The Letter and the Spirit

The more I know of the Bible, the more I know how little I know. 

The letter is but the surface, the spirit is the infinite ocean. 

The letter speaks to the mind, the spirit thrills the heart.

 The letter is the pen, the spirit is the blood. 

The letter is the law, the spirit is the life. 

The letter is the voice, the spirit is the breath. 

The letter is seen and understood, the spirit is unseen but known. 

The letter is the letter and the spirit is the Spirit.

Hymn Harmonizing

                                                   My Fun Hymn Harmonizing Game
For my morning devotions this morning I found nine (9) texts in the last stanza of the hymn--It Is Well With My Soul.


"And Lord, haste the day"
Zep 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

"When my faith shall be sight"
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

"The clouds be rolled back as a scroll"
Isa 34:4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

"The trump shall resound"
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

"And the Lord shall descend"
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

""Even so""
Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

"It is well with my soul"
Isa 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

The Judgment of Love 

 

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus describes the judgment revolving around acts of love to Himself in the person of the suffering, sick, and imprisoned. But the "love of God is shed abroad,"--(Rom. 5:5)--from the hearts of those who have the law of God written in them, (see Heb. 8:10), because the law is love as defined by Jesus (Matt. 22:37-39), and acts of love are the fulfilling of it (Rom. 13:10). It is impossible to love others without obeying and fulfilling the law of God.

Love to God through love to man may be exhibited yet if love to God through obeying His commandments is not demonstrated--"If ye love Me keep My commandments," (John 14:15)--(that is, keeping the first four commandments that relate to our love to God), then we are as those that give all their goods to feed the poor yet lack love and are really as nothing (see 1 Cor. 13:3).

  
With the two above thoughts in mind another perspective of the judgment given by Jesus in Matthew makes more sense.
"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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many Wonderful Works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt. 7:21-23)
 
"Iniquity," is wickedness or sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4). "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," (Matt. 19:17). This includes the one commandment which God calls us to "Remember," (Ex. 20:8).

1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
 Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

In what sense are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, was a positive precept of the law, Leviticus 19:18 "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." "As I have loved you," (John 13:34), is the new, fresh distinction that Jesus makes. Jesus was to demonstrate a "greater love," (John 15:13), then man had yet beheld in that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," (Romans 5:8).

Jesus life was to demonstrate how we, by His grace alone, are to "magnify the law, and make it honourable." (Isaiah 42:21).

If, "love is the fulfilling of the law," (Rom. 13:10), then love is righteousness. If "God is love," and, "love is of God," (1 John 4:8, 7), then only that which Christ accomplishes in the heart and life is acceptable with God. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," (Isaiah 64:6). Love without selfish motive, love which "seeketh not her own," (1 Cor. 13:5), is found in the heart of God alone and supplied with His presence in the heart.

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

All the words, "gospel," "Jesus," "Christ," have meanings.

The word gospel is not used in the Old Testament. The word, news (that is for "good new"), is used only once: 

• As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. (Proverbs 25:25)

The gospel quenches the thirst of the soul. It answers the questions of eternity, the questions of life.

• O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; (Ps. 63:1).

Jesus is the living water to quench our burning thirst.

• John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

• John 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

The name Jesus means Savior. Jesus is come to save man from his sins. That is, to free him from the guilt and power of sin and finally from the presence of sin.

• Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 

Christ means anointed one or "Messiah" . This is the first reference in this gospel to a messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. It refers to Daniel 9.

• Daniel 9:25  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

The weeks referred to here in Daniel 9 are addressed specifically by Jesus in Mark 1:15. I'll leave comments to that point. Daniel 9 is, however, an outline of the dates for the baptism, ministry, and crucifixion of Jesus. It is one of the most stunning proofs for the authenticity of the Bible.

Love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:10).

This one text has had an immeasurable influence on my theology. It is the pickax that has led me to a thousand gems of truth.

When asked, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus responded, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

Supreme love to God composes the first four commandments and impartial love to our fellow men composes the latter six. Love becomes the expression of righteousness. Conformity to the law is the standard in the judgment (James 2:12). This is why Jesus employs the imagery of the loving sheep and the selfish goats in his illustration of the Judgment with the righteous and the wicked (Mat. 25:31-46).

We cannot benefit from grace until we have benefited from the law.

How can we acknowledge transgression where there is no law? How can we be brought to acknowledge our guilty condition where there is no right that we have wronged?

"The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul." Ps. 19:7.
"By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20
 Law leads to Christ. Gal. 3:24.

The law acquaints us with our sinful condition, the condemnation of transgression, and point us to the Remedy.

We cannot be recipients of grace until we have been recipients of the law.

If the law isn't binding grace is meaningless.

 I attended a non-denominational prayer meeting last Friday. It was a wonderful prayer meeting at first. When they learned that I was an Adventist, however, the scene changed. They literally assumed that I was "a deceiver and an antichrist," (2 John 7), and they accused me of "infiltrating" their church.





How the scene changed from a warm, friendly environment to a hostile one! God helped me to remain calm and speak in a "soft voice," which "turneth away wrath," (Pr. 15:1). I was astonished and told them that I just saw their sign outside inviting anyone to join their prayer meeting and came! I hadn't shared anything. I simply craved prayer. Their reaction was outrageous. I try to understand--they are afraid of others that believe differently.


One man grilled me on his idea of "once-saved-always-saved," and when I softly answered with a simple Bible text (Mat. 24:13), and affirmed that we certainly have the choice to accept salvation or to reject it--though it be a free gift--he became incensed and began to argue his point with a raised voice. I did not come to have such a conversation and I didn't want to justify their accusation, so I answered passively.


He then brought up his idea of eternal burning hellfire and asked me about that, to which I simply responded with John 3:16--those that reject Christ will "perish,"--that is, cease to exist. Well, he wouldn't have that! When I realized that they would not accept my simple honesty that I simply came to pray, I stood up, walked to the door, thanked them for praying for me, and walked out.

I have thought a lot about this experience. It was pretty intense. There are many lessons. I was alarmed at how uncomfortable they were to have a Christian of another denomination in their midst.

The two doctrines the man shared are very concerning.

Once-saved-always-saved is the idea that once we accept salvation we cannot lose it. If we reject God we're still stuck with salvation. Already the logic begins to unravel.

The man emphasized two texts to support the idea--John 10:28, 29 (Nothing is able to pluck us out of God's hand), and Rom. 6:23 (The gift of God is eternal life).

These both may be answered in numerous ways.

Salvation is a daily choice and experience (Joshua 24:15). Our sins (transgressions of the law of God--1 John 3:4), separate us from our heavenly Father (Is. 59:2).

These points address the first text and relate that we may pluck ourselves out of God's hand. If we accept Christ and then reject Him later on in life, will God become a monster and clench us in a vice-grip, not giving us the freedom to lose salvation? No, He will permit us to choose what we will. The Great Controversy that we live in revolves around CHOICE. The power of choice polarizes the world into two groups in the last days--those that receive the seal of God and those that receive the mark of the beast.

The second point--that eternal life is a gift that cannot be rejected after accepted--is another point that is in itself illogical. A gift may be free but why can I not return it or dispose of it? If I cannot reject it, does it not become--not free--but forced?

Here are some general texts and points against the concept of OSAS.

Mt. 24:13--Declares that only those that "endure unto the end will be saved."

2 Peter 2:20-22--Is a direct question revealing that man, as a dog returns to his vomit, may return to his former sins and reject salvation. His latter end is worse because he is now more hardened to the convictions of sin brought on by the Holy Spirit.


Eternal burning hellfire is the most monstrous attack on the very character and nature of God the Devil has ever concocted. Let's call a spade a spade. It is the idea that sinners will literally burn for ever in the fires of hell.This doctrine is built on another false and dangerous doctrine--the immortality of the soul (I'll write another blog on this point).

However, the Bible speaks of the wicked shall be burned up and be "ashes" under the feet of the righteous (see Malachi 4:1, 3). This language is wonderfully plain. However, there are many, many more plain texts.


Psalm 37:9  For evildoers shall be cut off (literally: Utterly destroyed): but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
Psalm 37:10  For yet a little while (their time in hellfire), and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

Psalm 37:20  But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

I'll blog more on objection texts that are given  to support the idea of an eternally burning hell. The Bible wonderfully explains itself.