Why do we teach?

Why do we teach?

At times even the most courageous soldiers get weary with the warfare in which they are engaged. At times it seems that all is lost and there is nothing left but to gather together with the fellow soldiers and await the end. But God has told us not to be weary in well doing, that our labor is not in vain, even if no one heeds the warning, I Cor. 15:58. Even if no one comes to repentance at the warning given by God’s soldiers they must realize that they have at the very least delivered their own souls, Eze. 3:18ff. God does not expect us to deliver everyone from the devil’s snare. God does, however, expect us to try our hardest to deliver everyone from his snare. And so we try, even in the face of rejection, to win souls to Christ. And our labor, which we at times may think is vain, is in fact not vain, in that we are simply doing the commands of God. Even if everyone we spoke to did repent, we would still be unprofitable servants, Luke 17:10.

The Apostle Paul is a perfect example of a faithful soldier of the Lord who persisted in the battle despite suffering rejection by the people to which he preached. He knew they rejected not him, but the Lord who sent him, John 13:20 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” In the Book of Acts the Apostle says “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean.” (Acts 18:6), implying that he had fulfilled his obligation to the Lord in teaching people the truth. Even though the vast majority of people rejected it, Paul continued to preach until he realized that it was a lost cause. It was a waste of time; time that could be spent teaching those that would listen to the truth.

Despite Paul’s harsh words in Acts 18:6, we must realize that the Apostle was doing the right thing. Notice what those of Corinth did with the truth when the Apostle presented it to them, Acts 18:6 “And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook out his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” Luke also tells us in Acts 13:46 that another group of people rejected Paul. He tells them; “Seeing ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles ”. The people had ‘opposed themselves’ by rejecting the truths of God’s word and judged themselves unworthy of the Kingdom. It is just as Paul told Timothy years later in I Timothy 2, when he was instructing Timothy how to be a faithful Christian: 2 Timothy 2:24-26 “And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.”

Paul taught, and though it seemed that no one was listening, look again at Acts 18. Acts 18:8 “And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” Paul's harsh words to those who would not repent brought salvation to those willing to repent. Even though we may be rejected, continuing to speak does work for good in God’s Kingdom.

Do not doubt, speaking the truth does one of two things. Either people will reject you for telling them the truth, in which you have delivered your soul by doing God’s work, or people will believe and be saved and added to the Kingdom of God.

Galatians 4:16 “So then am I become your enemy, by telling you the truth?”

The Need for Gospel Preachers

The Need for Gospel Preachers

One of the reasons the truth and the church are under such distress these days is this country’s lack of Gospel preachers. At one time in this great nation’s history we had men that were willing to stand up and speak “Thus sayeth the Lord”. We had men that would speak were the Bible spoke without explaining it way, softening it down, or subtly changing the meaning to keep the ‘audience’ from being offended. We had men that would challenge and debate those that openly taught error on the Holy Scriptures. Men that would hold nothing back in order to win souls to Christ.

The truth is, people do not want “thus sayeth the Lord” anymore! They have a desire to have their ears scratched, as Paul once told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” This idea of “Do not tell someone what the Bible says, it is to harsh” is, as my old Dad says, Hogwash! People need to hear the truth, not some minister’s version of the truth! People need to hear the whole counsel of God, Acts 20:27, not just the ‘love’ and ‘feel good’ parts. People need to hear when they are in sin. So many people believe that you can just pour in a little ‘love’ on top of someone’s sinful life and help them live Godly lives! People cannot repent if they are not told!

Instead of people hearing everything that is profitable, Acts 20:20, and hearing all the counsel of God, Acts 20:27, people today hear 30 minute joke sessions from the pulpit, with no meat to grow on. People go to lectureships and hear joke and story after joke and story, and not one wit on the Oracles of God. When confronted with their sugar and fluff ‘preaching’ these ministers reply “Jesus says Hi” instead of considering the fact that God will hold them accountable for not teaching the truth, James 3.

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Paul did not say to tell jokes, make people laugh, and then walk off the stage to a clapping audience! God is the audience! People do not need ‘youth ministers’, ‘singles ministers’, ‘widow ministers’, 'public relations ministers', 'college ministers', 'etc ministers'. People need Gospel preachers that will speak up, even when it is not convenient. No wonder God’s people are falling into the snare of the devil!

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,”.

Acts 2 by Preachers of Today

A Liberal’s View of Acts 2
By Jerry Brewer, A man I greatly respect and admire.

The great tragedy of our time is that many so-called Gospel preachers have capitulated to sin in the lives of their hearers. Can you imagine what Peter’s sermon would have sounded like on Pentecost if he had imbibed the doctrines of some teachers at Abilene, Pepperdine, Oklahoma Christian, or David Lipscomb? Luke’s account might have gone something like this:

Men and brethren, there is some validity to your belief that some of us may be drunk. And though we have diversity of opinion on this matter, we can continue to be brethren because I believe we can find strength in that diversity and in our love for each other. Indeed, most of us have been drunk at one time or another, or at least done other things that were just as indiscreet. But I can not condemn any of my colleagues, nor would I presume to judge any of you for thinking we are drunk because we have different interpretations of this event and there’s certainly room for diversity among all of us.

However, though we may have different interpretations of this event that is not the case today and I can still call you “brother.” What you have witnessed is a great revival of Holy Spirit renewal that some ancient scribe researched and wrote about in a scholarly work that the rabbis often attribute to Joel. Now listen, all you Jewish brothers! Have I got some news for you! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by the love he showed in recent years by feeding the hungry, washing feet, and generally being nice, as most of you are aware, him, being approved of God, even though some may have made some mistakes in judgment about him, was crucified on the cross. But that is in the past. We all make mistakes and when that happened we were not in a covenant relationship with Jesus any way. But now the great news is that the Holy Spirit has come to tell you God loves you and wants you to feel good about yourselves and your intimate personal relationship with him.

Now when they heard this, they felt good about themselves, cried out, and said to Peter and the others, Men and brethren, glory hallelujah! Tell us what else to do. Then Peter said unto them, Do?! Do?! There’s not one whit you can or need to do. Jesus did it all. We are just telling you the good news. Just ask Jesus to come into your hearts, be nice to each other, love each other, tell the Romans, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod that you love them, and make sure your kids have plenty of food, fun, and fellowship. Get involved in a blood drive in your communities, and let the Holy Spirit direct you to parking places. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, “Form Family Ministries, Youth Ministries, Outreach Ministries, and Children’s Ministries. Send your kids to camp, let Youth Minister take them to Six Standards Over Jerusalem, and busy yourselves with lots of programs. Then they that gladly received his word really felt good about their own lives, and had their self-esteem raised, and about 3,000 formed a Church Family that day. And they continued to shout and clap their hands, and formed an acappella singing group that could make sounds just like the harps and lyres of the Romans. And they accepted all into the Church Family and called all men “brothers” who called God “Father,” recognized Jesus as Lord, and dwelt under the umbrella of grace.

While that is a satirical look at what passes for Gospel preaching today, the fact remains that preaching the Gospel is deadly serious. It has to do with eternity and we who are dying must preach to dying men. This idea that Gospel preaching is some sort of spiritual 1960s hippie love-fest which tolerates sin in the lives of others, so long as we ourselves do not inhale it, is a damnable heresy that will send both those who promote it and those who believe it to hell.

Verbal Inspiration

Verbal Inspiration
Jerry C. Brewer
www.gospelpreceptor.com
Once upon a time religious people could discuss the Bible from a common perspective. While they may have twisted it to suit denominational theology, most of them believed it to be God's word. Even the great denominational debaters like Bogard, Norris and Rice defended their doctrines against such giants as N. B. Hardeman, Foy E. Wallace, Jr. and Alexander Campbell from that perspective. But the world has changed since then. Permeated with secular humanism, most of the denominational world, and many within the church, deny not only the doctrine of Christ, but the inspiration of the very Book in which it is revealed. A constant in an ever-changing world of human philosophy, the Bible remains as verbally inspired on the threshold of the second millennium as it was when it resided in the "earthen vessels" of the first millennium. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," (Matthew 24:35), and Peter affirmed that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." (1 Peter 1:25). The claim of verbal inspiration is a claim that the very words of the Bible are those which the Holy Spirit caused the writers of the Sacred Volume to select in conveying God's will to man's mind. That doesn't mean the writers were mere amanueses in the production of the Bible, styled by some the Mechanical Theory of inspiration. God does not circumvent the natural faculties of his creatures. This view of inspiration renders the writers mere machines and eliminates the exercise of their own distinctive writing styles which are evident in the Bible. The eminent J. W. McGarvey rejected this theory for additional reasons. The theory fails to account for the play of the writer's human feelings; and for the obvious fact that in recalling to their memory what Jesus had said the Spirit only recalled what they did not already remember; and in guiding them into all truth he did not guide them into that which they already possessed. (Evidences of Christianity, Part IV, Ch. VII, p. 212). Neither does the claim of verbal inspiration allow for the selection of words by the writers themselves. The Thought Inspiration theory holds that the writers were given God's thoughts and allowed to select the words by which they were to be expressed. But words are vehicles of thought and it would have been impossible for finite men to select the words by which the mind of the Infinite God was adequately conveyed. The theory of Thought Inspiration is espoused by so-called translators of modern perverted texts of the Bible and couched in the term Dynamic Equivalence. That's why their productions are not word-for-word translations of the original languages. Verbal inspiration consisted of the Holy Spirit exerting an influence upon the writers of the Bible, without circumventing their natural styles and personalities, and giving them the very words by which God's will is expressed to man. "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." (Mark 13:10-11). "And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." (Luke 12:11-12). Expressly forbidden to "premeditate," the apostles could not have selected the words they spoke. Those were supplied by the Holy Spirit and that is illustrated by Luke's record of Peter's reply to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:8. Quoting Isaiah 64:4, Paul said the things which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man," (1 Corinthians 2:9), referred to the gospel plan of salvation which was unknown to the patriarchs and prophets. Moved by the Spirit of God, they foretold those things, but their full revelation was reserved for Christ's witnesses. (1 Peter 1:10-12). "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). "All things" and "the deep things of God" refer to scheme of redemption or the gospel plan of salvation which was conceived in the mind of God. Having said that, Paul then defines the means by which that plan was made known to man. "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." (1 Corinthians 2:13). "Which things also we speak," refers to the "things which God hath prepared for them that love him," (v.9), which was the gospel scheme of redemption. Both the plan and the words by which it was made known to man were breathed out from God. That is verbal inspiration. God's word expressed in the Bible is as inspired as it was when it reposed in the minds of inspired men in the first century. That great truth is one of the foundation stones upon which our faith rests. If the very words of the Bible weren't breathed out from God, then is our faith vain and our hope lost.