Why is this happening to me? (Part Two)

           

 

 We often find ourselves in the valley of despair because God wants to reveal his nature to us but also because he wants to teach us things about ourselves. 

“These [trials] have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”   (1 Peter 1:7)

When you find yourself in the stormy trial:

            1.  You are in a place of wandering.  You are in a place where you don’t know what your next step should be.  You are not sure which direction God wants you to go.  This can be a frightening place to be.

            My father took me to his Uncle Tom’s house to hunt deer.  It was my first deer hunting experience.  I was only 12 years old.  The snow began to fall gently.  They set me up on a small hillside and attempted to drive the deer my way.  But I got impatient.  I became restless so I began to wander away sure I’d see a deer just over the next hill.  The snow fell harder.  It was near blizzard conditions.  Darkness was approaching.  I could hardly see.  I had been wandering about for a couple hours when I saw tracks in the snow.  I was so relieved.  I would follow the tracks out of this dark and dreary valley.  But the tracks were mine.  I was going in circles.

            I escaped that valley by climbing.  I climbed to the top of the mountain and when I got to the top I could see my uncle’s house on the hillside across the valley.  I made a beeline for safety.

            When we are in a place of wandering it can become confusing.  We can get disoriented.  Our way can seem like the right way but until we choose God’s way we will only be traveling in circles. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” – (Proverbs 14:12)

            2.  You are in a place of waiting.  Are you feeling the weight of circumstances over which you have no control?  How often does God ask us to wait and waiting can be the hardest thing to do because it goes against our nature to want to rush forward. 

            I recently broke three bones in a motor cycle accident.  After six weeks I went to the doctor for x-rays and an evaluation.  I wanted to mow the lawn again and carry my grandchildren but he instructed me to hold off for another six weeks!  Waiting is so hard to do but it is often necessary for total healing.  The wounds of the heart are often healed with much passing of time.

            There are great benefits to waiting:  “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. – (Isaiah 40:31)

            3.  You are in a place of warfare.  Your Christian faith glorifies God but it annoys and enrages Satan.  If Satan can destroy your faith he can destroy your soul.  Satan is battling for your eternal soul.  If he can rob you of faith you become weak and vulnerable like Samson with his hair shorn off. 

            God allows the testing because he wants you to grow, to mature, he wants to sanctify you.  He wants you to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. 

            I think most of the trials we suffer are to teach us humility and dependence on Him.  The chief end of man is to bring glory to God and when we are too much in the way we can’t glorify God.  Trials test our humility

            a.  We fail the test of humility when we complain.  How often do we find ourselves whining about the battle?  We become ‘sunshine soldiers’ unwilling to endure the difficulties and discomforts of warfare.  We sin when we gripe about things.  We fail when we refuse to submit and humble ourselves before God.

            There are seven things listed in the Book of Proverbs that are hated by God.  The first listed is pride.  God hates a proud heart.  (Prov.6:16-19)

Pride is comparative.  No one is proud because they have nice clothes, or a nice car or a nice house.  We are proud because we have nicer clothes, a nicer car or a nicer house than someone else. 

            b.  We fail the test of humility when we boast.

            “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father…” (James 1:17)

            God’s word to the people in the wilderness:  “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” (Deut. 8:2)

            “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” – (Deut. 8:17-18)

            We must learn to see God as the source of all things.  But there is one more step he expects us to take.  He also wants us to allow him to regulate what he has given us. “Thank you Lord for what I have, now, how do you want me to use it?” He gives us gifts for our enjoyment but he also gives us gifts to be used to bring glory to Him.

Kevin Probst - Teaches Bible and Apologetics at Lafayette Christian School in LaGrange, Georgia.

Why is this happening to me?  (Part 1)

 

 

Every pilgrim on this journey must suffer some storms in life.  If you have lived long enough, you have suffered some pain, some heartache.  It is not if the storms will come, it is when the storms will come.

 

            Thomas Paine, one of our early founding fathers was seeing a storm approaching the colonies when he said:   “These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country.” 

 

            How many young Christians have started out on the journey only to be confronted by a treacherous storm and then they threw in the towel, saying:  “This is not for me.”  They were ‘summer soldiers’ and ‘sunshine patriots’.  When they were eating the summer fruits and experiencing the thrill of victory after victory they were happy and content.  But when they experienced their ‘Valley Forge’ the ‘sunshine patriots’ were ready to quit.

           

            Acts 27 is a marvelous piece of literature.  It tells the story of Paul and some other prisoners who were loaded onto a ship to be taken to Rome.  Paul must surely have doubted that he could be tried fairly for his Christian beliefs in pagan Rome. The future must have looked pretty bleak for him but we don’t see Paul moping about the ship feeling sorry for himself.  Instead, Paul was transforming a desperate situation into an opportunity to witness to the scores of prisoners who were soon to be used as bait for the lions and entertainment for the masses. 

 

            Paul issues a warning:  “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.” (v. 10, 11)   

 

             “When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.”  V. 13-15   

 

            The men in this boat reached deeply into their maritime experience to try every trick they could think of in their attempt to survive.  First, they tried to bind the hull of the boat together with ropes to  keep it from splitting to pieces.  Then they began to throw cargo (wheat from Egypt) overboard in order to save themselves. 

 

             “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”  (v. 20)   

 

            How tragic it is when a soul has given up all hope.  Not long ago, Michael Jackson’s daughter tried to commit suicide. She had surely ‘given up all hope.’  But hope is always there in the worst storm, in the deepest valley and sadly, people can’t see it, they can’t sense its presence and some give up.

 

            “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

 

            When the storm was raging at its worst, Paul rose up to speak:  “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me  and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”  (v. 23-25) 

What are some of the reasons this is happening to me?

 

            1.  Sometimes we bring the storm on ourselves.  God asked Jonah to go preach in Nineveh but Jonah did an about face and high-tailed it to Tarsus where he had an unfortunate encounter with a big fish.  We often bring the storm upon ourselves because of disobedience.

 

            Paul was probably the only Christian on the boat.  He was a man of God.  But “instead of listening to what Paul said” they took advice from non-Christians, from pagans.  

 

            I often see young people who are feeling anxiety about their future.  They gather about them a list of people who might give them advice and this seems like a wise thing to do but they often go down the list until they find enough people to tell them what they want to hear and then they are off to do what they want to do.  This is foolishness dressed in wisdom’s clothing.

 

            “When a gentle south wind began to blow” they cast off.  Don’t be deceived by the “gentle south winds” in life.

 

            We should first get on our knees before God and then seek council from those Christians who have learned lessons that can only be learned from being battered by the storms of life.

 

            2.  Sometimes God brings storms into our lives.  He sent Job through a horrific storm.  He asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son.  There are many instances recorded in the word of God that indicate His willingness to subject us to great difficulties in order to test our faith.

 

Jesus told his disciples to get in the boat and cross the sea.  They encountered a terrific storm.  He knew they would.  The best learning takes place in the storm, not when the “gentle south wind” blows. The storms God brings into our lives are opportunities to bring glory to Him.

 

            3.  Sometimes others bring storms into our lives.  I’ve done some marriage counseling for engaged couples.  A week before the marriage they are basking in the ‘warmth of the south wind’.  The tempest has not yet come.  God sanctifies us in our marriages.  What better way to teach you the fruits of the Spirit than to match you up with someone NOT like you.  What magic is shared by the older couple that makes them so sweet after fifty years of marriage?  It wasn’t the “gentle south wind” that did it.  It was enduring and learning from the storms of life that created sanctified sweetness in their character. 

 

             I met a man a few weeks ago.  I observed him in the setting we were in for a couple of hours.  He has a severely handicapped granddaughter that he and his wife have permanent custody of. I watched him love her and dote over her and constantly worry about whether she was comfortable.  It was obvious to me, as I watched, what impact the grandfather was having on the life of the granddaughter.  I left wondering what affect the granddaughter was having on the grandfather.  It must be a difficult trial to be burdened with someone so needy.

 

            Several weeks later I discovered that a lot of people in my circle knew this man.  He was associated with a former church that I was also associated with. I began to ask, “Do you know Mr. Taylor?”  “Oh yes, what a wonderful man of God.”   He didn’t become a wonderful man of God by accident.  He didn’t attain his deep spirituality and close walk with the Savior by basking in the “gentle south winds”.   There is little doubt he was purified by the fiery trials of his life.

 

 If you have the courage to pray to be more Christ-like expect to endure some very difficult storms.  The storm is God’s chisel to knock off the rough places in your character.

 

 

Kevin Probst - Teaches Bible and Apologetics at Lafayette Christian School in Lagrange, GA.

Beholding is a way of becoming

          Beholding is a way of becoming.  We all take on the likeness of that which we admire.  This is the doctrine of sanctification in a nutshell.  If our gaze is preoccupied with our idols we will become like them.  "Those who make them (idols) will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." ( Psa. 115:8)  The Bible teaches that idols are unreal, they are nothingness.  If we are consumed by idols, we become like them, we become immersed in nothingness.  We become empty vessels.  

          But, those who are consumed with Christ are focusing on what is real.  After experiencing the reality of Christ who would want to return to the emptiness of illusionary idolatry?  What is your obsession?  Imagine what we might be were we obsessed with Christ?  The more we behold him the more we become like him.  

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Holiness or Legalism: How You Can Know The Difference.

When we first become Christians, when we confess and repent of our sins and accept Christ as the Savior of our souls, we begin a long and exciting journey.  God’s plan for us is to grow and mature and he gives most of us three score and ten years to experience his growth plan.  I looked at my new- born grandson a few months ago and felt the softness of brand new skin.  I peered at his new little ears and looked into his eyes as he struggled to hear my voice and focus on my face for the first time.

New Christians experience so many new sensations.  They now have eyes that can see more clearly.  Spiritual discernment gives to them ears that hear differently, minds that think differently and a heart that has been cleansed of evil and bathed in goodness.  The darkness that pervaded in the deepest part of their souls has been replaced by a light that reflects the brightness of His glory.  Unbelievers become accustomed to the feeling of the emptiness they must always be burdened with.  Like a ball and chain on the prisoner’s leg, they carry this emptiness everywhere they go.  But those who experience conversion have had their chains broken and the empty void in their soul is filled with the inexplicable fullness of God.

Once the new Christian sets out on this journey with Christ he is instructed not to look back.  Lot’s wife looked back and suffered horrible consequences because she still desired the things that would bring destruction to her soul.  We are instructed to leave the old sinful habits at the foot of the cross and move forward into maturity.  Our cry echoes the cry of Hosea, “Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him.” (Hosea 6:3) 

So how does a young seedling grow into a massive oak?  After experiencing the miracle of germination and emerging from the darkness of the soil, the fledgling plant absorbs the light, drinks in the moisture and nutrients made available to it.  A Christian, after the miracle of regeneration, emerges from the dark, sinful soil of spiritual death.  New life enables him to absorb the light provided by One who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)  He sponges up the water of One who promised “living water” (John 4:10), a water that permanently quenches the thirst of a troubled soul. 

Young Christians are reminded that “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor. 4:7). We are instructed to strive for perfection; “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) But we are reminded that we can never achieve the absolute perfection that belongs only to a Holy God.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  (Isaiah 55:8) 

The admonition toward perfection is an admonition toward spiritual maturity.  We are instructed how we might become a mighty oak in the kingdom forest.  We are to make provision to saturate ourselves with the word of God because it is a “lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”  (Psalm 119:105)  We become strong in the Lord by spending time with him.  We are to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). While lifting our voice to him we are assured that he hears us because the shepherd knows the voice of his sheep.  “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”  (John 10:14)  We should become so intimate with God that we also know his voice.  Elijah recognized it as a small still voice.  (1 Kings 19:12)  The flow of gentle, spontaneous thoughts that come unexpected into your mind may very well be the voice of God speaking to your soul.  We are instructed to “test the spirits to see if they are from God.”  (1 John 1:4)

The practice of certain disciplines becomes the vehicle through which we come closer and closer to God.  Maturity without discipline is an illusion. 

There is a movement that is quite prevalent today that provides a subtle opposition against the practice of such disciplines.  I would refer to it as the “legalism” movement.  Christians who purpose in their hearts to have a closer walk with God, to follow him into the deeper, more abundant life that he offers will inevitably be accused of practicing legalism.  There seems to be a fine line between legalism and holiness.  Some of Christ’s harshest words were reserved for those who practices legalism.  Nothing offends God more than the humanistic idea that we can somehow achieve salvation through our own efforts.  This devalues the precious blood Christ shed on the cross and stirs the anger of God.  Jesus reprimanded the Pharisees for their legalism when he referred to them as vipers and said, “You also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness".  (Mat 23:28)

How might one know when he is practicing legalism or when he is using the disciplines provided to strive for holiness?  He will know by discerning whether he is in bondage or whether he is free.  Legalism leads to bondage, holiness leads to freedom.  Legalism brings death, holiness brings life.  If one feels a whip on his back he is being driven by legalism.  If he feels a yearning in his heart to spend time with one he loves more than words can tell, he desires holiness.  Legalism is an attempt to please a demanding taskmaster.  Holiness is a desire to emulate One whom you love, admire and adore.   Legalism is because you ‘have to’.  Holiness is because you ‘want to’. 

Dr. Kent Hughes wrote a book entitled Disciplines of a Godly Man, in which he declared, “There is a universe of difference between the motivations behind legalism and discipline. Legalism says, ‘I will do this thing to gain merit with God,’ while discipline says, “I will do this because I love God and want to please him.’ Legalism is man-centered; discipline is God-centered.”

The legalist trusts in his own actions to make him righteous.  He relies on traditions like regular church attendance, prayer-time and paying of his tithes to achieve favor with God.  These become traditions for the legalist but they become disciplines for one in pursuit of holiness.  The one who hungers for holiness realizes that his righteousness is as “filthy rags”.  (Isaiah 64:6)   Praying just to ease one’s conscience or to impress others because a babbling of “vain repetitions”.  (Matthew 6:7)  The prayer of a truly righteous man is very powerful and affective.  (James 5:16)

So, the question we must ask is this:  Are we floundering about in legalism or are we on the path to maturity and righteousness?  Is our Christian experience about us or is it about Him?  Is our intent to satisfy some longing within our own soul or is our intent to satisfy Him?  Are we on the same page as John when he said, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”?  (John 3:30)

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

To Live We Must First Die

Have you ever had a thought pound away at your mind so persistently that you believed it would never go away?  I have been thinking about the incarnation of Christ.  The whole concept is totally incomprehensible.  Contemplating the reality of God becoming human so that he might save filthy, depraved, unworthy, stench-filled, morally corrupt human souls by the shedding of his precious blood is a fathomless mystery.  The Prince of God left the splendor of his eternal dwelling and clothed himself with humanity, took up temporary residence in the womb of a very young woman who finally gave birth to him in a stall made for sheep and donkeys.  The Christ child was laid in a manger filled with straw and his first breath was filled with the offensive aroma of manure.

Why did he do it?  He came to live the life of a human and his coming was filled with love and purpose.  He came to reveal to us what the holiness of God looks like in a human life.  His coming provided the only ray of hope in a world darkened by the sins of unbelief and disobedience.  He lived the life he lived in order that he might die the death that he died.  He died the death that he died so that we might have an opportunity to live the life that he lived.  Through the impartation of the Comforter he promised to send, we can live Christ-like lives.  We can be Christians.

I went to the garage a few weeks ago and retrieved some seeds I saved from last year.  I wheeled out my tiller and worked the soil in my small garden and then planted the seeds.  In just a few days I saw sprouts begin to grow.  And I wondered as I do every year, how does it happen?  Those seeds lay in my garage all year and never sprouted.  There have been reports of seeds having been found that were over 800 years old.  These seeds were planted and they sprouted and grew and produced fruit.  Scientists know what happens when a seed germinates but they are unsure why it happens.  When a seed is placed in the fertile soil it will germinate and it will grow.

Paul contemplated the mystery of the seed when he wrote to the Corinthians:  “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Cor. 3:6-7)  Who can explain this miracle of life?  The best explanation is simply that the Author of life demonstrates his gift of life through the germination of the seed and the growth that follows.  Men must bow their heads in humility as they contemplate what God can do and what they cannot do.

Christ came to live the life he lived to qualify him for the death he died.  The child born in a barn was finally nailed to a Roman cross.  His body was then gently removed and buried in a tomb and like a seed buried in the ground. Christ experienced the miracle of life, the resurrection.  This miracle is the basis for our salvation.  Those of us who are followers of Christ share in the same hope Paul expressed to the Philippians:  “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  (Philippians 3:10-11)

But there is an earlier resurrection that Christians must not overlook.  Some Christians can live their entire lives in a state of dormancy like seeds on a shelf.  If they are never buried they will never experience germination or a resurrection.  They will never know the fullness of growth and life. The journey has just begun when Christ responds to our repentance and forgives us.  God wills that we continue on the path that leads towards the abundant life but this life is preceded by death and burial.  The sanctification of our souls requires that we die to our own selfish desires and bury our own ambitions and bow in total submission to God.  Then the miracle happens.  The burial of our seeds of selfishness is the prerequisite to a resurrection into a life of holiness and growth. 

The new life that we experience is the life of Christ indwelling within us.  Many believe the deception that salvation is available by simply offering mental assent to a list of doctrines.  Even Satan and his imps believe that Christ is the divine Son of God.  The acceptance of his divinity doesn’t save them.  It fills them with dreaded fear.  God wants more than a verbal admission of his divine nature.  He wants us to wholly experience salvation.  Simply having knowledge of God does not change behavior.  A radical change in behavior comes when we have experienced the indwelling Christ.  When we are filled with his love we learn to love him properly.  We are motivated to please him, not because we want to be rewarded with heaven or escape a horrendous hell, but because of our love for him.  We don’t want to hurt him.

Just as this experience is not based on an exercise of the mind, neither is it based on an accumulation of good works.  If we believe that we should be granted entrance into heaven based on good behavior, why would we not stand before God in judgment and refuse the benefits provided by the shed blood of Christ and demand that we be judged by the law of God?  Would we dare lay our righteousness, our filthy rags, (Isaiah 64:6) alongside the righteousness of Christ and demand we be weighed in the balance of his justice? Of course we would not.

If we have had our eyes opened (John 9:10) we would never dare to do such a foolish thing.  Some have “eyes to see but they do not see”.  (Ezekiel 12:2)  Those who do see understand that our only righteousness is in Christ Jesus.

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Bridge We All Must Cross

How can one explain the fascination of western culture with death?  In December of 2007, when the body of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, was transported from the Apollo Theater in New York to C.A. Reid Funeral Home in Augusta, Georgia, the director of the funeral home received a midnight call from the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, requesting permission to come by and pay his respects.  Michael Jackson spent the next five hours viewing the body and grilling the funeral director, demonstrating an unusual fascination with the death experience. 

I have been blogging now for several years.  I have written several blogs about death and what happens to people in the afterlife.  These articles are some of the most popular blogs I’ve ever written affirming that people are extremely curious.  What is it that causes us to have a nearly insatiable curiosity about death?  The typical answer to plug in here is that we are so curious because it is in the realm of the unknown.  But, there are a lot of things we have little knowledge about that don’t pique our curiosity at all.  I know nothing at all about ice fishing in Alaska, or how microbes reproduce and I have no curiosity to drive me to learn of those things.

Perhaps our cultural obsession with death is not so much because it is so distant from us, like an older uncle we never met who lives on the other side of the globe.   I believe we are curious about death because it is like the neighbor who lives next door.  We are reminded daily of its existence.  We see death on the obituary page, we see it on television and we are reminded of its perfect record of conquering all life when we see pictures hanging in our home of those who have already succumbed.  For some, a fascination with death can be morbid, it can lead to an macabre obsession that may cause one to lose his sense of the world he presently inhabits.  On the other hand, a balanced consciousness of death can be healthy if it reminds us of how we are to live in this present world and serves to caution us that there is a hereafter to prepare for.

Death is not an ending for the Christian.  Rather, it is a transition into a life more abundant than the one we are now experiencing. Peter ignited this flame of hope in his followers:  “…set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  (1 Peter 1:13)  We are but wayfaring strangers passing through an alien world.  We are wanderers unsatisfied until we find the new city whose maker and founder is God.  We revel in this hope within us that is capable of smothering our fear of death.  Those who have not this hope “are of all men most miserable.”  (1 Cor. 15:19)

No onlooker can understand this hope in the breast of every Christian if he cannot understand the work of grace in the Christian life.  Grace is the mysterious favor of God.  A GRACE acronym that summarizes this supernatural work of God is: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  It is freely bestowed upon us but it was purchased with the precious blood of a willing Savior.  This grace is the cornerstone of a Christian’s forgiveness of sins in that it satisfies the penalty for our sin.  But grace continues for the true convert in its sanctifying capacity by which a Christian experiences freedom from the power of sin.  A Christian who is entertaining the hope Peter speaks of understands that there is a future demonstration of God’s grace, the glorification of the soul.  Physical death is a necessity before we can experience the grace of glorification, God’s deliverance from the presence of sin. 

The Philippians were encouraged to “work out their own salvation”. (2:12) Our salvation is not just a one moment-in-life experience, it is a lifelong adventure.  We cast off on the seas of salvation when we humble ourselves and confess our sins to Christ.  We then begin a long journey in which we learn to conquer sin through grace which results in the sanctification of our souls.  We must not put limits on how far the grace of God can take us down the stream toward purity.  Paul wrote to the Romans:  “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”  (6:14)  As we drift downstream, there is a shining hope in the distance that grows brighter and brighter, it is the hope that we will one day be glorified.  We will land on the shore of perfection and enter a kingdom where purity reigns and where sin lies defeated at the outer gate.

 In order to enter one gate we must exit another.  The “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “it is appointed unto men once to die.”  (Hebrews 9:27)  All men, with the exception of only a couple (Enoch and Elijah), have had to die a physical death in order to receive the mantle of eternal life.  Christ’s resurrection stripped the fear of death away and replaced it with the hope of everlasting life.

So what happens when you die?  The body is corruptible and it stays here and decays.  The soul is incorruptible, it cannot be destroyed and it passes on to eternity.  Every man has a soul and every man’s soul, whether it be righteous or unrighteous, sinful or pure, will live on forever.  What we are when we die is what we are for all of eternity.  “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” (Rev. 22:11)

Death for the unrepentant is a horrific and terrifying thing. The wicked will experience a second death.  “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars –their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)  It is a death that lasts for all eternity and this is why the wise man wrote in Proverbs:  “When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes…” (11:7)

“…They will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  (2 Thess. 1:9)  Death to a Christian is the bright and eternal hope of living pure, glorified, and sinless forever in the presence of a holy God.  It is the liberation of the soul from the bondage of a sinful earth to the liberty of a sinless heaven.  Death to the righteous will be a refuge. (Prov. 14:32)  With this hope living within us, we can say with the Apostle Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21)

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The 'Living Dead' Among Us

George A. Romero’s film, The Night of the Living Dead, tells the story of a set of siblings, Johnny and Barbra, who drive to rural Pennsylvania to visit the grave of their father.  There they are encountered by a zombie and they retreat to a farmhouse where they attempt to ward off the living dead who are hungry for their flesh.  There fear intensifies when they hear on the radio that the living dead are spreading murder and terror throughout the eastern U.S. 

Zombies are the fictional ‘unliving’ among us.  They are empty shells who move about and react as if they did have souls, but they don’t.  Romero may have constructed his concept of soulless creatures from the superstitious religions of Haiti. But the concept can be traced all the way back to one of the earliest literary works known to man, the Epic of Gilgamesh of the early Mesopotamians.  In this epic the goddess Ishtar promises:

“I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,

 I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,

 and will let the dead go up to eat the living!

 And the dead will outnumber the living!”

  The concept of the zombie is man’s attempt to ask the question, “Where does the soul come from?  What is the source of our consciousness?”  This is an easy question for a Christian to answer.  Our consciousness comes from God.  But for those who don’t believe in God they must ask, “Why are we not all Zombies, simply empty shells without a soul?”

Our Christian theology teaches that God exists in three persons.  We refer to this as the Holy Trinity.  He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  He is one entity consisting of three persons.  Because man is created in God’s image, he too was created a trinity.  Man has a body, a soul and a spirit.  Man’s body is that part which we can all see.  It is the physical part of man and he shares this trait with animals.  Man also has a soul.  The soul is that part of man that reveals to him his identity.  He knows who he is and therefore he fulfills the role of man.   One might argue that animals also have souls for they have a sense of identity.  Jesus said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests.”  They know who they are and they function as animals in the realm of God’s creation.

The similarities between men and animals end there.  Man has something no animal will ever have.  He has a spirit or at least he possesses the potential for one.  The spirit is that part of man that gives him a consciousness of God.  It is why man worships God and animals do not. 

Unfortunately, when man was living in the garden that was created for him by God, he was told that he could eat from any tree  accept the one tree that was located in the center of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The tree represented man’s dependence on God.  Adam and Eve resented the tree and declared their resistance to and independence from God by deliberately disobeying him.  At this point death was introduced to man.  Death revealed itself first in man’s spirit, his consciousness.  Man’s desire to have fellowship with God evaporated and he hid from God among the foliage of the garden.

Man’s soul died.  He was depraved in his intellect.  He was still able to reason but he could not reason his way to God.  His “thinking became futile” and “their foolish hearts were darkened” and “although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:21-23)

Finally, under the strain of years and years of sin and depravity, man’s body died.  Were it not for God the Son all men would experience an eternal death of the body, soul and spirit. 

There was no other solution for man’s rebellion except to offer a sinless sacrifice to satisfy the perfect justice of God the Father.  The only one ever qualified to do that was God the Son.  Therefore, he was incarnated as a human over 2,000 years ago to fulfill his mission to save mankind.  He saves none against their own will.  But for those who are willing to “confess their sins,  he is faithful and just to forgive them their sins and purify them from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  Until we make this confession and ask the Spirit of God to replace our rebellious spirit with a spirit of obedience we remain spiritual zombies.  We are empty shells, dead men walking.

When Christ saves us he restores us in reverse order.  First, the spiritual zombie experiences a restoration of his spirit.  He is justified through the precious blood of Christ.  He is made aware not only of the existence of God but of the fact that as a child of the living God he might have relationship with him.  God then restores our souls.  He changes the very essence of who we are through sanctification.  The old soul won’t do.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17) 

Finally, the body is restored through resurrection.  The old body will decay and turn to dust but those living in Christ will receive a new body.  “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4)

 

 

Our world is filled with spiritual zombies.  Take a walk through your local mall and look at the expressionless faces of the multitudes.  Notice the emptiness in their eyes.  These are outward expressions of an inward emptiness, people without spirits, without souls.  The enemy of their souls has brought them death.  They are the walking dead.  But they need not despair for there is great hope because Jesus, the Savior, said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Once Saved Always Saved–Can We ‘Lose’ Our Salvation?

One of the most difficult questions to answer in apologetics and Christian theology is, “Can a person lose his salvation?” For some it’s an issue of semantics. The word ‘lose’ indicates having misplaced something. It is not unusual for me to misplace my keys or the remote control but it is utterly ridiculous to entertain the idea that one might lose (misplace) their salvation. Can you imagine going into work one day and hearing a colleague say, “I’ve misplace my salvation, will you help me find it.” In that sense, of course, salvation cannot be ‘lost’.

We tend to emphasize salvation, or being born again, as a one time, crisis event. There is a sort of “cheap grace” idea that all that is necessary to assure eternity with God is to mentally assent to the idea that Christ is the Messiah and he did die on the cross and was resurrected for the salvation of mankind. If you ‘believe’ this you are in. Those who promote this shallow idea seem to be ignorant of the fact that how one behaves is determined by what one believes. Cheap grace is mental assent without any radical change in behavior. Genuine belief would change behavior. Those who follow this deception love to say, “Christ saved me for all the sins I committed, am committing and will commit. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what I do, I’m saved.” The Apostle Paul condemned such heresy with strong words, “Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? God forbid!” (Romans 6:1-2)

Most Christians would agree that God has given man a gift of free will. Our salvation is determined by what God wills (sovereignty) and what man chooses (free will). God’s plan is simple to understand: He wants to save sinners, make them into saints and then populate a new world. It is a sort of reverse creation. The first time he made the world and populated it with people. This time he is making the people to populate a new world. God doesn’t make a saint instantaneously, it is a process. A person can step on the road to salvation in an instant but then he is granted many opportunities to progress along the way.

Many look at salvation as an arbitrary experience God forces upon certain pre-destined souls. Others believe men cooperate with God for salvation by choosing to answer his call. If we are free to enter into salvation why are we not free to leave? This isn’t like Hotel California:

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
’relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!

It seems contrary to the nature of God to slam and lock the door once we enter. It may be possible for man to retain the ability to leave but it doesn’t seem probable. Why would anyone choose to leave heaven to live in hell? Why would anyone choose death rather than life, misery rather than serenity?

There are three stages of salvation: Justification is when the soul is set free from the penalty of sin. Sanctification is when the soul is set free from the power of sin and glorification is when the soul is set free from the possibility of sin. Justification is available to any who will confess their sins and abandon a sinful lifestyle. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) We enter the door of sanctification the moment we willingly consecrate our lives to Christ and we submit ourselves to a long, and sometimes tedious, process of becoming more and more like Jesus. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.” (John 17:17) Justification and sanctification are pre-requisites for the final stage of salvation called glorification when our salvation is finally complete. This stage comes after the death of the body when the soul is transported beyond the reach of temptation and sin for all of eternity. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him…” (1 John 1:3)

Salvation is not complete until we have been glorified. When one boldly declares he cannot lose his salvation must we not ask, “How can you declare you cannot lose something you have not yet attained?” I am not yet ready to declare “Once saved, always saved” but when I cross the bar or when Christ appears to whisk away his own, in that day I will shout it to from the mountain at the top of my lungs, “I am once saved, always saved.”

I believe that “he who has started a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6) But God, through an act of love, seems to have tempered his own sovereignty by gifting man with free will. Christians are certainly eternally secure but this security is conditional. It could be disrupted by the sovereignty of God or the free will God has given man. Can a man lose his salvation? I don’t think so “for I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.” (Romans 8:38) Paul goes on to list all the things that are incapable of separating us from God’s love. But, Paul does not include ourselves in that list. Can a man choose to become an apostate? The Bible seems to indicate that a man can choose to walk away from God. There are at least 80 passages of scripture in the New Testament that teach that the process of salvation can be interrupted, delayed or stopped altogether.

Jude 21 says, “Keep yourselves in God’s love” and verse 24 says, “He is able to keep you”. Doesn’t this indicate a conditional relationship? He will keep us if we will determine to be kept.

Jesus declared himself to be the true vine. The dead (unfruitful) branches are cut away and destroyed. The fruitful branches are pruned so they will produce even more fruit. “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” (John 15:4)

Christ warns against the prevalent teaching of ‘cheap grace’. “If we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. But a fearful expectation of judgment.” (Hebrews 10:26-17) There is a terrifying judgment for those who received knowledge of the way but broke away and chose to live in continuous, deliberate sin.

Peter says, “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them” (1 Peter 2:20) He is saying that they are worse off who have entered the way and then departed from it. This is contradictory for those who argue that we might continue to live a sinful lifestyle and still be rewarded eternal life. If they received eternal life how are they worse off?

In conclusion, I would question the idea that we cannot walk away from God because it seems to make God inconsistent. Either he has gifted us with free will or he has not. But I would argue strongly that it is very unlikely that a man would choose to walk away from God if he were truly, genuinely saved. Maybe a more accurate statement would be not so much, “Once Saved Always Saved” but “If Saved Always Saved.”

  Kevin Probst

Jesus Is Human And Divine

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with god, and the Word was God.” (Jesus is God)
John 1:14 “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jesus is Human)
The common mistake is to believe that Jesus was half man and half God. Jesus was as fully God as he was fully man. He was not one who simply had the presence of God living within him, he was the second person of the trinity joined to humanity. When Jesus became man he did not become any less God. When he died on the cross and resurrected from the dead he was no less human. Jesus didn’t benefit from his divine nature when he suffered as a man. He chose to experience the intense suffering that a man can feel and a sinless God cannot. He even refused to drink the wine laced with myrrh while he hung upon the cross. He would not allow it to be said that he did not suffer fully and entirely for the redemption of the human race.
Jesus as the second person of the trinity always knew that he would one day become a man. This truth was revealed to men in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.” He had always been God’s son for all of eternity but there would come a point in time when God’s son would take on humanity and enter the human world through birth to a virgin.
He was just like any other human in every way except one, he never sinned. He was pure and pristine in his holiness. He was tempted as we are, he suffered as we suffered and he felt and saw the effects of sin in the world in which he lived but he never succumbed to the vile yearnings of Satan to pull him into sinful corruption which would have disqualified him as Savior of the world.
Jesus revealed his humanity over and over during his 33 years on earth. He was human when weariness overtook him and he fell asleep in the boat as the disciples feared the coming storm. He was human when he attended a wedding and shared in the joy of the happy couple. He was very human when Roman soldiers captured him and dragged him to the cross and hung him there.
But Jesus demonstrated his full divinity when he was awakened in the boat by faithless comrades and he simply spoke a word to calm the wind and the waves. He proved his divine nature when he turned common water into special wine at the wedding and he proved irrefutably that he was God when he refused to call 10,000 angels to his assistance as he gave himself to die on the cross. His followers knew they were looking at more than a man when they looked upon the resurrected body of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, those who have no understanding of the true purpose and nature of Christ wallow in a mucky swamp of confusion regarding the reason a God would become a human. Could not his willingness to become human be likened to one of us choosing to become a slug or a roach? The descent from God to man was deep and steep but Christ was motivated by a depth of love that only God can experience. The fact that we will never in all of eternity understand it only widens the gulf between our own humanity and his divinity.
He became human so that he could die. His death was desired by the Father and Christ’s purpose was to please the Father. “I have come to do your will, O God.” (Heb. 10:7) The Father requested the death of the son so that any man willing to submit to him might be saved. The angel told the virgin to name her child Jesus because he would “save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) Jesus clarified his mission when he told his followers, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto myself.” (John 12:32)
Jesus became human so that he could empathize with us in our suffering. Jesus knew and experienced what it meant to be a man. He was tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin “for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.” (Hebrews 4:15-16) Jesus was intensely human when he hung on the cross and he sought no divine advantage. It all culminated in his words, “It is finished”. He was saying, “It is completed. My mission is done. I have completed the task assigned by my Father.”
God became human to demonstrate how men are to live holy lives. Again, Christ did not take advantage of his divine nature to live holy. He lived holy through his humanity. He showed us a level of holiness that is humanly possible if only we will submit fully to him and allow him to live through us.
I often look at the younger generation of Christians who graduate from our Christian high schools, colleges and seminaries. I know that all younger Christians lack the maturity that only age and experience can bring. But I worry that they lack an advantage that I had when I was young. I had examples, phenomenal men and women who patterned holiness for me. Mr. Higgins, Mr. Davis and Ms. Myers mean nothing to those reading these words. But to me they were wonderfully, almost impossibly godly and holy. I was inspired and educated as to how a person can live holy before God by those who were genuinely sanctified. Holy people are a rarity in modern culture. Jesus became human to demonstrate holiness to us.
Jesus became a human to teach us the value of human life. We live in a world that cheapens life. We abort the unborn, we live in perpetual warfare, we hide the aged away in cold facilities instead of care for them in warm homes. The fact that God became human gives life great value and meaning.
Martin Luther once told a story of a man who was participating in a worship service and as the congregation sung the words of Christ’s divinity and humanity he refused to cross himself or remove his hat as was the custom in that day. “Then the devil stepped up to him and hit him so hard it made his head spin. The devil cursed him gruesomely and said, ‘If God had become an angel like me and the congregation sang: “God was made an angel” I would bend not only my knees but my whole body to the ground...and you vile human creature, you stand there like a stick or a stone. You hear that god did not become an angel but a man like you, and you just stand there like a stick of wood.”(1)
Jesus became human because he loved us, because he wanted to save us for all eternity and because he wanted to please the heart of a loving Father.

1. The Gospel of John by James Montgomery Boice, p.31


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.