Truth Magazine

By Daniel H. King

The title of this article sounds like an impossibility, rather similar to what one encounters in ideas like “square circles,” “straight curves,” “loud silences,” “light shades of black,” etc. And, of course, it is. But it is an impossibility which many Christians since the origin of the church have tried to make a reality.

One finds some scriptural support for the existence of the idea in Paul’s argument in the Roman letter: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein,” (6:1-2); in Galatians also Paul had to treat the problem: “But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor” (2:17-18).

By very definition, the child of God cannot persist in sin. Paul says that we have “died to sin” and so cannot continue to live as we once did. Becoming a Christian therefore demands, on the part of the one who is “converted” the determined decision to give up the practice of sin. If a person has not so decided, he should not make any pretense out of a confession of faith or of a baptism in water. To do this is to declare a clean break with sin. If one has not made such a decision then the profession of Christianity is, by definition, a farce and a facade. The practice of sin in the life is a constant admission that what one has professed is a lie; as Paul puts it: “I prove myself a transgressor.”

Something else needs noticing here also, however. It is almost natural for such hypocrisy to reflect upon the One who instituted Christianity, whether deserved or not. In other words, Christ gets a black eye out of every such situation. Every “sinning Christian,” i.e. every one who makes the profession but does not live the life, soils the reputation of Jesus Christ among the sons of men. “Is Christ a minister of sin?” wrote the Apostle. He is not and never has been -but it seems so to the unbelieving when they behold sin in the life of the Christian.

Some of the strongest language in the Bible is reserved for this problem. It is said, for instance, that the Son of God is “crucified afresh, and put to an open shame” (Heb. 6:6), t hat He has been “trodden under foot,” the blood of His covenant has been counted “an unholy thing” and the “Spirit of grace” has been insulted (Heb. 10:29).

So, Christian, before you begin to take up anew the practice of sin, remember that you solemnly promised to give up sin when you named the name of Christ. There is no such thing as a “Christian sinner.”

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 21, p. 643
November 1, 1984

By Shelby C. Smith

One is lost when he refuses to obey Christ and His word. “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the words that I have spoken, the same shall judge you in that day” (Jn. 12:48). Another reason that some are lost is that they will not believe. “For if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24).

Others refuse to repent. “I tell you, Nay, but, except ye repent, ye shall die in your sins” (Lk. 13:3). Others will not confess Christ. If one denies Him here, Christ will deny them before the Father in heaven (Matt. 10:33). There are those who will refuse to be baptized. Christ is the author of eternal salvation unto all who will obey Him (Heb. 5:8,9). In the great commission Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” (Mk. 16:16).

But now let us look at some things that will cause one to be lost after having accepted and completed the requirements set down by Christ to become a Christian.

1. Works of the flesh. Paul gave a long list of these in Galatians 5:19-21 and then added, “they who do such thing shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” “For to be carnally minded is death” (Rom. 8:6).

2. Love worldliness. John said, “The whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

3. Not being faithful. “For if we willfully sin after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:26). Again, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements, of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first” (2 Pet. 2:20). “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:4).

If you are interested in losing your soul, the devil is always busy and eager to be of service, and provide a way. It is not necessary to do all these things to be eternally lost; any of them can cause one to be lost. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all” (Jas. 2: 10). Peter said the devil is as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

In the last day many will come, expecting to get into heaven; but our blessed Lord tells us: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 20, p. 632
October 18, 1984

By James E. Cooper

Man is a “praying animal.” Prayer, in the sense of a conscious effort to hold communion with deity, is universal. Even those who have denied the existence of God have been known to breathe a prayer in extreme circumstances. One of the most encouraging statements in the Bible is that “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers” (1 Pet. 3:12). And one of the most solemn warnings to be found anywhere is contained in the same verse: “but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”

Why Pray?

1. God is a Personal Being. Prayer involves personal communication with a Personal Being. It implies that there is a Being who hears, thinks, feels and wills; yet He is omniscient, holy and gracious. Those who suppose God is a figment of human imagination, slowly developed as man ascended the evolutionary scale, declare that it is useless to pray, for there is no God to hear their prayers. David pronounced the man with this attitude to be a fool (Psa. 14:1), for there is sufficient evidence in nature alone to convince the right-thinking person that God is (Psa. 19:1-4). Without faith that God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, one cannot please God (Heb. 11:6).

2. God is able to answer prayer. The omnipotent God who was able to bring heaven and earth into existence by the power of His utterance (Heb. 11:3; Psa. 33:6); to make men out of stones (Matt. 3:9; cf. Gen. 2:7); to deliver His servants from the fire (Dan. 3:17); to raise the dead (Heb. 11:19); and to destroy both body and soul in hell (Matt. 10:28), is certainly “able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

3. God is willing to answer prayer. God has a very sympathetic ear. In I Peter 3:12, we have God pictured with His ears literally “into (eis) the petitions of the righteous.” “What a picture of God bending down to their petitions, eager to answer them and come to the aid of those who pray. We have no far off deity to make propitious. We do not have to plead with God to make Him willing to answer our prayers. He is more desirous of answering them than we are to have them answered” (Kenneth S. Wuest, First Peter in the Greek New Testament, p. 87).

Does God Really Answer Prayer?

Peter encouraged Christians to be a united, loving and compassionate people – in short, to be a blessing to others: “knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (I Pet. 3:9). He then quoted Psalm 34:12-16. The person who would enjoy life to the fullest must avoid those things that could cause God to turn His face against him. Instead, he should “do good . . . seek peace, and pursue it” (Psa. 34: 10-11). Peter applies the Psalmist’s words in a most appropriate fashion. One of the blessings to be enjoyed is the assurance that God does hear and answer the prayers of the righteous (cf. Prov. 15:29; Psa. 145:18).

Open your Bible and read Psalm 34 in its entirety. David declared God had heard his prayers. In response to prayer, God had delivered him from his fears (v. 4), and had saved him out of his troubles (v. 6). God delivers the righteous out of all his afflictions (v. 19), and redeems his soul (v. 22). Urging all to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” David pronounces a blessing upon the man that trusts in Him (v. 8), and assures us that “there is no want in them that fear Him” (v. 9). “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing” (v. 10).

Do you believe God really does that? Today? Does He really act in response to our prayers? The Bible says He does. James said, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (Jas. 1:5). There are conditions to be met, of course. “Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man unstable in all his ways” (Jas. 1:6-8). In the latter part of James 5:16, we read that “the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its workings.”

Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10). In the contexts of these two passages, we find Jesus illustrating God’s willingness to answer persistent prayer. A man will grant his son’s request: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt. 7:11). He also illustrated prayer by the persistence of a man who at midnight asks his friend to lend him three loaves of bread so he could feed a house guest who had just arrived from a long journey (Luke 11:5-9). Jesus taught that God will respond to prayer.

Is God Any Different Today?

Is God different today from what He was in David’s day? Is He different from what He was when our Lord was upon earth? Is He no longer interested in His children? Does He no longer work on our behalf? One man argued with me that it is useless to ask God to do anything in response to prayer today. His contention was that God’s “last will and testament” has been revealed; therefore, God doesn’t have a will to be influenced by our prayers. But, my friend, God “is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 12:8). He has always had an immutable will (Heb. 6:17-18), but declares that His actions change in response to changes in men. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7).

Is God indifferent to His people today? No! Peter declared that His eyes are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers. God has not changed His attitude, nor His inclination to hear the prayers of the righteous. He has not abandoned His children. We are taught that He will continue to work on our behalf. “Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?” (Heb. 13:5-6).

Should We Expect A Miracle Today?

Is it necessary to believe God will work a miracle today in order to believe He really does answer prayer? Many seem to have the opinion that prayer is either answered miraculously or not at all. However, we need not expect to see a miracle today. God can work through His natural laws, as well as He can suspend and overpower them to work miracles.

Miracles were never performed merely to accommodate the desires and needs of man, but were signs to confirm the truth of God. The signs performed by Jesus were performed and recorded that men might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn. 20:30-31). What Jesus taught was further “confirmed to us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will” (Heb. 2:3-4). Miracles served a temporary purpose, to bear witness to God’s revelation (cf. Mk. 16:17-20; Acts 2:33; Acts 10:47; 1 Cor. 14:22). Paul taught that knowing and prophesying were “in part,” but they would be “done away” when the complete revelation (“that which is perfect”) was come (1 Cor. 13:8-10). Miracles served their purpose and have ceased.

God does not have to suspend the laws of nature in order to answer prayer. He can answer by working through the natural forces and processes which operate in the natural world, but which are still under His control. When James affirmed that “the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working,” he gave an illustration to help us understand it. “Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again: and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (Jas. 5:17-18). Elijah is not pictured as a super-human, even though he was an outstanding prophet of God. He was “a man of like passions with us.” Insofar as God’s answering his prayer, he was an ordinary man. The efficacy of prayer does not require a specially endowed p son. It is a blessing available to ordinary men, like you and me.

From 1 Kings 18:41-46, we learn how God answered Elijah’s prayer. After he had prayed seven times, a cloud appeared out over the Mediterranean Sea “like a man’s hand,” and the rain came out of that cloud. If it had rained out of a clear sky, we could it a miracle. But since God brought up a cloud to produce the rain, we recognize this as an act of God’s Providence – His control of the natural forces operating in His created universe.

Conclusion

God always answers prayer. We know and sometimes ask for harmful things, but He knows what is best. Sometimes He grants our petitions, and somethimes He denies them. Paul prayed three times that his “thorn the flesh” might be removed (2 Cor. 12:8), but God had something better for him. May we be content to submit when God says “No” as well as when he says “Yes.”

“In nothing be anxious: but in everything by prayer supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be in known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall guard your hearts and your in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

God Answers Prayer

I asked God for strength,

That I might achieve —
I was made weak,
That I might learn to obey.

I asked for help,
That I might do greater things —
I was given infirmity,
That I might do better things.

I asked for riches,
That I might be happy —
I was given poverty,
That I might be wise.

I asked for all things,
That I might enjoy life.
I was given life,
That I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for,
But everything I had hoped for.
Despite myself,
My prayers were answered.
I am among all men
Most richly blessed.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 20, pp. 617-618
October 18, 1984

By Joel Plunkett

In Genesis 22:1 we are told that God tempted Abraham, yet James says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. . .” (Jas. 1: 13). Do these two verses contradict each other, or can they be harmonized?

When we understand that the primary meaning of temptation is to prove or test as in the case of Abraham, then we can understand God’s testing or giving His people opportunity to prove their faithfulness. It would be extremely difficult for us to mature without some form of test. The secondary meaning of temptation is to entice as used in James 1:13. Hence, God does not entice His people to do evil but does allow them opportunity to express their spiritual maturity. If we are to overcome both the tests of God and the enticements of the devil, it is mandatory that we understand temptation.

Three Categories of Temptation

Temptations or trials may be placed into three broad categories. The first category may be referred to as hereditary temptations. By this, we mean those tests that come upon us because of our commitment to God and His holiness. Immediately after He was baptized, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Unlike Lot, He did not choose the well-watered wilderness and pitch his tent in that direction, but He followed the direction of the Spirit. Likewise, trials will come upon us when we take up our cross and follow Christ. We inherit these temptations when we place our mind, soul, and body at the feet of the crucified One.

The second category of temptations are environmental. These are trials that come upon us because we are in the world. In Romans 12:2 Paul says, “And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” When the child of God accepts the challenge to live in this world and to let the mind of Christ dwell in him, then he will be tempted. Let us remember we are not thermometers that reflect the world in which we live, but our Master requires us to serve as thermostats, altering the evil environment. We have not caused or asked for these trials, but we should neither fear nor try to avoid them. They will always be present and we must overcome them.

Unlike the first two categories, the third category of temptations is self-inflicted. These temptations will be dealt with in detail in the remainder of this article. They are the result of foolish or immature decisions on our part in failing to discern between good and evil. In Genesis 13, we find Lot in an ungodly city that vexed his soul, but let us remember that it was a city of his own choosing. Many of God’s people today are living in tormenting conditions because they, like Lot, have taken from the proverbial shelf that which looked good, felt good, or made them look good for a very, very short season. The best of God’s people, like David, have failed to “pull down their window shades” when women in the world, like Bathsheba, fail to “use their shades.” These temptations we are to fear and avoid, because they will destroy our own souls and taint the church of the living God. The wise man expressed this precise idea in Proverbs 4:14-15. “Enter not unto the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away.” The word of God teaches that we are in grave danger when we dally or flirt with either sin or the sinner.

1. When are God’s people guilty of flirting with sin? 1. When we marry a worldly person in spite of the warning signals (1 Cor. 15:33).

2. When we consume a daily diet of adultery, humanism, and materialism on our televisions, in magazines and in our reading material (Prov. 23:7).

3. When adultery, fornication and all uncleanness become so common that it no longer vexes our souls and we tease or joke about it (Eph. 5:12).

4. When the music that entertains us speaks constantly about getting high, losing our self-control, or “if loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right” (Gal. 5:21).

5. When we allow children to wear less on the street than they do in their bedroom at night (1 Tim. 2:9).

6. When our friends and our children’s friends are not only in the world but are worldly-minded (Jas. 4:4).

7. When we allow our children to forsake the services for work, ball games, and school affairs (Matt. 6:33).

8. When we allow our teenagers to sit in the back of the building and talk or write notes during the services (Acts 10:33).

9. When we fail to keep our marriage vows daily, and we let our mate feel that he or she is of little or no value to us (Eph. 5:21-33).

10. When we allow our conversation to be punctuated with crude or gutter language (Col. 3:8).

In Proverbs 14:9 Solomon says, “Fools make a mock at sin.” Brethren, only a fool would do so! Let us remember that while Peter was warming his hands around the enemies’ fire, his heart grew cold and he denied our Lord. May God give us the wisdom to identify the enemies’ fire and avoid it.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 20, pp. 627, continued on pg. 626
October 18, 1984