The Word- For Instruction.

 Truth Seeking.

The truth? I long for the misery of the world to end. The injustice that lurks around every turn, seeping through so many facets of our lives is overwhelming and it doesn't matter who you are, it's there. We are witnesses to an existence so degraded by Satan it is scarcely comprehensible. The debauchery of our world has existed since sin entered. The multitude of evil has grown exponentially as the population on earth has grown. 

Here's an excerpt from google-

'The title of science fiction author John Brunner’s magnum opus, “Stand on Zanzibar,” plays off the idea that the Earth’s 1950 population of 2.5 billion could fit, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, on the Isle of Wight, in the English Channel. Brunner, who predicted that unbridled population growth would drive that figure to 7 billion by 2010 (he was off by a year — the population reached 7 billion around Halloween, 2011), wryly noted that we would need a bigger island — hence, Zanzibar.

Let’s face it, 7 billion sounds like an awful lot of people being supported by this cosmic island called Earth, particularly considering that the global population stood at only 3 billion in 1960 and at around 300 million — roughly the current U.S. population — some 2,000 years ago.'

1960 - 3 billion people

2011 - 7 billion people

And the evil has only grown along with the population. 

Our tolerance of others has diminished. Our expectations of others level of empathy and general ability to care about each other, has dwindled. Or has it? Isn't it our constant expectation to be treated civilly- with courtesy and a degree of compassion -what throws it in our faces when this isn't the case? Don't we find our own tempers a little too short, our moods a touch more volatile, our self-focus more pronounced? Our perceptions are skewed all the time. A look of anger on a stranger's face can cause us to question why we received the look when in truth the anger isn't for us at all, we just happened to catch to expression of a totally unrelated situation. Perceiving we've been given a nasty look our reaction is one of confusing and perhaps instant cockiness, all silent, but the emotions evoked in us are there and can go on to affect our own mood. We are often ruled by the moods of those around us, and this can lead to a lot of nastiness caused by a vicious cycle. 

7 billion people and whether anyone wants to believe it or not, the Word of God tells us that the majority of the people will not belong to Him when Christ returns. 

Few.

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

Many will not be His.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

This is truth. 

7 billion people- and the majority belong to Satan. This is the world of deception, the world of pain and heartache, the world that will end with evil filling so many lives. 

Mar 13:12  Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 

Mar 13:13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 

2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 

2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 

2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 

2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 

2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

2Ti 3:8  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 

2Ti 3:9  But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. 

2Ti 3:10  But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 

2Ti 3:11  Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 

2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 

Truth.  The truth is… we live in an evil run world. The truth also is, that we have a Savior who is greater than all the evil in the world. We must believe on Him, cling to Him, turn to Him, make Him our lives all through the Holy Spirit. Christ must live in us, the Holy Spirit must guide our lives. We must know doctrine which will reprove us and correct us, instructing us in right living through Christ and His righteousness. 

All by His grace and mercy, His love! Now and forever, amen!

Excerpt 'Present Truth Articles- How the Word Came- by E.J. Waggoner'

Keeping in mind the text, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," we will place by the side of it the following from 2 Peter 1:21: "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

In a later article we shall consider more fully the scope of the word "prophecy;" but here it is sufficient to note that the statement made in regard to the prophecy, must be applicable to all Scripture, since it is all given by the inspiration, or breathing, of God. The Scriptures, therefore, did not originate from men, but from the Holy Spirit.

This must settle the question as to whether or not the Scriptures are in any degree the reflection of the ignorance or the prejudice of the men who wrote them; for he who would claim that they are, must take the position that the

Holy Spirit is capable of being moved by human prejudice, or that it cannot utter words of perfect, Divine truth through an imperfect instrument. But that would be to degrade the Holy Spirit to the level of man.

It is not our business to inquire how the Spirit of God could speak through a human instrument without destroying his individuality, and still the message be wholly Divine. That is a mystery that rests only in the power  of God. We accept it just as we accept the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, without attempting to explain it.

When we have our attention specially directed to the fact that the Scriptures proceed wholly from the Spirit of God, we cannot fail to be struck with the frequency with which the statement occurs in the Bible. Let us note a

few instances.

"Now these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said, and the man who was raised up on high, the  anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." 2 Sam. 23:1, 2. David spoke the word, but it was the Word of God.

Again, 1 Peter 1:10, 11: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in

them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 

Who was it that testified? It was not the prophets themselves, but the Spirit of Christ that was in the prophets. The prophets did not understand the full import of the things that the Spirit testified through them, but had to study

their own writings.

Notice in the following Scriptures how carefully the distinction is made between the men who were used as instruments, and the source whence the revelation came:--

Acts 28:25, 26: "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive."

Acts 1:16: "Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus."

 

Acts 4:24, 25: "Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?"

Luke 1:68-70: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people,...as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began."

 Acts 3:20,21: "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets

since the world began."

In all the preceding texts the prophet is mentioned as the mouthpiece of the Spirit of God; but in the following quotation from Jeremiah 21:33, the prophet is ignored, and the credit is given directly to the Holy Spirit:--

"Whereof the Holy Ghost also in a witness to us; for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write

them." Heb. 10:15, 16.

Who gave this witness?--The Holy Ghost. The prophet Jeremiah was used as the instrument of transmitting it to the people; but it came so directly from the Holy Spirit that Jeremiah could without injustice be ignored in giving

credit for the words. And so we learn that, since the Scriptures came not by the will of man, but that "men spake from God, being moved by the Holy ghost," the word which they spoke is not the word of man, but is indeed the

Word of God.

Christ's Spirit Lives In Us.

 Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

The SAME Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will DWELL in us!

This is truth! 

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of host

It's NOT by might, it's NOT by any power we may think we possess, it is by the SPIRIT of the LORD that we are CHRIST'S!

You cannot be Christ's without His Spirit in you, it's impossible. It is His spirit in you that makes you His. The Spirit enables us to be Christians. Never will we be true Christ followers without the Spirit. There are many people who claim to belong to Christ, to follow Him, to love Him, to be used by Him- but it they do not have the SPIRIT in them, their love of Christ is a false love, their works are false and they are being used but not by Christ.  Christ will tell these people who will cry out super loudly professing their love and the results of that love, to get away from Him, that He doesn't know them.  Their love is FALSE! The spirit in them is FALSE! They do not belong to Christ, Christ doesn't know them! Christ MUST know those who are His, and He knows them because the SPIRIT, the same SPIRIT that lived in Him, the same SPIRIT He sent to be with His followers, must be in US! 

We have to be yielded completely to the Holy Spirit allowing Him to work in us the works of Christ! It's all through CHRIST'S power, every action we commit as followers of Christ's are Christ's actions, the glory goes to HIM always and only! We are blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us, working in us.  All glory to God! All praise and honor to God! He does all this FOR US, not expecting us to do it for ourselves. We were NEVER expected to live on our own without His power, His love, His Spirit in us.

By the grace and mercy of Christ may we have His Spirit in us! All through HIS amazing LOVE, now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen!

*******

Excerpt 'Present Truth Articles- The Power of Christ by E.J. Waggoner'

One of the most intensely interesting occasions for the disciples of the Master was when He, their Saviour and Lord, "was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight." He had given "many infallible proofs" of His resurrection, "being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Acts 1:3. Before His death He had instructed them concerning His return to the Father. That knowledge had brought grief and sadness to their troubled hearts. But He did not leave them without hope: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I

would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Absorbed with the idea of the immediate establishment of His kingdom, they were poorly prepared to grasp all the  truth He tried to set before them. They thought that the right was His to reign as king; they desired that He

should be king, and they were ready to give Him the homage of loving hearts. But a little later we see their King a helpless victim on Calvary's cross, and their hopes dying within them. But now the scene has changed. The bands of death have been broken, and He that was dead is alive again, and is once more with them. They hear His  own sweet voice; they listen to the gracious words that fall from His lips; and by His resurrection they were

begotten "again unto a lively hope." 1 Peter 1:3. He bade them go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, but how little did they comprehend the meaning of all that! "Lord, wilt thou at this time," said

they, "restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6. "Ye shall receive power," said He, "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,

and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

In this commission He entrusted to them, and through them to us, a mighty work to be accomplished--a work beyond the power of man to perform. He bade them go; the command was imperative; but, thanks be to His dear

name, before the command was the promise of power to perform it. "Ye shall receive power" and then you can "be  witnesses unto Me." Acts 1:8. St. Matthew presents the same thought and in precisely the same order. 

"Jesus  came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach  all nations,...and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

Why were they to go? Because He had commanded it. How were they to fulfill this high and holy commission, and do this work which was beyond man's power to perform? The answer is found in this, that He had promised to be with them till the end, and He who made the promise possessed all power, and had said, "Ye shall receive power" and "ye shall be witnesses unto Me." "And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight."

Shortly before this He bade them tarry "in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." But now what a spectacle is this! He, their great Leader in whom they trusted, is "taken up" and a cloud received

"Him out of their sight," and they--they so poor and weak and erring--are left to carry on the mightiest work ever committed to mortals. I do not wonder that those disciples tarried in Jerusalem, and prayed till the day of

Pentecost came; for just in proportion as they felt that the command to do the work was imperative, so must they have realized that Divine power would be a necessity. And when in response to their prayers and their faith, that

power came and they rehearsed before the people the recent scenes of Calvary, and presented in its simplicity the  Gospel of Christ, the effect of that power was seen in the conversion of three thousand souls on that same day. And the same power which existed then exists still, and awaits the demands of the people of God today. 

Personal consciousness on our part that without Him we can do nothing, and a self-surrender to His will, is the pathway that leads to success in the work assigned us; and the result will be the salvation of souls, and glory and honour to His name who has promised to endue His servants with power from on high.

Words of Spirit and Life.

 Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Jesus said- The words I speak…they are spirit…they are life.

We have many of Jesus' words recorded for us in the Bible. In fact, the truth in the Word of God- Old and New Testament are inspired words. The entire Bible written by mankind as they were INSPIRED by the HOLY SPIRIT. The entire Bible, books put together in an INSPIRED manner, not something haphazardly done. We may often question why various parts of the Bible were included, but it's not ours to question. We read this INSPIRED Bible and let God work in us. We feed off the Word of God, and as we digest the Spiritual feast we partake of, we allow God to let it flow through us giving us the Spiritual life we need from it. You may pick up the Bible and read a passage a hundred times seemingly confused by it and unable to comprehend its meaning, yet God knows when and if you will need that particular knowledge. You feed and He utilizes the food we ingest.  Is it ANY wonder at all why men and women, and even children have died just to obtain the written Word of God? Is it ANY wonder why Satan has inspired many leaders even today to ban God's word in their countries? Satan knows the incredible power of the Bible. When he couldn't get rid of it, he made it a book placed upon a shelf, or in a box, tucked away in an attic, dusted weekly on the coffee table, shut up in a drawer…and he's let it hide in plain sight. He made it available in surplus so that it would lose its appeal, it's importance, it's special, reverent, holy status. Satan has made it just a book to a lot of people and they care not that in their possession is the written word of God- the words spoken by God, by their Savior, through the Holy Spirit that are given to us for spirit and life.  

The Savior God said- "The words I speak…they are spirit…they are life." 

Light does shine in darkness, but the darkness comprehends it not. If we follow the Light of our Savior, we won't be in darkness. We can choose to remain in darkness, many do.

Truly, Satan has used great deception with mankind. Satan has used the pride of mankind to ruin them. Satan has puffed mankind up to the point they feel they have no need of God, no need of salvation. Darkness cover the spiritual sight of many because they choose their own idea of knowledge over the knowledge of their Creator. God help us to seek the LIGHT of TRUTH, God help us listen to the words of our Savior whose words are spirit and life.

Bible Echo - October 15 1892  by A.T. Jones (Excerpt) 

"In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness apprehended it not." John 1:4, 5 R.V. The marginal rendering, "overcame," gives us the exact meaning of the text and conveys a message of great comfort to the believer. Let us see what it is.

Christ is the light of the world. See John 8:12.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 

 But His light is His life, as the text quoted states. He says, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." The whole world was in the darkness of sin. This darkness was due to lack of knowledge of God as the apostle Paul says that the Gentiles are "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their heart." Eph. 4:18, R.V.

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart

Satan, the ruler of the darkness of this world, had done his utmost to deceive men as to the true character of God.  He had made the world believe that God was like men--cruel, vindictive and passionate. 

Even the Jews, the people whom God had chosen to be the bearers of His light to the world, had departed from God and while professedly separate from the heathen, were enveloped in heathen darkness. 

Then Christ came, and "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up." Matt. 4:16, R.V. His name was Emanuel, God with us. "God was in Christ." God refuted the falsehoods of Satan, not by loud arguments, but simply by living His life among men so that all might see it. He demonstrated the power of the life of God and the possibility of its being manifested in men.

The life which Christ lived was untainted by sin. Satan exerted all his powerful arts, yet he could not affect that spotless life. Its light always shone with unwavering brilliancy. Because Satan could not produce the least shadow of sin in the life, he could not bring it within his power, that of the grave. No one could take Christ's life from Him; He voluntarily laid it down. And for the same reason, when He had laid it down, Satan could not prevent Him from taking it up again. Said He, "I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John 10:17, 18.

To the same intent are the words of the apostle Peter concerning CHRIST: "Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts 2:24. Thus was demonstrated the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to be made a high priest "after the power of an endless life." Heb. 7:16.

This endless, spotless life Christ gives to all who believe on Him. "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,  that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John 17:2, 3. 

Christ dwells in the hearts of all those who believe on Him. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me."  Gal. 2:20. See also Eph. 3:16, 17.

Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love

Christ, the Light of the world, dwelling in the hearts of His followers, constitutes them the light of the world.  Their light comes not from themselves but from Christ, who dwells in them. Their life is not from themselves, but it is the life of Christ manifest in their mortal flesh. See 2 Cor. 4:11. This is what it is to live "a Christian life."

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 

The living light comes from God in a never-failing stream. The psalmist exclaims: "For with thee is the foundation of life; in thy light shall we see light." Ps. 36:9. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,  proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Rev. 22:1. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:53, 54. 

This life of Christ we eat and drink by feasting upon his word, for He added, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Verse 63. Christ dwells in His inspired word, and through it we get His life. This life is given freely to all who will receive it, as we read above; and again we read that Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." John 7:37.

This life is the Christian's light, and it is that which makes him a light to others. It is his life; and the blessed comfort to him is that no matter how great the darkness through which he has to pass, no darkness has power to put out that light. That light of life is his as long as he exercises faith, and the darkness cannot affect it. Let all,  therefore, who profess the name of the Lord have the confidence that can say, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." Micah 7:8.

Faith Is Active, Faith Is A Work.

Bible Echo - August 1, 1890  by A.T. Jones (Excerpt) 

"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is,  the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom. 10:6-9.

May we accept these words, especially the statement in the last verse, as literally true? Shall we not be in danger if we do? Is not something more than faith in Christ necessary to salvation? To the first of these questions we say, Yes, and to the last two we say, No, and refer to the Scriptures for corroboration. So plain a statement cannot be other than literally true and one that can be depended on by the trembling sinner.

As an instance in proof, take the case of the jailer at Philippi. Paul and Silas, after having been inhumanly beaten,  were placed in his care. Notwithstanding their lacerated backs and their manacled feet, they prayed and sang praises to God at midnight and suddenly an earthquake shook the prison, and all the doors were opened. It was not alone the natural fear produced by feeling the earth rock beneath him nor yet the dread of Roman justice if the prisoners in his charge should escape, that caused the jailer to tremble. But he felt in that earthquake shock a premonition of the great judgment, concerning which the apostles had preached; and, trembling under his load of guilt, he fell down before Paul and Silas, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Mark well the answer; for here was a soul in sorest extremity and what was sufficient for him must be the message to all lost ones. To the jailer's anguished appeal, Paul replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:30,  31. This agrees exactly with the words which we quoted from Paul to the Romans.

 

On one occasion the Jews said unto Jesus, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Just the thing that we want to know. Mark the reply: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28, 29. Would that these words might be written in letters of gold and kept continually before the eyes of every struggling Christian. The seeming paradox is cleared up. Works are necessary, yet faith is all-sufficient, because faith does the work. Faith comprehends everything and without faith there is nothing.

The trouble is that people in general have a faulty conception of faith. They imagine that it is mere assent and that it is only a passive thing to which active works must be added. But faith is active and it is not only the most substantial thing but the only real foundation.

 The law is the righteousness of God (Isa. 51:6, 7), for which we are commanded to seek (Matt. 6:33), but it cannot be kept except by faith, for the only righteousness which will stand in the Judgment is "that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."  Phil. 3:9.

Read the words of Paul in Rom. 3:31. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Making void the law of God by man is not abolishing it; for that is an impossibility. It is as fixed as the throne of God. No matter what men say of the law, nor how much they trample upon it and despise it, it remains the same. The only way that men can make void the law of God is to make it of none effect in their hearts by their disobedience. Thus in Num. 30:15, a vow that has been broken is said to have been made void. So when the apostle says that we do not make void the law through faith, he means that faith and disobedience are incompatible. 

No matter how much the law-breaker professes faith, the fact that he is a law-breaker shows that he has no faith. 

But the possession of faith is shown by the establishment of the law in the heart, so that the man does not sin against God. Let no one decry faith as of little moment.

But does not the apostle James say that faith alone cannot save a man and that faith without works is dead? Let us look at his words a moment. Too many have with honest intent perverted them to a dead legalism. He does say that faith without works is dead and this agrees most fully with what we have just quoted and written. For if faith without works is dead, the absence of works shows the absence of faith; for that which is dead has no existence. If a man has faith, works will necessarily appear and the man will not boast of either one, for by faith boasting is excluded. Rom. 3:27. Boasting is done only by those who trust wholly in dead works or whose profession of faith is a hollow mockery.

Then how about James 2:14, which says: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?" The answer necessarily implied is, of course, that it cannot. Why not?  Because he hasn't it. What doth it profit if a man say he has faith, if by his wicked course he shows that he has none? Must we decry the power of faith simply because it does nothing for the man who makes a false profession of it? Paul speaks of some who profess that they know God but who deny Him by their works. Titus 1:16. The man to whom James refers is one of this class. The fact that he has no good works--no fruit of the Spirit--shows that he has no faith, despite his loud profession, and so of course faith cannot save him; for faith has no power to save a man who does not possess it.  

Whatsoever Is Not of Faith Is Sin

 Bible Echo - August 17, 1896  by A.T. Jones (Excerpt) 

"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. 14:23.

Therefore it is that "being justified"--made righteous--"by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1.

Faith, not works, is that through which men are saved. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8,9.

"Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Rom. 3:27, 28.

The gospel excludes boasting, and boasting is a natural consequence of all attempts at justification by works;  yet the gospel does not exclude works. On the contrary, works--good works--are the one grand object of the gospel. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:10, with margin.

There is not the slightest contradiction here. The difference is between our works and God's works. Our works are always faulty; God's works are always perfect. Therefore, it is God's works that we need in order to be perfect. 

But we are not able to do God's works, for He is infinite, and we are nothing. For a man to think himself able to do God's works is the highest presumption. We laugh when a five-year-old boy imagines that he can do his father's work. How much more foolish for puny man to image that he can do the works of the Almighty.

Goodness is not an abstract thing. It is action, and action is found only in living beings. And since God alone is good, only His works are of any account. Only the man who has God's works is righteous.

But since no man can do God's works, it necessarily follows that God must give them to us, if we are saved. This is just what He does for all who believe.

When the Jews in their self-sufficiency asked, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:28, 29. Faith works. Gal. 5:6; 1 Thess. 1:3. 

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 

1Th 1:3  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father

It brings God's works into the believing one, since it brings Christ into the heart (Eph. 3:17), and in Him is all the fulness of God. Col. 2:9. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8),  and therefore God not only was but is in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. So if Christ dwells in the heart by faith, the works of God will be manifest in the life, "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13.

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

 

How this is done is not within the range of our comprehension. We do not need to know how it is done, since we do not have it to do. The fact is enough for us. We can no more understand how God does His works, than we can do those works. So the Christian life is always a mystery, even to the Christian himself. It is a life hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:3. It is hidden even from the Christian's own sight. Christ in man, the hope of glory, is the mystery of the gospel. Col. 1:27.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

In Christ we are created unto good works which God has already prepared for us. We have only to accept them by faith. The acceptance of those good works is the acceptance of Christ. 

How long "before" did God prepare those good works for us? "The works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall"--i.e., they, the unbelieving, shall not--"enter into my rest." Heb. 4:3-5. But "we which have believed do enter into rest."

The Sabbath, therefore--the seventh day of the week--is God's rest. God gave the Sabbath as a sign by which men might know that He is God and that He sanctifies. Eze. 20:12. 20. Sabbath-keeping has nothing whatever to do with justification by works, but is, on the contrary, the sign and seal of justification by faith. It is a sign that man gives up his own sinful works and accepts God's perfect works. Since the Sabbath is not a work but a rest, it is the mark of rest in God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eze 20:12  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. 

Eze 20:20  And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. 

No other day than the seventh day of the week can stand as the mark of perfect rest in God, because on that day alone did God rest from all His works. It is the rest of the seventh day, into which He says the unbelieving cannot enter. It alone of all the days of the week is the rest day, and it is inseparably connected with God's perfect work.

On the other six days, including the first day of the week, God worked. On those days we also may and ought to work. Yet on every one of them we also may and ought to rest in God. This will be the case if our works are "wrought in God." John 3:21. So men should rest in God every day in the week, but the seventh day alone can be the sign of that rest.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

Two things may be noted as self-evident conclusions of the truths already set forth. One is that the setting apart of another day than the seventh, as the sign of acceptance of Christ and of rest in God through Him is in reality a sign of rejection of Him. Since it is the substitution of man's way for God's way, it is in reality the sign of man's assumption of superiority above God and of the idea that man can save himself by his own works. Not everyone who observes another day has that assumption, by any means. There are many who love the Lord in sincerity and who accept Him in humility, who observe another day than that which God has given as the sign of rest in Him. They simply have not learned the full and proper expression of faith. But their sincerity and the fact that God accepts their unfeigned faith does not alter the fact that the day which they observe is the sign of exaltation above God. When such hear God's gracious warning they will forsake the sign of apostasy as they would a plague-stricken house.

The other point is that people cannot be forced to keep the Sabbath, inasmuch as it is a sign of faith and no man can be forced to believe. Faith comes spontaneously as the result of hearing God's word. No man can even force himself to believe, much less can he compel somebody else. By force a man's fears may be so wrought upon that he may say he believes and he may act as though he believed. That is to say, a man who fears man rather than God may be forced to lie. But "no lie is of the truth." Therefore since the Sabbath is the sign of perfect faith, it is the sign of perfect liberty--"the glorious liberty of the children of God"--the liberty which the Spirit gives, for the Sabbath, as a part of God's law, is spiritual. And so, finally, let no one deceive himself with the thought that an outward observance of even God's appointed rest day--the seventh day--without faith and trust in God's word alone, is the keeping of God's Sabbath. "For whatsoever is not of faith is sin."  

God's Heaven, God's Rest.

 Before mankind sinned…

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished." 

The heavens - our sky, our atmosphere, our outer space- all created separate from where God and all the hosts of His heaven would reign. A heavenly temple was brought into existence before mankind, before earth and earth's heavens were created. The heaven of God is unlike anything we can imagine fully, only as looking through a dark glass. Our eyes have NOT seen, our ears have NOT heard,  we do NOT have in our hearts fully convicted the THINGS GOD has prepared for us who LOVE HIM. God's heaven was created on a plane of existence we cannot comprehend in our temporal condition. God's heaven exists and by faith we believe it exists. God's heaven- our longed for HOME. God's heaven- the gospel of the KINGDOM. God's heaven separate from - the heavens that were finished for us who live upon earth. 

God created the heavens and the earth and finished the creative process, all of creation upon earth was in place when God finished.  How momentous was this creation of heavens and earth that God culminated it by resting and not only resting but God blessed the day He rested, God made the day He rested Holy. Day one through six were not blessed, were not made holy, and yet they were filled with all of creation. Those days of creation were not the focus. The skies, the sun, the earth, the land and sea, the creatures of earth, sky and sea -none were the focus of what was transpiring- in and of themselves they were NOT the all-important, NOT worthy of any worshiping at all whatsoever! Nothing created was worship worthy, why? Because nothing created - created itself- it had a CREATOR. The CREATOR blessed a DAY, the CREATOR made a DAY HOLY, why? Was it a one-time day blessed and sanctified? If it were, then why isn't it commemorated as such?  Like, for instance… "Remember that day God rested- let's make a yearly celebration of that day. We'll call it day one of every year we have. Wait? How do we have years? Why are we using the objects in the created heavens to dictate our years, our months, our days? You know our days- morning and night. You know our months- that moon goes through a cycle fully seen to not seen at all. You know our years, positioning ourselves in the same orbital place using the Sun as a point of reference. And our weeks, you know the seven days… using…uhm… using a… the, you know, that uhhhh…  no, no planetary reference, no light and dark set point, no rotation around… yet people will tell you that those created long after the first of creation instituted the week with planets numbered and so on. God however, CREATED ALL who came up with various ideas (and there have been many) of our life cycles.  God CREATED and RESTED.  GOD created a DAY for REST, a DAY of HOLINESS, and what makes something holy? GOD! 

A PERMANENT MEMORIAL OF CREATION, and hence, a PERMANENT MEMORIAL OF OUR CREATOR.

We NEED this memorial and GOD solidified our need in a remarkable way. He rained manna from heaven to feed the Israelites freed from Egypt. He rained it down SIX days only.  On the sixth day He rained down double, the extra to be used on the day there was NO manna. God explained to those who had long forgotten His ways (in many ways) that He created a SABBATH back at CREATION on the SEVENTH DAY HE RESTED- and He blessed that day and made it HOLY. Mankind were NOT to forget they had a CREATOR, not ever! A permanent reminder of their creaturehood was given right after they'd been created. 

We KNOW which day of the seven was blessed and sanctified because God's chosen people kept track of it throughout time, so we know today which day is that seventh day. We know and yet we make so many excuses for why it was supposedly changed, none of which are found in God's word if studied through very thorough, careful exegesis. 

God created and blessed and sanctified this seventh day I'm writing this little study on. My Creator wants me to know Him as my Creator, to know Him as my Redeemer, my GOD, my LORD, my SAVIOR. I serve my CREATOR! I choose to HONOR Him today, on the day HE created for me to remember HIM and how ALL important HE is, the all in all, the everlasting to everlasting! 

All praise, honor, and glory to GOD! 

Heb 8:5

Psa_11:4

1Co 13:12 

1Co_2:9 

2Co_4:18 

Heb_11:13 

Joh 14:2-4

Mat 24:14

Excerpt-Formalism.

 Bible Echo - February 15, 1892  by A.T. Jones (Excerpt) 

Even this side of the cross of Christ, which itself should be the everlasting destruction of it, the same dead formalism, an empty profession, has exalted itself, and has been the bane of the profession of Christianity everywhere. Very soon, unconverted men crept into the church and exalted themselves in the place of Christ.  Not finding the living presence of Christ in the heart by living faith, they have ever since sought to have the forms of Christianity supply the lack of His presence, which alone can give meaning and life to these forms.

In this system of perverseness, regeneration is through the form of baptism and even this by a mere sprinkling of a few drops of water. The real presence of Christ is in the form of the Lord's supper. The hope of salvation is in being connected with a form of the church. And so on throughout the whole list of the forms of Christianity,  they have heaped upon this, ten thousand inventions of their own in penances, pilgrimages, traditions and hair- splitting distinctions.

And as of old and always with mere formalists, the life is simply and continually the manifestation of the works of the flesh--strife and contention, hypocrisy and iniquity, persecution, spying, treachery, and every evil work.  This is the Papacy. ((This is most church organizations today))

This evil spirit of a dead formalism, however, has spread itself far beyond the bounds of the organized Papacy. It is the bane of the profession of Christianity everywhere today, and even the profession of the Christianity of the third angel's message has not entirely escaped it. It is to be the worldwide prevailing evil of the last days up to the very coming of the Lord in glory in the clouds of heaven.

For "this know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,  covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,  truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,  lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3:1-5.

This all-prevailing form of godliness without the power, and which even denies the power, is the dead formalism against which we are to fight the good fight of living faith. The living faith which is brought to the world in the third angel's message is to save us from being swallowed up in this worldwide sea of dead formalism.

How is it with you individually today? Is yours a dead formalism or a living faith? Have you the form of godliness without the power? Or have you by living faith the living presence and power of the living Saviour in the heart, giving divine meaning, life and joy to all the forms of worship and of service which Christ has appointed and working the works of God and manifesting the fruits of the Spirit in all the life?

Except as the means of finding Christ the living Saviour in the word and the living faith of Him, even this word itself can be turned to a dead formalism now as it was of old when He was on the earth. He said to them then  (Revised Version), "Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me. And ye will not come to me that ye may have life." John 5:39, 40.

They thought to find eternal life in the Scriptures without Christ; that is, by doing them themselves. But "this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son"--as we find Him in the Scriptures and not in the words of the Scriptures without Him. For they are they that testify of Him. This is their object.  Therefore, "he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:11, 12.

"True godliness elevates the thoughts and actions; then the external forms of religion accord with the Christian's internal purity; then those ceremonies required in the service of God are not meaningless rites, like those of the hypocritical Pharisees." --Spirit of Prophecy, vol. ii., p. 219.