June 4th 2023
You Cannot Take Any “Thing” With You When You Go To Your Great Award!
Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Many people dismiss the Bible as just being a book that some men wrote a long time ago, and thus, they do not consider it as something important that should affect how they should live. Saul AKA Paul professed to have had the Gospel etched into his brain when he met Jesus Christ on that road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-9:25)! Unless you have an encounter with Jesus Christ it will likely never be revealed to you that the Bible is the Word of God. When you come to believe that the true story of how and why Jesus Christ created the universe is contained ONLY in the Bible you will not be completely sold out to being a professing Christian!
As Paul wrote in the selected verses, “the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.” It is unlikely that you have been or ever will be knocked down temporarily blinded and have the Bible accounts etched into your brain! However, you can study the Bible, and read the accounts written for us by men God directed what He wanted known by mankind! Are you availing yourself of this opportunity that God has supplied, as it is still legal to read the Bible in your own home in this country! So far, it is only illegal for any of us to read it in any governmentally controlled public schools or colleges or universities. Most Christian schools will still allow their students to have a Bible and to read it during school operational hours!
Paul wrote about the revelation he received by force from Jesus Christ, but most of us reading this today have more likely taken for granted that Jesus is our Savior and we have come to believe that our salvation is assured, because of what Jesus did on that cross to free us from our sins. Paul tells us that our temptations are normal and thus forgivable. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Did you catch that second part of what Paul wrote here? So, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” When we are tempted God “will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” What a wonderful thought that is about God wanting us to be successful in avoiding temptation.
Jesus mentions temptation when He taught His disciples to pray what we now call The Lord’s Prayer. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: "‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’" (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus allows Satan to roam this earth and tempt people, as we know, Satan tempted Jesus immediately after He was baptized! Some people believe God would not lead us into temptation! Did God the Father, allow or lead, Jesus to be tempted by Satan?
Take note that when Jesus was tempted, Satan offered Jesus the world if He would bow down and adore Satan. Jesus quoted passages from the Bible that was available at that time to squelch the promises Satan made Jesus used the Bible as His way out of the temptations of Satan. We now have the whole Bible, which of course, Jesus had not yet fulfilled the perfect sacrifice necessary to allow forgiveness of sins AKA the New Testament! We are told we will be tempted by Satan and his demons in this cursed world. We are also told that we will be directed by the Holy Spirit in this lifetime once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
John wrote about how we can recognize the change in people once they have been saved by grace. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:8-9). In this world we must still contend with our sinful nature that all of mankind inherited from the first sin AKA The Fall of Man. Therefore, perfection is just out of our reach in this cursed world. At least that seems to be the most viable excuse for the saved to still sin!
Let us finish this commentary with a parable from Jesus about loving this world more than you love God. Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."’
"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God." (Luke 12:15-21 ).
You cannot take any “thing” with you when you go to your great award!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Many people dismiss the Bible as just being a book that some men wrote a long time ago, and thus, they do not consider it as something important that should affect how they should live. Saul AKA Paul professed to have had the Gospel etched into his brain when he met Jesus Christ on that road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-9:25)! Unless you have an encounter with Jesus Christ it will likely never be revealed to you that the Bible is the Word of God. When you come to believe that the true story of how and why Jesus Christ created the universe is contained ONLY in the Bible you will not be completely sold out to being a professing Christian!
As Paul wrote in the selected verses, “the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.” It is unlikely that you have been or ever will be knocked down temporarily blinded and have the Bible accounts etched into your brain! However, you can study the Bible, and read the accounts written for us by men God directed what He wanted known by mankind! Are you availing yourself of this opportunity that God has supplied, as it is still legal to read the Bible in your own home in this country! So far, it is only illegal for any of us to read it in any governmentally controlled public schools or colleges or universities. Most Christian schools will still allow their students to have a Bible and to read it during school operational hours!
Paul wrote about the revelation he received by force from Jesus Christ, but most of us reading this today have more likely taken for granted that Jesus is our Savior and we have come to believe that our salvation is assured, because of what Jesus did on that cross to free us from our sins. Paul tells us that our temptations are normal and thus forgivable. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Did you catch that second part of what Paul wrote here? So, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” When we are tempted God “will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” What a wonderful thought that is about God wanting us to be successful in avoiding temptation.
Jesus mentions temptation when He taught His disciples to pray what we now call The Lord’s Prayer. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: "‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’" (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus allows Satan to roam this earth and tempt people, as we know, Satan tempted Jesus immediately after He was baptized! Some people believe God would not lead us into temptation! Did God the Father, allow or lead, Jesus to be tempted by Satan?
Take note that when Jesus was tempted, Satan offered Jesus the world if He would bow down and adore Satan. Jesus quoted passages from the Bible that was available at that time to squelch the promises Satan made Jesus used the Bible as His way out of the temptations of Satan. We now have the whole Bible, which of course, Jesus had not yet fulfilled the perfect sacrifice necessary to allow forgiveness of sins AKA the New Testament! We are told we will be tempted by Satan and his demons in this cursed world. We are also told that we will be directed by the Holy Spirit in this lifetime once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
John wrote about how we can recognize the change in people once they have been saved by grace. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:8-9). In this world we must still contend with our sinful nature that all of mankind inherited from the first sin AKA The Fall of Man. Therefore, perfection is just out of our reach in this cursed world. At least that seems to be the most viable excuse for the saved to still sin!
Let us finish this commentary with a parable from Jesus about loving this world more than you love God. Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."’
"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God." (Luke 12:15-21 ).
You cannot take any “thing” with you when you go to your great award!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak