Bible Ballistics: Genuine or Imitation? 09/08/13 Vol. 2 No.17

It’s good to be home in Oklahoma and even with scorching heat we are very grateful and glad that the Lord has brought us safely home.

So much is going on around us, so many claims, so many stories.  What is true?  What is not?  John 8:32 & 36 tell us,

    • “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…..36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Jesus is the truth—we can know Him and He will make us free.  Free from the lies of the world.  Free from the bondage of sin and the world’s ways.

    • Are we free or bound to the world?
    • Are we wearing a “hypocritical” mask or
    • are we the “real deal”?

2 Corinthians 13:5 says,

    • “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 

Paul calls us to examine our OWN selves to see if we are really ‘in the faith’.  How do we do that?  How do we ‘prove’ ourselves?  This verse also asks if we ‘know …..that Christ is in you?”.  Can we know?  Well, as usual, let’s look at the Word.

1 Corinthians 15:1-5,

    • “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

Paul declares here that the only way to salvation is through the cross.  He also calls the Corinthians to be sure they have not believed in vain.

    • Vain means, ‘producing no result; useless;…..having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment’.

Is my faith ‘real’ or ‘vain’?  This is the question that we will ponder this week.  Do I know the truth of Col 1:27

    • “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

Is Christ in me? Do I have the “hope of glory”?  1 John 5:13 reminds us,

    • “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 
      • We can know.
        • I can know.
          • YOU can know.

What does real faith look like?  Hebrews 11:1,6 says,

    • “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen….6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Real faith is defined in ‘Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary’ as including………

    • ”1) a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God’s revelation or truth…..
    • 2) a personal surrender to Him….
    • 3)a conduct inspired by such surrender….”

To paraphrase, total confidence in the God who is God, not just in what He does but who HE IS—GOD, and submission to Him for “LIFE”.  Eternal Life.  Because as we see above in Hebrews 11,

    • “without faith it is impossible to please him….”, and “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Substance not blind trust, evidence not “pie in the sky”. Are you convinced?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:20-21,

    • “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

He tells us that those who do the will of God are the ones who will enter the kingdom.  Just saying so doesn’t make it so!!! He states it even more clearly in John 3:3

    • “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”   

We must be born again. 

    • And John 1:12-13,  “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.   

BORN OF GOD!!!  We receive the new birth from GOD!!!

    • It is not something we inherit from our family,
      • nor is it something that we can produce by our own strength or determination,
        • nor even by the good will of others who may love and care for us.

It’s only when we “repent” and turn to Jesus in faith that we receive this gift of salvation from God.

In John 8:24 Jesus makes it very plain—“

    • I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

Matthew 1:21, reminds us why Jesus came—

    • “ And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Jesus came to save us from our sin.  If we never see our sin we’ll never repent, and if we never repent we’ll never look to Jesus to be saved by that faith we are speaking about.  (See John 11:25 & 14:6—Jesus is the ONLY WAY)

We could list many scriptures that tell us to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”.  But suffice it to say that we must repent and believe to receive.  Praise God, He hears and answers.  Even the cry of the penitent tax collector in Luke 18:13

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”  

Two men—one who had no need for salvation (he thought), and one who saw his need for salvation and called on the only one who could save him.  God answered his prayer.   As Romans 3:23 declares,

    • “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” “ But praise God he also reveals in
    • Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 
      • Have we seen our own sin?
        • Turned from it to God?
          • Received HIS new birth?

That is the question.

Who will pay your debt? Jesus? Or yourself? 

    • In Deut. 30:19 God said,  “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”

Examine, prove and check your heart to see if you are in the faith.  Choose you this day “whom you will serve” (see Joshua24:15).  Not sure?  Ask God, He’ll reveal truth to you.

    • James 4:8 &10 “ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded …….10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Bow before HIM—He will lift you up.