Freedom is Good News Part 168

As we finish this six week study let me summarize by saying that salvation comes by faith and the reward that our Savior is bringing with Him is based upon our obedience in doing His word and His will – as our father Abraham did.

In Matthew we find a very curious scripture that talks about these two aspects of doing God’s word and His will, it is found in 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Here we find “many” who, after prophesying, casting out demons and doing mighty works in the Lord’s name, have Jesus say unto them that He never knew them and He tells them to depart!  Why?  Evidently they did not do the will of the Father and they were workers of lawlessness.

Let’s consider this for a few minutes.  First of all, what is the will of God?  This sounds quite serious because we do want to be able to enter the kingdom of God!!  We could possibly fill a book seeking to answer this but let’s look for our answer in a different area of this scripture in Matthew.  Jesus declares that ‘I never knew you’.  This word ‘knew’, in the Greek language, is “ginosko”.  Vines dictionary of biblical Greek tells us that the word frequently indicates a relationship, often between God and man or between a husband and wife.  This is a word that shows intimacy and so Jesus is intimating a lack of relationship.  If one does not have a relationship with Him then He does not know them.  Hence, it is God’s will that we seek Him with all our heart so as to form a relationship of love with Him!

But what about this statement, “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  What is a worker of lawlessness?  Again, we can go to the Greek to understand this word – it is used of one who “acts contrary to law”.  Paul tells us that God’s law is holy, righteous and good and Jesus wants us to be a “worker of the law” or, one who is “obedient in doing His word” as I mentioned in the first paragraph.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 14:23, Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word.  My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him.”  Wow!!  The Father and Son will choose to live in me – now that is a heavy statement.  A couple of verses before that, Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and manifest myself to him.”  Friends and brethren, this is the relationship Abraham had with God.  It is as intimate as it gets.  There is no greater reward for us to receive than to have this intimacy with the Father and His Son.  And this is what we should strive for.  Salvation?  Yes!  Access to God through Jesus’ blood?  Of course!  But what a reward He has set before us!!!  Think about these things.

Freedom is Good News Part 28

“His kingdom rules over all.”(Psalm 103:19)  “Jesus came … preaching the good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 4:23)

Is it good news to you that God’s kingdom rules over all?  It seems to me that somehow our human nature resents being ruled over.  Oh!  Maybe the word “resent” is too strong and we should insert the word “reject”.  Never the less, the question stands; do you reject (or resent) being ruled over?  In other words do you feel that God has no right to interfere in your life?  This really seems to be where Eve and then Adam started out.  And I think we pointed out, in a previous article, where that attitude led.  Suffice it to say, it hasn’t been good news!

There is an old saying in Latin, “Rex Lex or Lex Rex”.  “Lex” being the word for “law” and “Rex” being the word for “king”.  In other words, “is the king the law or is the law the king”?  In the United States we live by the rule of law.  To say it another way, the law is king, it applies to everyone – no one is above the law. (At least it’s supposed to work that way!!)  But in a monarchy it is just the opposite; the king is the law – what he says goes!  The bible tells us that God has set up a monarchy and so He rules over all.

Okay!  That’s where we started this article but we haven’t considered whether this is good news or not.  Several weeks ago we explored the idea that God was good and that He was good all the time.  May I suggest that if He is good all the time, then we have a wonderful King?  It has been said that the best form of government is a beneficent dictatorship.  In many ways, our God dictates to us and we have come to the understanding that He is beneficent. 

Our God is a loving Father!  He is more than just a loving Father; He is a perfect loving Father.  He wants us to succeed at what we do and to be with Him for eternity.  Do you believe that?  Then let me reiterate something I said earlier, “The laws that He has given to us are gifts from Him and are for our benefit.”  The book of Job addresses this comment; in Job 35:6, Elihu (the one friend of Job who is not chastised by God) says this, “If you sin, how does that affect Him?  If your sins are many, what does that do to Him?  If you are righteous, what do you give to Him or what does He receive from your hand?”  This says a mouthful toward the fact that God has given us laws for our benefit.  

The benefit is twofold; first, we learn how to act toward our neighbors (and they toward us) and secondly, but most importantly, we learn how our God would have us act toward Him.  This is summed up in the two great commandments, love the LORD your God with all your heart, strength and life and love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, I don’t know about you, but for me, the gift of His kingdom and its laws and commandments is really good news.

Until next time, think on the good things of God. 

Freedom is Good News Part 27

I was just reading over last week’s article and was struck by the words from Psalm 103:19, “His kingdom rules over all.”  These words caught my eye because I had been thinking about the title of these articles, “YES, THERE IS GOOD NEWS!”, and considering how the message that Jesus proclaimed to the people began with, “the good news of the kingdom”.  These two concepts crossed my mind at about the same time.  Let us, then, dive into these two statements and see where they take us.

Does God’s kingdom rule over you?  Please take this personally.  We, in this country, are very blessed to have the type of government that is in place, a constitutional republic.  But our familiarity with this type of government, one that is “of the people, by the people and for the people” actually might limit us when we consider just how the kingdom of God operates.  God’s kingdom is not a republic.  It is a monarchy!  In a true monarchy, when the king makes a decree it becomes a law and well, yes the subjects must obey.

How many rules and laws enacted through our secular government do you break?  We do not seem to do very well with speed limits!  That’s very obvious.  And do we really come to a stop at the many stop signs we encounter?  No, I’m not trying to point out the “speck in your own eye” while I have a beam in mine.  We have all broken a law or two in our time.  But what about God’s law?  Sometimes it doesn’t seem that we even care that God has given us His laws as a gift.  Yes, as a gift!!  Turn off the TV tonight and just sit and meditate quietly about how life in this society would improve if just one of the Ten Commandments were fully kept.  “Thou shall not steal”.  Not only would we not need locks of any kind but we would be safe traveling anywhere in any town.  Remember I said, “Fully kept.”  No one would try to steal another person’s life – “Thou shall not murder” comes into play.  It is an interesting exercise in meditation; try it some time.

So I repeat, “God’s laws are a gift” – all of them!!  And yet if asked, could you recite all of the Ten Commandments?  Do you even know where to find them in the Bible.

Let’s see what Moses had to say concerning these laws of God.  In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, we read this:  “Hear now O Israel, the decrees and laws I’m about to teach you … Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God. … Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’…  What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?  … Be careful and watch closely … do not forget … or let them slip from your heart … Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”  Typing that last line almost breaks my heart when I think of our youth today and how many of them have never been taught the ways of God.

And so I end on a sour note – but fear not, we will continue this next week.

Until then – yes there is good news!