Good morning everyone, I hope you had a blessed week and you were able to spread God's word and joy to someone along the way. Well, as we get ready for a new week, I have something that has been on mind all week. Although, I am completing a 30 days of Luke study, this was on my heart to provide to you today. (Yes, another long one.) :-) May God bless you and keep you as you consider your relationship with His son Jesus Christ.
Also, I am currently finishing a fictional book titled "Apocalypse Dawn", by Mel Odom. Odom was one of the people instrumental in the writing of the series "Left Behind." In the book, I found the following : "We will be called home to heaven. No warning bell. No chance to say good-byes. One moment in this world, the next, standing in God's perfection. And what of the people left behind?" - the words found in the clothes of a character in the book Chief Petty Officer Mellencamp, a believer who was taken in the Rapture. Please consider where you believe you will fit while reading this study.
The Merriam Webster's dictionary defines absolutism in the following manner:
Ab•so•lut•ism.\ˈab-sə-ˌlü-ˌti-zəm\noun
1.) a: a political theory that absolutepower should be vested in one or more rulers.
b: government by an absolute ruler or authority :despotism
2.) advocacy of a rule by absolute standards or principles
3.) an absolute standard or principle
Book: John
Author: John
Time: It is believed around 85-90 AD, The Gospel of John was written to prove that Jesus was the Son of God.
John 1:1-13 - New English Translation
1 In the beginning a was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.
6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who have received him - those who believe in his name - he has given the right to become Gods children 13- children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husbands decision, but by God.
Matthew Henry Commentary: John the Baptist came to bear witness concerning Jesus. Nothing more fully shows the darkness of men's minds, than that when the Light had appeared, there needed a witness to call attention to it. Christ was the true Light; that great Light which deserves to be called so. By his Spirit and grace he enlightens all that are enlightened to salvation; and those that are not enlightened by him, perish in darkness. Christ was in the world when he took our nature upon him, and dwelt among us. The Son of the Highest was here in this lower world. He was in the world, but not of it. He came to save a lost world, because it was a world of his own making. Yet the world knew him not. When he comes as a Judge, the world shall know him. Many say that they are Christ's own, yet do not receive him, because they will not part with their sins, nor have him to reign over them. All the children of God are born again. This new birth is through the word of God as the means, 1 Peter 1:23, and by the Spirit of God as the Author.
John 14:5 - 7 (NET)
5 Thomas said, “Lord, we dont know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6. Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Matthew Henry Commentary : Christ is the sinner's Way to the Father and to heaven, in his person as God manifest in the flesh, in his atoning sacrifice, and as our Advocate. He is the Truth, as fulfilling all the prophecies of a Savior; believing which, sinners come by him the Way. He is the Life, by whose life- giving Spirit the dead in sin are quickened. Nor can any man draw nigh God as a Father, who is not quickened by Him as the Life, and taught by Him as the Truth, to come by Him as the Way. By Christ, as the Way, our prayers go to God, and his blessings come to us; this is the Way that leads to rest, the good old Way. He is the Resurrection and the Life.
Book: Romans
Author: Paul
Time: It is believed 57-58 AD Romans explains God's plan of salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10: 9 - 13 (NET)
9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord a and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. 11 For the scripture says, “ Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Matthew Henry Commentary : Romans 10:9-13 - The self- condemned sinner need not perplex himself how this righteousness may be found. When we speak of looking upon Christ, and receiving, and feeding upon him, it is not Christ in heaven, nor Christ in the deep, that we mean; but Christ in the promise, Christ offered in the word. Justification by faith in Christ is a plain doctrine. It is brought before the mind and heart of every one, thus leaving him without excuse for unbelief. If a man confessed faith in Jesus, as the Lord and Savior of lost sinners, and really believed in his heart that God had raised him from the dead, thus showing that he had accepted the atonement, he should be saved by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him through faith. But no faith is justifying which is not powerful in sanctifying the heart, and regulating all its affections by the love of Christ. We must devote and give up to God our souls and our bodies:our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth. The believer shall never have cause to repent his confident trust in the Lord Jesus. Of such faith no sinner shall be ashamed before God; and he ought to glory in it before men. There is not one God to the Jews, more kind, and another to the Gentiles, who is less kind; the Lord is a Father to all men. The promise is the same to all, who call on the name of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, as God manifest in the flesh. All believers thus call upon it.
I was listening to a sermon preached by our Pastor Lon Solomon. The sermon was about 10 - 15 yrs old. It was titled, "What would Jesus say to Oprah? " The basic premise was how Oprah and many of her colleagues believe that there are many ways to get to heaven. She believes that if one searches for a higher power through other disciplines or a deep inner spirit, and do good things, God will not reject you from getting into heaven. Obviously, you know that she was completely wrong. She also said that we are all God's children and he won't leave us behind. Well that is also wrong. As John 1:12 explains and as Pastor Solomon put it, we are all created by God, but we are not all His children unless you accept His Son Jesus Christ. Well this led me to pray and think about this week. I look at our society and many of our Christian churches or organizations, they too have gone to a level of inclusion and tolerance. Where does it say that in the Bible? Hence my definition in the beginning of this message about absolutism. The Bible as we established is infallible and God breathed. Why are so many people afraid to say it? Just because you disagree with someone, it doesn't make you an evil person. If you stand for the principles and standards created by Christ, then stand for them or be left behind. Be an ABSOLUTIST, stand for Christ. Remember, if you believe in Christ, then you believe in His Word, the He is the only way. You can love those you disagree with.
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