#a vital warning

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Some people attempt to share the gospel message by making a “sales pitch” for Jesus. The temptation in evangelism is to make the message seem as attractive as possible, and to minimize the difficulties involved in making a genuine decision to walk with the Messiah. Often the appeal is made along the lines of the ego’s self-interest. Jesus is put forth as a solution to life’s problems, a panacea for the worries of life, a blessing for your love life, etc. “Believe in Jesus – because it works for you! You’ll be amazed by the results!  God will bless you and you’ll find happiness and contentment at last!" 

Unless we are careful, using an approach like this can make a subtle appeal to the flesh, to the all-too-human desire for personal satisfaction, happiness, and even pride. But Jesus never made a "cheap sale” of His message and mission. He never appealed to the flesh as a reason for following Him. On the contrary, he repeatedly stated the cost of discipleship and warned of being hated for his sake. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard (i.e., τεθλιμμένη, "oppressive”) that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt. 7:14). Indeed, Jesusoften intentionally offended people when they encountered him. Far from making it easy to believe, Jesus regularly put up stumbling blocks when people approached Him. He never was a “people pleaser” and He never apologized for speaking the truth, just as He never sought the crowd’s approval nor sought a “market” for His mission. Even less did Jesus seek the approval of the status quo, that is, the religious establishment of the Jews or the political establishment of Rome.

In short, Jesus’s life was scandalous to human beings and their various conceits. Encounters with him were always “tests” that evoked one of two responses: offense or faithFor example, Jesus scandalized his family (Matt. 12:48), his community (Matt. 13:54-57, John 6:42), the gawking crowd (John 6:26-30), various religious seekers (Mark 10:17-22), the religious establishment (Matt. 15:12), the political establishment (Luke 13:32), and even His own followers (John 6:61). His question is always, “Who do you say that I am?” People either were offended at Him or accepted Him, but Jesus made it impossible for them to be indifferentabout Who He was.

John J. Parsons

This is the reason, the evidence and great cause of condemnation [for all sin]: that Light is come into the world. Christ is the Light, foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He is styled, in the beginning of [John’s] Gospel, the true Light; that is, He has in perfection all the excellent qualities of light: the power to enlighten the minds of men in the knowledge of saving truth, to warm the affections with the love of it, to revive the disconsolate, and to make the heavenly seed of the Word to flourish and fructify in their lives. This Light is come into the world; that signifies not only His Incarnation, but His revealing the merciful counsel of God for our salvation, which the clearest spirits could never have discovered; [Christ alone] has opened the way that leads to eternal life.

But men loved darkness rather than light; because their deeds were evil: they preferred, chose, and adhered to their ignorance and errors, [choosing these over] the light of life, the saving knowledge of the gospel. Their ignorance is affected and voluntary, and no colour of excuse can be alleged for it; no, it is very culpable and guilty, by neglecting to receive instruction from the Son of God. The vices and lusts of men are the works of darkness, the fruits of their ignorance and errors; and they are so pleasant to the carnal corrupt nature, that to enjoy them securely, they obstinately reject the light of the gospel. This aggravates their sin and sentence.

Matthew Poole; Commentary on John 3:19

Those whom God pardons, must [nevertheless] be made to know what their sin deserved. [This will prevent us from taking lightly His mercy, by revealing the fatal nature of unpardoned sins, and the awful consequences of which we have been largely spared. A most terrible penance is that God will simply] let [us] go forward ‘as [we] are,’ [according to our own obstinate desires; despite the lack of active 'punishment’] this [leniency is] very expressive of God’s displeasure. Though He promises to make good His covenant with [us, despite our infidelity– God is still faithful–] yet [by the very nature of our willfully sinful state,] He denies [us] the tokens of His presence [we] had been blessed with [while in a state of grace. When we realize this distance, we shall mourn inconsolably] for [our] sin. Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, true penitents most lament, and dread most, God’s departure from them. [Eden] itself would be no pleasant land without the Lord’s presence! Those [of us sinners] who [would readily] part with [our money, time, and comfort] to maintain [a habitual] sin, could do no less than lay aside [the same, giving money & time & effort towards the service of God as a] token of sorrow and shame for [the wasteful error of our sins. Indeed, what good are all the riches of the world, if we have not God? No amount of earthly pleasures can ever fill the emptiness we feel when we lose the grace of His Presence; that is something only a humbled, contrite heart can hope to be graced with once more.]

Matthew Henry; Commentary on Exodus 33:3

jondenden:

“Never be afraid of your Bibles. If there is a text of Scripture you dare not meet, humble yourself till you can. If your creed and Scripture do not agree, cut your creed to pieces, but make it agree with this book. If there be anything in the church to which you belong which is contrary to the inspired word, leave that church.”

Charles Spurgeon

This, right here, is the powerful heart of Christian living, the true fire of Charity.

The Bible contains many “hard sayings,” many difficult commands, and plenty of convicting truths. Being the Holy Book, it will inevitably point out our unholiness with piercing accuracy. Don’t run away. Don’t let pride make you hide! That Biblical cutting-down-to-size is what cuts out our sinful habits, if we humbly accept that we both need and deserve the process.

Likewise, some of your personal beliefs, opinions, preferences, ideas, etc., being formed by the world, will stand opposed or contrary– however minimally– to what it says in God’s Word. You may laugh this off as mistranslation or “outdated doctrine” or the like, trying to justify yourself and validate all your thoughts instead, forgetting that you are terribly fallible and prone to commit error every moment. When your viewpoint clashes with that of Scripture, you get off that high hill of yours and seek a different vantage point. When your own “book” of rules disagrees with the one Good Book, you tear your tome apart at the very spine. I use brutal language because we cannot be mincing or hesitant in these matters. There is One Truth that is God, and if we encounter opposition to it in ourselves, however “minor,” it is still a lie in the face of God and it must be removed and replaced.

Lastly, we live in the last days. The Church, though her heart is safeguarded as the Bride of Christ, nevertheless is maintained by thousands of human sons & daughters who maim their Lord’s teachings by their own errors, by gutless lies and social pride and moral laxity. Your local church is not exempt from this plague. You must keep your eyes & heart fixed on God’s Word, vigilant for any missteps or malice both within yourself and in your worship community, and like a devout soldier, always ready to defend your Lord’s honor and guard His Church from the enemy, the Liar. Be gentle but firm, courageous but meek, merciful but just– and start with yourself. Get the beam out of your own eye, by the grace of God! Only in true humble piety can you discern dangers in the church, which includes you. If you aren’t properly living as a sheep of His flock, you won’t recognize the impropriety of a wolf… and a true sheep knows their Master’s Voice: a Voice we learn to love through His Word.

Never be afraid of the Bible. Yes, it is full of fearful power, but that power is meant to save! Such is the nature of holiness. Its fire is meant to purify and enlighten! Every word within it has been given for Good. Trust in its heart, and read it constantly. Let it define your entire life, for when this life ends, only the soul who has loved God’s Word will know the Way to life eternal.

The vine had long been a beloved symbol of Israel… in the Last Supper discourse, on the way to Gethsemane, it acquires a new dimension, the pain of pruning. However, the suffering of Jesus is not the principal point here: [rather, it is that all] disciples of Jesus must be prepared to bear the pain of pruning. The image is a powerful one. To an uninstructed onlooker, the wretched, seemingly lifeless twigs left on the vines appear totally unable to burgeon in a few months into the rich harvest of grapes. The most powerful of all the aspects of the symbol is the sap pulsing through those apparently dead branches. There is all the difference in the world between those docked shoots [still thriving within], and the dead twigs scattered on the ground, [their wild growth availing nothing.Humble] adherence to the vine, to Christ himself, alone gives life to the Church.

Dom Henry Wansbrough; Commentary on John 15

Every time that we sin, we are born of the devil. But every time that we do good, we are born of God.

Saint John Chrysostom

So, I tell you this: Do not be thinking all the time about how to stay alive. Do not have trouble in your mind about the food and drink that you need. Do not always be thinking about the clothes that you need to wear. Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes… Even if you are always thinking about your life, you cannot make it go on any longer, not even by one hour! [The length of your life will always be in God’s hands.] It is God that gives [you each new day, and the things you need to get through it.] God will certainly take care of you, much more than He takes care of the [birds and the] grass. [If He cares for even a single flower so tenderly, do you think He would overlook you, His child?] You should trust Him more than you do! So, do not have trouble in your mind about these things.Do not always say, “What will we eat?”, or “What will we drink?”, or “What will we wear?” People who do not know God are always thinking about these things. But as for you, your Father in heaven knows that you need them. Instead [of worrying, then], always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then He will also give you the things that you need each day.

Matthew 6:25‭, ‬27‭, ‬30-‬33 EASY

What has Adam’s guilt got to do with us? Why are we held responsible for his sin, when we were not even born when he committed it? Did not God say: “The parents will not die for the children, nor the children for the parents, but the soul which has sinned, it shall die.” How, then, shall we defend this doctrine [of original sin? Let us begin by affirming that] the soul [which] has sinned [shall] die. We [all] have become sinners because of Adam’s disobedience in the following manner: After he fell into sin and surrendered to corruption, impure lusts invaded the nature of his flesh, and at the same time [his nature was infected,] the ‘evil law’ of [all future mankind’s] members was born. For our nature contracted the disease of sin because of the disobedience of one man, that is, Adam, and thus many became sinners [by nature]. This was not because they sinned along with Adam, because they did not then exist, but because they had the same nature as Adam, which, [by failing to honor the law of God,] fell under the law of sin. Thus, just as human nature acquired the weakness of corruption 'in’ Adam because of [his] disobedience, [whereupon] evil desires invaded it, so the same nature was later set free by Christ, who was obedient to God the Father and did not commit sin– [restoring & preserving forever, through His sharing in human nature, the righteous purity that Adam lost].

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

When a man is born, he is already born with death, because he contracts sin from Adam. [Thus] everyone, even little children, have ‘broken God’s covenant’, not indeed in virtue of any personal action, but in virtue of mankind’s common origin in that single ancestor, in [whose corrupted nature] all have sinned. As infants cannot help being descended from Adam, so they cannot help being touched by the same sin, unless they are set free from its guilt by the baptism of Christ, [the new Adam]. All men for whom Christ died, died in the sin of the first Adam, and all who are baptized into Christ die to sin, [and to that carnal life ruled by it]. No one is born without the intervention of carnal concupiscence, which is inherited from the first Man, who is Adam; and no one is reborn without the intervention of spiritual grace, which is given by the second Man, who is Christ.

Saint Augustine of Hippo; Commentary on Romans 5

How [do] we have access to grace through our Lord Jesus Christ? The Savior Himself tells us: “I am the Door,” and “No one comes to the Father except by Me.” …This Door is the truth, and liars cannot enter in by the door of truth. Again, this Door is righteousness, and the unrighteous cannot enter in by it. The Door Himself says: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” So neither the irascible nor the proud can enter in by the door of humility and gentleness. Therefore, if anyone wants to have access to the grace of God– which, according to the word of the apostle, comes through our Lord Jesus Christ, and in which Paul and those like him claim to stand– it is essential that he be cleansed of all [vices, for all are opposed to Christ]. Otherwise, those who do what is contrary to Christ will not be allowed to go in by that Door, which will remain closed [against such corruption,] and [so justly] keep out those who are incompatible with Him.

Origen of Alexandria

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