August 16th 2020
Are You Growing Up Into Jesus?
John 5:46-47 (NIV)
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
Here Jesus is staking His own reputation and authority on the inerrancy of Moses’ writings as supplied to us in the Old Testament. This is the only Bible that existed when Jesus was walking on this earth as a member of mankind! If Jesus believed the Bible was correct and accurate in His day, why would anyone doubt it today? Do you believe what Jesus said when He walked on this earth? Could it be that Jesus was in error, or that He just did not know what He was talking about in the Word of God? Many Christians today seem to think that even what Jesus says is questionable as they have taken the ideas of mankind to be more believable than God’s Word. There is no way anyone could come to believe in the theory of evolution over what the Bible plainly teaches. What Jesus said next should be very alarming to any Christian who does not believe what the Bible tells us plainly! Jesus said, “since you do not believe what he (Moses) wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
As you can see we need to understand, and believe what the Old Testament portion of the Bible teaches, as Jesus did, else you cannot believe or accept what the New Testament supplies as the basis for our understanding the whole Bible. The whole Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus Christ believed it when He walked this earth and lived, died, and rose from the dead, to give/live for us the New Testament. Once when Jesus was questioned about men being allowed to divorce their wife, He quoted Moses, and expounded on meaning of marriage as God intended it to be.
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you?" he replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:2-9). Note first that Jesus asked what Moses had told them about divorce. Next, Jesus says why Moses gave in to their request, "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law." It seems apparent that Moses knew that the Jews would still divorce their wives, although this was not God’s way to handle this problem.
From this incident we can see that Jesus did not believe that marriage is a concept that mankind instituted but it was created by God from the very beginning of time on this earth. Marriage is the union of one man to one woman for life. This was God’s plan for mankind from the start of this earth. We can see that from this account that Jesus believed the earth is only thousands of years old, and thus, there is not sufficient time for evolution to occur. This is attested to by what Jesus said, “at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female”. If, as Jesus says here “at the beginning of creation” Adam and Eve were created as “male and female” then mankind did not evolve from some form of animal! Mankind has always been male and female because that is how God planned it to be!
This also means that God’s plan calls for marriage to only be one man and one woman, for life, and that this uniting is blessed by God to be the only formation of a family unit. Marriage of a man to another man, or of a woman to another woman, or of multiple people, should not be expected to be blessed by God. Such joining is against God’s plan as described in our Bible. Such uniting is considered by God to be against His designed plan for mankind and is thus considered by God to be a sin. Since all members of mankind will commit sins during their live, thus is not a worse sin, as all sin is a violation of God’s plan for mankind. Therefore, we as followers of Jesus are expected to love sinners, as we are all sinners, and thus fall short of the glory of God. If you chose to only love people who are sinless, then there is no one left to love, because of the Fall of Man, we all have inherited a sinful nature, and in God’s sight we are all destined for hell when we die.
However, do not give up yet, as Isaiah prophesied that a Savior was coming who would make us all right with God, if we accepted His plan of salvation, and followed Him. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5). Here it is the gift of grace, which was planned by God as soon as Adam committed that first sin that would separate us from God and heaven. Jesus on that cross took great physical punishment to offer His suffering to cover over our sins, thus giving us freedom from worrying about our sinful nature.
God sent John the Baptist to tell the Good News that a Savior was coming who would release us from our sinful nature, and pave the Way for us to go to heaven and be with God when we die to this mortal lifetime. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:1-2). John told mankind about this coming Savior, and when He came all those who repent of their sin would be saved. But what did John mean by saying, “the kingdom of heaven is near!” Just think about it, as soon as you accept Jesus offer of salvation, you are guaranteed to go to heaven when you die. However, even more eminent is the fact that you are immediately changed from a mortal being with an immortal soul that is destined for hell, which is now destined for heaven. This change results when your soul was cleansed of its sinful nature by being Born Again!
Is this story too simple for you to accept as the truth? Well, maybe you are trying to avoid being kind of childish in your thinking, and there are those who have told you it is not true, Or it is too easy, as they believe you must do something more to gain your salvation. You must do more good things than bad things to balance the fictitious scale of life to work out your salvation. This is what many world religions teach! Remember, Jesus told us, His disciples, we must believe what He taught, not what your earthly education may be trying to teach you. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14). You are a child “of God” once you accept the salvation Jesus came into this world to earn by His suffering and death. As Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15). Are you growing up into Jesus?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 5:46-47 (NIV)
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
Here Jesus is staking His own reputation and authority on the inerrancy of Moses’ writings as supplied to us in the Old Testament. This is the only Bible that existed when Jesus was walking on this earth as a member of mankind! If Jesus believed the Bible was correct and accurate in His day, why would anyone doubt it today? Do you believe what Jesus said when He walked on this earth? Could it be that Jesus was in error, or that He just did not know what He was talking about in the Word of God? Many Christians today seem to think that even what Jesus says is questionable as they have taken the ideas of mankind to be more believable than God’s Word. There is no way anyone could come to believe in the theory of evolution over what the Bible plainly teaches. What Jesus said next should be very alarming to any Christian who does not believe what the Bible tells us plainly! Jesus said, “since you do not believe what he (Moses) wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
As you can see we need to understand, and believe what the Old Testament portion of the Bible teaches, as Jesus did, else you cannot believe or accept what the New Testament supplies as the basis for our understanding the whole Bible. The whole Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus Christ believed it when He walked this earth and lived, died, and rose from the dead, to give/live for us the New Testament. Once when Jesus was questioned about men being allowed to divorce their wife, He quoted Moses, and expounded on meaning of marriage as God intended it to be.
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you?" he replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:2-9). Note first that Jesus asked what Moses had told them about divorce. Next, Jesus says why Moses gave in to their request, "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law." It seems apparent that Moses knew that the Jews would still divorce their wives, although this was not God’s way to handle this problem.
From this incident we can see that Jesus did not believe that marriage is a concept that mankind instituted but it was created by God from the very beginning of time on this earth. Marriage is the union of one man to one woman for life. This was God’s plan for mankind from the start of this earth. We can see that from this account that Jesus believed the earth is only thousands of years old, and thus, there is not sufficient time for evolution to occur. This is attested to by what Jesus said, “at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female”. If, as Jesus says here “at the beginning of creation” Adam and Eve were created as “male and female” then mankind did not evolve from some form of animal! Mankind has always been male and female because that is how God planned it to be!
This also means that God’s plan calls for marriage to only be one man and one woman, for life, and that this uniting is blessed by God to be the only formation of a family unit. Marriage of a man to another man, or of a woman to another woman, or of multiple people, should not be expected to be blessed by God. Such joining is against God’s plan as described in our Bible. Such uniting is considered by God to be against His designed plan for mankind and is thus considered by God to be a sin. Since all members of mankind will commit sins during their live, thus is not a worse sin, as all sin is a violation of God’s plan for mankind. Therefore, we as followers of Jesus are expected to love sinners, as we are all sinners, and thus fall short of the glory of God. If you chose to only love people who are sinless, then there is no one left to love, because of the Fall of Man, we all have inherited a sinful nature, and in God’s sight we are all destined for hell when we die.
However, do not give up yet, as Isaiah prophesied that a Savior was coming who would make us all right with God, if we accepted His plan of salvation, and followed Him. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5). Here it is the gift of grace, which was planned by God as soon as Adam committed that first sin that would separate us from God and heaven. Jesus on that cross took great physical punishment to offer His suffering to cover over our sins, thus giving us freedom from worrying about our sinful nature.
God sent John the Baptist to tell the Good News that a Savior was coming who would release us from our sinful nature, and pave the Way for us to go to heaven and be with God when we die to this mortal lifetime. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:1-2). John told mankind about this coming Savior, and when He came all those who repent of their sin would be saved. But what did John mean by saying, “the kingdom of heaven is near!” Just think about it, as soon as you accept Jesus offer of salvation, you are guaranteed to go to heaven when you die. However, even more eminent is the fact that you are immediately changed from a mortal being with an immortal soul that is destined for hell, which is now destined for heaven. This change results when your soul was cleansed of its sinful nature by being Born Again!
Is this story too simple for you to accept as the truth? Well, maybe you are trying to avoid being kind of childish in your thinking, and there are those who have told you it is not true, Or it is too easy, as they believe you must do something more to gain your salvation. You must do more good things than bad things to balance the fictitious scale of life to work out your salvation. This is what many world religions teach! Remember, Jesus told us, His disciples, we must believe what He taught, not what your earthly education may be trying to teach you. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14). You are a child “of God” once you accept the salvation Jesus came into this world to earn by His suffering and death. As Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15). Are you growing up into Jesus?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak