“CAN EMOTIONS BE MISGUIDED?”

In Genesis 37, one of the things that stands out is the lie told to Jacob by his sons, about Joseph’s death. This lie by Joseph’s brethren is what Joseph later referred to as the ‘evil’ they meant toward him that God turned into ‘good’ (Genesis 50:20). While there are many lessons to be drawn from this story, we will focus upon the role of emotions as they relate to man’s salvation.

 

First, notice that the lie Jacob was told about Joseph’s death. It had the same effect as if it had been the truth, for Jacob believed it to be true. From this, we see that a lie BELIEVED has the same EMOTIONAL EFFECT as truth. That is why feelings or emotions cannot be the determining factor of salvation. When a person comes under conviction of sin, the emotions are stirred by the message, whether from false apostles, or apostles of Christ. Satan is continually working to deceive. As he did with Eve, he perverts God’s words. The apostle Paul warned that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So also, Satan’s ministers can disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Because of this, the message of salvation can be perverted. The Galatians were being deceived by a false message. Paul wrote, “I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7). Salvation depends upon the truthfulness of the message. Paul preached what was commanded of him from Jesus (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:37). Therefore, Paul’s message was true.

 

It is important to understand the process whereby truth comes. Jesus stated that He spoke only what His Father commanded Him (cf. John 12:49). Jesus gave those words to the apostles, with the commission to proclaim them to the world (cf. John 17:8; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15). Matthew stated that if these words were believed and obeyed, they would make one a disciple of Jesus. Mark called these words the gospel, declaring that acceptance was through belief and baptism. Luke referred to both the gospel message and the response as “repentance and remission of sins” (Luke 24:47).

 

Putting all three of these accounts together, we find that belief, repentance and immersion in water are the responses that a message of truth declares. Truth came from the heavenly Father. Jesus said, “I speak things, as the Father taught me” (John 8:28). He said in John 14:31, “as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.” This commandment that Jesus was given from the Father was eternal life (cf. John 12:50; 14:24). Then we hear Jesus say, “I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word.  Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me.” (John 17:6-8). Their message is the standard for us today (cf. 2 Timothy 1:13). When this message was first preached on the Day of Pentecost, the Jews who, “by the hand of lawless men” (Acts 2:23), had crucified Jesus were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37a). Being moved emotionally, they asked, “what shall we do”? (Acts 2:37b). The answer to their question is found in Acts 2:38. It harmonized with the message that Jesus commanded them to preach in the great commission (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Luke 24:47).

That same answer must still be proclaimed today. Otherwise, the message will be a lie. The person may believe that lie to be true and, as with Jacob, have an emotional reaction. However, his salvation is not dependent upon his emotions, but on the truth of the message. Don’t trust your emotions until you have examined and compared the message you heard, to the apostles’ message. Once you are certain of the truth of the message, respond as the truth directs you. Those in Acts 2 who heard Peter’s words, were told to respond in repentance and baptism (cf. v. 38). Those who “gladly received” Peter’s words did this (cf. v. 41). Make your calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10). Do not trust your emotions as proof of your salvation; base it upon the truthfulness of the message. Remember Jesus’ words, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48).  

“WHY CAN’T WE AGREE TO DISAGREE?”

 

There are many lessons to be learned from the life of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. His reign is recorded in 2 Chronicles 17-20. At the time of his reign, God’s people were divided into two kingdoms. The larger northern kingdom of Israel had ceased following the law of Moses. Although they were still religious, God rejected their idolatrous worship because it was patterned after the “sins of Jeroboam”, which he had introduced at the beginning of the division between the two kingdoms (cf. 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 11:13-17). The smaller southern kingdom of Judah failed to learn from Israel’s idolatry and eventually “walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.” (2 Kings 17:19). The ultimate end of both kingdoms was captivity (2 Kings 17:7-23).

During the co-existence of these two kingdoms, they remained separated chiefly because of these differences in their worship. However, during Jehoshaphat’s reign, an alliance was formed between Israel and Judah. Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, had been given in marriage to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Chronicles 21:6). This alliance was rebuked by Hanani the seer (2 Chronicles 19:2). It was during this time of alliance that the wicked king Ahab of Israel sought to reclaim Ramoth-gilead from Syria and solicited help from Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat sought counsel from a prophet of God before doing so. Ahab had already received the ‘go-ahead’ from 400 of his prophets, but Jehoshaphat wanted a prophet of God to be heard. Ahab mentioned that there was one such prophet: Micaiah. The messenger who was sent to bring Micaiah to the kings spoke these words to him: “Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.” (2 Chronicles 18:12). Micaiah replied, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” (2 Chronicles 18:13). Ahab had dealt with Micaiah before. He told Jehoshaphat, “I hate him; for he never prophesieth good concerning me, but always evil…” (2 Chronicles 18:7). Sure enough, Micaiah prophesied doom for Ahab and Israel. There are many valuable lessons to learn from this. One lesson is that “agreeing to disagree” will never work.

Truth and error can never be in harmony. They are opposed by their very nature. The failure with the mindset of ‘agreeing to disagree’ as it relates to the positions of truth and error is that error is not required to change. For Micaiah, this meant that he would have to acknowledge these errors. Such is clearly condemned of God (cf. Galatians 1:8-9; 2 John 1:9-11). Jesus stated that every divided house falls even if it is Satan’s (cf. Luke 11:17-18). Micaiah couldn’t speak favorably of Ahab because Ahab had forsaken Jehovah (cf. 1 Kings 16:30-33; 18:18). ‘Agreeing to disagree’ would have brought condemnation upon Micaiah as well as Ahab. The same would have been true for Caleb, Joshua, and the other ten spies (cf. Numbers 13-14); and for Elijah and the 850 prophets of Baal (cf. 1 Kings 18). It was a ‘divided house’. As Jehu would say to Jehoshaphat, “Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate Jehovah?” (2 Chronicles 19:2). When those proclaiming messages of truth and error agree to co-exist, both the proclaimers and their converts will “fall into a pit.” (cf. Luke 6:39). Works of darkness must be reproved, not fellowshipped (Ephesians 5:11).

The same fate will come to anyone who lives with a spirit of compromise. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24). As the prophet Azariah had stated, “Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” (2 Chronicles 15:2).

God does not send man conflicting messages. There is truth and there is error (1 John 4:6); there is THE gospel and ANOTHER gospel (Galatians 1:6-9); there is sound doctrine and fables (2 Timothy 4:4). They stand in opposition to each other. Fellowship between them is impossible (2 Corinthians 6:14, “…what communion hath light with darkness?”). The Lord made it clear through the pen of Paul the apostle of His people’s relationship to Him and their responsibility to those who walk contrary to His will: “for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18).

“PERFECTION”

 

“If thou wouldest be PERFECT...” – Matthew 19:21 (ASV)

PERFECT is one of those words often misunderstood by many honest, God-fearing people as meaning a state of sinlessness. This misunderstanding can be attributed in part to the continued teaching of John Calvin’s theology.

In AN INTRODUCTION TO CALVINISM, Gene Taylor wrote: The central idea of Calvinism is the sovereignty of God. “The one rock upon which Calvinism builds is that of the absolute and unlimited sovereignty of the eternal and self-existent Jehovah.” (Ben A. Warburton, Calvinism, p. 169) Calvin did not discover the sovereignty of God. He isolated it as idea. His isolation of it is the problem. He exalted the sovereignty of God to the exclusion of other truths of Scripture. All of the five points of Calvinism flow from this basic premise. “These other doctrines are an expression of this one central theme. Thus if God is absolutely sovereign—the Alpha and Omega—then it follows that salvation depends entirely on him and not on man.” (Edwin H. Palmer, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 74).

Each person needs to understand whether it is sin or the penalty for sin (i.e., death) that is inherited from Adam. In answer, consider Paul’s words: “Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men…death reigned…” (Romans 5:12, 17). A person becomes a sinner when he violates God’s law not when he is born. (cf. 1 John 3:4). The grave consequence of Calvinism is the false sense of justification it gives to those living a lifestyle condemned by God: fulfilling the lusts of the flesh (cf. Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 4:17-23; 1 Peter 4:3-6).

Godliness is clearly a choice of man (cf. Colossians 3:1-10, “put off…put on…”). Repentance is not easy. While it involves making a choice to serve a new master, it also calls upon man to make a self-sacrifice: die to his own sins. “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.” (Romans 6:15-18).

What possible motivation could be strong enough to empower a person to give up pursuing happiness and enjoyment as he deems best for himself and others? Nothing other than the promise of a greater life from a being who has the power to both create and sustain life.  (cf. Psalm 18:15; 33:6; Acts 17:25).  Who or what is powerful enough to cause a person to acknowledge the failings of his own way of thinking (cf. Proverbs 14:12; Jeremiah 10:23)? Only a being who possesses a wisdom that man cannot know apart from God. “Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living…God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.” (Job 28:20-21a, 23).

God declared through the prophet Isaiah, “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). The apostle Paul declared that God, “giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.” (Romans 4:17). All this power resides in God’s word. What He declares comes to pass (Isaiah 55:11). So, when Jesus spoke to the young ruler in Matthew 19:21 about achieving perfection, it would happen, because God declared it. Let us briefly note some facts about this perfection of which Jesus spoke.

~ It was to obtain eternal life – He asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (v. 16).

~ It (eternal life) needed to be desired above all his other desires (his possessions—v. 22) – Jesus told him, “If thou wouldest be perfect…” (v. 21).

~ It involved respect for Jesus’ authority. Jesus told him, “…go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” (v. 21).

Eternal life is the equivalent of perfection in this text. Jesus told him how it is possible. It requires self-denial and discipleship in this life. Discipleship involves a cleansing from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1). It is with a view to godly maturity (cf. Philippians 3:12-15; Ephesians 4:11-13).

This is seen from v. 22, “But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sorrowful; for he was one that had great possessions.” This perfection (eternal life) will be revealed at Judgment. It is reserved for all who exercise faith in Jesus’ words (cf. 1 Peter 1:4-5).