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• Obedience of Faith and Justification by Faith–Opposing Doctrines?

  ster WongMixxMySpaceNetvouzNewsvineoneviewOnlyWirePlugIMPropellerRedditSegnaloShoutwireSimpySlashdotSurphaceSphinnSpurlSquidooStumbleUponTechnoratiThisNextTwitterWebrideWindows LiveYahoo!Email This to a Friend  Link HTML:  Permalink:  If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.Powered by Bookmarkify™ More »The book of Romans begins and ends talking about the “obedience of faith” …

• Faith, Works, and Baptism

  Many are the men and women who believe that since the Bible teaches justification by faith (Rom. 5:1) and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5) that baptism is excluded as an act essential to salvation despite many passages that teach the contrary (Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21, Titus 3:5, Eph. 5:26, 1 Cor. 12:13 compared with Eph. 5:23, John 3:5, Gal. 3:26-27, etc.).  They are greatly mistaken. In the first place the Bible clearly teaches that …

• Bible Contradictions on Salvation?

  If we believe the Bible is the word of God why do we often interpret it in a way that makes it contradict itself?  Truth is harmonious or else it’s not truth and cannot be.  Jesus says of God’s word, “your word is truth.” (John 17:17)  It does not oppose itself when properly interpreted. Martin Luther was persuaded he had found contradiction in the Bible between what Paul wrote in Romans about salvation being by faith ver…

• The Kind of Faith in God That Destroys

  There is a faith, a so called Christian faith, which destroys.  Those who hold such a faith, while sincere, do not understand faith from a scriptural point of view.  Faith is all too often defined as “what I believe.”  There is more to saving faith than just believing in Jesus, believing he is the Son of God. If faith alone, defined as what one believes, could save by itself then even the demons could be saved for James says, “…

• Faith is Not Just What You Believe

  d drive on when there appears to be no longer reason nor common sense in doing so. Much is made about the faith people have.  What I have observed over the years is that many who speak of their faith seem to have a faith that by all outward appearances has driven them to do nothing.  It is as dead as a door nail by all outward measurements.  Many who talk about their personal faith cannot even make it out to worship once a week but they are saved…

• Abraham’s Faith (Faith Accounted for Righteousness)

  Every person who truly believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is interested in having what we might term “saving faith.”  The Bible could not be any clearer than it is on our need for such faith.  Paul tells the Ephesian Christians, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” (Eph. 2:8 NKJV)  To the Christians at Rome he speaks of them “having been justified by faith” (Rom. 5:1 NKJV) and then the…

• The Cleansing of the Church at Ephesus

  Many believe the church at Ephesus (the church being the membership) was cleansed from sin by faith based on the teachings of their denomination and the famous Ephesian passage found in chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (NAS)  Many, many passages of the New Testament teach that salvation is a matter of …

• Faith in the New Testament–Different Meanings

  …omplete trust and (4) a system of religious beliefs. I then went to another book I have entitled An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine.  This is a standard work, a word definition book quite well known by Bible students.  This book allows you to take the English word found in your King James Bible, look it up in this dictionary, and it will give you the Greek word or words behind the English, and give you the meaning of th…

• He Feared

  ross the Lake of Gennesareth while he dismissed the crowd.  Having accomplished that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray and then late in the night took out across the lake walking on the water with the intention of passing by the boat unnoticed.  The sea was rough that night with a wind beating against the boat making progress slow and probably keeping about all of them awake and alert. The disciples saw what they took to be a ghost walking ac…

• When did Obedience Become Legalism?

  is acceptable conduct and behavior. To condemn sin as did John the Baptist, Paul, and Jesus is today seen to be unloving, intolerant, and judgmental, and thus unchristian in the minds of many.  Yet, in the New Testament Paul, by the Holy Spirit, commanded Timothy to reprove and rebuke (2 Tim. 4:2 NAS) and not go along with or to hold his silence in the presence of men sinning.  Titus was told not only to rebuke but to do so sharply (Titus 2:13, s…

• Faith and Baptism in Paul’s Preaching

  How does a person become a Christian?  What does it take to make a person a Christian (a saved individual)?  Over the years there has been an enormous amount of debate over this very question.  It is a question that can only be resolved by seeing what the Holy Spirit inspired apostles preached, taught, and practiced as they went out into the world preaching the gospel.  In this article I want to take a look at the apostle Paul and what he taught…

• Paul’s Conversion (Justified by Faith)

  to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Cor. 15:9 NKJV)  He said as all Christians must say, “by the grace of God I am what I am.” (1 Cor. 15:10 NKJV)  We must all say I am saved by the grace of God; I am what I am (assuming we are doing our very best to be what God would have us to be) by the grace of God.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Eph. 2:8 NKJV) Thus far we hav…

• Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of God–the Implications

  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17 NKJV)  On its surface this proclamation by Paul is very simple and easy to understand and yet the failure to grasp its implications has brought much division and strife among those who believe Jesus is the Son of God.  Faith and opinion are mixed and it seems no one is able to separate the two.  It appears to the casual observer that one man’s faith is another man’s op…

• The Faith of Enoch

  The Bible tells us that, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” (Heb. 11:5 NAS)  Enoch and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) were the only two men to ever be born and not die a physical death.  Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven after a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated him from …

• Abuse of the Old Testament

  There are many things practiced in the name of Christianity today that have no biblical basis to be found in the law of Christ.  The Old Testament is, at times, appealed to as the source of authority.  Does the Old Testament have the same authority for Christians today as the New Testament?  How should Christians today relate to and handle the Old Testament scriptures?  These are questions we all ought to be interested in for we are saved by tru…

• Does God Really Care?

  Over the course of time just about all of us are confronted with the reality of suffering and abuse not just on newscasts but in our own personal world where we live day by day and experience life up close.  Why are small precious children abused?  Why do many of them from all outward appearances not have a chance from the get go due to the circumstances they were born into?  Why do old people often get in such horrible conditions as you find th…

• Is Holy Spirit Baptism The Baptism That Saves?

  eads the gospels the very first mention of the subject of baptism comes with the introduction of John the Baptist.  Mark says, “Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”  (Mark 1:5 NKJV)  We know Jesus when baptized “came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God desc…

• Abel’s Sacrifice by Faith versus Cain’s Sacrifice

  Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, is the first person listed among many in Hebrews chapter 11 commended by the Holy Spirit for their faith.  Of Abel it is said, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” (Heb. 11:4 NKJV)  Men have long been troubled by this passage trying to figure ou…

• Are Works Essential for Christian Salvation?

  One of the great dangers we all face in Bible study is that of taking a particular passage, isolating it from all the rest of the scriptures, and make it teach a doctrine it was never meant to teach.  The question asked in the title of this article, are works essential for Christian salvation, is easily answered by taking one such passage and doing exactly that.  The passage is Eph. 2:8-9 which reads, “For by grace you have been saved thro…

• A New Creation in Christ

  longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of  His resurrection, knowing this, th…

• Faith

  Paul’s Conversion–Justified by Faith Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of God–the Implications Who is the Believer in John 3:16? What is it a Man Must Believe in Order to be Saved? Faith is Not Just What You Believe Obedience of Faith and Justification by Faith–Opposing Doctrines? Disobedience to Jesus The Faithfulness of Jesus to God the Father I Can Do All Things Through Christ If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implicatio…

• Christian Circumcision

  en my covenant.” (v. 14 NKJV) Those who were not fleshly descendants of Abraham were not totally excluded from having a spiritual relationship with God among the Jews.  They could become what we call proselytes as shown by Exodus 12:48, “And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For n…

• Faith, Manna, and Grumbling Against God

  gan at the Red Sea (if not before for an argument can be made that it began even before the first plague based on Ex. 6:9).  At the Red Sea the Holy Spirit said through the Psalmist that the children of Israel “rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.” (Psa. 106:7 NASB)  They looked off into the distance and saw Pharaoh’s army, became terrified fearing for their lives, and said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in …

• Ways into Christ–How Many Ways Are There?

  and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it.” (Matt. 7:14 NKJV) Salvation is found only in Christ.  “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NKJV)  Jesus said he was “the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NKJV)  Again, he says, “I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he…

• Disobedience to Jesus

  Disobedience to Jesus is far more widespread among people who call themselves Christians than what is generally recognized to be the case.  Over the years the doctrine that man is saved by grace through faith alone without any kind of works has become so prevalent in men’s thinking that it seems it has driven out of men’s lives the sense of any kind of responsibility to obey God other than mentally assenting to the son ship of Jesus….

• For By Grace You Have Been Saved Through Faith Alone

  No, Eph. 2:8-9 does not read that way but that is the way most seem to want to read it.  Let me quote the verses for you from the New King James version. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” There is no believer in his right mind who would discount the grace of God in man’s salvation.  You do not believe you deserve to be sav…

• I Can Do All Things Through Christ

  The passage written by the apostle Paul and found in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (NKJV) is a verse I became very familiar with when our young son entered kindergarten many years ago.  Tears and fear is what we had on a regular basis that first year.  It tears a Dad and Mom’s heart out to send them off into what is for them the dark terrifying unknown when as they leave the house it is all they can d…

• The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept

  u, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’” (Luke 19:41-44 NKJV) So, the question arises, answered by the quote from Jesus above, does great zeal for God overcome a lack of knowledge of God’s will–is zeal greater than truth?  To ask is to answer. But a point to be emphasized in addition to that is this.  That …

• Peter’s Preaching and the Apostle’s Preaching

  It is not uncommon to hear people express doubts about the harmony of the preaching and teaching found in the New Testament often doing so by making the claim that the various writers of the New Testament differed in what they taught.  Often those who make such claims will pit Paul against James or Peter against Paul. The truth is the scriptures do not belong to Paul, or James, or Peter, or to any other writer even if their name happens to be at…

• Misunderstanding the Grace of God

  Sometime back I had an article rejected that I had submitted to an article directory, a site that says it is a Christian article directory.  It was a short article entitled “Receiving the Gospel” which, if you like, you can find on this site and read for yourself.  It was deemed to be unfit for a Christian article directory.  The editor of the directory made it clear to me in an e-mail that he believed man was saved by grace without …

• Gospel Obedience at Corinth

  Did Paul preach the same gospel at Corinth that he taught elsewhere?  Everywhere else he taught, as part of the gospel, baptism for the remission of sins.  One can go to Acts 16 and read two accounts, in the same chapter, of conversions made by Paul–Lydia and the Philippian jailer–in which in both instances those being converted were baptized.  Paul himself, in his conversion, was baptized.  You may recall the words of Ananias to him…

• Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives

  How God gives to men is not only an interesting study but also one of upmost importance as it relates to our salvation, a salvation which is clearly set forth in the scriptures as being a free gift of God to man.  “Being justified freely by is grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24 NKJV)  It is by grace through faith that we are saved and not by works. (Eph. 2:8-9)  Salvation is specifically said to be “the gift of God…

• Cornelius’ Conversion–Final Thoughts

  he in God.” (1 John 4:15 NKJV)  In a broader context, but still in the book of 1 John, it is said if we keep his word we abide in him and he in us. (1 John 2:5, 1 John 3:24)  Thus we have a series of items being listed by which we can measure whether or not we are in a faithful relationship with God. The passage (1 John 4:13) is not talking about initial obedience to God (gospel obedience) for there can be no obedience to what is thrust up…

• A Good and Pure Conscience

  science but often things we know we should have done in helping others out but which we let slide and failed to do when we knew we should have stepped in and acted. Of course, we have to remember that having a good conscience by itself does not mean we are right with God.  If so in ages past those who worshipped idols, offered human sacrifice, and even cannibals in the distant jungles of Africa and Southeast Asia were justified.  Their cultures s…

• How Was Noah Saved Through Water?

  th of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (NKJV) How was Noah and his family saved through water?  What was he saved from?  What is an antitype?  Was he saved by grace or by works (he did build the ark)?  There are a lot of questions.  Let us start from the beginning. We are all aware of the story of how the flood came about.  After God made man in due time mankind came to be grea…

• What Must a Man Believe to be Saved by the Gospel?

  That the gospel of Christ must be believed (as well as obeyed) in order to receive Christian salvation is made abundantly clear by the apostle Paul in one of the best known passages found in the Bible–Rom. 1:16:  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16 NAS)  It thus becomes essential that we learn what it is that …

• Everlasting Life–The Believer of John 3:16

  now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25 NKJV)  The dead spoken of here are not the physically dead but the spiritually dead and the meaning is not that just by hearing Jesus speak one would be saved but rather if you hear what he says and you believe it enough to act on it (obey it) you will live.  No man has truly heard Jesus who does not believe what he says enough to take him…

• Saved by Faith or Saved by Holy Spirit Baptism–Which Is It?

  Is a man saved by faith or saved by Holy Spirit baptism?  I personally do not believe either but there are many advocates of one or the other.  (Yes, I believe faith is essential but just not that it is the final step to salvation.) There are a number of people in what is commonly called the Christian community who are thoroughly convinced that one is saved by Holy Spirit baptism.  I do not believe they are in the majority but they are out ther…

• Instrumental Music in Christian Worship–Is it God’s Will?

  lic Church came to accept it the Greek Catholic Church never did although that may now be changing some. This historical fact is immensely important.  It proves the introduction of instrumental music into the worship was done by man rather than God.  If of God rather than man why did they not use the instrument from the beginning rather than wait hundreds of years? If it was of man who gave man the authority to bring it into the worship?  Can one…

• Demas Has Forsaken Me

  The man by the name of Demas is only mentioned in the Bible three times, all three times by the apostle Paul.  Demas was for a time a fellow traveler and fellow worker with Paul.  He is mentioned in the closing of the book of Colossians, a book written around AD 60, as one who with Paul and others sent their greetings to the church at Closse (Col. 4:14). Again in the book of Philemon in verse 23 and 24 he along with Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, …

• Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:48)

  ou and I to eat of this bread, keeping in mind the language is figurative and spiritual, means simply that a man must be willing to take advantage of Christ’s death on the cross for the remission of man’s sins and by faith and obedience to the gospel surrender his life to Christ. It means we allow ourselves by following after Christ to be remade in the image of Christ.  “But we all (speaking to Christians–DS), with unveile…

• Weak, Defiled, and Seared Consciences

  d yourself to do. Why is the one with a weak conscience easily led into defiling his conscience?  Paul indicates it can be because of the example of others who have strong consciences regarding the matter.  He is being taught by word and perhaps as well by the deeds of others that a matter is okay with God and others all seem to be convinced, all but himself.  He feels himself under peer pressure to go along even if no peer pressure is being brou…

• Resource Sites

  Here are some links to what I consider to be some great sites I highly recommend. Christian Courier  (This site is owned and run by Wayne Jackson who does the writing found on it.  I don’t know where you would go to find more scholarly Christian articles on the web.  The man does his homework which means he does extensive research before he starts writing.  All of this will be readily evident to you once you read an article or two of his. …

• Born Again At The Point Of Faith – John 1:12-13

  John 1:12-13 from the New American Standard Version:  “(12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name:  (13) who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will on man, but of God.” [verse numbers added by me for clarification—DS] Many believe that they are born again (become Christians) at the moment they come to believe in Jesus as t…

• Christianity and Multiculturalism

  held down and discriminated against.  The desire is to withdraw from the majority culture.  So what does the Bible have to say, if anything, on the topic? 1 Cor. 1:10 reads as follows:  “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (NKJV)  Here we h…

• Jesus Defines Repentance

  hinking. The giving over of the will to God is often called faith but God calls it repentance.  True, the giving over of the will is based on faith but is not faith itself but rather repentance.  We ought to call Bible things by Bible names as it allows us to reason more correctly. Reformation of life can also easily be misconstrued as repentance.  You can turn away from doing evil for various reasons.  Men quit adultery for fear their wife will …

• If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications

  Have miracles ceased?  They have if we are talking about the kind of miracles performed by Jesus, the apostles, and those possessed of spiritual gifts in New Testament times.  The purpose of those miracles was to confirm that the word spoken was from God himself.  Such confirmation was needed.  Put yourself in the shoes of those living back then.  Here one comes into your midst claiming to speak for God.  Is he delusional, a mad man?  Is he a ch…

• Work Out Your Own Salvation

  salm 15:2) if he is to abide in the tabernacle of the Lord according to the Psalmist. To say that a man is to work righteousness, which means only that he is to obey God’s commands, is a vast cry from saying that man is saved by works or that he is working his way to heaven or trying to get there by works apart from grace.  Man has his choice.  He can either work righteousness or he can work unrighteousness and he will do one or the other as ther…

• The Washing of Water by the Word–Baptism and Salvation

  Baptism is essential to salvation but there are many non-believers.  I want to deal with one passage today that teaches this but which is seldom used because the word baptize is not found in the passage.  The phrase used is “washing of water” as found in Eph. 5:25-27. Eph. 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,…

• Sin in the Desert–Testing God at Massah and Meribah

  says, in speaking to Moses, “Surely all the men who have seen my glory and my signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not listened to my voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned me see it.” (NASB) Men only test God, or attempt to, when they lack faith, when they do not believe.  When a student takes a t…

• If Baptism is Not Essential for Salvation

  kes Peter a slow learner for many years after his initial sermon on the Day of Pentecost he was still making the claim that “there is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism”  (1 Peter 3:21 NKJV).  If salvation is by faith alone, with baptism having nothing at all to do with it, one would almost have to say that Peter became a habitual false teacher with regards to the subject of baptism. (6)  If baptism is not essential for salvation…

• Israel’s Rebellion at the Red Sea

  The children of Israel that God sent Moses to bring out of Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land were a faithless group almost from the very beginning.  Their rebellion against God began before Mt. Sinai and even before the Red Sea crossing.  The Psalmist said, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of your mercies, but rebelled by the sea–the Red Sea.” (Psa. 106:7 NKJV)  It…

• One Church—A Thing Hard to Accept

  them, “They refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.  Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit.” (Zech. 7:11-12 NKJV)  It was not a matter of they couldn’t hear but rather that they wouldn’t hear. When Paul says the Gentiles “will hear it” (the reference being to the gospel)…

• Is Denominational Baptism Scriptural?

  There are many different baptisms being performed today by religious people–different methods and for different purposes.  However, the only baptism that I as an individual facing eternity ought to be concerned with is the baptism that Jesus spoke of when he said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16 NKJV) This is the baptism of the Great Commission when Jesus told the apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of a…

• The Parable of the Talents–the Sin of Fear

  The parable of the talents is found in Matthew 25:14-30 with an account that is similar in many respects in Luke 19:12-28 although there are differences.  Only the account given in Matthew is referred to, by men, as the parable of the talents but it is profitable to read Luke along with Matthew.  Differences aside both accounts seem to be teaching about the same lesson and one I have needed throughout my life. The account is too long to quote he…

• Deeper Spiritual Understanding–How do I Acquire It?

  es in the sense that they could tell you what they said.  Their problem was one of understanding them and making proper application but that was a result of heart failure. When you have developed your own religion as they had by the time of Jesus, an admixture of truth mixed in with manmade traditions that had the affect of law even to the extent of overriding the law of God (Mark 7:6-13), the heart ceases to be interested in anything that will d…

• The Need to Preach on Sin

  There is a great need to preach on sin today.  I am not at all sure that sin is any worse or more prevalent today than in generations gone by for one can go back in history and find unimaginable sin.  Human sacrifice, cannibalism, idol worship, all forms of sexual debauchery, witchcraft, mass murderers (think Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot), you name it and you can find it in the history of the sins of mankind.  History teaches us just how bad man…

• Be Faithful to the Lord (The Conversion of Lydia)

  ring place for prayer.  Lydia is one of the women assembled there.  The first mystery to some people is found in the statement in verse 14 where it is said that “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”  Well, how did he do that?  Did God take a kind of spiritual crow bar to her mind and heart and force conversion on her?  Did the Holy Spirit come upon her in some mysterious operation taking over her will an…

• Unhappy With the Church of Christ?

  ” (1 Cor. 11:22 NKJV) Later in 2 Cor. 12:20-21 when Paul was planning another trip to Corinth he writes to them saying, “For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall…

• How Does One Get Into the Church Christ Built?

  Not a single denominational church was built by Christ for he built his church, one and only, in the first century hundreds of years before any denominations came into existence.  The New Testament scriptures after the gospels and Acts chapter 2 all refer to the church as a then existing institution.  Paul wrote to various churches in some of his epistles.  Jesus in the book of Revelation instructs John to write concerning the 7 churches of Asia…

• Did Christ Rise From the Dead or is Faith Folly?

  is his Son, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world. The Bible itself teaches this very thing.  Speaking of Jesus the Bible says that he was, “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Rom. 1:4 NKJV) One does not need scientific proof to resolve this question.  In fact, it is one of the easiest questions to resolve of any that has ever come before man.  There is too muc…

• God’s Hardening of the Human Heart

  is to say God gives a command that a man does not want to receive and obey.  He (the man) refuses to do so.  The man thus hardens his own heart but there is a sense in which it could be said God hardened the man’s heart by giving the commandment.  The idea is that God’s word is the tool that God uses to harden the heart. We can see there is truth that words can harden hearts from our everyday conversations and simple observation.  Say…

• Fear God

  is perfect love that casts out fear, is not for all but only for a certain class of Christian–the totally dedicated and faithful one, the obedient one.  It is a goal to be sought after but also a goal that is obtainable by all if they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices in their life. The subject also needs to be looked at from another angle.  I know of no man who holds a position of authority whose authority will be respected and …

• Repentance–How Can I Be Sure?

  of the Areopagus in Athens, made this statement: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 NKJV) After his resurrection while meeting with his apostles Jesus said, “Thus it is written, and thus it …

• Lessons for the Church from Isaiah (Chapter 1)

  e to know him or understand him.  “The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.” (Isa. 1:3 NKJV)  Under the Law of Moses a child was born a Jew, a child of God, by physical birth.  He/she would have to grow into a knowledge of God and his will as they grew and matured and were taught.  Under the Christian dispensation one cannot become a child of God, a Christian, without first havi…

• Peter’s Second Gospel Sermon

  Most people who know anything at all about the Christian faith realize that Peter preached the first gospel sermon ever preached on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.  The second recorded sermon in the Christian dispensation of time is again a sermon preached by Peter as found in the next chapter in Acts–chapter 3.  That there was preaching being done between Peter’s first sermon and his second there is no doubt for the Bibl…

• Finding Truth in Divided Christendom

  you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” (John 14:24 NKJV)  John the Baptist was speaking of Jesus when he said, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” (John 3:34 NKJV) Jesus made other statements to this effect as follows:  “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority.” (John 14:10 NKJV)  “I speak to the world those…

• Moses, the Waters of Marah, and a Lesson for Today

  When the children of Israel left Egypt, led by Moses, the first major event one reads about in the book of Exodus after the Red Sea crossing is found in Exodus  15:22-26, the crisis at the waters of Marah.  I say crisis for that was how the children of Israel perceived it.  They had been traveling three days in the wilderness and had found no water to drink during that time. Was that a crisis?  It was when you consider how much water was require…

• Behold the Judge is Standing at the Door

  It is sometimes hard for Christians to grasp emotionally that they will be judged by Christ on the Day of Judgment.  So much has been made of the grace of God and God’s love that it is hard to come to grips with the idea of judgment but James in writing to Christians says, “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.  Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (James 5:9 NKJV)  That ought to be a sober…

• The Struggle to be a Spiritually Minded Man or Woman

  submit to God’s law.  But we might ask do we not live in a fleshly body?  Yes, we do, but God our creator put us here for a purpose and that purpose was not to live like the rest of the dumb animals of creation who live by instinct.  We were created with a nobler purpose in mind and with the idea of living eternally with God and not just for living a brief span of years on earth like a dog.  We are better than that. When God created man he …

• Christian Wars–A Misnomer

  Christians, God’s children, have for years taken a beating by those who make the claim that Christians have been responsible in part, at least, for religious wars that killed tens of thousands of people during the Crusades and in Europe itself during the Middle Ages.  There never was any truth to it and never will be. Just because a Catholic claims to be a Christian does not make him one.  Just because a Protestant makes the claim to be a …

• Are Paul’s Writings as Authoritative as Jesus’ Words?

  Many years ago as a young man I heard it said by a young lady of my own age that the apostle Paul just had a thing against women with the idea being that what he wrote on the subject of women had no authority but was merely the expression of personal prejudice on his part.  That young lady many years later became a preacher (?) within her denominational body contrary to Paul’s teaching on the subject in 1 Tim. 2:12. Over the course of the …

• Ashamed of Jesus and His Words

  t test comes, is it not true that too often, maybe most all of the time, we hold our silence and fail to speak on his behalf?  I think that is generally true. We do not speak because we do not want to be embarrassed or shamed by the world that ridicules faith in Jesus thus are more concerned about receiving honor from men rather than the honor that comes from God alone.  We do not speak because we do not want to contend earnestly for the faith (J…

• The Church as the Body of Christ–Which Means What?

  age who each in their individual spirits have submitted to Christ in both faith and obedience.  “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:9 NKJV)  “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14 NKJV)  “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body (the fleshly physical body we each possess–DS), you will live.” (Rom. 8:13 NKJV)  It is thus …

• What is it a Man Must Believe in Order to be Saved?

  e word of God the Father.  One must believe the truth, the word of God. To expand on this point in the parable of the soils we are told, “The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11 NKJV)  We are then told that those by the wayside “are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”  One must then believe the word of God to be saved.  One must conti…

• Jesus’ Baptism and You?

  nce for the remission of sins.”  We know that Jesus never sinned and when Jesus comes to John to be baptized John is hesitant.  In Matthew 3:14 we are told that, “John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’” (NKJV) Now note carefully how Jesus responds.  “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’  Then he allowed H…

• The Kingdom of God and the New Birth–A Matter of Timing

  me a king with a kingdom over which to rule?  When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus in John 3:3 and said to him, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” and then later in verse 5 expands on that by saying, “most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” was Jesus already a king with a kingdom?  Was he speaking of what already existed and spea…

• Faith Based On Deception–Gen. 37:31-33

  isunderstanding and yet be so strong that one is firmly convinced that the error he believes is the truth. Because of the evidence presented to him (misinformation) Jacob was certain his son Joseph was dead, killed as he said by “a wild beast”. (Gen 37:33 NAS) He was fed disinformation and with good reason, based on the information he was presented with, believed that which was false. Why would he disbelieve? Did he not get his inform…

• Non-Offensive Christianity

  y are tells them the Christian has judged his belief superior to their own.  That is offensive to them. If the Christian believes it is a violation of God’s law to live a life of fornication who is likely to be offended by that belief?  To ask is to answer—the fornicator, to those who see sex as a sort of human right married or not.  If the Christian was to speak up against living together outside of marriage how many friends do you think h…

• The Faithfulness of Jesus to God the Father

  sus was in the beginning with God and the Holy Spirit when the words were uttered “let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Gen. 1:26 NKJV, see also John 1:1-11) once Jesus entered the world, sent by God the Father (John 17:18), he became not only the Son of God but also the Son of Man and became subject to the Father.  Paul said, in speaking to the Corinthians, “I want you to know that the head of every man is …

• The Army of the Lord–the Church

  ion of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” (Heb. 10:27 NKJV) But, as I said, many are not ready for the combat.  In the parable of the soils the one unprepared for combat is the one represented by the stony places soil (describing the heart of man) where when the seed was sown (the word of God) it was received and sprouted and came up but “when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he (…

• Baptism

  …e New Testament say about the topic?  What did the early church after the apostles passing have to say on the subject?  Surely, there are some answers if we will accept them. Below you will find links to many articles written by me (Denny Smith) on the subject as well as audio sermons on the topic by a friend of mine–Waymon Swain.  I hope they help. The Blood of Jesus and Baptism Jesus’ Baptism and You If Baptism is not Essential for …

• He Went Away Grieved

  People came to Jesus while he was on earth for different reasons.  Some came because they felt he could provide them with the necessities of life.  After having fed the 5,000 the crowd intended to take him by force to make him king (John 6:15).  Jesus said to them, “You seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” (John 6:26 NKJV) Others sought after him that they might be healed of sickness and dis…

• Parable of the Tares–No Middle Ground

  The story of the parable of the tares is found in Matt. 13:24-30 and then explained by Jesus in verses 36-43.  I quote the parable as follows: “Another parable he put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.  So th…

• The Conversion of the Philippian Jailer

  21; (Acts 16:32 NAS)  A part, I might add, which they believed–believed and obeyed.   But, all of this raises other questions.  Why preach baptism to the jailer or anyone else?  Might it not be that Paul and Silas spoke by inspiration?  Might it not be that baptism is a part of the gospel to be believed and obeyed?  Might it not be that Peter speaking by inspiration in Acts 2:38 knew what he was talking about and that baptism is actually an…

• Christ and Baptism in Colossians

  The fact that baptism is essential to becoming a Christian and being saved is written on page after page in the New Testament despite being rejected by most who call themselves Christians.  I have never understood how something so clearly taught can so readily be rejected by so many other than through the power that tradition and religious heritage exerts on people. Error believed has the same faith affect upon a man or woman as truth believed a…

• Who Gets to Decide–God or the Church?

  on of Man.” (John 5:27 NAS) The law of Jesus cannot be found in a denominational body of men legislating doctrine who cannot even agree among themselves in many cases but have to take a vote.  Is God’s law decided by a majority vote? We know where we can find the law of Christ.  It is in the same place it has been for approximately 2,000 years but we are not content with just the New Testament.  I am reminded of the Sanhedrin of Jesus…

• Walk in Truth—the Joy of John the Apostle

  ians were who were more inclined to take literally the things written in the New Testament and strictly hold to those things.  We have attempted to take the God of the first century and bring him into the twenty-first century by a reinterpretation of much of scripture and done so in a way to make God more palatable to modern man, to make him appear less harsh.  We have taken the bite out of many of the commandments of God and told ourselves God w…

• The Blessing of Affliction and the Goodness of God

  our consideration.  He says, regarding the gospel, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” (1 Cor. 1:26 NKJV)  Yet, we know all are called by the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14) and that the gospel was to be preached to all men in all the world (Mark 16:15) thus what Paul is saying to us is that not many of that class of which he speaks will respond to the gospel.  The …

• Keep Your Heart With All Diligence

  nder Solomon wrote, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23 NKJV)  The TEV translates this in a way that makes it even clearer, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”  How true it is.  How many times in our life have we heard the words “if you think you can you can?”  Everything we do in life begins with a tiny thought that grows and matures.  A seed is sown in our hear…

• Repent–How Hard It Is To Do

  It is hard to repent, no doubt about it.  I remember the comment made by a well known preacher of the nineteenth century that the hardest thing there was to do was to get men to repent.  By contrast it was easy to get men to believe.  He considered his greatest failure was in convincing men to repent. He was not the first preacher to have that problem.  The Bible calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV).  Most Bible students b…

• Christ Did Not Send Paul to Baptize

  g it is unimportant and makes no difference to one’s salvation whether or not he/she is baptized?  It is the purpose of this article to show the folly of taking that kind of stance based on this scripture.  Let me begin by asking a question that must be answered if one is to take the position that baptism does not matter and that Paul was teaching that in this passage.  Here is the question–if it did not matter, if it has nothing to d…

• Bible Conversions

  In the book of Acts one finds the inspired apostles and evangelists going out into the world and preaching the gospel.  That statement in itself while true is misleading to a degree for if those who preached the gospel were inspired the preaching was in reality that of the Holy Spirit.  What was demanded of those being converted for salvation was being demanded not by Peter, Philip, or Paul but rather by the Holy Spirit himself. The conversion e…

• Mt. Sinai and the Day of Judgment

  What do the children of Israel coming to Mt. Sinai have to do with the Day of Judgment?  More than you might think.  The children of Israel reached Mt. Sinai in the third month after they left Egypt (Ex. 19:1-2).  They had had by this time many experiences and had seen God working actively on their behalf in miracle after miracle.  They had seen the plagues in Egypt from many of which they were spared.  They had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground…

• New Birth

  Born Again at the Point of Faith – John 1:12-13 Paul’s Conversion (Justified by Faith) What Does the Phrase “Born of Water and the Spirit” Mean? The Kingdom of God and The New Birth The New Birth and Water A New Creation in Christ The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Born Again When One Obeys the Gospel Things That Happen With Gospel Obedience Why I Am a Christian Keeping…

• Singing and Playing in Christian Worship

  sing alone.  They might have been bringing their instruments with them.  If so the historians are wrong for that is the very thing they say was not done.  Do the research yourself. The real problem, so you are not led astray by such reasoning, is that he states as fact what he cannot possibly know or prove.   He extrapolates (infers unknown data from known data) and says that because we use the word that way today they necessarily used it the sa…

• Though He Slay Me

  say today what is going on behind the scenes and out of sight? James talks about Job in James 5:11 where he says, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure.  You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” (NKJV)  We say, as I did, that James said this.  So he did.  However, these were truly the words of the Holy Spirit speaking through James about Job. Hundr…

• Must the Christian Keep the Sabbath?

  s.  Was the Law of Moses given to you and to me to obey and keep?  If you say yes it makes you a Jew, not a Christian.  A Christian lives under the law of Christ, not the Law of Moses.  It was given to a chosen people, chosen by racial descent through Abraham. In Deut. 5:1-3 Moses “called all Israel, and said to them:  ‘Hear, O Israel…the Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.  The Lord did not make this covenant with our fath…

• Why Men Do Not Believe

  ief held to with faith and ardor.” (The Merriam Webster Dictionary)  Those who do not believe in God believe in something and whatever that is becomes to them a form of religion.  For some it was communism in years gone by, for others Nazism.  The Bible even describes covetousness as being idolatry thus a God that is worshipped. We also learn from Paul’s case that truth is not dependent on my feelings about it. I may well be totally o…

• They Loved the Praise of Men

  l. 1:10 NKJV)  Man’s duty in life is not to seek to please men but rather to please God, his creator.  We live for God, not man. We have been purchased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28, Eph. 1:13-14).  We have been bought by him and we are his, he owns us, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV)  We are the sons, the children of God (1 John 3:2), “his own spe…

• Confirmation Sunday–No Bibles Required

  Our local paper has an article in it this week by the woman pastor/preacher (call her whatever you want–she calls herself Rev.) from one of the nearby denominations entitled, “What is Confirmation?” which she wanted to explain since they have a confirmation Sunday planned.  Needless to say since I have never read of such a thing in the Bible and have known many people in this particular denomination over the years I ended up re…

• Jesus the Foundation of and the Builder of the Church

  Lest the reader be misled by the title reading into it what is not there the church that is being talked about in this article may not be the one you are a member of so proceed if at all with caution having been forewarned.  You can judge for yourself after reading.  I begin with Jesus as the foundation of the church. After Jesus’ arrest he was brought before the Jewish council where he was asked, “‘Are you then the Son of God?…

• What Is Baptism (the Sprinkling Hoax)

  eath.” (Rom. 6:4 NKJV)  Baptism is a burial, a burial in water when used in a religious context.  Paul says again in Col. 2:11-12 (NKJV), “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”  O…

• The Grace of God in Baptism

  Most Americans of a Christian persuasion believe that baptism has little to nothing to do with the grace of God. One wonders have they never read Titus 3:4-7? The truth about God’s grace and its tie in with baptism is clearly set forth in Paul’s passage to Titus which reads as follows: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he s…

• The Book of Ecclesiastes

  Is the book of Ecclesiastes the most depressing book in the Bible?  Well, it can be–no doubt about it.  I don’t think it would make very many people’s list of favorite Bible books.  I know personally it always kind of depressed me in days gone by when I would read it but that was my fault, not the book’s fault.  I would like to try and show the upbeat side of the book of Ecclesiastes. What the book of Ecclesiastes does is…

• The Mysterious Eloquent Evangelist

  about him could be said equally of most of the apostles.  The thing that makes Apollos mysterious is what we do know about him. Here is what we know, Acts 18:24-28 (NAS), “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning…

• Never Give Up

  bout Abijam, a king that came later down the road after David.  “His heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.  Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the ma…

• The Pleasures of Sin

  eap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Gal. 6:7-8 NKJV) Not everything that is pleasurable is sin but even when a pleasure is not sinful in and of itself we can make it a sin by putting indulgence in it a priority before God and thus making it an idol we worship ahead of God.  Will we have kept the pleasures of life at bay sufficiently to have done our duty before God and man when our time to dep…

• A Heart Right With God (Test Your Heart)

  ke 18:9 NKJV)  This was the parable of the two men who went up to pray.  Every person you read about in the Bible that transgressed God’s law thinking it would be all right, God would accept what he was doing and he would get by with it, was a person who trusted in his own heart.  King Saul (1 Sam. 15) and Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10) come readily to my mind. I am really not much interested in having any man or woman telling me how his/her heart is …

• Three Attitudes That Destroy the Hope of Salvation

  Self-sufficiency is good up to a point but I fear we have sometimes succeeded beyond our desires or expectations in raising a generation of people who have come to feel they need no help, none at all, that they can do it all by themselves as little kids are prone to say.  If you can do it all by yourself then you do not need God in your life do you and that is the problem when we take the attitude of self-sufficiency too far. The Bible gives an …

• The Great Commission and Cornelius

  to the end of the age.’ Amen.” (Matt. 28:18-20 NKJV) Here is something the reader may not be aware of.  Do you know the word “in” where it says “in the name” should correctly be translated by the word “into?”  That is to say the Greek means “into.”  If you do not believe that check it out for yourself by getting a New American Standard original edition reference Bible and check the side…

• Three Benefits of Being a Christian in This Life – Hope, Love, Peace

  e from those benefits to come when this life has ended.  I list but three of those benefits here. (1)  Hope When one takes hope away from a man or woman what is left?  Nothing!  I doubt there has ever been a suicide committed by anyone who had not first lost all hope unless that person was under the influence of drugs.  The very worse thing about visiting in a nursing home is knowing so many of those people know they have no hope of getting bette…

• Things People Do Not Know About the Church

  One should never minimize the importance of the church, the church Jesus built.  I am not speaking about manmade denominational churches.  They are not one and the same.  However, many people do not understand that and have grown unhappy with the old main line denominations and as a consequence have cast them aside and decided they will take Jesus alone and forget about the church.  Years ago this sentiment was popularized by the saying, “Jesus …

• Assorted

  This page consists of articles that do not fit well into any of the other categories listed on the menu.  Likewise with the audio sermons at the bottom of the page. Christianity and Multiculturalism Is America a Christian Nation–the Sandra Fluke Controversy Christian Wars–A Misnomer Christianity–Who Rules Reason or Emotions? The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications Lincoln…

• The Parable of the 10 Virgins–7 Lessons

  ein with them and enjoy and take part in the celebration. In the account found in Matthew the bridegroom tarried for whatever reason and did not arrive nearly as soon as expected.  The 10 virgins fell asleep but were awakened by the cry of his imminent appearance and prepared immediately to go out and greet the couple and fulfill their duties to bring them in to commence the wedding.  The problem was 5 of the 10 virgins found they were running ou…

• The Conscience as a Witness

  f a person is in religious error, say as an example a militant Islamist who believes murder and terrorism is God’s will, his conscience needs to be retrained and educated in righteousness. The real guide man has to live by is not his conscience but God’s word.  The Psalmist said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NKJV)  Man is to walk in (live by) God’s word.  Jeremiah under insp…

• Which Denomination Did Jesus Build?

  d “I teach everywhere in every church.” (1 Cor. 4:17 NKJV)  Every church in New Testament times received the same teaching.  There were no opposing doctrines save from false teachers.  What was taught in one place by a Holy Spirit inspired teacher was taught in every place.  Now we say it doesn’t matter; they will be saved the same as we, just believe in Jesus. What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  Does it mean it makes little…

• The Joy and the Danger of a Clean Conscience

  was not the only man in the Bible whose good conscience did not keep him from serious sin.  One of the most tragic cases in the Bible was that of the prophet described as “a man of God” (1 Kings 13:1) who was sent by God to Jeroboam to prophecy against the altar on which Jeroboam was planning to make sacrifices to the two golden calves he had made.  On his return trip back home he was met by “an old prophet” whom the Bible…

• Was Cornelius Saved Before Baptism? (Cornelius’ Conversion)

  was a man in need of salvation from his sins for no man is so perfect as to have never sinned.  Peter in reporting what had happened at Cornelius’ house once he gets back to Jerusalem throws more light on why Cornelius, by the angel’s direction, had been instructed to send for him.  The angel had told Cornelius that “he (reference to Peter – DS) shall speak words to you by which you will be saved.” (Acts 11:14 NAS)  …

• Why Do Men Run From God?

  bewilderment.  They may tell us what they think but do they themselves even understand the processes of the heart and mind that have led them to the point where they are at? If there be a God (I am not expressing doubt) then by definition of what it means to be God it is clear one could not successfully run from him.  Hear David in the 139th Psalm. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me.   You know my sitting down and my rising up; You…

• Spiritual Mirages

  d indeed send the Babylonians resulting in death for many and Babylonian captivity for those that were left alive.  Only the very poorest of the land were left in Judah to till the land under the leadership of a man appointed by the king of Babylon for that job, Gedaliah. Due to some outside intrigue by the king of Ammon men were sent to assassinate Gedaliah which mission they accomplished.  This put great fear into the Jews left in the land fear…

• God’s Willingness to Forgive–King Manasseh

  ng to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.’  But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.  And the LORD said by his servants the prophets, ‘Because  Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols…

• Must a Man Seek God?

  Should a man seek God?  Many men and women who if you were to ask them if they believed there is a supreme being we call God would answer in the affirmative and yet they feel no need to seek God.  With them God is God and he is just and good and so he will save them as long as they live what they consider to be a reasonably good life (reasonably good by their own personal standards and society’s standard).  They do not concern themselves w…

• The Heart of Man from a Biblical Perspective

  she willed to do so. (Mark 12:41-44 NKJV)  No man has obeyed the gospel who did not first find it in his heart to do so, will in his heart to do it. It is good to be a strong willed person provided the will has been directed by proper knowledge and correct thinking.  Only the strong willed can get on a diet and stick with it.  Only the strong willed can successfully train for and run a marathon.  The list could go on and on of things which requi…

• Better to Never Have Been Born–Why?

  or us even though the actual day of judgment at the end of the world may be years beyond.  Our fate is sealed the day of our death.  Until that day we have some control.  Until that day we can repent and turn our lives around by gospel obedience.  However, on that day free will ends and the choices we had will then be gone.  It will simply be too late. In Matt. 25 we are given a look into the judgment scene to come.  In it Jesus is separating the…

• Salvation (Becoming a Christian)

  –On Christ’s Behalf be Reconciled to God Why You Cannot be Saved like the Thief on the Cross Bible Contradictions on Salvation How Was Noah Saved Through Water? How Does One Get Into the Church Christ Built? Saved by Jesus Outside the Church Are Works Essential for Christian Salvation? Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives Are the New Testament Scriptures Alone a Sufficient Guide to Heaven? Three Attitudes That Destroy the Hope of Sal…

• What Does the Phrase “My Name” Mean in the Bible?

  me we cannot picture in our mind physical traits but we do picture in our mind the traits of character God has as revealed to us in his word.  The name Jehovah or Yahweh stands for or represents the divine being characterized by spiritual traits we read about in the word of God as well as power, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, etc.  The actual name stands for or represents all that makes God what God is.  Thus to proclaim “my name” …

• The Peace Found in Forgiveness of Others

  Why is a person unwilling to forgive or lacks the desire to do so?  Is it not because of hatred, anger, bitterness, and perhaps even malice (a sort of revenge motive of I will get even with you even if that mechanism is only by being unwilling to forgive). Yes, we all have people who have done us wrong whom we have been very angry at, maybe bitter against, but I have never seen a time in my own life but what time heals and the things that seemed…

• Without Natural Affection and Covenant Breakers

  ive it with goodwill from your hands.  Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’  Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  But did he not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one?  He seeks godly offspring.  Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.  ‘For the L…

• Reconciling With a Brother

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• Christian Living

  an Fear God Regrets If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications Work Out Your Own Salvation Behold the Judge is Standing at the Door Looking Down Your Nose He Went Away Grieved Bible Authority, Foot Washing, the Holy Kiss, and Head Coverings King Saul–As Long as it Glorifies God When Did Obedience Become Legalism? Christianity–Who Rules Reason or Emotions? Healing For the Brokenhearted Deeper Spiritual Understanding They Loved the …

• Denominationalism’s Sin Against Peter

  The apostle Peter has taken a beating among denominationalists.  I would feel sorry for him save for the fact that I would be feeling sorry for the wrong party seeing as how he was an inspired apostle of God and his antagonists are but mere flesh and blood men and totally uninspired. It was not always the way it is today.  For at least a few hundred years after his sermon in Acts 2 he was honored by those who proclaimed faith in God and belief i…

• Looking Down Your Nose

  ld to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man.  Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?  Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by …

• The Silence of the Scriptures

  From a book entitled A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins I quote as follows:  “The basic difference between Zwingli and Luther was in their attitudes to the Bible.  Zwingli saw it as a precise blueprint for church life.  For Luther, what is not forbidden is permitted; for Zwingli, what is not permitted is forbidden.” (page 141)  Both Zwingli and Luther lived in the Age of Reformation often called the Protestant Reforma…

• Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

  think of many more examples. But please note in the parable of the virgins that the Bible says, “those who were ready went in.”  If we are shut out of heaven it will be our own fault.  No, we cannot save ourselves by ourselves but there are things we must do if we want to go to heaven.  The idea that there is nothing we can do is not taught in the Bible. I am reminded of the Philipian jailer who fell down trembling before Paul and Sil…

• Saved by Jesus Outside the Church?

  ;the church” be not burdened unnecessarily (1 Tim. 5:16 NKJV), etc.  The point is that we are talking about the necessity of a congregation and organized religion in what Paul wrote to Timothy. If you desire to be saved by the blood of Jesus but stay out of the church you are out of luck.  In Acts 20:17 Paul called for the elders of the church of Ephesus and then encouraged them in Acts 20:28 to “shepherd the church of God which he pu…

• How Does the Blood of Jesus and Baptism Tie Together

  I know of no one who claims to be a Christian but what believes we are saved by the blood of Jesus.  All believe that for the Bible clearly teaches it stating it plainly, “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Eph 1:7 NKJV)  There are very few, however, who realize where God has placed that blood spiritually speaking.  Christianity is a religion of the spirit.  No man is saved by coming into physical contac…

• Mary of Bethany–Doing What You Can

  9:36 NKJV)  As you recall the Bible story Tabitha died.  Peter in a nearby town was sent for and when he came raised her from the dead.  Just before he raised her from the dead the Bible says, “And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.” (Acts 9:39 NKJV)  Tabitha was a Christian lady who had done what she could while living. Lazarus the beggar.  Of this man …

• Diotrephes Loves To Have the Preeminence

  In the third book of John we read about a man by the name of Diotrephes as follows: “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.  Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words.  And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.” (3 John 1:9-10 …

• Who is the Believer in John 3:16?

  ly begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (NKJV)  This was part of a conversation that Jesus was having with a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night confessing that Jesus had to be a teacher from God because of the miracles he had been doing.  “No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2 NKJV)  The reader would do well to…

• Why Men Today Cannot Be Saved Like The Thief On The Cross?

  is that suppose to prove even if it is true which I do not deny?  What if the thief on the cross did not have to do what you do for salvation?  What does that have to do with either you or me? If Jesus wanted to forgive a man by merely speaking the word who is to say he is going to do that for me or you if we disobey his will and refuse to do what he has said to do for salvation under his new covenant (and that is exactly what we will be doing if…

• The Church Christ Built–Marks of Identification

  The church Christ built is worthless to man if it is impossible to find it (or establish it), if it only existed in ancient history, and cannot be known today.  Fortunately, like all things that exist, there are marks of identification that allow us to know his church from those made by man.  We are able to distinguish one thing from another in life because of characteristics that each possess that differ from another.   True, there may be many …

• Waymon Swain’s Audio Sermons

  than a very few seconds into his subject.   All sermons were recorded in a time frame of at least 15 years ago.  Waymon has been preaching nearly 60 years now, still preaching regularly, holding meetings, doing lectureships, and has a trip to Guatemala planned for later this year.  He has a son, Bob Swain, who is an excellent preacher in his own right and so here is a link to Bob’s audio sermons as well:  Bob Swain’s Audio Sermons As…

• Saul’s Conversion

  earlier verses.  Jesus, in speaking to Saul on the road to Damascus, says to him, “enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.” (Acts 9:6 NAS)  Just a few verses later we see the Lord sending a man by the name of Ananias to Saul (Acts 9:11).   Ananias was sent to Saul for more than one reason, to achieve more than one end, but I ask this – was not one end to tell Saul “what you must do?”  If Ananias d…

• God’s Plea–On Christ’s Behalf be Reconciled to God

  The word reconciliation is a very emotionally laden word.  There are millions upon millions of people in this world of billions who have sorrow in their hearts that words cannot express.  It is a sadness that goes with them day by day and night by night, month by month and year by year, and how can they tell anyone about it?  What can they say?  They cannot verbalize the feelings even to themselves let alone to others.  It is a sadness, a depres…

• Baptized For the Dead

  In 1 Cor. 15:29 Paul says, “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” (NKJV)  It is said by commentators that there is broad disagreement as to what is being referred to by the phrase “baptized for the dead.”  It is common to find in most commentaries an extended discussion of the verse with much more space being devoted to it than there is to the average…

• Children of Israel

  Israel’s Rebellion at the Red Sea Moses, the Waters of Marah, and a Lesson for Today Faith, Manna, and Grumbling Against God Sin in the Desert–Testing God at Massah and Meribah Mt. Sinai and the Day of Judgment Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives The Chastening of the Lord …

• Is America a Christian Nation—the Sandra Fluke Controversy

  I write this under the date of March 6, 2012.  By now virtually everyone who follows the news at all has heard of Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student, who testified before a portion of Congress recently arguing that birth control pills should be covered by her employer’s health care plan.  She argued that it is just too expensive for students to purchase the pills on their own. As you know the President’s health care …

• What Does The Phrase “Born Of Water And The Spirit” Mean? (The New Birth)

  uded) who are unwilling to accept the obvious import of the passage. People often fail to understand Bible passages not because of their difficulty but rather due to prejudice–closed minds.  Why was Jesus never accepted by the majority of the Jews of his time?  Why was Jesus crucified?  Was it not prejudice; was it not for the mind set that said it is impossible to interpret the scriptures in a way that makes this man the Messiah? While I w…

• More on Willful Sin—Can Anyone be Saved?

  In July 2008 I posted an article online entitled “Willful Sin – Can Anyone Be Saved?  Heb 10:26-27.”  Within the past couple of weeks I received a comment from a lady who was reading the article for the first time.  She took the position that there was no hope for a person who committed a willful sin after their conversion.  That was the way I read her comment and I was not the only one for not long thereafter another lady commented …

• Religious Titles Forbidden in Christianity

  for they say, and do not do.  (4) For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  (5) But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.   (6) They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, (7) greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, &…

• Philip Preaching the Gospel in Samaria

  iveness of you sins.” (Acts 2:38 NAS) If you have never been baptized for the remission of sins you are in a fight against God.  Don’t be one of those who insist on being saved their way rather than the way taught by Peter and Philip, by the Holy Spirit.  You cannot win in a fight against God.  It is his narrow gate or the wide gate and the gate you enter makes all the difference in the world (Matt. 7:13-14). You cannot become a child…

• The Christian, Politics, and the Government

  peaks to us not in specifics but in general statements on the subject.  As it relates to specifics it is often hard to know exactly what one ought to do under some of the scenarios which arise but we have God given principles by which we can act. I write on this topic not so much out of a desire to do so but because a discussion of the subject is needed especially at this time where here in America I doubt the country has ever been more sharply d…

• Jesus and the Furnace of Fire

  es not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.” (1Co 16:22 NKJV)  “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me,” says Jesus. (John 14:21 NKJV)  The apostle John says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV)  “But why do you cal…

• Things God Cannot Do

  vil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.” (Rom. 2:9 NKJV) The fact God does not punish men on the spot and immediately for their sin does not mean he has not seen it or has overlooked it.  If it seems we have gotten by with it, it is only because God is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  There will be a day of accounting.  God “canno…

• The Case of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit

  sermon ever preached after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection was in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts chapter two.  Neither do I know a man who would deny but what the words spoken by Peter were given by the Holy Spirit.  The reader ought to note and carefully digest what the Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter, said on that occasion in response to those who asked “Men and brethren, what shall we…

• Bible Authority, Foot Washing, the Holy Kiss, and Head Coverings?

  o in worship with the intent of pleasing God, to glorify God, is acceptable to him—anything we can dream up with no scriptural authority required. It has always been terribly difficult for me to see how one gives glory to God by adding to his word and doing things he has not commanded as acts of worship–a kind of make up your own worship as you go.  Everyone who has ever read the Old Testament knows God had what he wanted in worship and ser…

• Ignorance Does Not Excuse Sin

  God does not consider ignorance an excuse for sin and will not overlook a sin just because you or I were ignorant of the sin when we committed it.  The verse that teaches this is found in Lev. 5:17, “If a person sins, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity.” (NKJV)  (See also Lev. 4:1-2, 13, 22, 27 and Lev. 5:2 and 5:…

• Acceptable Prayer

  abomination.” (NAS)  One must be willing to hear what God says and be willing to follow God to have his prayer considered. Please do not misunderstand.  One can truly repent and turn back to God even though in days gone by he had turned away.  Peter told Simon, a Christian, after Simon’s sin, to repent and pray (Acts 8:22 NAS), the prayer coming after the repentance.  The main point here is that one must be seeking God sincerely and b…

• Grace

  Misunderstanding the Grace of God For by Grace You Have Been Saved by Faith Alone The Grace of God and the Parable of the Laborers How Was Noah Saved Through Water   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) How God’s Grace Works The Gospel of the Grace of God Noah Found Grace …

• Hypocrites in the Church

  rd “hypocrite” is found in only 2 verses of the same translation.  Does that mean there is not a lot written on the subject?  Not at all! One has to remember that in defining a word one learns much about that word by studying carefully words that are the antonyms of the word being defined.  We all know that one who is guilty of hypocrisy is one who pretends that which is not true, he pretends to be what he is not, he is a pretender an…

• Case of Cornelius

  Was Cornelius Saved Before Baptism? The Case of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit The Great Commission and Cornelius Saved by Faith or Saved by Holy Spirit Baptism? Cornelius’ Conversion–Final Thoughts …

• The Prodigal Son–When He Came to Himself

  The story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32 is too long to quote here but also so well known that almost everyone acquainted with the Bible at all knows the story and the main thrust of the lesson taught there.  However, there is one phrase in the account we do not talk enough about–the phrase “when he came to himself” found in verse 17. This verse marks the point in the young man’s life where his eyes were opened to th…

• Are the New Testament Scriptures Alone a Sufficient Guide to Heaven?

  e the claim to be sufficient then those denying such make it clear they are not Bible believers despite any and all claims to the contrary. The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul the apostle said, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NKJV)…

• The Church as the Family of God–Things Found in It

  hurch is our spiritual family, the house of God, and if we live in it long enough and are faithful in it it becomes as close to us as physical family, even a closely knit physical family, and even dearer to us as the years go by and we grow older.  That is the way God meant it to be. What should one experience in the family of God?  Here are but a few of those things. (1)  Love.  “In sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a…