| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net What is the biggest word in the Bible? Lots of multi-syllabical names, but to cut to the chase, the biggest word in the Bible is "as". Example: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord" Eph. 5:22. This is only a problem when us men ignore the weight and gravity of vs 25 = "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;". You can bow your neck and reject off hand either of these, but for the sake of today's point, let's just focus on the word "as". Its meaning is twofold. It means - In the same way, and to the same degree. Uh oh. Men, Christ Came for, built up, sacrificed everything for, maintains, and is coming back for His Church. Is that how we treat and respond to our wives? By the way, your opinion of "the church" says a lot of your relationship to Jesus. There are many "as"s in the Bible, and all of them stir my humility because I fall short. The second biggest word is (wait for it) If. Your God is a God of If's. These are qualifiers. There are a pile of Ifs in the Old Test, and although they are absolutely valid today, many have a tendency to disregard or relegate the application of the Old Testament, so let's look at a few New Testament verses from Hebrews. "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, TODAY IF YE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN HE PRROVOCATION, IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE WILLDERNESS..................." 3:6 and 7 "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;" 3:14 People say Christianity is too cheap in that it's a free gift from God via faith in Jesus Christ, while at the same time the disregard the qualifiers - the "if"s. Jesus paid the ultimate premium to secure our salvation, but this fact almost pales in comparison to His eligibility requirements. What he endured to qualify to be the propitiation, the acceptable sacrifice to God, is staggering. Many say: "Sure He was sinless. He was God in the flesh. He was only spirit, and therefore wasn't really susceptible to all the things we men face". Yet the Bible tells us He was "fully God", and "fully man". He was "tempted in all ways such as man, yet without sin" 4:15. The response and rightfully so, is - "So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." 3:11-12. What do you feel like when someone mistreats your child? We think if we are members of a certain denomination, or if we have been baptized at some point, that we are "good to go", but we will be crushed when we see we didn't measure up to God's "If"s. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" 10:29 I can't emphasize this enough. Some of you reading this would violently intervene if you saw someone dancing or spitting on the American flag. How do you think God is going to react to us "trampling under foot" the precious blood of His Son? "Do you not fear me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence......." Jer. 5:22 So How do we trample His blood under foot? "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you." Do you cuss? Do you post foul words on the internet cause you think it's funny? Do you have an enemy you refuse (on principal of course) to forgive? Would you like to have Jesus sit down and watch TV with you? Do you yield your members as "instruments of unrighteousness"? Do you tell or laugh at foul jokes? Do you watch things on the internet you don't want anyone else to know about? Do you gossip? Jesus asks us - "Why do you call me Lord, and not do what I say?" Which side of the "if"s do you think you will fall on? We had all better repent before it is ever too late. |
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