Why The Incarnation In This Manner?

For if when

we were enemies

we were reconciled 

to God through 

the death 

of His Son,

much more, having 

been reconciled,

we shall be 

saved by His life.

Romans 5:10

For He made Him

who knew no sin

to be sin for us,

that we might 

become the 

righteousness of God

in Him.

2Corinthians 5:21

     There is no common sense to be arrived at when a person seeks to rationalize that God, the Father, would send into a virgin His Wisdom, the Word of God so that man who was liable to death due to the corruption of his nature, would come and die upon a cross. It is true, Jesus Christ surrendered His body to death instead of man. That which man could not do for himself, for it was impossible for man to do so because of their being totally depraved, to have paid for them, this death of sin, by means of the offering of Jesus' body on the cross; it is unfathomable. We try to make sense out of this and fall far short of any answer other than what the Scriptures teach us. This God did for His sheer love of us, that in the death of His Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the One who had the authority to do for His creation who had no power to help themselves, He abolished the Law of death. We can, those who are His children, rejoice and give God our worship because He tempered His justice by His Grace and Mercy. It is not that His justice would be satisfied, and that all that He stated would occur, that is death, He placed into that virgin Mary, Himself, the Wisdom of God that through this ignoble death all might die and this He did so that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption. He would make death disappear from men. On judgment day death will be thrown into the Lake of Fire: "The Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. this is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14-15).

     The Word of God seeing that corruption could not be gotten rid of other than through death and that possibility could not exist in Him as He was immortal, and the Father's Son; he could not die. You may be somewhat confused as it may seem that we are speaking of two separate individuals. I am not: Jesus is God, yet He is a separate Person in the Godhead. Let me take just a moment to help clarify this fact. An example: Are not your thoughts separate from your person inasmuch as you can think one thing and do another with your body? Cannot you have a power that is part and parcel of you yet be something separate as in person from you and be as your thoughts are all the essence of yourself? Wisdom is part of you and is all of you in essence yet so often it goes against the grain of what you do. It is separate in that fact but has not become something different as if it was totally a separate thing from yourself. It is of no effort for God, as the Father to cloth His Wisdom in the body of a human, and to place that Wisdom in the womb of a virgin. Wisdom was not separate from the Godhead, yet as a separate Person operating as a second Person, He was given a human body so that the justice of God, by means of God's mercy and grace, to come and die for all of God's children. Therefore, it was God, the Second Person of God, Wisdom, the Word of God, the Son of God, from all moment in time existed and came to this earth, that which He created to assume a body that was capable of death. That which as the Wisdom of God, immortal and incapable of death He was now able to accomplish. A human body was needed to pay this debt of transgression. No other body had the right to die for man. Only the body belonging to the creator, the One who had to have justice served, that God could not be in contradiction to His Own Law. With this body there would be a sufficient exchange for all, all that God would draw and enable to be able to choose Him and be saved from this Law of Death. This body itself must be incorruptible through His dwelling on this earth that this death of a human body in exchange for the justice demanded by God so that there would be an end to corruption. This would occur by the grace of God through the resurrection.

     Why could it not be another creation such as an angel or another man? This body needed to be free from every stain. There could be no possibility that this offering would have the possibility to choose another manner, another way, and not do what God the Father had purposed: to save His children. So by means of this body, the Wisdom, the Word of God, the Son of God, being placed in the womb of Mary the virgin He would abolish death for His human brethren. This was the equivalent needed. The Word of God was above all things, as God this is true so that when He offered His Own body as a temple and instrument so that it would suffice as a substitute for the life of all His children, then by His death He fulfilled all that was required. 

     Let this Scripture be to you a wake up call so to speak for Jesus did not just come and die so that we could have a free pass into heaven because God chose you before the foundation of the world. No! We have work to do in ourselves so that our nature having been renewed is yet in need of sanctification and causes us to live for Him: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge this: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2Corinthians 5:14-15). We live as though this is the only life we have; that this life is our happiness, that we should find our happiness in this life. In fact we forget that this life is temporal, that there is an eternity ahead, an eternity with God, therefore we should be compelled to live for Him. We hang on to such things that are only temporal, such as our jobs, our homes, our cars, the accessories that we have come to believe to be necessary, that we have forgotten that this is not our home and as that old gospel hymn so aptly states: "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through, my treasure is laid up somewhere in the blue..." Is this how you live? Do you see this life as temporary? You better for no one, at least I know of anyone other than Jesus Christ that has died and come back to life. Death reigns and anyone who is alive knows that this is a fact. What if all you own, this is a fiction for unless we paid cash that is not borrowed, such as a loan company, or bank, we do not own our cars, or homes, or computers, etc, they are on a rent to own contract. If you don't believe me, stop paying for them and see how soon the collectors come and take it all away. Will you, this is the question, live for God if all was taken away? Did Jesus Christ die for you? Did not God plan this salvation before you were even born? It is grace and mercy that has been given by God to all who will believe and this not of yourself for it is a free gift: "But the free gift s not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, muchmore the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many" (Romans 5:15). Paul now adds: And having beset free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Romans 6:18). Jesus came in the manner that He did so that we might be set free from sin, and the Law of Death. This being so ought we not to live as if it was so? When we do not live according to His Word than all we are doing is becoming a practical atheist; we have put our desires above God and dehumanized the work of the cross. May this not be true of you, and if so, that you turn, repent and live for Him, no matter what, no matter how tested you faith may have to endure, if you truly believe on the propitiation of Jesus for your sins, this is what you will do. (Me too!!).

For I delight in

    the Law of God

according to the 

    inward man.

               Romans 7:22

May Your Feet Be Beautiful Of Peace

Richard L. Crumb

The Purpose For The Word Of God--To Enter The World

For if when we

were enemies 

we were 

reconciled 

to God

through the death

of His Son,

much more,

having been 

reconciled,

we shall be

saved

by His life.

Romans 5:10

     In the last blog I mentioned that men are not saved because they want to be saved, that out of their "free will" they can choose. The Scriptures are clear about two things: 1. Men are totally depraved and have never, cannot now, nor ever choose from their natural "free will" to come to salvation. 2. Man must choose and this choice is due to the free gift of grace (Psalm 84:11) given to them by God because God has elected them to salvation. Men are not saved by believing. Men must realize that they are saved by believing. Does that sound like a contradiction? It is not repentance that saves a man; repentance is the sign that a man realizes what God has done in Christ Jesus. There should be a true sense of horror that you sinned against a Holy and just God who created you and all the things that have been created. A God who gave a Law so that men would know how to live accordingly to the Holiness of God. A problem is that we put our emphasis on the effect, that is on the mode of death, instead of the cause. We think that our obedience is what has put us right with God. Never! We are obedient because we are put right with God and that was done prior to your being alive on this earth. In fact it was done prior to anything being created. Prior to all creation Christ died for all He came to save. You may cavil at this point and say: did not Jesus come to save the whole world? No! If that was His will, He being God, the true of God of true God, then if this was His will, there is a problem, some still are going into the lake of fire, then He would have failed. This miracle of God, the atonement, Jesus Christ dying on the cross and by doing so became sin for us: "For He made Him who know no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2Corinthians 5:21). We are not made righteous because we are sorry for our sins, not because you have repented, we repent because God has revealed to us the horrendous darkness of our sin; but because of what Jesus Christ has done. It is the Spirit of God that gives to man the ability to choose Him, it is the Atonement that gives to all God's children, the elect, righteousness, and a right standing before Him. 

     It is not by means of human logic that salvation comes to man. It stands on the sacrificial Death of Jesus. This then is how men and women can be saved, by the marvellous work of God in Christ Jesus that is prior to all experience. All Justification and sanctification is given to us by God Himself. We do not, and cannot work out these things ourselves, for they have been worked out by the Atonement. It is what Jesus Christ has done, the supernatural becomes natural. The Word of God has existed always and He exists with that which He created, all creation was ever with Him as He abides with the Father. He fills all things (That is not to admit to Pantheism). Now, He has entered the world He created in a different manner: He stooped down to our level because of His love for that which He created and revealed Himself to us. 

     Jesus Christ did not stooped down to our level because He felt sorry for us, rather He saw that the human race had within them the expression of the Father's mind but that sin and corruption was causing a wasting of their existence; death reigned over man in all its corruption. It was this corruption of death due to man's sin that was the cause for this penalty, a penalty of death. Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, could see that it would be unthinkable that the Law of Death be repealed for their transgressions; the Law must be fulfilled. As the creator of all things He could see that by means of man's transgression, their corruption, that not only were liable to the Law of Death but that all creation would come to nothing; there is a universal death. All things were made for the enjoyment of men, and all other lives would benefit from that creation for man. Yes, Jesus had compassion but it was His love for man that He would come to earth and by doing so the work of the Father  would not come to nought. He did this by His embodiment in the form of that which He created, in a human body. He could have come in some other manner to reveal His majesty. This He did not do, He took on a pure body, not stained with the inherited original sin. He came to this world from a spotless, stainless virgin. There was no earthly father for His Father was the Father of heaven; God. This coming to earth and taking on a human body from a virgin became the temple from which He using that body as an instrument to became known, revealed as the Son of God. 

I will dwell in them

     and walk among them.

I will be their God,

    and they shall be

My people.

             2 Corinthians 6:16b

May this weekend be blessed

Richard L. Crumb

What Was God To Do; Just Have Man Repent?

Truly, these times

of ignorance 

God overlooked,

but now commands

all men everywhere

to repent.

Acts 17:30

     God's command seems simple enough; just repent! Could God just demand repentance and that would be that; man could be saved? Yes! He could demand repentance and He does demand repentance but how does repentance itself save a person? Could not a repentant person just return to corruption? Yes! And that being the case if that was all that God required then repentance itself could not guard the Divine against being inconsistent. Why? Because if death did not hold dominion over men: God would still be untrue and as was shown in the last blog, God cannot go back on His word. Repentance does nothing for the nature of man that has become corrupt and all it does is to keep man from sinning. If only by repenting our sins would be forgiven, that trespass that we pray in the Lord's prayer for God to forgive our trespasses, and our case was just sin, then repentance would be enough, but that is not the case; man is corrupt, his nature is corrupt, totally depraved. This then being the case of total depravity men were then deprived of the grace that belong to them as creatures in the image of God. Yes, it is true, repentance can not meet the demands of this case. Repentance is necessary as the opening Scripture affirms, that it is a command of God for men to repent. Yet, man cannot repent just because he wants to repent. All that man does is due to his nature and that nature is totally depraved. There are some theologians who have taught that man can choose God themselves because of circumstances, or just hearing the Word of God and being convicted and by their free will choose God. This then is not the Doctrine of Total Depravity, it is a semi-depravity Doctrine. If man could save himself by repenting there would have been no need for an incarnation of the Word of God. Jesus Christ would then die for something that man could do for himself, in other words man could just save himself by repenting. Many Church leaders have taught this next verse to apply to everyone: The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Once again the word repentance is reiterated in this verse, God is longsuffering and all should come to repentance because God is not willing that any should perish. Who is the Apostle Peter speaking too? Who are the "us" and who are "any?" If God wills a thing to be it is done, for if God does not will a thing is does not exist. God does not limit Himself and sit back wringing His hands, so to speak, waiting for any man to choose Him. Verse one Chapter three tells us that Peter is speaking to the beloved and he had written to them before, that in his first letter to them and calls them, the pilgrims of the dispersion, the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (1 Peter 1:1-2). So the "us" are the Christians that have been elected and it is them that Peter is writing to that God is not willing for any, and the word any in the Greek means, certain ones, for if God willed that "all" should come to repentance then they would do so but the Bible is clear that some will be thrown into the lake of Fire: "The Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14-15).

     What, or rather who, was needed for such grace so as to recall man from their corruption? None other than the Word of God Himself; the One who in the beginning made all things out of nothing. It was His part, His alone, both to bring again the corruptible to incorruption maintain for the Father His consistency of character. He being the Word of the Father and above all, was by Who He was that He was able to recreate all and to be an ambassador for all, with the Father. Luke records: "Then He said to them, 'Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). Jesus was willing as the Wisdom of God, being of the same essence as the Second Person of the Godhead to lower Himself from His position with the Father inasmuch as He took on a human body: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower that the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone...For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:9, 18). Peter writing to the elect: "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His steps" (1 Peter2:21). Paul writes to the Church at Corinth: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2Corinthians 5:17). Peter gives the final and most important thing for us to remember: "He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God" (1Peter 1:20-21). Before you were born, before anything existed in the material world, God had ordained that Jesus Christ would come into our world and be manifested and this so that for those who believe in God will be resurrected and this was for "you" that is the elected by God. In all of God's Sovereignty He has elected some for salvation. Many object to this but this is what His word so plainly states. Why does God choose some and not others? I don't know! It is not for me to know. The command that God has given, the command that Jesus Christ gave to the Apostles and the command that is our command today is that we are to make disciples. God will save whomever He desires to save and being a good God, all things He does is good, then His choices are good. That is enough for me and should be enough for you. But let us examine the purpose for the Word of God to enter the World; this is the next blog.

All flesh is as grass,

     And all the glory of man

as the flower of the grass.

     the grass withers,

and its flower falls away,

    But the word of the 

Lord endures forever.

                  1 Peter 1:24-25

 Today allow God to Aid You To Overcome

Richard L. Crumb

The Sovereign God Is Not A Liar

God is not a man,

that He should lie

nor a son of man,

that He should repent,

has He said, and

will He not do?

Or has He spoken,

and will He not

make it good?

Numbers 23:19

     The question was asked: "What was God to do? Was it not He that brought into this world all that is from nothing? By the corruption of man and all that effects of that corruption upon the creation of God there is in some sense a ruination of His Word. Therefore, was He just to allow sin and corruption to have their way with man? Surely then, it would have been better for Him not to create at all. God was under no imputation to create. If God would allow man to die and become nothing due to Satan or due to man's own neglect, would that not argue for the goodness of God? But, if He did so, would not that have limited God in some manner? Yes! It was then impossible for God to leave men to be carried off by corruption because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself. While man is corrupted and God being a just God, not a fair God as some would like Him to be, but a God of justice and His justice demanded to be enforced because of God's nature as stated in the opening Scripture: God does not lie. Samuel wrote: And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that he should relent" (1 Samuel 15:29). Paul in his letter to Titus: "...in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" (Titus 1:2). Notice carefully what Paul wrote to Titus; God from before time made this promise. God determined that He would have a people for His name before He made people. He chose you, but you did not choose Him, and He chose before time began all whom He would choose to be the bride of His Son Jesus Christ; (Romans 8:28-29). The writer of the book of Hebrews adds: "...that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God not lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18). It is unthinkable that God would go back on His word. Is He not then the Father of truth? He could not falsify Himself. He could not lie just to ensure our continued existence.

     Upon any examination of man it will be found that the soul of man, by reason of the corruption of nature, is darkened; " Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18). The Apostle John writes: "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5). Paul in writing to those troubled Christians at the Church of Corinth writes: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Paul writes that man cannot know the things of God. The words of Paul in Greek are: oύ δύναται; and are in the present indicative which means that this is a simple statement of fact or reality that is viewed as occurring in actual time. These terms are "historical presents" and such occurrences dramatize the event described as if the reader were there watching the event occur. Man is ignorant, he is disenabled for the comprehending of divine truth. Man is armed with prejudice and opposition as shown by the complaining Jews towards Jesus: "And they said, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven" (John 6:42)? Later on the Pharisees gave this answer: "They answered and said to him, 'Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee" (John 7:52). Man has framed for himself false principles and a desire for self-sufficiency this from the beginning with the sin of Adam. Into this day this sin languishes and man still contends for supreme power. Man strives to control his actions and in so doing has developed many heresies. This attitude, this change of nature has invaded the Church troubling many Christians causing them to follow fables. Man does all he can to bring himself happiness and to dissolve himself form the Providence of God, he wishes to be exempted from the Almighty God. There are wrangling disputes or carnal reason against the Word of God. That which man should ascribe to God he disposes of and has in every way possible vindicated this pre-eminence unto themselves. This must be so, and we can see that it so; if was not so then God would be a liar for He has told us that this is so. 

     Therefore, God not being a liar, a just God demanding justice; what was He to do? What are we to do? Anything? God chooses His children, His elect, and they know Him as Jesus in answer to the Jews gives: "Jesus answered them and said, 'My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from god or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who speaks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and not unrighteousness is in Him" (John 7:16-18). Well, could not God just demand repentance? This is the subject of the next blog.

He comes from

    the north

as golden splendor;

    with God is 

awesome majesty.

                Job 37:22

Look up: God is Great

Richard L. Crumb

 

The Solution To This Problem--The Law Of Sin And Death

These things I Have

written to you

who believe

in the name 

of the

Son of God,

that you may

know that you

have eternal life,

and that you may

continue to believe

in the name of the

Son of God.

1 John 5:13

     God had willed that there be a people that He would call to be His children. It isn't that God needed us; it is the other way around, We need Him. Out of His Love and by His grace we were created, not as other creatures, but with His image. This special creation being so different from all other living creatures inasmuch as we had this attribute(s) so that we could know Him and live according to His rule of life that we should be in awe and respect and in worship to this Great God. How great is He? That old song we have heard and probably sang: "How Great Thou Art," is so true because God made man with something different; man would not exercise their life by a nature that is controlled by simple intuition, rather that man would have a "free will." Man could exercise faith. Yet, faith untried, untested is not faith. Faith is faith when it has been put to the test, therefore "free will" does not exist unless it too is put to the test. God did just that, a simple test: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of he knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 23:16-17. Notice two things: 1. They did not want for something to eat, they could choose from the variety of fruit trees in the garden and eat to satisfaction; 2. There is no command for them not to eat of the tree of life. This tree would be given to them when God in His Providence, His economy, in His dispensation, would allow them to eat of that tree. Why was this tree mentioned for them not to eat? It was not that the tree was poisonous, it would be either good or evil according to their faithfulness to the command of God. This command was given to Adam (Genesis 2:18) and Adam recited this command to Eve, she knew and repeated the command to the serpent: "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die" (Genesis 3:2-3). They failed the test, their faith was tested and they refused to adhere to the command of God who they spoke with, walked with and knew. Is this refusal to God's commands different from them today? No! We have the command of God and yet we find all sorts of way to avoid doing what He has commanded. We find ways to make our sins palatable. Abortion is just one. Adultery is another, and divorce that is rampart in the Christian Church is one such sin that we have given even support to and advised others to do. That particular problem is that the Church has become worldly and will not hold fast to the faith, and become devoted to Jesus Christ, only devoted to their happiness and yet God has only given to reasons for divorce: 1. Adultery: (Matthew 5:32); 2. If an unbeliever has deserted the marriage: (1 Corinthians 7:15). The Proverbs written for our morality while we live on this earth says: "It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, and afterward to reconsider his vows" (Proverbs 20:25). Jesus made this a fact; we are to keep our vows by saying: "But let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no' be 'no.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37). This is faith in action and should be in our every thought. We should teach them to our children and we should live them in our lives. It is a shame to the Church, to Christianity that sin abounds, and far too often freely, in the Church. Not just divorce, but allowance for homosexuality, women in preaching and taking the role that only the Bible assigns to men. This is said not to put the woman down only to remind that there is a Biblical hierarchy, women have an important role in the Church as well; you may as many do, not agree with the hierarchy that it is males that are to lead but we should follow Biblical principles, not our feelings and especially not that of the world.

     This then is the problem; the human race has been in a process of destruction from Adam until now and will continue until Jesus Christ returns for His Bride, the Church, on the last day. Death and corruption has been gaining hold on man. Death due to their transgressions prevails. The image of God is disappearing. There is not escape from this Law of Death. 

     It would be unthinkable for God to go back on His word. Did He not say that man would die if they sinned? The justice of God will prevail, and He is just, and not just fair, for if He was fair then all people would have His love and grace and be saved. No, for man is under the curse of sin and death and the justice of God demands death. Man at one time shared the nature of the Word and it also would then be equally wrong for them to die and return from where they came; nothingness, non-existence. Man was destined to perish and from dust he was made and to dust he would return and man was and is unable to do anything about this Law of Death. 

     How then could a good God allow Satan to destroy that which He made, and that which He brought into existence? Would it not be unworthy of God and unfitting for the word of God in mankind to be destroyed and then to disappear either by their neglect or by means of the devil? (Genesis 6:11-12; Titus 1:15; Revelation 19:2). What was God to do? God has done something and there will come a day when God will avenge the sin of Satan and his hordes of demons and to all men and women here on earth who have followed the wiles of Satan: "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her" (Revelation 18:20). God's will is always accomplished for if He did not will a thing to be then it cannot be. The next blog will discuss what God has done.

Then I saw that

     wisdom

excels folly

    as light

excels darkness.

                  Ecclesiastes 2:13

Hate the way of the world; live for God

Richard L. Crumb

Man's Sin Surpassed All Limits

Then the Lord saw

that the wickedness

of man was great

in the earth, 

and that every intent

of the thoughts 

of his heart

was only

evil continually

Genesis 6:5

     An axiom to live by is that God's patience is not His permission.  This fact was aptly demonstrated when God saw that man was "continually" wicked, all their thoughts were wicked. Out God's mercy and love He saved eight people and certain animals in an ark. The LORD was pleased and said: "And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done" (Genesis 8:21). This sinning surpassed all limits; for, having invented wickedness in the beginning as so involved themselves in death and corruption, they had gone on gradually from bad to worse, not stopping at any one kind of evil, but continually, as with insatiable appetite, devising new kinds of sins. Adulteries and thefts were everywhere, murder and raping filled the earth, law was disregarded in corruption and injustice, all kinds of iniquities, were perpetrated by all, both singly and in common. Wars with cities and nations filled the earth, and the whole earth was rent with factions, while each strove to outdo the other in wickedness. Even crimes contrary to nature were not unknown: "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:24-27). 

     Whether it be "good' or 'sin' what a person comes to believe is what he or she will demonstrate in the exercise of life. In either case, whether 'good' or 'sin' in the exercise of life those attributes begin in the smallest of manner; unfortunately for many they have not ordered their lives well and each generation becomes further in their disposition; this same change can be for the good and that is why we are told to teach our children, and to live our lives in the knowledge of Him. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). Do we do this with our children? Have we actually set time aside to teach our children the truth and guide them so that they place God first in their lives? Recently I had the opportunity to be around Jehovah Witnesses, I disagree with their theology to the uttermost, but, so often Christians will blame them for their lives, the fact that they are faithful in what they believe. One such thing that is common among those people is that they do teach their children regularly at home. Playing soccer, or football, or being on a team is not the most important thing in their lives, it is raising their children. This is not true of most Christians, they are running too and fro taking their children to one event then another; there is sport practice, music lessons, and other such events that take up much of the time, in fact they seldom sit down to dinner together, prayer with the children is sporadic at best; and we wonder why so many young people leave the Church after high school Let me use an example of sin ever increasing over time if not checked by those who have the truth of God's word. Many of us can remember when on the television show "Ozzie and Harriet" aired and even though in real life they were married to each other, on the show they slept in separate beds. This may seem silly to many today who follow another form of morality as there is an openness towards sex, and there is a promotion of sexual behavior that can be found on the internet that feature sexual content, i.e., "So and so is wearing a see through blouse, this or that one is openly admitting their sexual preference towards the same sex,,,,etc. This behavior is inconsistent with Biblical principles that is nothing more than morals be degraded, or as some may thing, that this "new" morality is in some sense, more acceptable, man is more "sophisticated." 

     I am sure that you can see this fact that man has acquiesced and there is a from of evil that has become all too commonplace. Not that certain evils did not always exist, they did, only now even with the movies they find a way to make money sing these evils for that end; rather tan to hold high good and oppose the bad. This leads me to ask the question, to myself and to other Christians: "Do you rent or go to movies that you know have content that is in opposition to Biblical principles? Do we attend events that are principled in sin? Are you willing to forgo sensual pleasure of any type that is not Biblical. Do you, or me, use the things of this world, and receive our enjoyment from them rather than to use them to assist us in our Christian lives and not to receive enjoyment from which we are not a part of: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:16). This is the prayer of Jesus Christ for all those that the Father had given to Him (John 17:6) asking that those given to Him would be one with Him and with the Father especially while we are here on earth. Is that prayer being slammed, discounted by our lives? Jesus is asking that we become sanctified: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John17:17). So often we are led to read literature that seems so "good" and so "holy" yet is so far removed from Biblical truth, such books as the "Secret"  or the "The Shack," and have misled people. The truth we need is God's Word and that alone is where truth may be found. Don't be one who "steps" on the love of our Savior that became incarnate so that He might pay for our sins and lead us into the truth, enabling us to live by that truth. Therefore, the solution is the incarnation and this we must investigate and come to a Biblical understanding of the necessity for Jesus Christ to come to this earth and take on a human body, but also why He must not be an angel, but God. This is the next blog.

God was manifested in 

    the flesh,

Justified in the Spirit,

    Seen by angels,

preached among the Gentiles,

    believed on in the world,

received up in glory.

                        1 Timothy 3:16b

May God Give To You Grace--Your Daily Bread

Richard L. Crumb 

Th Incarnation-The Atonements And The Will Of God

...for you know what 
commandments we gave
you through
the Lord Jesus.
For this is
the will of God,
your sanctification: 
that you should abstain 
from sexual immorality;
that each of you 
should know how 
to possess his own
vessel in sanctification
and honor.
1 Thessalonians 4:2-4

     Who are the "you" that Paul addresses? The very first verse of this letter gives us the answer: "...To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1b). Paul is reminding the Thessalonians and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he is giving a truth for all Christians that God's will is for His children; the Church of God, to be sanctified. Paul is not writing to non-Christians, they cannot know nor do they understand the truth of the Incarnation and that God wills His children to be sanctified. It is not a question of God's will; it is a question of our will. Is our will in line with God's? We need to ask ourselves; are we willing to allow God to do all that is possible in me by means of the atonement? Further, am I willing to let Jesus be made sanctification to me and be manifested in my mortal life? It when the free gift of grace and mercy is given to those God has chosen that we can receive Jesus Christ and be sanctified in our implicit faith, a faith given to us by God. We have nothing that has not been given to us by God: "...as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1: 3). Who is Peter speaking too? It is: "To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:1b). Sanctification makes us one with Jesus Christ who is our Lord, and in Him one with God and this has been done by means of the Incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven by Jesus Christ; it is by this atonement that gives to His children the impetus to live in obedience, service, and prayer; by this our sanctification is wrought out in us. It is this knowledge of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ that will aid our growth in Him for it was by Him that we were called into being only to have this knowledge of Him lost, and along with that our existence with Him, that is in we became corrupt and only by the grace of God is there hope that our corruption will be abolished and life eternal will be given to all whom God has called and placed in the hands of His Son: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one" (John 10: 27-30). This is a great promise and hope of all of God's children. But, where does evil come from that so affects us? 

     It is God alone who exists in all His goodness and is the ultimate and only true being; evil is not a being, it is the negation and antithesis of good. Evil is a thing of the mind; therefore it is not a physical entity, although evil is known by the actions that it produces. God is not evil, evil cannot be predicated upon God for He is Good and evil does not reside in Him nor does He produce evil. God's actions are good, and all that He has created is good. It was by the mind of Adam that sin, or evil was produced, even though Satan prior to this event had determined in his mind to be evil, to usurp God and God's authority. It was this sin of Adam that man lost the knowledge of God. Man could not by himself recover this loss, for his loss causes him to be totally depraved, unable to renew his mind so that the mind is the mind of God. This God did by the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. You might quickly point out that man does good things, therefore there must by some good in man, maybe man is not totally depraved, that there is a remnant of the original goodness that God placed in man? Some think this way, in fact, they believe that there is enough goodness in man so that when they hear the word of God they will repent due to that goodness. This cannot be true for if it was then any man could hear the word of God and repent; they don't, only those that God has drawn and enable do. Man by some form of philanthropy causes some good and bring to himself some sense of satisfaction; but this is due to his senses being satisfied; that he is philanthropic, and not due to himself being aware of God and having the knowledge of God that causes him to be aware that what he does is due to the love of God residing in him. There is a difference in two Greek words: Agape, or love as we translate has the the meaning of a principled love that is derived from God. Phileo from which we derive the word philanthropic, is a love towards another person.

     By nature man is mortal since he was made from nothing but he does bear the Likeness of Him Who is, and if he preserves that Likeness through constant contemplation (This contemplation spoken of here is not to be confounded with what is being taught in some Christian Universities and in some Churches, that is, a form of contemplation that has its roots in Oriental religion called Spiritual Contemplation: may I say it boldly; we are not called to meditate our "belly button," but we are called to have God in our thoughts and as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to think upon God, and Godly things), then man's nature is deprived out its power and man remains incorrupt. This incorruptness that comes from our minds placed upon the Sovereign God and upon His will to sanctify His Children, this by means of the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ we would then have the position that God gives to His children as the Scripture so plainly points out: "I have said, Ye are gods and sons of the Highest all of you: but ye die as men and fall as one of the princes" (Psalm 82:6). There is the rub, we die, this is our plight and we have no control over that Law of Death that affects all men in this life. Jesus states: "Jesus answered them (the Jews), 'Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods?" if He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom, the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God? if I do not do the words of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him" (John 10:34-38). 

     The greatest work that Jesus Christ ever did was to become incarnate and die upon a cross for those He came to save. Do you Believe?

Jesus said to her,

     'Did I not say

to you that if you

    believe you would

see the glory of God?"

                John 11: 40

Today Be Obedient In A Godly Way

Richard L. Crumb

The Will And Plan Of God Does Not Usurp Man As Free Agent

Where do wars

and fights 

come from

among you?

Do they not

come from your

desires for pleasure

that war in your

members?....

Or do you think that

the Scriptures say

in vain,

"The Spirit who 

dwells in us

yearns jealously?

James 4:1,5

     It is the Sovereignty of God who in all His Providence does control all events but is not the first cause of all those events, only as First Cause is He the empowerment of all things that exist. Man was created in the image of God and by means of that image is able to do all that God would require of him.  Man was given the ability to choose good over evil. This was well demonstrated in the Garden of Eden where created man and woman were give instructions not to eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16,17). Further, after they did eat of that tree by their own decision to do so even though influence by Satan, the serpent fell from the grace of God. They were then removed from the garden and kept from another tree, the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:24). Man by his own choice fell from the innocence that they had and became as God does, they now know good and evil. Man still can choose either way, but, only when God empowers them by means of the free gift of grace can he choose to follow God; God then draws and enables them to choose Him. Since man by his own will could turn either way, God secured this grace that He had given by making it conditional from the first upon two things, namely, a law and a place. God set them in a place, the Garden of Eden, and laid upon them this single prohibition and if they guarded and retained this loveliness of their original innocence, then the life of paradise should be theirs, without sorrow, pain, or care, and after it the assurance of immortality in heaven. This condition has not changed for God does not change, He is the Same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever (Hebrews 13:8). But, if man would go astray and became corrupted they would have thrown away their birthright of beauty, and would come under the natural law of death and live no longer in paradise, they would die outside of it and continue in death and corruption. This proclamation by God to man resides in the lives of man today and before man is the sentence of death due to our federal head, Adam, who sinned and passed on to his progeny the inheritance of death, man is corrupted and the corruption has only gotten worse over time, man dies. 

     Why are we discussing the origin of Man when the subject at hand is that the Word of God became Man. Because the former discussion is relevant to the latter for this reason: It was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us. It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body. Did not God create man in His image? Yes! God made man thusly; that man as an embodied spirit was willed that he should remain in incorruption. This was not a will of God that God should override man's free agency, rather it is the Will of God that man should remain in incorruption and free from the stain of death. God's will shall come into existence and be effective when His Son comes again to earth to collect His bride, true Christians, called of God, enabled by God to choose Him.  God does usurp man's free agency, but man will not overcome and override the will of God. Therefore having sinned and falling under the law of death they remain in that state and became corrupted and continued in the downward spiral of corruption. Man was unable to correct the disease of the law of death. Death has completely become the dominion of man. Point of fact: Cain in his anger killed his brother Abel by becoming jealous and angry Cain dismissed what God told him: "So the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Genesis 4:6,7). Nothing has changed, God still tells us the same thing,  that if we would do well, that is choose right from wrong, and if we do not allow our anger and our jealously overtake us but rule over it. Notice, God does not change our attitude, we do! We are the cause of second events, not God, yet God in His mercy towards Cain did not kill him immediately, but Cain died, the Law of Death ruled over him, and it does rule over us. Cain was left alive until his death but no longer was allowed to be in the presence of the LORD (Genesis 4:16). We cannot earn God's favor for everlasting life: "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5,6); in other words there is no work we can do to earn everlasting life: but we can live according to what God has set before us in His word. This we do by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and directing us, and we can listen and do as request or not, but either way, if God has chosen you, you will live, but this life will be controlled by your desires and sin will be crouching at your door ready to keep you from the presence of the Lord.

     We have not answered some questions in regards to God sending forth the Word, the creator, His Son, the Wisdom of God to become a man. Furthermore, from the early days of the Church a heretical form of the belief of Jesus Christ, that of Arianism, found its way in a large measure, affecting both the common people and kings, emperors, and needed to be confronted. This heresy exists today and can be found in such groups as Jehovah Witnesses. This heresy that teaches that Jesus Christ was just an angel, a created being, and not God must be confronted, answered and that by the Scriptures. So why did God send His Son? Why do true Christians believe that the Son of God was God and it was God who became incarnate to save man? We need clear answers so that we can defend our faith, further, that our faith would deepen and our assurance satisfied. This is the goal of these blogs and I hope it is your goal as well. 

Today, if you will

     hear His voice,

do not harden your

    hearts as in the 

rebellion.

            Hebrews 3:15b

Put Your Trust In Him

Richard L. Crumb

The Divine Teaching Of The Christian Faith

Have we not all

one Father?

Has not one God 

created us?

Why do we deal

treacherously

with one another

by profaning the

covenant of

the fathers?

Malachi 2:10

     The Scriptures are very clear and teaching plain so that anyone who would read God's word would come to the same conclusion: God created the world. This is a Divine teaching of the Christian faith. Notice the words of Malachi: "one Father" and "Has not one God created us." From the words of Scripture we can come to no other conclusion but that it is only one Mind behind the universe, it did not originate from itself. This Sovereign God created out of nothing, ex nihilo, and this because from the infinite God by His Providence out of nothing did He create and by this utterly God, He brought into existence all that exist by means of the Word: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), further teaching is, that is, speaking of the Word who is Jesus Christ is: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3). By the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter shall be settled: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3). For those who hold another religious view of Jesus Christ, even though they will admit that He created, I would ask how they can sleep at night when their theology teaches that Jesus Christ is only an angel, as do the Jehovah Witnesses, and that as an angel He did the creating, when the Bible conjoins both God and Jesus Christ, in a definite manner, no reason to deny the witness of the Scriptures, both are said to be the creator and by that fact it is false to deny that both are the same, yet both demonstrate their personalities according to God's economy for the salvation of man, and both are said to be the creator. God is the fountainhead, and it is impossible for One who is Good to be mean or unwilling, reluctant about anything. It was God's will that all come into existence and He gave existence out of noting by means of His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ and He has reserved a special mercy for the race of men. Allow me to use an old Tertullian illustration about the Fountainhead: A fountainhead relates to a spring from which water flows and as it flows it forms a river, or a stream of water, and from both the water from the spring and the river there develops a vapor, a vapor that returns to both the spring and the river, all the same essence, water, and all demonstrate or exercise differently, but all remain the same essence. This analogy may be applied to the Trinity, it is possible that the Godhead is a Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all the same essence, each has its own personality and demonstrates this personality in their exercises of operation. 
     God bestowed upon man a grace which no other creature had, namely the impress of His own image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue forever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise. This is a divine teaching: we are made in the image of God and we can express the Mind of God, even if it be limited, which it is, and it was the Mind of God who created man to live forever and this creation was by Himself, the Word. This is most important to understand, Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is not some created being given the responsibility to create man in such a manner as to have the image of God impressed upon them. In Fact, a good question is: "Why would a Good and Sovereign God limit Himself to give to another the ability to create from nothing, when He has the ability to do so Himself. What purpose would that serve? You might cavil at this and admit that God did so because He foreknew that man would fall and needed a Savior, a special creation that would have the authority to do this work. If one believes that then God would have given to another who themselves could sin, the work that He was able to do for Himself: all that is done then is to state that God in some way limited Himself. A Sovereign and Good God would not do this, He does not sit back and wring His hands waiting for things to go one way or another. No, as was discussed in the blogs on the Sovereignty of God, in His Providence, and by Himself He controls, influences all things so that His Will is worked out exactly as He has planned for them to do, and this without usurping second causes. This is the nature of Sovereignty, and God is Sovereign. It is most important to discuss this fact, It was God who was incarnate, and this for the salvation of men. It is God who is the First Cause leaving man to live in a world of second causes, yet He Himself has never left man and Has determined to save some men that He predestined from before the foundation of the world (Romans 8:28-29). Our faith is as should be, based upon the foundation of our faith, Jesus Christ, He as the Second Person of God, the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, is our Savior. As God His incarnation takes on a special significance for it was God who came for men, it was God who decided in His omniscience to bestow upon man grace and mercy setting aside His justice for those who place their faith in Him, it the one Who He sent, namely, Jesus Christ. Justice will be served for God is not a liar, only that in His mercy and grace He paved a way for salvation, an overriding of the sin and corruption that besets man. This He did Himself by becoming man, suffering as a man, dieing upon a cross as man, then He resurrected Himself for He never lost or gave away Who He was, God, God in the flesh. He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God making an eternal intercession for all those that His Father gave to Him, He will lose none, all will be saved: "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). 
     As the Nicene Creed that outlines the Christian faith and Doctrine states: 
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
     We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from True God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father, Through Him all things were made.
     For us and for our salvation he came down form heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
     For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 
     He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
     We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. 
     We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Chruch.
     We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
    We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
      This creed and the Apostles Creed should be put to memory and recited regularly, reminding a person of the Divine Foundation of our faith. We sing diddy songs and memorize them, that is good, but the better is to put to memory, in a concise manner, those words of the early Church fathers who in fighting against heresy formed those creeds so that Christians would have a foundation to lean upon. But, why did God choose to become incarnate? Why not just exercise His justice and move on, make another? This is what will be discussed and will give a deep foundation for our Divine faith, that God became incarnate for man.


Sanctify them by 
     Your truth,
Your word is truth.
           John 17:17


Be of Good Cheer, Jesus overcame the world


Richard L. Crumb