Daily Devonational
Are You a Born Again Child of God?

John 3:3 says that, unless we are born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. But how is a person “born again”? Many preachers say that one need not do anything but will be born again if he only believes in Jesus. But what does the Bible say?

Notice 1 Peter 1:22,23: “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth …, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” So the Bible says we purify our souls and are born again by obeying the truth of God’s word. The new birth requires obedience; it does not exclude it.

Again, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature…” One who is a new creature is one who has been born again. And everyone should agree that one must be in Christ to be born again. So how does one come into Christ?

Romans 6:3 says: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” So to be in Christ is to be born again, but we are baptized into Christ. To make sure we do not miss the point, the next verse says that, when we have been buried with Christ in baptism, we “walk in newness of life.” We become born again and walk in a new life after we have been baptized, not before.

All of us need to be born again to enter to kingdom of God, just like the Bible says. But the Bible also tells us how to be born again. It says that faith is required, but it also says that baptism is required. No one is truly been born again until he has been Scripturally baptized.
If you would like to learn more about how to become a child of God, I encourage you to visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/. It contains online courses about forgiveness of sins plus articles on why we need forgiveness, the purpose of baptism, etc.

(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 8/2007

Permission to use according to the statement on the gospelway.com webpage.

Weekly Devonational

Are You One of God´s Elect?

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The Bible often mentions that God has a group of specially chosen or “elect” people (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2). Are you part of this elect body? How can you become a member?

Some people say you have no choice about the matter: God either picked you personally before the world began or He did not. They believe that you have been “predestined” to heaven or to hell, it had nothing to do with your character or life, and there is nothing you can do about it! But this idea cannot be correct because 2 Peter 3:9 says: “The Lord …is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God does not want anyone to be lost. He wants all to repent, and that surely includes you. But if God predestined evil people to hell, even though they never had any choice, then that makes God responsible for people being evil and being lost!

So, you can be part of the “elect” body who will be saved. But how? 1 Peter 2:9 speaks to Christians as a “chosen generation,” the people of God. But how did these people come into this relationship? 1 Peter 1:22 says: ‘You have purified your souls in obeying the truth….” Verse 23 adds that, as a result of obeying the gospel, they were “born again”: they became members of God´s family, the church (1 Timothy 3:15). So to become one of the elect, you must choose to obey the gospel. In particular, you must “repent and be baptized…for the remission of sins,” and the Lord will then add you to His elect body, the church — Acts 2:38,47.

Yes, you can be one of God´s elect. The choice is yours. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” - Joshua 24:15.

If you would like to learn more about election, predestination, and how to become a child of God, I encourage you to visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/. It contains online articles about forgiveness of sins plus articles on why we need forgiveness, the purpose of baptism, Calvinism, etc.

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(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 1/2009

Weekly devonational

Are Children Responsible for the Sins of Parents?
Does God Punish Future Generations for Adam's Sin?

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Some passages plainly state that children are not held accountable by God for the sins of their parents (Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:20). But other passages indicate God visits the sins of the fathers on the children, even to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:5; 34: 6,7; Deuteronomy 5:9). How can these passages be harmonized?

Note the statement of Exodus 20:5,6: “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

How can God visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children? Does this teach Calvinistic original sin: that all babies are born depraved because they inherit guilt for the sin of Adam?

1. Guilt of sin and eternal condemnation cannot be inherited — Ezek. 18:20; 2 Cor. 5:10. We are guilty or not according to our own conduct: 1 John 3:4; James 1:14,15; Rom. 1:32; 2:6-11; 6:16,19; etc. I urge the reader to go to our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/ and study there our free article about Individual Responsibility and our article about Original Sin and Inherited Depravity. These articles show numerous passages that plainly teach that children do not inherit guilt and will not be punished eternally for the sins of their parents. No passage of Scripture should be viewed as teaching any such doctrine.

2. Ex. 20:5 does not mention Adam or Adam´s sin. It does not say we inherit sin from Adam. Ex. 20:5 says the sins of the parents are visited on the third or fourth generation. We are much further from Adam than that. So, whatever these passages teach, they cannot possibly be taken to teach that babies today are born guilty of Adam´s sin.

3. These verses could refer to physical consequences of sin in this life, rather than guilt and eternal consequences. “Iniquity” (Heb. AVON) is elsewhere translated “punishment” in ten instances. “Visiting” (Ex. 20:5) is translated “punishing” in NIV and in NKJV footnote. The specific examples cited are all examples of consequences in this life. This would mean that the children are not considered guilty of sin and would not be punished in hell, simply because their fathers committed sin, but that the children would suffer physical consequences in this life as a result of their parents´ sin. We often see children in this life who suffer because they have sinful parents.

4. But note specifically that the verse says: “third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Ex. 20:5). This is more likely to be an expression of God´s longsuffering (see context of Ex. 34:6,7). If one generation hated God (referring here to idolatry — see the context), He would rebuke but not destroy the nation. If repentance occurred in a future generation, he would spare the nation. But if three or four generations in a row hated God, He would send the nation into captivity. This explanation again means that the punishment referred to is punishment in this life; and it refers to punishment upon future generations, not as individuals but as a nation. And even then the punishment occurs only if the future generations continue to hate God by practicing idolatry. This is exactly what we see happening in the succeeding generations of the nation of Israel. In any case, once again the passage does not teach that children are born guilty of their parents´ sins or that they will be punished in eternity for their parents´ sins. (See Clarke & Keil.)

On the other hand v6 shows that God will show mercy on those who love and obey Him. Note that love and obedience always go hand in hand in our service to God (see John 14:15; 1 John 5:3; etc.). So, if future generations would love and obey God, He would show them mercy, not punishment.

For more information about Calvinism, original sin, and inherited depravity, please visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/ and study our in-depth articles on those subjects. 

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(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 7/2007

Todays Devonational
Today's devonation is "There is one Lord" from the Gospel Minutes newsletter.

An excerpt: Much of that has to do with how we treat
people. As believers we love our brothers in the
Lord (1 Peter 2:17). We love our neighbors (Luke
10:27). We even love our enemies and pray for
them (Matt. 5:44). How much easier would it be
to maintain unity among Christians if we all,
everyone of us adhered to this kind of love? We
should look different, especially when it comes to
our brothers and sisters. ---click on link for full story: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm121109.pdf

weekly Devonational
God Is Speaking to You?--Gospel Minutes

Excerpt: "What Jesus taught during His
ministry on earth was exactly what the Father
authorized Him to teach."
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm120409.pdf

Daily Devonational
Can a Person Be Forgiven When He Has Been Guilty of Really Terrible Sins?

First, all people who have sinned need to have sincere regret for the past. It is right that we should regret our sins, since godly sorrow is necessary in order for one to be forgiven (2 Cor. 7:10).

However, Jesus died to forgive sin. The Corinthians had been guilty of all kinds of sins, yet Jesus cleansed them (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Paul said he had been the chief of sinners. He had opposed Christ to the point of having Christians put to death. But God showed mercy on him as an example to show that He can save the worst of us (1 Tim. 1:12-17). Other people whom God forgave included Peter who denied Jesus three times and David who committed adultery and then had the woman's husband killed (Matthew 26:69-75; 2 Samuel 11 & 12).

All sin is terrible; but as regards eternal consequences, your sins are no worse than mine. All sin requires the blood of Jesus to forgive it. But Jesus is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). Sins He forgives are never again held against us (Heb. 10:1-18). Yes, a person who has been forgiven can still be lost, but only if they return to sin and do not repent (see our article about Can a Child of God Be Lost at our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/).

So the nature or number of your past sins does not change the ability of Jesus to forgive. What matters is your willingness to turn from them and submit to Jesus' terms of forgiveness.
If you would like to learn more about how to be forgiven, I encourage you to visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/. It contains online courses about forgiveness of sins plus articles on why we need forgiveness, the purpose of baptism, etc.

(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 6/2007

Permission to use as stated on the gospelway.com webpage.

Daily Devonational
ARE CHURCH CHOIRS
AND SOLOS SCRIPTURAL?

     Many are using choirs and solos in their attempts to worship God. Are choirs and solos authorized by God as a part of Christian worship? To find the answer to this question, we must turn to the Bible. The Bible is God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16,17; John 12:48; Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Peter 1:3; Jude 3). Man does not have the right to add to, nor to take away from, the teachings of the Word of God (Revelation 22:18,19; Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6). The New Testament portion of God's Word is the standard of authority for what we do in the work and worship of God today (Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 8:6-13).

     In His Word, God has authorized five acts of worship for His church. These five acts are:   singing  (Ephesians 5:19;  Colossians 3:16),  giving  (1 Corininthians 9:6, 7), prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 Timothy 2:8), eating the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11: 23-29; Acts 20:7), and the preaching of the Word of God (Acts 2:42; 20:7;  2 Timothy 4:1-4). These acts of worship are authorized by direct statements, commands, implications, and approved examples.

     Singing in worship is commanded by God. The New Testament contains many examples of Christians singing in worship to God (Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:18,19; Hebrews 2:12; James 5:13). These passages describe the kind of music God has authorized so that His people can worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The kind of music God authorized is singing. This singing is congregational singing. It is done by every Christian in the assembly! It must be done with understanding.   The purpose of the singing is for Christians  to glorify God and to teach and admonish one another.

     Does Ephesians 5:19 teach congregational singing? The word in the Greek language in which the New Testament was written, which is translated as "speaking," means "to utter speech, to convey speech, to use the tongue or faculty of speech, to utter articulate sounds, to talk, to tell, to use words to declare one's mind and thoughts." The New Testament word translated “yourselves" is a "reflexive" pronoun of the third person. It shows that the person who acts and the person who receives the action is the same. While one is speaking to others in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, others are also speaking to him in the same way. This is a clear reference to congregational singing where  all  mutually  teach  one  another  as   they unite their voices in song. To obey this command, there must be an interchange  of  action.  When  one group or person is active (a choir or soloist)  and  another  group is passive (the listening audience) there is no interchange of action. Ephesians 5:19 can not be obeyed by choirs or solos!

          Does Colossians 3:16 teach congregational singing? The New Testament word, which is translated "teaching," means "to teach, instruct, by word of mouth." It requires that the one who is taught understand the teaching given. The New Testament word translated "admonishing" means "to put into the mind, instruct, warn." This teaching and admonishing is to be done to "one another." The phrase "one another" is translated from the same New Testament word as "yourselves" in Ephesians 5:19. Therefore, when the church  is worshiping God by the act of singing, there is teaching and admonishing one another taking place.  Colossians  3:16 clearly teaches congregational singing! When one group  or individual (the choir or soloist) is active, and another group is passive (the listening audience), there is no interchange of teaching and admonishing!

          Congregational singing (singing by every member of the congregation) was the practice of the church in the first century.   But many today claim that  choirs and solos in the worship are permitted because the Bible is silent concerning them. When God commanded Christians to sing and admonish one another, that eliminated choirs and solos in worship.  It was not necessary for God to give a long list of "Thou shalt nots" concerning singing.  It was not necessary for God to say, "Thou shalt not use mechanical instruments of music in My worship."  It was not necessary for God to say, "Thou shalt not use choirs or solos in my worship." When God specified congregational singing, that eliminated choirs, solos, and instrumental music.

       Choirs, solos and mechanical instruments of music in New Testament worship were never commanded by the Lord! No apostle of Christ ever approved of them!     No inspired New Testament writer ever taught or approved of them. There is no command, implication or approved example of the use of choirs, solos or instrumental  music in New Testament worship. Thus, they are completely without the authority of the Lord!  To use them in worship is sinful (Matthew 15:8,9-12; John 9-11; Revelation 22:18, 19).

          Must worship be entertaining?  Many seem to think so.  Every Christian must realize that God has commanded him to worship in “spirit and truth" (John 4:24). This means that every every Christian must worship with the correct attitude and the correct actions. God is the One Who is being worshipped.  He is the audience. Therefore, He is the One Who must be pleased!

          Some try to defend  the use of choirs and solos by  saying that 1 Corinthians 14:26 teaches such.  A close look at the verse will reveal that it does not teach the use of either choirs or solos. To say that "each of you has a psalm" does not mean that every one sang a solo or that several sang solos.  A psalm can be read, or quoted.  In this context, Paul is dealing with the misuse of a spiritual gift.   The best explanation of what the verse means is Acts 4:23-30.  When the disciples heard what had happened to Peter and John, "they lifted up their voice to God with one accord..." (Acts 4:24).

          Lyman Coleman, a church historian, wrote: "The prevailing mode of singing during the first three centuries was congregational. The whole congregation united their voices in the sacred song of praise, in strains suited to their ability .... the most ancient and most common mode of singing was confessedly for the whole assembly;   men, women and children blend their voices in their songs of praise in the great congregation" (Ancient Christianity Exemplified, pages 329, 330).

     All worship, at all times, and in all places must be done in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). If one does not worship in the right acts and with the right attitudes, his worship is vain and he is guilty of sin. There is absolutely no authority in the New Testament for the use of choirs and solos in worship. Therefore, those who practice such are worshipping in vain and are guilty of sin.
    
Ref: Truth for the World
webpage: http://www.tftw2.org/Tracts/choirssolos.htm

Daily Devonational
For What Should a Sinner Pray?---Gospel Minutes 2009
Excerpt: . Pray for Grace?
This has been a favorite petition at many
prayer benches and altars. But what has God
aid on the subject? "For the grace of God,
which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
ighteously, and godly, in this present world"
Tit. 2:11-12). Why pray for God's grace when it
has already been so abundantly given through
he gospel? And isn't it very foolish to pray for
grace while refusing the teaching which grace
has given? God's grace must be appropriated by
aith which works by love (Eph. 2:8-9). Have
you sufficient faith to obey the teaching of
grace? If not, then have you faith enough to be
effectual in prayer?--Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm110609.pdf 

Daily Devonational
Are We Saved By Faith Only?
By Ron Boatwright

         Today the vast majority of the religious world says that they are saved by "faith only".  Many good people erroneously think they are saved when they "accept Jesus as their personal saviour" and say the "sinner’s prayer".  But where in the Bible are we told this?  It is not there.  This may sound good and impressive, but this is false.  This is a lie of Satan.  This is something man has dreamed up.  Then two or three weeks later many churches encourage people to be baptized to join that denomination.  They say that one does not have to be baptized to be saved because they say you are saved before you are baptized.  I cannot think of a more flagrant crime against both God and Man than to teach lost sinners, who want to be saved something different than what God says in the Bible.

         In this case if they are eventually baptized, their sins are not forgiven and they are not saved because their baptism was not for this purpose.  They still have every sin they have ever committed and are still lost because they have believed a lie.  As we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth."

         "Faith only" will not save anyone.  In James 2:19 & 24 we read, "You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the devils believe and tremble….You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."  If all we do is believe, then we are no better than the devils.  We must obey what God says to do, when God says to do it, how God says to do it, and for the reason God says to do it.

         Jesus says in Mark 16:16, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved".  There is nothing hard to understand about this.  A person has to have help to misunderstand what the Lord says here.  Until people do what Jesus says that one must do to be saved then they are still hopelessly lost.
REF: http://www.netbiblestudy.net/bulletin/
Permission to use as stated on the webpage.

Daily Devonational

How Were People under the Old Testament forgiven? ---Gospelway.com
 

Anyone who is saved, no matter when they lived, will be saved by Jesus. Heb. 9:15 says that, though Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant (Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant), yet Jesus' death was also the redemption for the transgressions under the first covenant. So Jesus died for both the people before He lived and the people after He lived.

However, what that means is that people who lived under the Old Covenant did not have a means of lasting forgiveness as a part of the covenant under which they lived. By contrast, our forgiveness is available to us as part of the new covenant which we have now. This is the sense in which the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Under the Old Covenant, people had laws to live by, but they had no sacrifice that could take away their sins permanently. Instead their sins were remembered every year. Study Heb. chap. 10, esp. v1-18. So they lacked grace in the sense that the means of their forgiveness had not yet come.

When Jesus came and died, He removed the Old Covenant (all of it) -- Col. 2:14,16 -- and instituted the New Testament (Heb. 10:9,10; 9:16,17). Under the New Covenant we still have laws and commands to obey. These are the commands and laws of the New Covenant, not those of the Old Covenant (1 Cor. 14:37; Matt. 28:18-20; Heb. 1:1,2; John 14:15; 1 John 5:3). But the difference is that, when we sin, we have a means of forgiveness as a part of the very covenant under which we live. We do not have to look forward to some future event to obtain our forgiveness.

People under the Old Covenant had no lasting forgiveness under their covenant. The only way they could ultimately be forgiven was for their covenant to be removed and replaced by the New Covenant (Heb. 8:7-13). Salvation for all people, regardless of when they lived, is available only through Jesus.

To learn more about the removal of the Old Testament law, see our online article about the Old Testament for Today at our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/. 
 

(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2/5/2005

*Permission to use as stated on the webpage