire brought disaster, but God’s desire brought deliverance through the sacrifice of His own Perfect Son, Jesus the God-Man. In Part 3, The Doubt, we talked about the common question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But we discovered that this question is flawed on both ends! Until we see the end of the matter (1 Corinthians 4:5) we can’t judge what is bad and what is good. And second, there are no “good” people. Jesus said, …there is none good but one, that is, God (Mark 10:18). Paul seconded that motion when under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote, …there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:12). And now we will close this month’s study of Good and Evil with Pt. 4, The Deadline. As much as humanity wants to question God, argue about good and evil, and in so doing absolve themselves of their own guiltiness, there comes an eventual reality check, a reckoning, a deadline. I’ll call it the Personal Deadline: the death of our physical body. The Hebrews author warned, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment… (Hebrews 9:27). When our soul and spirit leave our body at death, our eternal destiny is fixed. And the Bible is plain; there are no second chances, regardless of what “religion” tells us! Solomon taught this austere reality in poetic form in Ecclesiastes 11:3, …if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. In the Luke 18 account of the unnamed rich man and the beggar Lazarus, we discover that at the instant of death, each person was transported directly to their eternal destiny. There were no purgatories or limbos; there was no chance for a pardon, or for penance, or for indulgences. No matter what some religious authority tells us, God says that the unrepentant rich man was instantly in torment in that place the Bible calls Hades or Hell (a holding cell for the final prison called the Lake of Fire). And the repentant beggar Lazarus was instantly enjoying comfort and joy, in a place that Jesus called Paradise. Forgiven Lazarus will come back with Christ to this Earth, He will enjoy ruling and reigning with Christ in the literal 1000-year Kingdom, he will witness the re-creation of this sin-cursed Universe, and then enjoy living on a New Earth forevermore. The big question of life then, is not the mystery of Good and Evil, where they came from, or why our consciences innately know about them… but how God judges as either good or evil! Yes, at that moment, at the last beat of our hearts, we will either inherit God’s goodness (grace) or God’s judgment. Receiving His grace has absolutely nothing to do with what we can DO in life, how “good” we have been, or how many “good leaves” we have turned over. We can’t do enough good to pay for our sins! We can’t earn God’s forgiveness. We are spiritually dead because of our sins and dead people can’t do anything! Penance isn’t possible. We can’t purchase indulgences from religious organizations. If we could somehow earn or buy Heaven, then Christ didn’t need to die in our place! Friends, we can only access God’s grace by accepting God’s FREE GIFT of forgiveness. Again, it has to be free because it’s not possible to earn it. But it’s not cheap! It cost God dearly! The Son of God incarnated Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Perfect God-Man. Jesus lived a perfect life and sacrificed Himself as a perfect sacrifice. He died in our place, the Just for the unjust. And so, the real question is somewhat like that asked by Pilate some 2000 years ago: What shall I do with Jesus (Mat 27:22)? We appropriate God’s forgiveness as did the praying publican and the thief on the cross by crying out to God in contrition and repentance asking for his forgiveness and grace (For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved – Romans 10:13). THEN God will apply the precious blood of Christ to our sin-debt, washing us as white as snow. God pleads with humanity through His prophet Isaiah,Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). If we have cried out to God in repentance and faith for His forgiveness, then He will apply Jesus’ righteousness to our account and our sin debt will read, “Paid in Full!” The Lord is, …not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Friends, a deadline awaits us all and it always comes unannounced and often suddenly. At that last heartbeat, we’ll be accounted righteous THROUGH Christ or we will remain as guilty sinners separated eternally from God because of our unwillingness to repent and believe, and consequently, we will pay for our sins eternally. Don’t put it off. Take advantage of God’s goodness and grace TODAY! God bless and consider!

Good and Evil, Pt. 3

April 19, 2024

April 19, 2024 Good and Evil Part 3, The Doubt Why do bad things happen to good people? We talked about this just a bit in this month’s introductory lesson. This is a question that often generates doubt: doubt of God’s concern for his children, doubt of God’s ability to protect and bless his children, and sometimes even doubt of God’s existence altogether. We’ve all heard the emotional challenge, “If God is loving and all-powerful, then why_____?”, and you can fill in that blank. Unbelievers always struggle with this question, often using it as a justification why they choose NOT to believe. And even some believers struggle with it, causing them to abandon worship and service to the Savior. But… God gives us the answer to this question in His Bible! First, everything that natural men (as opposed to spiritual men) label as “bad”, whether it be in the form of disability, disease, injustice, conflict, geologic and meteorological chaos, and finally, death, is a consequence of mankind’s free will choice to sin, to rebel against God. God gave His perfect human creation free will. Our original parents exercised that free will and chose to rebel against their Creator. And with that choice came horrible consequences: an entropic world, entropic bodies, corrupted consciences, people who give themselves over to wickedness (e.g., Cain), and finally death. WE are the cause of “bad”; it is what WE inherited. WE chose it! Second, let’s define the two objects in that question: “bad things” and “good people”. Again, only our Creator, who is working all things for the good of his redeemed children, has the authority to label an event or a condition as “bad” or “good”. What appears, to the natural man, as “bad”, e.g., the congenital blindness of the man described in John 9, might actually have been the best thing that could have ever happened to this man. This man’s congenital blindness brought him into a redeemed relationship with the Messiah. Could it be that God knew, that apart from this man’s blindness, he would never have been born again? I believe this man, who is now in Heaven with Jesus Christ, is still praising God for the GRACE that allowed him to be born blind so that he might come to repentance, belief, and eternal life. Next, let’s ask, who are the “good” people? Again, the natural (i.e., the non-spiritual) man categorizes every person as “good”, if they haven’t robbed banks, abused children, or committed murder. But again, only God is qualified to define “good”, and He says, “There is none good, no not one” (Psalm 14:3; Psalm 53:3; Romans 3:12). So actually, the question itself is fallacious on both accounts. We can’t judge what is bad or good in the scope of the spiritual and eternal, and there are NO good people. We are all sinners; we all live with the debilitating consequences of sin! Third, God is Sovereign, and this means His hands are not tied by man’s choice to rebel and the hard consequences we have earned. God taught Jeremiah that we are like the potter’s clay; He can mold us and remold us as He wishes, and it will always be for our ultimate spiritual good and His glory. God can and will use those things that we consider “bad”—our consequences—for our ultimate good. And for born-again believers, He will use the tests of life to mature us and make us into the image of His Dear Son (Romans 8:29). So… “Thank you Father for loving us and even using the mess we have made to bring us to repentance and to mature us in the faith!” God bless and consider!

Good and Evil, Pt. 2

April 12, 2024 • Central Baptist Church

Good and Evil Part 2, The Desire “Why?” It seems that human beings start asking this one-word question almost before we can say “da da” (oh, I’m sorry… “ma ma”). “Why?”, is a good question because we learn when we ask it. But “Why?”, can also be a dangerous question when it is directed, in a questioning manner, to someone in authority, for example, GOD! After the creation, God made just one rule, just one law for his first man and woman. We can’t even imagine a world with just one law. Our planet is so inundated with laws, regulations, codes, and statutes that it’s often easier to say what we can’t do rather than what we can! But truly, the first couple had just one rule. God said, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:16, 17). Think of it! Every other element of the creation was Adam and Eve’s to enjoy. Just one tree—ONE TREE—was off-limits. Do you think they wondered, “Why?” I’m sure they did! And so, what happened? Eve’s desire got the better of her. With the fallen angel Lucifer cheerleading, and twisting, and deceiving, Eve’s desire to know “Why?”, overpowered her senses and her respect for God and God’s Law, and she violated that one rule! She ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God tells us exactly what Eve was thinking and feeling. Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Now we know the rest of the story!” Adam and Eve’s desire caused them to question, and then disobey God’s Law, and it got them and us into an awful fix. But God also has a desire. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, desired to fulfill The Trinity’s plan for the redemption, (i.e., the buy-back, the rescue) of mankind, so that He might bring many sons unto glory by his own suffering (Hebrews 2:10). In Hebrews 10 we read the prophetic declaration of the Son of God: Lo I come… to do thy will, O God (Hebrews 10:7, 9). On the evening[1] of the Passover, Jesus declared to His disciples, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God (Luke 22:15, 16). We call Christ’s sacrifice His “passion”, and the week leading up to the crucifixion “passion week”. Jesus’ loving passion—His desire—was to pay mankind’s sin debt and make it possible for all men and women to be purchased back, to be redeemed. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:14-17). Adam and Eve’s desire brought disaster. But Jesus’ desire brought deliverance! Praise God, we have been made redeemable through the blood payment of the Substitutionary Sacrifice, the Perfect Lamb of God. So, what is your desire? Do you desire to be made free from the curse of sin? God is, …not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). You CAN apply the cleansing blood of Christ’s sacrifice. You CAN become a forgiven child of the King, by repenting (i.e., changing your mind about how to be accepted by God), and in faith (belief), crying out for His loving, forgiving grace! It’s NOT of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9). For whosover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). God bless and consider! [1] The Jew’s day started at sundown, with evening, and then morning. See the Creation account in Genesis 1 and also Psalm 55:17.