Truth Magazine

By Robert Wayne LaCoste

The above inscription was printed in the monthly newsletter of a local Austin Baptist Church. It was mailed to my home. To answer their own question the following was then added: We offer dynamic biblical preaching to meet the needs of today’s world of emptiness, family problems, fear, sorrow, guilt, and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How may we help you? If you are lonely . . . tired of the sameness in you life . . . anxious about tomorrow . . . feeling as if your world were crashing in . . . or wondering how you can go on . . . please call us.”

The preceding advertisement says a lot. It was with great sorrow I read it. It displays what most people in most churches feel the church is all about; even some in the Lord’s church. To most folks, their concept of a church is little more than it being a superior Shoal Creek or Charter Lane Hospital. In fact when I saw the ad, that’s who I thought the newsletter was from! Surely, “emptiness, family problems, fear, sorrow,” etc. are genuine issues. We all know that. However, we need also to know and understand that the Lord’s church has a greater meaning and purpose and when served, deals with these and all other problems we face in life.

Men need to realize why Jesus came and died and what the mission of his “blood bought body” (Acts 20:28) is all about. The “needs of today’s world” extend beyond loneliness or fear. We dare not simply try to treat the symptoms of a disease or try to patch a deep and serious wound with a band-aid! It is sin that is the disease. It is sin that is our great wound. Sin from over indulgence, sin from families breaking up and divorces transpiring daily. Sin, sin and more sin, in a world gone mad with no inhibition and “no fear of God before their eyes” (Psa. 36:1). Sin is why Jesus came, why the gospel was given and why the church exists today. If we want our sorrow and guilt to be dealt with, we must realize its source. We then must realize and take the remedy. The answers to our problems lie not in sociological reform or psychological analysis.

Let’s quit hunting dinosaurs with B-B guns and attack the heart of the problem! Denominational preachers and some gospel preachers I also know, would do well to preach humility, repentance and obedience to the gospel of God’s Son as they did in the first century and leave the emotional and mental problems to those more qualified! Paul preached the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 2:2; 15:1-4) so that their faith “might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5). Truly the gospel is the power of God (Rom. 1:16). In the gospel is the “righteousness of God revealed” (Rom. 1:17). When will we learn to trust God and his saving gospel to deal with sin? When we get sin under control beloved, we will be in control!

The title above says something else. It is a sign of the times as to the attitude of so many. Most churches cry out, “Try us – look at what we can do for you.” Most people who are shopping around and seem to be “in the market” for a good religion, are happy to hear that, for they are also crying out a similar tune: “What can this church offer me or help me with?” People shop for churches like looking for a car. Sad.

That whole mentality dear reader is just the opposite of what it should be. We need to ask not what the church may offer or give us, but “What can I offer or give the church?” Jesus Christ came to serve, not be served. He taught his disciples that it was “more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). This type of advertisement encourages the attitude, “What’s in it for me?”

Ask yourself the question, “What is my relationship with the Lord?” (What other kind could there be but “personal”?)

Am I looking for a church that can serve me, or me it? Every child of God in every local church needs to do some soul searching and ask the question: Am I a part of this congregation to be served, to be waited on, or to be made to “feel good”? Or am I hear to serve, to wait on others and to help make them happy?

You see dear reader, the Lord knew what was best. The reason it is “more blessed to give than to receive” is because in so doing we gain our happiness by seeing others happy. It is “more blessed to give than to receive” because in so doing we become a servant and Jesus who was the world’s greatest Servant taught, “He that is greatest among you will be your servant” (Matt. 23:11).

What can you offer the Lord and his people?

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, p. 229
April 19, 1990

By Bobby K. Thompson

1 Kings 13 presents a very melancholy story. It is always infinitely sad to see those who were once faithful in the service of God fall. It is pathetic to behold those who were once “meet for the master’s use” tripped up in the end through temptation, and become prey to him who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. This chapter of 1 Kings deals with the exploits of a servant of God who began well, preached faithfully for a period, but had a tragic end. We say it happened to others but it can never be my lot. Alas, my brother! You had best take heed. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). There are seven things about this unfortunate man that we desire to point out:

1. He was a true believer. He is called “A man of God” (v. 1). He was not a mere “man of the world” whose portion is in this life, but one who has personal dealings with God, and who, in heart and life, belonged to him. He was not a mere professor or time-server, but a true servant of God.

2. He was a man with a message. He came “by the word of the Lord unto Bethel” (v. 1). He had a ministry committed to him by God, a message of warning and condemnation. No evangelist was ever more surely called of God than this man. The narration abounds with evidence that he was sent by God.

3. He was a man of courage. “And he cried against the altar in the Word of the Lord” (v. 2). He testified with a loud voice against this altar built by Jeroboam as a rival of Jehovah’s, even while the king “stood by.” The Word of God evidently burned in his bones and he could not but speak the things which he had heard from him. It was similar with Peter and John in Acts 4:20.

4. He was a man with power. God bore witness to his testimony by signs and wonders in the stiffening of the king’s arm and hand which was stretched out to “lay hold on him” and also in the “rending of the altar” and the spilling of ashes. The servant of God had every reason to believe that God was with him and what he was doing was God approved. He knew such power was not from himself.

5. He was a man of self-denial. After prayer for the restoration of the king’s hand, the king asked him, “Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward,” but he would not (vv. 6-9). The Lord had charged him not to do so! He was no hireling in the work of the Lord. He knew what it was to deny himself and be true to God’s directions in saying “No” to the king. Surely such a mighty man as this will never fall! But, alas!

6. He believed a lie and fell through deception. The old prophet pretended that an angel had spoken to him, saying, “Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him” (v. 18). He turned aside from the revealed will of God to obey the invention of man. “So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.” The temptation was doubtlessly great, but his was perfectly clear. He knew God’s will. In obeying the false prophet he was contradicting the will of God that he had previously been so faithful in its execution. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 Jn. 4:1). He didn’t try the old prophet as he should have or else he just threw all conviction or proper reason to the wind and gave in to the stronger call to eat and drink with him. Regardless of the explanation, this man disobeyed God and it cost him his life. No more was he to carry the message of God. He had forfeited his life by believing and obeying a lie. Truly pathetic, but true!

7. He was mourned over by the one who deceived him. “He laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! ” (v. 30) Yes, well may he mourn, after tempting the man of God into the net of destruction. Even being buried in the same grave will not atone for the sin of deception. How will he face him in the judgment whom he had lured from the will of God by substituting his own thoughts for God’s? How shall it fare with the false teachers of our day when in the presence of God they are face to face with the fact that they have led souls to disobey? “Alas, my brother,” take heed who you hear and what you hear! It can happen to us. These things were written for our learning . . .

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, p. 228
April 19, 1990

By Weldon E. Warnock

Some reputable, knowledgeable and faithful brethren believe in the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Christians. I respectfully disagree with them for the following reasons:

1. Nowhere does the Bible state that the Spirit dwells personally in a Christian. Admittedly, the Holy Spirit dwells in God’s children. To deny this is to deny plain passages of Scripture. Paul wrote, “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (2 Tim. 1:14; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9). But the issue is not whether the Spirit dwells in us, but how does he dwell – personally or through faith?

Let us notice that God the Father resides in the Christian. John wrote, “God dwelleth in us” (1 Jn. 4:12; cf. vv. 13,15,16). Does God personally dwell in us? John explicitly states that God dwells in us, but I know of no one who maintains his personal Being is in us.

Jesus also dwells in us. Compare the following two Scriptures:

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin (Rom. 8:10).

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you (Rom. 8:9).

Why is it that brethren make Christ’s indwelling in Romans 8:10 representative (through instrumentality), but make the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in Romans 8:9, the verse before, personal? I fail to see the logic of such reasoning (cf. Gal. 2:20 and Col. 1:27 for Christ dwelling in us).

2. A personal indwelling necessitates an incarnation. When Jesus was born, he was God in the flesh. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23).

Jesus’ Being, Entity or Person dwelled in his fleshly body, actually and totally. Hence, an incarnation. Why is not the same thing true if the Holy Spirit, who is God (Deity, Acts 5:3,4), dwells in our bodies personally and totally? There would be just as many incarnations as there are Christians. It would be just as proper to call a Christian “Emmanuel” as it would be to call Jesus by that name.

3. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is by metonymy of speech. Metonymy of the cause is a figure of speech where the cause is put for the effect. Many times the person acting is put for the thing done. This is true in regard to the Holy Spirit.

Thomas Horne wrote, “A Metonymy of the cause is used in Scripture, when the person acting is put for the thing done, or the instrument by which a thing is done is put for the thing effected, or when a thing or action is put for the effect produced by that action” (Introduction to the Scriptures, Vol. 2, Part 1, p. 454). Horne lists several ways the Holy Spirit is put for the thing done:

a. The Holy Spirit is put for his Effects, as in 2 Corinthians 3:6.

b. The Holy Spirit is put for his Operations.

c. The Holy Spirit is put for the influences or Gifts of the Spirit, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Quench not the Spirit.

d. Spirit also denotes a Divine Power or energy, reigning in the soul of a renewed man.

e. More especially the Holy Spirit is put for those peculiar and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit, which, for various uses, whether public or private, spiritual or temporal, are bestowed on man.

f. The Spirit is also put for revelations, visions or ecstasies, whether really from the Holy Spirit, or pretended to be so (Ibid., pp. 455-456).

E.W. Bullinger makes the same observation as Horne concerning the Spirit being put for the gifts and operations of the Spirit (Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, pp. 540-543). D.R. Dungan says, “God and Christ and the Holy Spirit are frequently mentioned, whereas the result of their efforts in the redemption of the race is intended” (Hermeneutics, p. 271).

“It is inconsistent to contend that Jesus Christ, who is Deity, dwells in us by faith while maintaining the Holy Spirit, who is also Deity, the third person in the Godhead, dwells in us personally. We just as well say that Jesus dwells in us personally as to claim the Holy Spirit does. Both are the same in nature and essence.”

Abraham told the rich man concerning his five brethren, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Lk. 16:29). Moses and the prophets had been dead hundreds of years, but their writings prevailed. Though Moses and the prophets are stated, their writings are meant. Here is a simple example of cause for effect. Moses was read in the synagogues every sabbath day (Acts 15:21), that is, Moses’ law was read.

By metonymy of speech it is easy to see how the Holy Spirit is said to be in all Christians at the same time, namely, through miraculous endowments and gifts during the days of miracles or by his influence and nature that are common to all Christians in every generation.

To the apostles Jesus said of the Spirit, “for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (Jn. 14:17). The Spirit was in the apostles through the power with which he endowed them. Just prior to his ascension Jesus said to his apostles, “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued (clothed, WEW) with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49). The word “from” (ek) denotes the same thing as “of” (opo) in Acts 2:17.

Peter, quoting Joel, said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of (from, Marshall’s Interlinear) my Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17). The pouring out was the miraculous power, not the Spirit himself. A person is not poured out. What the apostles received was from the Spirit as Acts 2:17 and Luke 24:49 clearly and succinctly states. This was also true of Cornelius and his household as well as all those in the church who received miraculous gifts (cf. Acts 10:45; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Heb. 2:34). God said he would pour out from (apo) his Spirit upon all flesh.

4. We are to be filled with the Spirit. Paul writes, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). “Be filled” is translated from pleurousthe (present passive imperative) which has the import of a command. Being filled with the Spirit is a human effort, progressive in nature, and reflected in life by the fruit of the Spirit. The parallel verse in Colossians 3:16 shows we are filled with the Spirit through the medium of the word of God as we allow it to dwell in us richly.

If we received the Holy Spirit at baptism in his totality, as some interpret Acts 2:38, how could we be filled with the Spirit subsequent to conversion as taught in Ephesians 5:18? If we have the Holy Spirit personally and totally, how could we get any fuller than full?

5. The gift of the Spirit is no more the person of the Spirit than the gift of God and the gift of Christ are their person. Acts 2:38 states we receive the gift of the Spirit after repentance and baptism. Why do some conclude this is the person of the Spirit? Isn’t it just as plausible that the gift is something the Holy Spirit gives us rather than himself?

Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s Well, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, arid he would have given thee living water” (Jn. 4:10). The gift is not God, but what he gives -living water. Paul wrote, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Eph. 4:7). The gift is not Christ, but the office and function in the church, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11). Christ determines these, not ourselves.

In like-manner the Holy Spirit gives all those whose sins are forgiven through obedience to the gospel a gift, viz., the gift of salvation (cf. Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21). Remission of sins in Acts 2:38 is a condition of salvation, having, therefore, to precede salvation in order to gain deliverance (salvation). Remission of sins and salvation are no more redundant than are “sanctified” and “justified” in 1 Corinthians 6:11. There is a logical sequence in both passages.

It is scriptural and logical to conclude that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts by faith. Paul said to the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17). If Christ dwells in us by faith, why not the Holy Spirit by the same process?

It is inconsistent to contend that Jesus Christ, who is Deity, dwells in us by faith while maintaining the Holy Spirit, who is also Deity, the third person in the Godhead, dwells in us personally. We just as well say that Jesus dwells in us personally as to claim the Holy Spirit does. Both are the same in nature and essence. We are told that we don’t even sense the indwelling, or experience it, but we just accept it by faith. This seems like a strange concept wherein a Divine Being resides in our bodies and he has no effect on us whatsoever in exercising his mind and characteristics.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, pp. 232-233
April 19, 1990

By Lester A. Doyle, Jr.

The Feast

When Christ came to earth, he shared the poverty of our world. But, now being on the right hand of God, he shares with us the riches of his world.

We come to his table this morning to recall his death and its glorious purpose and to feast upon the bread of life. Here our souls are fed as we commune with our Savior.

John 6:35 says, “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”‘ If you hunger physically, you will not be satisfied at this table. But our spiritual hunger and thirst will be filled here.

Although the Lord’s supper was brought about by his death, it is the feast of life for us as Christians.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, p. 231
April 19, 1990