A QUESTION OF THE AGES FOR YOUTH............Psalm 119: 9-11

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  by taking heed
thereto  according  to  thy  Word.  With  my  whole   heart  have I
sought  thee:  O let me not wander  from thy commandments.  Thy
Word have I hid in mine heart,  that I might not sin against thee." 

  This question should be considered of every boy/girl at an early
age.  To save one from   shipwreck of life  one must order his life
by the Word of God.  If we consider the whole of Scripture, "Old"
and  "New"  Testaments,  we  find  Commandment,  Precept, Law,
Testimony, Statute, Judgment, Way, and Truth, all in the Word of
God.  There must  be nothing put before the acquisition and obe-
dience  to the  knowledge  found  there.  In Psalm 16: 11  we find;
  "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness 
     of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore"

   There is also this:  The one who has lived without guidance or
attention to  the Word of God,  may be  given the opportunity to 
rectify or right the ship,  even at advanced age.  With a  heart of
thanksgiving, he/she may find the Lord God with open arms and
heart to receive such an one without recrimination. The "Word " 
to a  youth may keep him from shipwreck of life,  but to one who
is advanced in age and has experienced such,  may be given, not
only a second  and third,  even a  fourth opportunity to end well 
and enjoy life eternal with his Lord as he follows the same admo-
nition that is given a youth in this passage. It is quite possible to 
find  Jesus Christ, God the Son, with open arms, welcoming  this 
one into the Kingdom of  God.  There is no  promise of a  tomor-
row  on  this earth.  "Today,  if you will  hear His  voice,  Do not
harden your hearts as in  the Rebellion."  (Psalm 95: 7, 8) 
Then:  Hebrews 3: 18, 19;  "And to whom did he swear that they
would  not enter  His rest, but to those who did not obey.  So we 
see that  they could  not  enter  because of  unbelief."   We  must
conclude  then;  the only thing to keep one  from Eternal Life is
the sin of unbelief.  "He who believes in Him is not condemned,
but he who does not believe is condemned  already, because he
has not  believed on  the only begotten Son of God.  John 3: 18.

     There are some among us,  who do not have the apparent 
     capacity to have  faith in the Lord God. (believe) We find,
     however; the Scripture (Word of God) has the answer.
       "So then, faith cometh by hearing, and  hearing by the 
        Word  of God."  (Romans 10:17)  Therefore, we  must
        start reading, studying and obeying that word,  for us
        to be given the gift of  faith.  It cannot be  earned, nor
        may  we gain faith through human  effort or merit.  It
        is a gift....  to the one who seeks  with his whole heart
        through an indepth  search of  Scripture.  There is no
        other way.  (See above in Romans 10: 17)  
        
      donporter,sr 6,21,17, edited 6.22.17. 9.18.17   
                        

HEARERS AND DOERS OF THE WORD

“Hearers and Doers”                         James 1: 22                         6/20/12 
                 
Religious leaders of the time of Christ are reported to have had the 
attitude of  an elite segment of their culture and basically remained 
separate  from the  “common,”  or  man of  the  street.  These  were 
supposed, keepers of the Law of God, and held knowledge of God’s 
Law as tantamount to righteousness of  their own.  Jesus once  said
that the  Pharisees went about trying to establish a righteousness of 
their own.  The principle has me thinking; if one would inherit eter-
nal life,  he  must  first  recognize his  unrighteousness and  look  to 
Christ for righteousness.  Another way of  putting it; if I am attemp-
ting to establish righteousness on my own, it is apart from  the righ-
teousness of Christ;  therefore my case is  hopeless.  One cannot be 
righteous apart from the righteousness  imputed by the Lord,  as in  
the  case of  Abraham  who  was   declared  righteous,   because  he 
believed God.  His faith,  just as  in the New Testament,  made him
whole.   One aspect of Abraham's faith is; he obeyed God.  He was
a hearer of God's Word and faithfully obeyed or followed Him.

              "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted 
                          to him for righteousness."  Galatians 3: 6

       I  must admit to a period  of  time in my life when I made an effort 
to become like Christ through  keeping a“Christianized” version of  the 
“Law of God.”  This approach for me, a  Christian, was just as futile as 
it was to  the person under  Judaism.   If  keeping  the Law of  God did 
not save  during  the earthly walk  of our Savior, it is just as ineffective 
today.  Working  through  this and  traps of  that ilk,  may  take  years 
or it  may  be  settled  in a  short time.  Those  of  us  who were  reared 
among “church” people,  seem to have greater difficulty with this than 
converts from our culture at large.  Those of us who were part of evan-
gelical congregation from birth, have different baggage from those not
so blessed.  Having  heard “faith  without works is dead” all  our lives,  
we still  attempt to  establish a righteousness of our  own by  keeping a 
“Christianized”  version of   Old Testament  Law.  We  cannot seem to 
accept the  free gift;  salvation  from our Lord, without trying  by some 
means to earn that same salvation.  James, in chapter 1 of a letter writ-
ten to  converted Jews,  makes this plain.  We  must be "doers" of  the
Word of God, not futile hearers.  We who are hearers and  not "doers" 
fall into the trap of  working  at our own version of  the Word,  or Law 
of God.  As we put our hand to it, we pervert or corrupt the Law and it 
is no longer God’s Word,  but our word.  Like the Pharisees of  old, we 
prefer our version of  things and at times, have difficulty accepting the 
straight,  forward  premises of  Jesus Christ.

         What is it that keeps one  from  experiencing  a  meaningful rela-
tionship with Christ?   First,  we must  deal with the attitude;  "We are
somewhat  better than  others who  have not had  the benefit of  life in 
church.”   We must accept the  fact that degrees of sin are not relevant 
as we come to Christ.  If one is guilty of  any transgression of the Law,  
he is guilty of all.  When one comes to  Christ from depravity seeming 
greater than  our own,  he is to be accepted without question.  He who 
comes to Christ  having lived an innocuous or uneventful life is just as 
depraved.  It shows up  in a different form.  One  may come to  Christ 
out of a life of drug abuse.  He is to be accepted without  question.  A 
wise mentor  will assist this one,  holding him to account on this issue. 
Others  come to Christ  from families where parents were able to keep 
their offspring from this abuse. They were reared in a positive,  Chris-
tian  environment and  were  generally  kept  from  drugs,  alcohol  or 
other forms of  abuse.  The former comes to Christ broken and repen-
tant while the latter may come to Christ with  little "apparent" reason  
to  repent.  The danger here is;  the unrepentant  spirit with,  possibly, 
“holier  than  thou” attitude may  keep one from truly knowing Christ 
out of  “a broken heart and a contrite spirit.”  Psalm 34:18  

   The fact that one may not have engaged in gross or flagrant sin may 
be worn as a badge by the new  "convert" keeping him from true con-
version  as  he  compares himself with others.  I have witnessed  many 
such  instances during a  lifetime spent  around church people.  I  am 
one such example. 
   
    It was not until I was a parent and had served churches in the areas
of music and youth work I discovered this principle.  I met Christ in a
genuine experience of  repentance and conversion while leading music
in a series of revival meetings.  It was evident  to me  that my "conver-
sion" of  years before might have been spurious, and it was incumbent 
upon me to  make it right.   At close of one message  by  the  late Rev. 
Dan Greer  on  Romans 10: 9-10,  I was convinced  of  sin and confes-
sed,  publicly,  faith in Jesus Christ,  admitting  the doubts of  my ear-
lier   experience.   Since  then,  there  have been a "gradual,"  marked 
changes in  my life and I  have been  assured of  my relationship  with
Jesus Christ,  knowing  it does not depend on  anything  I  have  done 
or  will  do.   Grace and  mercy on  His  part;  faith  on  my  part  plus 
nothing.  Even the faith is  a  gift of  God.  "So then  Faith  cometh by 
hearing,  and hearing by  the Word of  God."   Romans 10: 17  (Read 
the Word of God on a regular basis, with a plan, and your faith in the
Lord with grow;   Your life in Christ with prosper and  you will find a
peace that only comes from a confident  walk in the Word with Jesus


("For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works 
   is dead, also."  James 2: 26) 

Someone has said;  "God said it,  that settles it,  I just believe it."
 AMEN!! 

      Having established that faith in God is the basis for Regeneration, 
what do we  do with  the passage in the  book of  James 2:14-26.   It is
clear in verse 18, "But someone will say, "You have faith and I have  
works,  show me your  faith without your works,  and I  will show you  
my faith by my works." This is convincing evidence that it is Christ, by 
His Spirit, working in us proving our faith. If we attempt works (in the
flesh)  outside  the work of  the  Holy Spirit,  we are breaking the com-
mandment that says...  "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain..."  If we say we work on His behalf and are working with-
out the fullness of  his Holy Spirit, have we not  taken that Holy Name
 in vain?

     In verses 21-22, "Was not Abraham our Father justified by works  
     when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  Do you see that faith 
     was working together with his works, and by works faith was made 
     perfect?

26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead,  so faith without works 
      is dead also."   

What then, is a dead faith worth?  I do not believe it is possible to 
have true faith without the fruit of the Spirit that produces "His" 
work in us.  A dead  faith is a faith in faith and  has not the Spirit 
of  Jesus Christ as an active force and is therefore, worthless...
  

donporter  7.7.12  

"THE APOSTASY?" I Timothy 2

  
I Timothy 2: 1-3,  "Now  the Spirit  speaketh  expressly in the
latter times, some shall  depart from  the faith,  giving  heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypo-
crisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron.  Forbid-
ding  to marry,  and to  abstain  from  meats,  which God  hath
created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe
and know the truth."   

human interaction, but the work of Satan, his "angels," or 

This Scripture makes it plain; a believer is not fooled by any

ecclesiastical leaders."   It is brought on by ones failure to rely

on God's Word.  Those who would mislead are Satan's Emis-

saries, and must be resisted and called out. 

      This seems a bleak picture of what has happened in the visible
or physical "church" over the  years.  As our Lord said in Mark
7: 6-8; "Well hath Esaias (Isaiah) prophesied of you hypocrites,
As it  is written,  'This people honoureth  me with  their lips, but
their heart is far from me.  Howbeit, in vain do they worship me
teaching  for doctrines  the  commandments of men.  For  laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men..."  
 
   Just one comment:  The rise of  "denominations" just might be
a good example of  this statement  from the lips of our Savior.  Is
there any doubt  this phenomenon is the result of someone depar-
ting from the faith?  (apostasy) Either the group who pulled away
from an existing congregation or  the persons who remain within,
are in error.  Admittedly, the differences do not always rise to the
level of apostasy, but what about those so critical they are used as
reason for  persons to withdraw  fellowship from brothers?  If we
are  truly "brothers" in  faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,  could we
not reconcile differences  rather than split?  Can there be a break
or fracture within the "Body of Christ?"  Some have indicated to
me that divisions within the Church of Jesus Christ might be one
means of growing the Church.  While there is a point to this con-
tention it will not, in my view, "hold water."  In the book of acts,
there was a phenomenon used of God to scatter the Church, thus
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, over the known world through perse-
cution of "Christians" in Jerusalem.  There is also this;  when it
became known in other parts of the world that Christ had indeed
come,  visitors to Jerusalem sought out  the Apostles and carried
the gospel back to their home countries.  

      The condition, apparent in the early days of church  history, 
and now,  does not  have easy answers and  this humble servant 
can  only  offer  opinion.  I  decline  to  do so,  but  merely offer 
points to ponder, and use as a springboard to  be persons quick 
to  reconcile;  forgiving  differences or  offenses.  Although  we
must forgive one who offends us personally,  there can never be
a time when  the followers of Jesus Christ  forsake a Scriptural 
principle in  order to go along  with doctrine  that  is  plainly in
variance with the teaching of Jesus Christ as found in the God's
Word.   

      God bless, as you and I do our part to become peacemakers 
within our local congregations and  to  the world at large. May
God bless your efforts in  the  Kingdom of our  Lord as  "...led 
by the Spirit..."   See  Luke 4: 1,  Romans 8: 14, and  "...led of 
the Spirit..."  in Galatians 5: 18    

 donporter,sr 6.17.17  edited: 8.12.17