26 21 Something Supremely Important
21 Something Supremely Important
Something Supremely Important
"But to keep the commands of God is everything” is the Twentieth Century translation of 1 Corinthians 7:19 b. Others so translate it. There can be no doubt that to translate it this way gives us, in our language, the thought in the original Greek.
EVERYTHING
"Everything, ” of course, when used in reference to a group of objects, means every individual thing in that group. But in the Scripture we are studying it means "Something Supremely Important. ” ”obedience ” to God’s commands is just that.
There are some other statements that naturally come in here for consideration.
"And the world passeth away, and the just thereof: buthe that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. ”(1 John 2:17). ”Doing the will of God” then connects us with that ”age-abiding life” or eternal life. And the will of God is expressed in the most unmistakable terms in Matthew 7:21 : "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 who is in heaven." And the will of the Father is placed before us too plain not to be seen. Speaking from the cloud, on the mount of transfiguration, God says: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. ” It is God’s will then that we hear Christ. God had prophesied through Moses, about fifteen hundred years before, that he would send a prophet from Abraham’s seed, and that it would be a dangerous thing not to hear him. Let us read Peter’s application of this prophecy: "Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me; to him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." (See Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Acts 3:22-23).
Now, with all the above before you, note carefully the following words from Christ himself: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life eternal.” (John 12:48-50). Does not this read very much like hearing and doing what our Lord says is our only hope of life eternal?
WHAT IT MEANS TO HEAR JESUS
The Bible teaches, without any kind of doubt, that man at his very best sins. If this is not true, what can the meaning of the following Scriptures be: (1) "There is none holy as Jehovah" (1 Samuel 2:2); (2) "For there is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46); (3) "Who can discern his errors?" (Psalms 19:12); (4) "Surely there is not a righteous man upon [the] earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20, (5) "For in many things we all stumble" (James 3:2); (6) "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10 :
So it is correct to say that man, at his best, sins in some way, though he may not be conscious of it. Man, then, must feel his need of Christ every moment of his stay here on earth after being baptized into Christ. He must ever look to Jesus as his only hope and for perfection. Study Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:10 : Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 14:13; 1 John 5:10-11.
But the Bible teaches just as clearly as it teaches what we have given in the above paragraph, that those who knowingly trample under foot one command of our Lord are not the obedient ones that Christ died to save. (Hebrews 5:9). To knowingly refuse to hear Christ in one thing is equivalent to not hearing him at all. Or to put it a little differently:
PARTIAL OBEDIENCE IS DISOBEDIENCE
We have done well in teaching this principle to our religious neighbors and to aliens. It is hoped that we will learn it just as well in its application to ourselves. Now to the proof of this proposition we direct your hearts.
Saul Is an Example. Turn to 1 Samuel 15:1-23 and read it thoughtfully. The command is easily seen and understood: "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." Was it possible for Saul not to have known the content of this command?
How nearly did he come to doing all the word of the Lord- in this command? Human reason would say he did practically all of it. Jehovah spake differently. He destroyed every Amalekite on earth except old Agag the king. The best of the sheep, and the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good were preserved to sacrifice unto God at Gilgal. And such offerings were in order under the law at that time; but there was no room in the command for any such things to be saved for such purposes.
Study the words finally put to Saul after he contended that he had obeyed the voice of the Lord. "Hash the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." If this does not prove that partial obedience, when knowingly engaged in, is no obedience at all, what could prove it? It is downright rebellion. Could you think of anything worse?
But more proof. Let us now study together very prayerfully the following words: "Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.
.. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all. ” Now do you believe this? This has reference to our doing all the law says with the exception of just one command, and we knowingly trample it under foot. This is rebellion to God. God says that such are as guilty as if they had violated all he says. Then he illustrates with these words: "For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou cost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law." Is that not plain enough?
May we know we are saved and safe? Most certainly we can. But how? By examining our own hearts and seeing if we are knowingly setting aside one thing our Lord wants us to do. The book says so, and it is right: "And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-5). You know that you know him, because you know that you are not knowingly rebelling against a single commandment of God. How else can you know it?
SELF-EXAMINATION Are we not commanded in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "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." Now for some questions:
If Christ is really in you, would you and could you knowingly refuse to obey one thing he says for you to do? Would not your knowingly trampling under foot one command, drive him from your heart? A reprobate is one "abandoned as hopelessly wicked." Is there not a warning to us here? If we receive not the love of the truth, God will send a working of error into our hearts that we may believe a lie and be damned.
(2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). Perhaps this lie, in many cases, is our coming to think we are saved when we are not saved.
Does not Romans 4:12; Romans 4:16 declare that the promise is to those who are "of the faith of Abraham," or walk in the steps of the faith that Abraham had? Was not his faith a faith that believed everything God said and tried to do everything God said, it mattered not how painful it was to him?
Can you and do you knowingly lie on your neighbor? Are you even careless about whether what you say about others is true or false? Does not our Lord say, "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" along with "whosoever loveth and maketh a lie"? (Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:16). Can Christ dwell in a heart that will knowingly lie?
Do you hate everything you know is evil and abhor it and abstain from even the appearance of evil? (Study Psalms 97:10 : Romans 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).
There are plain directions how we should go about saving a brother in error. (See Galatians 6:1). There are plain directions about how to conduct yourself toward those who sin against you. (See Matthew 18:15-17). How have you been treating these Scriptures? It matters not if you have been baptized a thousand times, what good will it do you if you knowingly trample under foot such plain-as-day teaching?
Does it not say: "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." This can have reference to only those who knowingly sin. And it further says: "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." How are you walking? (1 John 3:6; 1 John 2:6).
Paul says: "For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." (Galatians 6:3). May not one of the delusions contained in the warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). be the fact we deceive ourselves into the idea that we are saved when we are not? What truth is it that we may refuse to love and obey that carries not this danger? How do we know we have passed from death unto life? (See 1 John 3:14). Do you really love the brethren? Does he not say that he that hateth his brother is a murderer; and we know no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him? Is this true? (See 1 John 3:15).
Then you go to 1 John 4:20-21 and we have the following words: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
These words are too plain to be misunderstood. And the following words from our Lord should be studied here: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34-35).
Very well, let us now drop back to Galatians 6:1 and read it: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." How much of this is done? Is it not true that leaders rush to the papers criticizing this error in this brother and that brother, and, perhaps, has seen him a dozen times a month and not one time has one thing been said to him in a face-to-face talk about the error? Is this love? Is this the spirit of our Lord? Will such conduct on the part of leaders get by in the judgment? And go now to Matthew 18:15-17. Does this not say as plain as day if a brother trespass against thee that you go to him alone and talk it over? This is the first step. If he will not hear thee, then take one or two more; and you should be careful to take the one or two more who love him and are interested in him as they are in you. And if you fail in this second effort, take it to the church. What is the rule here, so far as the general practice is concerned? Well, to talk it to one or two or a dozen or more to this brother’s back, and work up all the feelings against him you can? Is it not strange that even elders of the church and publishers of religious journals too often actually join in with members of the church in violating the plain-as-day teaching of our Lord here? Listen: You are a rebel yourself when you let the brother who claims he has been mistreated come to you and talk about the second party. Tell him that he is going at it wrong, to go to the brother who has sinned against him first, then come and get you and you will help him if this brother will not hear him. This is right.
You had as well stand with the Methodists, who have perverted the gospel in God’s order by putting baptism, then teaching, then faith, then repentance, as they certainly do when they baptize babies and later teach them, as to change God’s order here in the way you go about getting a brother to correct his wrongs against you. If not, why not? Would we not do well to remember: "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19). In conclusion, may I not ask: Is it not true that if some of us get by in the judgment, God would have to lie in letting us get by? Will he do this? Are not the principles we have studied in this lesson just as binding on us as they are on sectarians and aliens? The very fact that we are capable of showing others this principle when teaching the law of pardon to aliens is proof positive that we know it ourselves, hence when we apply not this principle to our own way of treating each other, we come under the following condemnation:
"Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest cost practice the same things." (Romans 2:1).
A MORNING WISH The sun is just rising on the morning of another day. What can I wish that this day may bring to me? Nothing that shall make the world of others poorer, nothing at the expense of other great but just those few things which in their coming do not stop with me, but touch me rather as they pass and gather strength:
1. A few friends who understand me, and yet remain my friends.
2. A work to do which has real value without which the world would feel the poorer.
3. A return for such work small enough not to tax untruly anyone who pays.
4. A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed.
5. An understanding heart.
6. A sight of the eternal hills and unresting sea, and of something beautiful the hand of man has made.
7. A sense of humor and the power to laugh. A little leisure with nothing to do. A few moments of quiet, silent meditation. 8. The sense of the presence of God. And the patience to wait for the coming of these things, with wisdom to know them when they come.