The issue of giving to the Lord is one that is greatly misunderstood and about which there is much false teaching today. For the most part, Christian teachers have taken two approaches to giving. They either talk about it constantly, making it the only measure of faith and blessing, or they completely ignore the issue not wanting to be accused of being a “money hungry preacher.” Neither approach is proper. A careful study of what God has to say about giving is needed.
To make all men see….. Ephesians 3:9
To make all men see….. Ephesians 3:9
Study Articles
A study of Paul’s instructions to the Body of Christ to put off the bondage of the law.
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. Galatians 4:30
When Paul says to “cast out the bondwoman and her son,” he expresses the importance of not being ensnared again in the bondage of the law. To fully understand the meaning of Paul’s allegory, we must look at the historical event to which he refers and the situation that existed in the churches of Galatia.
There is a pattern in Romans 1 that has repeated itself throughout history in every empire, nation, government and even in God’s chosen people, whether it be Israel or the church, the body of Christ. It has a beginning that is very important, and that we are going to look at in some detail, but first we want to look at the…
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans we read the following statement.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
Obviously, this is one of the most well known passages of scripture in all of God’s Word. It shows us two great contrasts about our sin and our salvation. The first contrast is between a wage and a gift. Our sin earns us a wage but God gives us a gift. The second contrast is between death and eternal life. The wage that our sin earns us is death but the free gift that God gives us is eternal life.
The first chapter of Ephesians is perhaps one of the most thrilling chapters in all of Paul’s epistles. Paul details our spiritual blessings in Christ. He reveals the source of all of those blessings when he reveals the nature of God as the “Father of glory” (Ephesians 1:17). All that we have in Jesus Christ is a result of God’s marvelous gift of salvation. That salvation is a result of the Father’s plan, the Son’s payment, and the Spirit’s perseverance. Every aspect of our salvation brings glory to the God who gives it.
We are all familiar with what a “saying” is. A saying is simply something that is said, usually over, and over again over the course of time. Sayings like, “A stitch in time saves nine, a penny saved is a penny earned, absence makes the heart grow fonder”, and countless others have become a part of our vocabulary and culture. I have often been amused when someone will quote one of these adages and then ask me where it is found in Scripture. While these types of sayings often give us insightful bits of wisdom, they are certainly not on a par with the inspired Word of God. There are however, sayings that are the Word of God. These sayings are distinguished from all other sayings in that they are said to be “faithful”. While man’s sayings become sayings because they are found over the course to time to be generally true, a “faithful saying” is guaranteed by God Almighty to be true every time. The four faithful sayings of Scripture are found in the epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
What is Death?
If we are to understand the penalty for sin, then it is necessary for us to understand what death is. Many have the opinion that death is the cessation of existence or activity. They believe that when someone or something is dead it is no longer functioning, or perhaps has even ceased to exist. The Scriptures do not support this definition of death. In fact, the Scriptural use of the term would seem to argue against this understanding. A few examples from Scripture will help us understand the true meaning of death.
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. Galatians 2:20
There is perhaps no other single verse in all the Bible that states so clearly the truth of Christ’s life living in believers in the Age of Grace. While most of professing Christendom seeks to make their lives more “Christ-like” this verse presents a totally different path. God’s desire is not to make your life more Christ-like. Rather, he has crucified your life and given you the life of Christ. Living the life of Christ does not make your life more Christ-like but allows the life of Christ that God has placed within you to live out through your body of flesh. There is all the difference in the world between trying to make your life like Christ’s life and living the life of Christ. Our goal is not to make our life like His; it is to live His life in our flesh.
A Challenge to the Traditional View of the Beast of Revelation
The traditional view of the Beast of Revelation, as I understand it, is that the Beast is the personification of the antichrist. The seven heads, as I understand, are synonymous with seven of the horns after three of the ten have been plucked up or subdued.
Here is the common grace interpretation of the beast of Revelation as has been taught to me by many grace preachers:
Revelation 13:11-12, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Matthew 2:1,2
Each year at the Christmas season we hear renewed speculation about the identity of the star of Bethlehem. In fact, on a December trip to India (a largely Hindu nation), I was surprised to see an article in a local newspaper discussing all of the commonly held natural explanations for the appearance of the star that announced the birth of Christ.
Man has many explanations for the appearance of this star. Some say that it was a star gone nova and exploding in the heavens. Some say that the bright light was caused by a unique conjunction of planets. Still others opt for an explanation that involves a meteor or comet of some sort. As we shall soon see, none of these explanations are satisfactory and all of them fall far short of the true Scriptural description of the events that occurred in the heavens at the time of the birth of Christ.