The Word of God and Personal Choice

 Temple Baptist Church - 2-18-2024

Psalm 119:57-64

 

Introduction: 

 

A.  Tonight, the 8^th stanza of the 119^th Psalm.  The 8^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is CHETH.  The letter CHETH is interesting as it has a two-fold meaning: it can mean either “sin” or “life.”

 

1.  God gives us both the right and obligation of choice.  Calvinism teaches “Total Depravity” as “Total Inability” which is false.  I heard a Calvinist preach this week and he said that the unsaved need to make the right choice.  How contradictory and erroneous. 

Shortly, I will preach on “The Landmark of the Sovereignty of God.” 

 

2.  In God’s Sovereignty, He has created mankind as free moral agents: that man has the ability to choose either right or wrong.  As God’s children, we must learn to trust the guidance of God.  God guides us in the way that we should walk through His Word and the Holy Ghost.

 

Psalms 32:8-10  I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.  (9)  Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.  (10)  Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

 

Our instructions and teaching are found in the Word of God.

 

2 Peter 1:3-4  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  (4)  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

 

God has given us the divine power through His Word to make our choices right and to live full, godly lives in this present evil world.

 

a)  God guides us through His Word into Salvation.

 

b)  God guides us through His Word into Safety.

 

3.  As we look at this 8^th stanza, we see that the Psalmist has made both good and bad choices which will set the tone for all 8 verses, 57-64.

 

4.  Eve, then Adam, made choices, both bad and good, which brought about both the Fall and Faith. Later, Cain and Abel made choices, both bad and good, with the Lord giving Cain another chance to change his choice from bad to good.  “And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” explained Cain’s reason for maintaining his bad choice and dying lost without God.

 

5.  We make choices each day spiritually.  We choose to live a life of sinfulness, or we choose to live a life that is godly.  These choices are dependent upon our relationship with the Word of God.  We need to be making biblical choices!

 

a)  There is an old saying, “Either the bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the bible.”  This is a scriptural saying as your relationship to the Word of God is either sinful or godly. 

 

b)  Sinful when we choose to ignore its path and embrace the world, or godly when we choose to embrace its path and reject the world.

 

B.  CHETH gives the meaning of “sin unto death or chastisement” or “obedience unto life and peace.”  The choice is OURS!  Now, let us look at these 8 verses.

 

1.  Verse 57 – “Thou are my portion in life, O LORD!”  Here the Psalmist recognizes the truth of a right choice.  “My portion” means MY part.  The table is set at home and my portion is what I choose to put on my plate.  The table of God’s Word is full, and The Lord is my portion!

 

2.  Verse 57 – “I have said that I would keep thy words” refers to a past vow made.  The Psalmist did not say “the only choice I have is to keep thy words,” but “I have said.”  The Bible teaches that every newly saved person fully intends to live a life for Christ.  God will not save the person who asks the Lord to save them while fully intending to continue to live their life in sin. 

 

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.  (2)  Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

 

3.  Verse 58 – A cry for mercy because of a wrong choice.  “I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.”  Realization of bad choices teaches the believer to seek the mercies of God that are new every morning in both presence and sufficiency. 

 

Psalms 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

 

1 John 1:8-10  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

4.  Verse 59 – The Psalmist thought upon his ways and turned in repentance to the right way.  “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”  His repentance causes his feet to turn unto a biblical path of righteousness.  Thinking on our wicked ways will not get the job done in itself.  The requirement of a right path is making the right choice.

                     

Ezekiel 18:27-28  Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.  (28)  Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

 

5.  Verse 60 – The change in choice was immediate.  I think of Pharoah when Egypt was full of frogs.  He asked Moses to entreat God for their removal.  Then he made a statement that holds true to many.  Instead of asking for the frog’s removal right now or today, he said that tomorrow would be fine.  The moment that we find our choices have been wrong is the time to “haste … and delayed not.”  This shows a true repentance and lessens the impending effect of and punishment for sin.

 

Luke 19:5-6  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.  (6)  And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

 

6.  Verse 61 – The result of a bad choice.  “The bands of the wicked have robbed me.”  Bad choices not only have bad consequences, but they also rob the believer of the good consequences of good choices.  The things that the believer gets that destroy their lives are manifest but what they could have had will never be known, just surmised.  “But I have not forgotten thy law.”  You can run but you can’t hide.  The Word of God that you have heard and learned will always be there.

 

Psalms 116:3-4  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.  (4)  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

 

7.  Verse 62 – In the midst of the storm the Psalmist sought God.  He did not wait for the light of day or the end results of his disobedience to be manifested.  “At midnight!”  He arose from his bed and gave thanks for the love and mercy of God.  He deserved what judgment that he had coming and thanked God for the judgments that were staved off through remembering, repenting, and returning.

 

Acts 16:25  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

 

8.  Verse 63 – His return to the fold.  “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of the that keep thy precepts.”  When the believer gets out of the will of God through wrong choices, he/she will always become a companion of the wicked.  BUT, the believer will never belong there.  The church crowd is OUR crowd.  Thank God for the love, help, and exhortation found in the presence of the saved!

 

Proverbs 13:20  He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

 

9.  Verse 64 – The mercy of the Lord is available to not only the believer, but also to the whole earth.  “Teach my thy statutes!”  Our personal choices should be bound in the Word of God.  Right choices are a result of a right relationship with God’s Word.

The Brevity of Life

 Temple Baptist Church - 1-26-2022

James 4:13-17

 

Introduction. 

 

A. The passage that I read this evening deals with the subjects of our future and death.  I may break this message up into 2 or 3 parts as it is something that we will all face if our Lord has not come back soon.

 

B.  If the Lord does not come soon, we that are older will face the last enemy: death!  An enemy already conquered by our Lord Jesus Christ.  Turn with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15: the resurrection chapter.

 

1 Corinthians 15:19-27  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  (20)  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  (21)  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  (22)  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  (23)  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.  (24)  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  (25)  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.  (26)  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.  (27)  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

 

C.  Death is simply the cessation of life as we know it here on earth.  A place of appointment; a place of destiny.

 

D.  The Brevity of Life.

 

1.  King David is a great example of the brevity of life.  Though the Bible does not give David's age at death, we do know that he lived a long, full life here on earth.  Psalm 37 was a Psalm of David and, in the later part of the Psalm, David reflects back over his life and the brevity of it.

 

Psalms 37:23-26  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.  (24)  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.  (25)  I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.  (26)  He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

 

2.  King David had a purpose for living and an appointment with death when his work on earth was done.

 

1 Samuel 17:26,29  And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?  …  And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?  (King David had a purpose for living and an appointment with death.)

 

2 Samuel 23:1  Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,  (Never more on this earth would we hear from the King of Israel, David the Beloved.)

 

3.  Job's take on Life.  No age is given but, through the Scripture, we know that Job lived a long life.  The Book of Job is said to be the oldest book in the Bible so we know that his generation possibly lived for hundreds of years.  He lost his first children but God gave to him 7 more along with 3 more generations of grandchildren.  He lived 140 years more after Job, chapter 1.  Though long in the sight of man, Job's life was swift and short.

 

Job 42:16-17  After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.  (17)  So Job died, being old and full of days.

 

a) Swift Days - Job 7:6  My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.  (I was once young and now I am getting old.  My generation is swiftly passing off the scene.)

 

b) Few Days - Job 14:1  Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.  (As the days pass so quickly, I realize more than ever the brevity of life.)

 

c) Troublesome Days.  Job had to endure much hardship in the early years of his life.

 

4.  Jacob's take on Life.  According to the Bible, Jacob lived to be 147 years old.  Genesis 47:9  And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

 

Psalms 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

 

5. What is your life?  It is short at best and shorter at worst!  The Bible says threescore and ten or fourscore by reason of strength.  Some live longer than 80, but on the other side of the coin, some do not live until they are 70.  This is what James says: do not worry about tomorrow because for you and me, tomorrow may never come.

 

Psalms 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.  (As we now place flowers on the graves of our loved ones, someone soon will place flowers on ours.  Tracy!)

 

6.  The Surety Of Death.

 

a) We Will Die - Hebrews 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  (My day is coming and so is yours.  I have watched as many have died and each time have wondered what it is like to know death.)

 

b) Our Bodies Will Decay - Genesis 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.  (These old fleshly bodies wear out; these fleshly bodies will go back to the dust from whence they came.  No physician or mortician can stop the process.)

 

c) We Will Not Return - 2 Samuel 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.  (Pay no attention to the “Out of the body experiences.”  When you die, it is like water spilt upon the ground.)

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

Eternal Life

Temple Baptist Church - 8-24-2014

 

1 John 2:25

 

Introduction:

A. In our verse, I find it important to re-establish the fact that the child of God is forever saved! I do not want to make this message hard to understand but it is one that needs to be understood!

B. The doctrine of eternal life has been attacked by both man and devil about as much as the doctrine of the scriptures! No man has or ever will be able to merit salvation through personal righteousness nor will man ever be able to maintain his salvation through the same. It all goes back to Romans 10:3, which says: “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” What righteousness is essential to salvation? The absolutely perfect righteousness that can only be found in Jesus Christ. What righteousness is essential to remaining saved? The same: the absolutely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Romans 3:21-28 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; (22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (27) Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. (28) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

C. At this point, let me say that if you lived a perfect, sinless life, you would still die and go to hell for all eternity because you did not come to God through Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) Salvation is not of works according to Ephesians 2:8-9 but salvation is a salvation THAT WORKS according to the bible! I do not work to continue to be saved; I work because I am saved.

D. Once again, let us go to Genesis 2 and look at the first mention of life in Adam.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Adam became a living soul, not just a living body, through the breath of life from God. Living means more than just physical life. Adam became spiritually alive or a “living soul.” By spiritually alive, I mean that the soul of Adam could not be seen because it is spirit.)

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

E. God has eternal life and the breath of God gave to Adam eternal life. His body died 930 years later but Adam remains to this day and will live forever. In John, when speaking of the Word, the scripture sets forth this same principle.

John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (Life can come only from God and the life that God gives is not only life but spiritual light! To declare that there is no God, one must reject the very light of God that makes man so special.)

Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. (Children carry the attributes of their parents. Eternal life was such an attribute of God given to Adam.)

Genesis 1:24-26 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (25) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Notice, in the context, every living thing brings after its kind but—when speaking of the human race—God made man in His image [an image resembles] and likeness [to fashion after or to compare to]. Man is not an animal!!! He is different in his genetics as well as his makeup.)

1 Corinthians 15:38-39 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. (39) All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

F. God created Eve in Adam when Adam was formed. Though Eve had not yet been formed from Adam’s rib, she was in Adam.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (God created Eve when He created Adam.)

Genesis 5:1-2 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; (2) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (They were both named Adam until God brought forth Eve. All of our children are also named in Adam until they are brought forth.)

G. Now, I will make a biblical statement that will need a little explaining: life does not begin at conception because life was there before conception. Now, before someone says that I do not believe that the life of a child begins at conception, I do because God gave all of us life through Adam and not one child conceived since Adam and Eve was a mistake or unknown to God. We were all in Adam!

Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

H. Now, let us look at the phrase “eternal life”26x and the phrase “life eternal” 4x.

1. First Mention of eternal life is found in the New Testament, Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? (Give up the world, come and follow Christ.)

2. All mankind will remain in one eternal state or the other. Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Hell and heaven are both eternal.)

3. Eternal Life is a result of believing, not personal merit. John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (Believing the record of the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation brings eternal life.)

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

4. Eternal Life is just that and cannot be lost. John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (Shall never perish is an absolute negative! Never for any reason. Not possible.)

5. Eternal Life comes through a personal faith in the record given in the Word of God. John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God [Romans 10:17].)

6. Eternal Life can be assured to the believer. 1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (Knowing that you are saved eternally is not presumptuous, it is God’s will for His children.)

1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

7. Eternal Life is the life of God and manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John_1:2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)