Five Bottles of Wine

Posted on December 12, 2017 by russellmckinney

An elderly woman who lived in the north of England hadn’t been able to truly pray for years. She needed to pray, even wanted to pray, but each time she tried to pray her mind went to five bottles of wine. Those were the bottles she had once stolen when she had been employed as a housekeeper for a wealthy estate in the English countryside.

Her reasoning for the theft had been, “This family has such an extensive wine cellar, they’ll never miss just a few bottles, especially bottles of an inexpensive vintage.” And she had been correct in her assessment. Years had now passed and she had long since moved on from that job, but no mention had ever been made of the missing bottles. She had enjoyed the wine in the months following the theft and was obviously long since clear from any threat of charges being brought against her. What she wasn’t clear from, though, was the conviction she came under every time she tried to pray.

Finally, she reached a breaking point and visited a local pastor who counseled her to go back to the estate, confess her theft, and make monetary restitution. She protested by saying, “But the lord of the estate died some years ago and there is no one there now who would even remember me.” The pastor said, “Well, did he have an heir?” The woman answered, “Yes, a son.” To that the pastor replied, “Alright, go to that son, confess the theft to him, and make your monetary restitution to him.” The woman, however, recoiled at such a thought and went away sad.

After a sleepless night, she returned to the pastor and said, “I really do want to do something that will enable me to pray again, but I just can’t go back to that estate and do as you ask because it would be too humiliating. What if I take the amount of money the wine was worth and use it as a contribution to the church?” A greedy pastor might have jumped at that offer, but this man was a genuine servant of the Lord, and so his answer was, “No, God doesn’t want your stolen gift.”

Several more days passed, and each one brought an even greater conviction and burden upon the woman until she could no longer stand her situation. So, she got in her car, drove out to the estate, introduced herself to the son, made a full confession of her sin, and extended a satisfactory amount of repayment to him. He thanked her for her honesty and graciously refused to accept the money, but she was so insistent that he finally accepted the repayment only to satisfy her. Then the woman returned home and, for the first time in years, prayed the way she was meant to pray.

It is from this simple little story that I offer one self-evident lesson: If some past sin that you have committed against someone is standing between you and God, you must do whatever God requires of you to make things right. Have you wronged someone? Do you owe that person a sincere apology? Do you owe him or her some kind of restitution? Then consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.) as your application to this post:

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. (Psalm 66:18)

Isaiah 1:15: When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. (Isaiah 1:15)

Isaiah 59:1-2: Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Micah 3:4: Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds. (Micah 3:4)

Posted in Aging, Confession, Conscience, Conviction, Doing Good, God's Will, Guilt, Making Restitution, Prayer, Reconciliation, Sin | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Flesh & its Drag Effect

Posted on December 10, 2017 by russellmckinney

“…The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41, N.K.J.V.)

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other… (Galatians 5:17, N.I.V.)

We pastors are forevermore trying to build momentum in a church. If we have good attendance for Sunday School one Sunday, we want to build on that. If we have good attendance for a worship service, we want to build on that. If we have a good service all the way around, we want to build on that. Unfortunately, however, just about anything can be a momentum killer in regards to church. For example, bad weather (rain, wind, cold, ice, snow) can kill momentum by way of services that either get cancelled altogether or at least altered, and good weather can kill it by way of church members heading out of town for weekend getaway trips, full-fledged vacations, family outings, travel ball, etc.

But why is it so hard to build momentum in a church and keep that momentum going anyway? It’s because the human race is a fallen race. That means that sin comes easily to us and spiritual endeavors don’t. Even born-again Christians who have God the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them still struggle with their inborn sinful nature. The Biblical term for this Adamic nature is “the flesh.” It’s “the flesh” that rebels against praying. It’s “the flesh” that rebels against studying the Bible. It’s “the flesh” that rebels against living a holy life. It’s “the flesh” that rebels against giving. It’s “the flesh” that rebels against witnessing. And, yes, it’s “the flesh” that rebels against attending church.

When I think about the fact that sin comes easily to us while spiritual endeavors don’t, my mind goes to that story from Exodus 17:8-16. Moses and the Israelites have recently experienced God miraculously parting the Red Sea, sending them manna from heaven, and causing water to gush from a rock. They are on their way to Mount Sinai, where they will receive the law and build the Tabernacle. Before they get there, though, the Amalekites hit them with an unprovoked sneak attack.

The attack causes Moses to hastily organize Israel’s first army, with Joshua being tapped to play the role of general. The next day, while Joshua and Israel’s army march out to retaliate against the Amalekites, Moses heads to the top of a hill that overlooks the battle site. From that vantage point, his job is to intercede for Israel with God. This intercession is publicly evidenced by him holding up his rod.

And what happens? As long as Moses is able to hold up that rod, Israel surges ahead in the battle, but when he grows tired and the rod drops, the Amalekites surge ahead. Finally, Moses’ two aides (Aaron and Hur) get him a stone to sit upon and they themselves support his hands so that he can keep holding up the rod until the sun goes down that afternoon and Israel’s victory is ensured.

What’s noteworthy about that story is the fact that the Bible never mentions Joshua and the other soldiers getting tired in the fight. It does, however, speak of Moses getting tired in his interceding. So, the lesson is: The more spiritual the endeavor, the harder it is physically. 

You’ll find this out anytime you commit yourself to doing something for the Lord. Oh, you might start out with a bang, but then you’ll learn that it takes more and more effort to keep your momentum going. It might even seem as if the entire world is conspiring against you to knock you back into line. That’s when you’ve got to dig in, straighten your back, and redouble your commitment. That’s how you can overcome the drag effect “the flesh” inflicts upon you to keep you spiritually inert.

Perhaps you are right now planning to make some spiritual change in your life. Or perhaps you’ve already begun that change. Or maybe you are well past the beginning stage and have already hit a wall with your change. Regardless of the stage in which you find yourself in the cycle, please hang in there. Yes, the spiritual lesson is true that the more spiritual the endeavor, the harder it is physically. But there is vast difference between hard and impossible, and you can outdo “the flesh” if you show some stick-to-it-iveness and ask the Lord to strengthen you. You see, just as He wanted Moses and the Israelites to win their battle, He wants you to win yours as well.

Posted in Addiction, Adversity, Alcohol, Backsliding, Bible Study, Change, Church, Church Attendance, Commitment, Depravity, Dieting, Doing Good, Drugs, Gambling, Giving, Gluttony, Lust, Perseverance, Prayer, Problems, Sin, Temptation, The Tongue, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Special Antenna

Posted on December 7, 2017 by russellmckinney

As a Christian, I sometimes get frustrated with people who just can’t seem to grasp spiritual issues. No matter how many Bible passages I cite, how many illustrations I use, or how eloquently I explain a subject, these folks simply can’t catch what I’m throwing. All I get in return from them is either confusion (“I don’t understand”) or apathy (“I don’t care”). Honestly, it’s like I’m speaking a different language.

The truth is, I’m not speaking a different language, but the information I’m sharing can only be heard on a different frequency of communication, a frequency that must be accessed by way of a special antenna. It’s sort of like these new cars that include the factory option of an antennae for Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Tonya and I own a Kia Soul and a Ford Focus that both have that option.

When you purchase a new vehicle that has the Sirius satellite antenna built into it, you get a few weeks of Sirius XM programming as a free trial. We’re talking about a slew of radio channels, each one playing only music from a specific genre, with no static and no commercials. Yeah, put me down for that. I immediately fell in love with the ’70s and ’80s channels (the songs of my younger days), and so now we pay the monthly charge to receive the Sirius XM programming. But if our vehicle didn’t have that Sirius XM antenna, we couldn’t hear any of that programming, even though it gets broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In 1 Corinthians 2:11-14, the apostle Paul says to the Christians of Corinth:

….no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (N.K.J.V.)

What Paul is talking about is the fact that God the Holy Spirit dwells inside the body of each Christian. This indwelling takes place the moment the person places saving belief in Jesus, and it creates the “born again” experience inside the individual as the person is spiritually reborn. And do you know what else the indwelling Holy Spirit does? He becomes the antenna through which the person can tune in to the broadcast signals that God is sending down from heaven. In that way, the indwelling Holy Spirit is the Christian’s special antenna.

But, of course, the majority of people aren’t Christians and therefore don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside them. Paul calls these people “natural,” as opposed to born-again Christians who are, in a sense, “supernatural” because of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. Herein lies the breakdown in communication between the two groups. As Paul puts it, “…the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Believe me, I’ve tried to have spiritual conversations with people who surely classified what I was saying as “foolishness.” You know that’s what’s happening when they look at you with either that deer-in-the-headlights look or that one where every blood vessel in their face is about to burst. The first look will cause them to get away from you as quickly as possible, and the second one will cause them to want to come across the table at you. As you might guess, neither option creates understanding and agreement.

Oh, and there’s one other problematic aspect about this ongoing spiritual frequency crisis: Even born-again Christians can operate like “natural” people if those Christians choose to ignore the indwelling Holy Spirit. One thing about Tonya and I having Sirius XM programming in our vehicles is that we can choose to turn off the feed. To do that all we have to do is either turn off the radio altogether or set it to a mode where it plays music from a CD, an iPod, or regular AM/FM radio. You see, even though each of our vehicles has an antenna for Sirius XM, we can choose not to use that antenna. Well, Christians do this same kind of thing when they don’t listen to the indwelling Holy Spirit. It’s not that He vacates their bodies; it’s just that His voice is muted.

So, Christian, don’t walk around receiving only the signals the “natural” person can receive when you have a whole other antenna, a “supernatural” one, inside you. Don’t blindly follow the masses further and further out of God’s will when you can show spiritual discernment and plunge deeper and deeper into God’s will. Don’t settle for listening to the world’s static and commercials when you can listen to God’s crystal-clear, commercial-free broadcasting night and day. And, lastly, don’t expect lost people who can only act “natural” or fellow Christians who’ve muted the Holy Spirit to understand you when you talk about spiritual matters. That’s just not a frequency they are picking up.

Posted in Backsliding, Communication, Discernment, Discipleship, Evangelism, God's Guidance, God's Work, Personal, Salvation, The Holy Spirit, Truth, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Oak Tree’s Fall

Posted on December 5, 2017 by russellmckinney

In the center of a town stood a giant oak tree that had been planted there many decades earlier to mark the founding of the town. The tree was massive and had proven that it could withstand any storm. Through wind, rain, sleet, and snow, it had held its ground. Through spring, summer, fall, and winter, it had remained. The tree was an abiding symbol of strength for the townspeople, and they had come to think of it as an object lesson for the strength of the town.

Then one day an unimpressive little storm blew through the town and to the horror of the townspeople brought down the giant oak. Because such a thing seemed unimaginable, an investigation was immediately begun. A tree expert was brought in to examine the felled giant. Everybody in the town wanted to know what could have possibly happened to their tree.

It didn’t take long for the expert to render his verdict. Years earlier, the tree had become infested with a certain type of boring worm that systematically destroys oak trees from the inside out. The end result was a severely damaged tree that was much more susceptible to wind. Had the townspeople been paying closer attention to their tree, they could have stopped the infestation before it was too late. But that window of opportunity had long since passed.

Like those worms that eventually brought down that oak, something that initially appears small and inconsequential can get into your life and ultimately cause your fall. An adulterous affair starts with playful flirting. Drug addiction starts with, “I’ll try it just this once.” Murder starts with hatred in the heart. Theft starts with coveting what someone else has. These facts hold true for one and all, whether the person be a Christian or not. The process is nothing less than sin’s universal way of incessantly creeping, gradually poisoning, and finally destroying.

To keep this process from playing itself out in your life, you must be vigilant to guard yourself. Don’t dabble with sin. Don’t toy with it. Don’t rationalize it or try to minimize it. See it for what it is: a boring worm that won’t stop until you are lying on the ground from it. Only by remaining vigilant and resisting sin’s allure can you remain tall and strong.

Most readers will finish this post and never think about it again, but my guess is that some readers will be brought under conviction over “worms” of sin they have allowed to bore into their lives. If you are such a person, let me urge you as strongly as I can to take the post as your warning from God and deal with your sin. If you have never made the decision to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, look to Him, the divine One who died on a cross so that all your sins might be forgiven. By believing in Him, you will not only experience complete forgiveness but also be given the strength to repent of your sin and resist it going forward. On the other hand, if you know Jesus as Savior, what you must do is access the spiritual strength He has already given you by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit and put that strength to use by repenting of your sin.

You see, your tree doesn’t have to fall. If, however, you refuse to deal with your sin, you can expect a great crash at some point. It will simply be a matter of waiting on the right storm to blow your way and send you toppling. Friends, neighbors, and family members will hear about your fall and wonder what happened, but what they won’t know is that the fall began many months or many years earlier. It just took your “worms” time to get their job done.

Posted in Addiction, Adultery, Alcohol, Anger, Backsliding, Christ's Death, Conviction, Covetousness, Desires, Disobedience, Drugs, Forgiveness, Gambling, God's Judgment, Guilt, Idolatry, Jealousy, Lust, Lying, Pride, Rebellion, Repentance, Salvation, Sex, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Temptation, The Tongue | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas & the Absent-Minded Professor

Posted on December 2, 2017 by russellmckinney

Donald L. Deffner, in his book Seasonal Illustrations, tells the story of an absent-minded professor who tended to get so absorbed in his work that he forgot the simplest details. One morning his wife said to him, “Now Henry, remember, we are moving today. Here, I’m putting this note in your pocket. Don’t forget!” Henry dutifully nodded his head and headed off to his office.

At the end of the day, Henry returned home, opened up the front door, and found the place empty. Bewildered and distraught, he walked out to the curb and sat down. When a young boy came walking up to him, he asked the boy, “Little fellow, do you know the people who used to live here?” The boy answered, “Sure, Dad. Mom told me you’d forget.”

Now that it is December and the Christmastime madness has begun in earnest, let’s be sure that we don’t get so absorbed in it all that we forget those who are the most important to us. The older I get, the more I realize that the most valuable gift you can give someone is the gift of yourself. I guess middle age has a way of reorganizing your priorities like that. And, of course, when the subject is giving yourself as a gift, our minds should immediately go to Jesus.

You know the story. Christmas is the day we have set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift God could give to the fallen, sinful human race. Jesus was God in the flesh — God the Son/the Son of God — miraculously conceived in the womb of a virgin, born in some type of livestock pen, and first laid in an animal’s feeding trough.

He grew up completely sinless and began His public ministry when He was approximately 30 years old. For three-and-a-half years, He preached, taught, performed miracles, and gathered followers unto Himself. Then He was betrayed, arrested, tried on trumped up charges, found guilty, scourged, and crucified on a cross. That death was a sacrificial one that paid the sin debt owed to God by the entire human race so that all might have the chance to be forgiven.

Jesus then arose on the third morning after that death and made periodic appearances to His followers in His resurrected, glorified body for the next 40 days. At the end of those 40 days, He ascended back to heaven and resumed His eternal place at the right hand of God the Father. And now He offers salvation (the forgiveness of all sin, the privilege of going to heaven in the afterlife) to each and every individual  who will place their belief in Him as their personal Savior. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Deffner concludes his illustration about the absent-minded professor by saying this:

How often do we become so absorbed in “the things of this world” that we forget who we are and whose we are and where we are going.

Christian, don’t let that be the case with you this Christmas. Never forget who you are, whose you are, and where you are going. This world is relentless at trying to conform you to its mold and bring you in line with its warped standards and wrong thinking, and there is no better example of this than what passes for normal at Christmastime. But don’t let the world win you over and cause you to miss the meaning of the season. Jesus was born! Jesus was born! Jesus was born! That, you see, is what we are celebrating this month, and if any event is worthy of a holiday, surely that one is.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Miracles, Christ's Resurrection, Christmas, Forgiveness, Priorities, Salvation, Virgin Birth | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Best Position for Praying

Posted on November 30, 2017 by russellmckinney

Three ministers were engaged in a conversation on the subject of prayer. Naturally, they all agreed that prayer was vital, but the debate was about which bodily position works best for praying. As they commented back and forth, a telephone repairman, who happened to be in the room that day working on the phone system, listened quietly. (Obviously, this illustration comes from that prehistoric time before cell phones existed.)

One minister said, “In my opinion, the position of the hands is the key to praying. I always clasp mine together. This helps focus my attention. Also, I make sure that my joined hands are pointed upward toward heaven. This is a symbolic act indicating that I want my prayers to rise to God’s ears.”

The second minister said, “Well, I’ll grant you that praying with your hands clasped together and pointed upward makes sense, but these things should be done while the person is on their knees. Praying on your knees shows that you are approaching God in humility. It’s actually an act of worship because you are kneeling before Him as you pray.”

The third minister said, “No, no, you are both wrong. The best position for praying is lying completely prostrate upon the floor, with your face on the ground. Praying from that position is you saying to God, “Lord, I am nothing and You are everything. I don’t even have a right to gain an audience with you. Because of your mercy and grace, though, I humbly submit my request.”

It was then that the repairman thought he could add something to the conversation. He said, “Gentlemen, I hate to interrupt men such as yourselves when you are debating a topic as important as this one, but if you are interested, I’ll tell you the position I was in when I prayed my most emotional and powerful prayer.” Now the repairman had the ministers’ full attention, and they replied almost in unison, “Yes, please tell us.” The repairman said, “Okay. At the moment I prayed the best prayer I have ever prayed, I was dangling upside down by my heels from a telephone pole, suspended forty feet off the ground!”

The moral of this story is simple: Genuine need in your life leads to genuine praying. Show me a person who is praying a canned prayer they’ve heard the pastor pray in church, and I’ll show you a person who doesn’t have a genuine need. The fact is, when things get serious in your life, your praying will get serious.

I don’t know where this post finds you, but if some problem, situation, or circumstance currently has you dangling upside down by your heels, feeling like you are suspended forty feet off the ground and ready to drop to your demise, I advise you to pray. You say, “But I’ve already prayed about it, and nothing has happened.” Fine, then pray again, and again, and again, and again. Keep praying until something does happen.

If you like praying with your hands clasped together and pointed toward heaven, then pray from that position. If you like praying from bent knees, then pray from that position. If you like praying from a prostrate position on the floor, then pray from that position. If you like praying with your eyes closed, then pray from that position. If you like praying while you are lying in bed at night, then pray from that position. If you like praying while you are walking, then pray from that position. If you like praying while you are driving, then pray from that position. Of course, I wouldn’t suggest praying with your eyes closed from those last two positions! But you get the point. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. Why? Because the best position for genuine praying will always be a position of genuine need.

Posted in Adversity, Fear, Needs, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Lesson Learned From a Poor Widow

Posted on November 28, 2017 by russellmckinney

Monetarily speaking, the greatest giver of all time was not a rich industrialist who made his billions and then contributed a portion of his wealth to philanthropic efforts. Instead, it was a poor widow who placed two small coins in the treasury of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Her story is told in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4.

The Greek word that is used to describe each of her offertory coins is lepton. This was the smallest coin in circulation in Israel. In our American economy, such a coin would be the equivalent of one-eighth of a penny.

The plural of lepton is leptra. In the Roman empire under which the Jews lived, the widow’s offering of two leptra was the equivalent of one-sixty-fourth of a Roman denarius. Since a denarius was the average daily wage for a worker, the poor widow would have had to repeat her offering 63 more times just to reach the monetary equivalent of an average day’s pay for a Roman.

In his commentary notes on the story, Herschel H. Hobbs explains that the widow gave her offering in The Court of the Women, the part of the Jewish Temple complex that was devoted to women. He goes on to say there were thirteen receptacles in that Court. Those receptacles were called “trumpets” because of their shape, and each “trumpet” was designated to receive specific offerings for specific purposes.

What the widow didn’t know was that she was being watched as she placed her two leptra inside the appropriate receptacle. On that day, Jesus was sitting on the other side of the Court watching people come and go and place their offerings inside the receptacles. When He saw the widow contribute her scant offering, He called the chosen 12 over to Himself and told them that she had contributed more than anyone else who had given to the Temple treasury.

How could that be? Well, according to Jesus all the others contributed out of their abundance while she contributed out of her poverty. As a matter of fact, He went so far as to say that she contributed her entire livelihood. That means that when she left the Temple that day, she didn’t have any money whatsoever to her name.

Tell me, if you had been in that woman’s place, do you think you would have been tempted to not give any offering at all? Even if you were determined to contribute something, would you have been inclined to contribute just one lepton and hold back the other one? I’m sure that thought would have crossed my mind,

And it’s not like that widow could depend upon a husband to meet her future financial needs, either. Consequently, for her, placing both those coins in that receptacle was an act of real faith. It was her acknowledgement that if her needs got met, God would have to meet them. Even if she did hold down some type of job (which was certainly not a given in that culture), her job obviously didn’t pay much.

Now, there are numerous spiritual lessons that we can glean from this story, but for the purposes of this post I just want to leave you with one. It goes like this: As far as the Bible’s record goes, this woman lived her entire earthly life and never knew that Jesus not only noticed her offering but praised it to the skies. You see, that widow’s offering is like the myriads of good deeds that Christians do around the world each day. These deeds go completely unnoticed and unrecognized by the world, but they rate high marks with Jesus and earn great rewards in eternity.

So, Christian, take heart in this and keep faithfully serving the Lord. He really is watching, and all those behind-the-scenes good things you are doing for Him really are getting noticed. Even more than that, in eternity He’ll reward you for them with eternal blessings beyond your wildest dreams. Remember, nothing ever goes unnoticed by Him. Sure, that can be a bad thing when the subject is sin, but the flip side is that it can be a great thing when the subject is holy deeds.

Posted in Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Eternity, Faith, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Omniscience, God's Work, Heaven, Humility, Ministry, Money, Needs, Reward, Sacrifice, Sanctification, Service, Sowing and Reaping, Stewardship, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Born Again

Posted on November 24, 2017 by russellmckinney

“Salvation” series (post #9)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, N.K.J.V.)

The Bible teaches that each individual consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In this way, we are somewhat like God in that we are triune beings. The difference is that our body, soul, and spirit aren’t each distinct persons, as is the case with the three members of the holy Trinity.

Now, Jesus said that an individual cannot see the kingdom of God unless that individual is born again. But what exactly does that mean? To answer that, let’s refer back to those three different parts of a person.

First, does the person’s body need to be born again? No. That’s the question Nicodemus asked when he replied, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Second, does the person’s soul need to be born again? No. The soul cannot either die or be “born” again. The soul is that part of you that goes into the afterlife when your body dies (Genesis 35:18). We might say that your soul is the real you. This explains why verses such as Psalm 6:3 and Ezekiel 18:20 use the word “soul” to speak of the entire person. Think of this way: You are a soul who is right now living inside a body.

Third, does the person’s spirit need to be born again? Evidently, this is the case. A parallel passage on this subject is Ephesians 2:1, which speaks of people as being “dead in trespasses and sins.” If neither the person’s body or soul is dead, that only leaves the spirit. So, while in one sense the spirit is that part of the individual that animates the human body (James 2:26; Ecclesiastes 12:7), in another sense it is that part that houses the capacity for the kind of worship and communion with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall.

This is what Jesus meant when He told the Samaritan woman at the well, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24, N.K.J.V., emphasis mine). You see, Jesus didn’t say that we must worship God “in body” or “in soul.” It’s the spirit that earns that unique distinction.

Putting everything together, what scripture seems to teach is that each of us is born with an inner spirit that isn’t functioning as it was originally designed to function. It’s doing fine at bringing life to our otherwise lifeless body and thus creating physical life, but it’s downright shut down when it comes to creating spiritual life. Therefore, each of us is born “dead in trespasses and sins” and needs what we might call a resurrection in our spirit. That’s why Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

But just exactly how do we go about being born again? What does it take to be spiritually reborn? Is there a course we must purchase? Is there a five-step process? The answer is: The moment you place saving belief in Jesus, you are instantly born again. Believing in Jesus is your part and bringing you to life spiritually is God’s part.

Let me explain how this works. In John 3:5-8, Jesus describes being born again as being born “of the Spirit” (capital S, referring to God the Holy Spirit). Specifically, He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You see, the moment you place saving belief in Jesus, God the Holy Spirit comes to take up literal residence inside your body (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19), and He is the one who fixes your defective spirit and allows it to function as it should. This is all part of the “new birth” experience the Holy Spirit creates inside you.

The apostle Paul described the Holy Spirit’s entrance as “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5), and the apostle John described it as being “born of God” (1 John 5:1). What else could John have been referring to except being “born again”? So, to be born again is to be born of God the Holy Spirit.

John also associated the new birth with having “eternal life” (1 John 5:10-13). Most people hear that term “eternal life” and wrongly put the emphasis on the word “eternal,” as if having eternal life simply means existing forever somewhere in the afterlife. But the reality is that everyone will spend eternity somewhere in the afterlife, either with God in perfect bliss or separated from Him in torment. That’s why the emphasis in “eternal life” should be placed on the word “life.” The idea is that the indwelling Holy Spirit has entered into the body of a person who was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and brought that individual back to spiritual life.

The Bible’s most well-known way of describing the Holy Spirit’s entrance into the believer’s body is to refer to the experience as “the baptism of the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33; 1 Corinthians 12:13). The first people to ever enjoy the blessing of this “baptism” were a group of Christ’s followers who were meeting for worship services in an upper room in Jerusalem in the days following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven. Just before Jesus ascended, He promised them they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from then (Acts 1:4-5). The fulfillment of that promise is recorded in Acts 2:1-41.

Someone asks, “So, is Acts 2:1-41 indicative of every instance of someone experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit (getting born again)?” No, it isn’t. As evidence that they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, those believers all began to speak in “tongues” (foreign languages they had never learned). That in turn created quite a stir in Jerusalem, so much so that Peter ended up preaching a powerful sermon there on the spot, a sermon after which approximately 3,000 people believed in Jesus and agreed to water baptism (Acts 2:14-41). No mention is made, however, of those 3,000 new believers speaking in foreign languages. The same holds true for the additional 2,000 new believers who placed saving belief in Jesus shortly afterward (Acts 4:4), the scores of others who did so even later (5:14; 6:1), the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-39), Saul of Tarsus (9:1-19), Lydia and her household (Acts 16:11-15), the Philippian jailer and his household (16:25-34), the believers in Thessalonica (17:1-4), the believers in Berea (17:10-15), etc., etc., etc.

The fact is, the book of Acts is a transitional book that serves as the record of the early years of what we call “the church age.” Those years were filled with all kinds of uncommon stories and miraculous happenings, none of which have ever been commonplace and certainly aren’t today. For this reason, we must always be hesitant about building core doctrine around the stories from Acts. Romans is considered the New Testament’s greatest doctrinal book, and it devotes pretty much an entire chapter — chapter 8 — to the subject of Holy Spirit baptism. Significantly, though, the chapter never once mentions speaking in tongues as the evidence of the experience.

Someone else might ask, “But what about the saved believers from the Old Testament? Didn’t the Holy Spirit indwell them? Were they not born again?” The truth is that Holy Spirit baptism (the new birth) was not part of God’s work in the lives of those believers. Just as those believers lived in a pre-Jesus era, they also lived in a pre-Holy Spirit baptism era.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that those believers didn’t worship God and commune with Him in their own capacity. No one is saying that believers such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel couldn’t worship God, commune with Him, fellowship with Him, and be in right relationship with Him. However, the idea of having Him literally dwell inside their bodies was something completely unknown to them. In God’s plan, such a thing just didn’t happen in those days. This leads us to conclude that the worship and communion those believers enjoyed with God, as legitimate as it all was, was curtailed to a fair degree by the fact that the spirit part of their bodies remained defective. Unfortunately for those believers, that was one of the many spiritual disadvantages — along with not having a completed Bible, not having any churches, and not being able to look back upon Jesus’ death as an historical event — with which they had to live.

But now as I wrap up this post and this “Salvation” series, let me just ask you: Have you placed saving belief in Jesus and thereby been born again by the baptism of the indwelling Holy Spirit? Has the Holy Spirit taken up residence inside you and fixed your defective spirit? Since God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one, has the indwelling Spirit changed your way of thinking, talking, dressing, conducting yourself, etc. and made them more pleasing to God? As 1 Corinthians 6:19 describes, has the Spirit transformed your body into His temple?

Friend, these are not unimportant questions. The “born again” experience is certainly nothing to take lightly, and if you doubt that you have experienced it, then you have every right to doubt that you have placed saving belief in Jesus and are on your way to heaven. Please understand that I’m not trying to cause you to doubt your salvation. But if I can cause you to doubt it by merely asking a few basic questions that come out of scripture, then you need to check up on whether or not you are authentically saved. That is the point I’m trying to get across to you, and it’s a point that I’ll leave between you and God. Always keep in mind, though, those emphatic words from Jesus: “You must be born again.” The man to whom He first spoke those words was Nicodemus, and all indications are that Nicodemus was part of that original group who experienced Holy Spirit baptism in Jerusalem. That means that Nicodemus took Jesus’ words seriously and brought his life in line with them. So, the question is now: Will you do the same?

Posted in Baptism, Belief, Christ's Resurrection, Church, Heaven, Hell, Human Life, Series: "Salvation", The Holy Spirit, The Trinity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Saving Belief

Posted on November 22, 2017 by russellmckinney

“Salvation” series: (post #8)

Jesus died on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for the sin debt every individual owes to holy God. On the third day afterward, He arose from the dead. He then spent the next 40 days making various appearances in His resurrected, glorified body to His disciples and others (Acts 1:1-3). At the end of those 40 days, He ascended up to heaven (Acts 1:4-11) to retake His place at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7:56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1). From there, He now offers salvation to one and all.

We must not make the mistake, however, of assuming that Christ’s death on the cross means that every individual’s sin debt is paid. As I noted in the previous post, Christ’s death was sufficient to pay for everyone’s sins but it isn’t efficient to pay for them. A simple illustration here might help.

Let’s say that a man walks into a crowded restaurant, hands the cashier $10,000 in cash, and announces to all the patrons, “I’m paying for everybody’s meal. When you get your bill, just bring it to the cashier, sign your name on a piece of paper, and your debt will be paid.” Okay, so what must happen for a customer to have his or her bill paid? That customer must follow the instructions and in so doing accept the payment, right? But what if a customer insists on paying his or her own bill? Obviously, the man’s payment won’t help them. This illustration isn’t perfect, but it at least showcases the reason why Christ’s death on the cross stands as the payment for the sins of some people but not the sins of others. Some people just don’t accept the payment.

Of course, this begs the question, “And how does a person accept the payment?” The Bible’s answer is: You must believe in Jesus as your personal Savior. There’s a reason that John 3:16 is the most famous verse in the Bible. It says:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (N.A.S.B.)

However, before we blow right past this matter of belief, let’s be sure that we understand it properly. The problem is that there are different types of belief and they don’t all equate to salvation. For example, James 2:19 tells us that even the demons (fallen angels) believe there is one God. But the demons aren’t saved.

Likewise, even though John 2:23 says that many “believed” (N.K.J.V.) in Jesus’ name when they saw the miracles He did, the next verse says He did not “commit Himself” (N.K.J.V.) to those people. Actually, the same Greek word is used in both verses for “believed” and “commit Himself.” It’s the Greek word pisteuo. For that matter, pisteuo is also the word used in John 3:16. So, the teaching of John 2:23 is that even though some people believed in Jesus, He didn’t believe in them. Evidently, their belief wasn’t the right kind for them to experience salvation.

Another relevant passage on this is Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus can’t be much clearer there when He says that many so-called “believers” who evoke His name and supposedly have impressive religious works on their resumes are, in reality, still unsaved. He says in those verses:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” (N.K.J.V.)

It is because of passages such as John 2:23-24 and Matthew 7:21-23 that the term “saving belief” has been coined. This term isn’t scriptural, but I have no qualms about using it and do so often in my preaching. The term is merely an attempt to draw a line of distinction between the kind of belief that leads to salvation and the kind that doesn’t.

It has often been noted that saving belief is much more than just intellectual assent to the facts about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as they are presented in the Bible. It’s more than just celebrating His birth at Christmas and His resurrection at Easter. It’s more than just calling yourself a “Christian” simply because you were born into a “Christian” family or a “Christian” nation. No, true saving belief in Jesus runs much deeper than any of that.

Allow me to list the New Testament’s various ways of explaining what saving belief entails. As you read these, keep in mind that they aren’t separate decisions or various “stages” of belief. Each one is, instead, a way of describing what saving belief in Jesus is. In other words, when a person places saving belief in Jesus, that person will automatically be doing all of these things simultaneously. Salvation is a moment-in-time experience, not a process. Here’s the list:

  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to come to Him: Matthew 11:28-30; John 5:39-40; John 6:35-37
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to follow Him: Matthew 4:18-20; Mark 2:14
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to call upon Him: Romans 10:9-13
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to put your faith in Him: Romans 3:21-23; Colossians 3:15
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to receive Him: John 1:12; Colossians 2:6
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to open the door to Him: Revelation 3:20
  • To place saving belief in Jesus is to trust in Him: Ephesians 1:11-14; 1 Timothy 4:10

Mark 1:15 and Acts 20:21 also bring repentance into the mix. To repent is to turn from your sins and go in the opposite direction. Because of this some have erroneously concluded that a person’s salvation can’t be genuine unless the person first turns from sin. For example, these people say that an alcoholic must quit drinking before he or she can genuinely believe in Jesus and be saved. Such a teaching misses the point that saving belief, by necessity, includes a certain amount of repentance.

Here again, an illustration might be helpful. In your mind, picture yourself walking down a road. Now think of Jesus coming toward you, walking down the same road but in the opposite direction. As the two of you pass, He says to you, “Follow Me.” In order for you to follow Him, what are you going to have to do? You’re going to have to turn and start walking in the opposite direction. In this way, your decision to follow Jesus, by necessity, included repentance on your part. Do you understand?

Now let me clarify something else: The saved people from the pre-Jesus era were saved in the same way as those from the post-Jesus era. There never has been and never will be two different plans of salvation. Salvation has always required saving belief. In a previous post, I explained how the blood sacrifices offered in the Old Testament era all pointed to Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. In God’s eyes, the blood from those sacrifices covered the sins until Christ’s blood could be shed in time and history to eternally cleanse the sins. In that way, Christ’s death and all those Old Testament sacrifices were part of the same grand plan. Well, the same type of thing is true of saving belief.

Romans 4:1-8 explains that both Abraham and David, two of God’s choicest servants from the Old Testament, were saved by belief. The only difference between them and saved people from this present day is the fact that they didn’t have as much revelation concerning God as we do now. What I mean is, God hadn’t formally revealed Himself as a Trinity yet.

Nevertheless, the Old Testament believers’ lack of knowledge about God being a Trinity didn’t render their belief in Him illegitimate. Make no mistake, when the likes of Abraham and David placed their belief in God, they were placing saving belief in the same God as we do today when we place saving belief in Jesus (God the Son). What makes this possible is the fact that God is ONE God.

When Jesus told His followers to make disciples of all nations and baptize them, He didn’t say, “Baptize them in the names (plural) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). To the contrary, He said, “Baptize them in the name (singular) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In another place, He even said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). And then there is 1 John 5:7, which refers to Jesus as “the Word” in saying:

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. (N.K.J.V.)

You see, when you understand that God is one God who has eternally existed in three distinct persons, you can understand that when Abraham, David, and all the other saved believers from the Old Testament era placed their belief in God, they were, in a very real sense, placing their belief in Jesus. Don’t penalize those believers over the fact that God, in His plan, didn’t fully reveal Himself as a Trinity to them. He certainly doesn’t penalize them for it.

Someone asks, “But what about good works? Don’t they have something to do with salvation?” No, they don’t. For one thing, even our so-called “good” works carry the taint of sin (Isaiah 64:6). For another, in order for you to be saved by works, you would have to never commit even one sin (James 2:10; Galatians 3:10). Even more than that, your sinless perfection would have to include not just your outward actions but also your inward thoughts, motives, and desires (Matthew 5:21-48; Mark 7:20-23). Good luck with that.

And so, we are brought back to the eternal truth of salvation through saving belief in Jesus. Nothing else will do if you want to have all your sins forgiven and spend eternity in perfect bliss with God rather than remain unforgiven and spend eternity in torment apart from Him. (I haven’t mentioned the eternal lake of fire in this series, but I assure you that it’s a very real place, a place where all of history’s unbelievers end up.)

Consequently, all that is left to be asked is, “Have you placed saving belief in Jesus and thereby experienced salvation?” If you haven’t done so, I beg you to do it now. Even if you think you might have but aren’t 100% sure, I beg you to do it now. (If you are already saved, God won’t penalize you for trying to get saved again.) What a shame it is that even though Jesus has paid the sin bill for the entire human race, the vast majority of people walk around unsaved. But you don’t have to be in that majority. I’ve explained to you, as best I can, God’s plan of salvation. Now it is up to you to decide what you will do with that plan.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Christ's Death, Demons, Eternity, Evangelism, Faith, God's Judgment, Grace, Heaven, Hell, Repentance, Salvation, Series: "Salvation", Sin, The Old Testament Law, The Trinity, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus: The Final Blood Sacrifice

Posted on November 20, 2017 by russellmckinney

“Salvation” series: (post #7)

We are in a series on the all-important subject of salvation, and the last couple of posts have dealt with blood. One explained the theological concept of blood atonement, and the other one traced the offering of blood sacrifices down through the Old Testament era and into the early decades of the New Testament era. Now, with all that foundation firmly in place, we are ready to bring Jesus Christ front and center.

Jesus left heaven and came into this world to be nothing less than the one, final, all-encompassing, all-sufficient, eternal blood sacrifice for every sin the human race had ever committed and would ever commit. Because of that, the blood He shed in dying on the cross put a permanent end to the need for any more sacrificial blood. I’ll cite seven passages here (all from the N.K.J.V.) because seven is a good Biblical number, but there are other passages:

  1. Matthew 26:28: (Jesus speaking) “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
  2. John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
  3. John 1:35-36: Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
  4. Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
  5. 1 John 1:7: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin.
  6. Revelation 1:5: and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
  7. Revelation 5:8-10: Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

You’ll notice that in that first passage (Matthew 26:28) Jesus speaks of the wine He used during The Lord’s Supper, and He explains that the wine symbolized His blood. Then He associates His blood with a new covenant. The Greek word translated as “covenant” is diatheke. It is the same word that oftentimes gets translated “testament.”

The point is that just as God entered Himself into a covenant with the people of Israel in Old Testament times — that’s where the term “Old Testament” comes from — anyone who places his or her belief in Jesus as Savior enters into Christ’s new covenant (testament). And just as the Old Testament covenant between God and Israel was based upon shed sacrificial blood, the New Testament covenant that Jesus instituted is also based upon shed sacrificial blood. The difference is, whereas there were thousands upon thousands of blood sacrifices offered during the days of the Old Testament, Jesus’ death on the cross serves as the only blood sacrifice required for the new covenant.

What must not be lost in all this, however, is the fact that there has always been just ONE plan of salvation. Going all the way back to God killing those animals in the garden of Eden for Adam and Eve, and running all the way up to Jesus dying on the cross, there has always been just ONE plan of salvation. Just because there was an old covenant and now there is a new covenant, that doesn’t mean the two stand in conflict or contrast with each other. To the contrary, the new covenant that Jesus created actually fulfilled the old covenant.

Let me explain. Adam and Eve eating that forbidden fruit did not catch God off guard. He knew in His perfect foreknowledge they were going to do it. Therefore, He already had in mind a plan by which He could provide them, as well as all their descendants, forgiveness of sin. That plan was all about Jesus. Did you know that Revelation 13:8 calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?” As amazing as the idea sounds, in the foreknowledge of God, the lifeless body of Jesus hanging dead on a cross was a done deal even before Genesis 1:1.

Obviously, we are getting into the doctrinal waters of the Trinity here. Yes, the Bible really does teach that God is one God who has eternally existed in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. There are various analogies that get used to try to illustrate God being a triune God, but I don’t think any of them are adequate. For example, just as water can exist in the form of running water, ice, or vapor, God exists in three distinct persons. Or, just as one male can play the roles of son, husband, and father, God can play the roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I won’t say any more about the Trinity, but you can consult the following passages for further study: 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2 John 2:3; John 1:1-3,14; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; Acts 5:3-4; Acts 13:2; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Matthew 28:19; James 2:19; Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 John 5:7.

Getting back to the plan of salvation, God always knew that humans would turn themselves into sinners, and He always knew that God the Son would shed His divine blood in dying for all their sins. But for reasons known only to God, God the Son would not literally come into the world and die that death until approximately 4,000 years after Adam and Eve’s sin. So, the question was: How could sinners who lived before Jesus’ death be made right with God? Answer: by offering up blood sacrifices.

What must be understood, though, is that the best the blood from those pre-Jesus sacrifices could do was COVER sin and stay the wrath of God from falling upon those who offered them. What that blood couldn’t do was eternally CLEANSE sins. This is seen in the Old Testament word “atone,” which simply means “to cover.” As God told the people of Israel:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement (a covering) for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement (a covering) for your souls. (Leviticus 17:11, N.K.J.V.)

But the divine blood that Jesus shed in dying can do much more than just COVER sin. That blood can eternally CLEANSE it. Read carefully the following passages:

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4, N.K.J.V.)

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14, N.K.J.V.)

You see, in a very real sense, the blood Jesus shed in dying authenticated all that blood that had been shed via all those Old Testament sacrifices. In God’s eyes, each one of those sacrifices had foreshadowed and pointed toward Jesus’ eventual death on the cross. Think of it this way: Whenever God watched an Old Testament sacrifice being offered upon an altar, He had one eye on that sacrifice and the other eye on Jesus (in the future) hanging dead on the cross. In that way, God could allow the blood from that sacrificial animal to cover the individual’s sins until Jesus could come in time and history and shed His blood in dying to cleanse those sins completely.

And that’s where we will put a period on this post. Next time we’ll talk about what it takes for you, as an individual, to get Jesus’ shed blood applied to your sins. Certainly His blood is sufficient to provide eternal cleansing for everyone’s sins, going all the way back to Adam and Eve’s, but His blood isn’t automatically efficient to do so. No, something is required on your part to get His blood applied to your sins. Come back next time and we’ll identify what that something is. 

Posted in Christ's Death, Eternity, God's Holiness, God's Provision, Sacrifice, Salvation, Series: "Salvation", The Gospel, The Lord's Supper, The Old Testament Law, The Trinity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment