For by grace you have
been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest
anyone should boast.
For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that
we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
What is the gift of God? It is faith! No one has the faith of God unless He desires to give that person faith, saving faith. No one can boast that they have some amount of goodness in them to choose for themselves saving faith. No amount of works will bring redemption to a person for it is not of works that brings us into favor with God. We are created for good works and the Scriptures are plain and clear as to what are the good works. First, and foremost we are to be witnesses to the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension into heaven by Jesus Christ, the One foretold in the Old Testament, and revealed in the New Testament. It is He who was, is, and is coming again (Revelation 11:17b). It is Jesus Christ who received the kingdoms of this world and it is then He will reign with that reception forever and forever (Revelation 11:15). This miracle of redemption is the true miracle and it is this miracle that is to be proclaimed to all. It is not by some works, some gibberish language, some euphoric gyrations, not by having miracles be the means by which a person apprehends divine revelation. It is not by some portion, great or small, of faith by which we apprehend the truth of miracles. No external evidence can produce faith, or enable us to see that a miracle is true revelation from God. Such reasoning is fallacious! It overlooks the nature of faith, that faith is a conviction of things not seen, on adequate testimony.
What does the Bible teach? First, the evidence of miracles is important and decisive. Secondly, Nevertheless, miracles are subordinate and inferior to truth itself. All this is to be found as truth from Scripture: by the language of Scripture and by the facts as found in Scripture. God has confirmed His revelations, those made by prophets, Apostles, that by these manifestations of His power is itself proof of their validity and as a seal to the divine mission. Both from the narratives found in Old Testament and New Testament the writers of the Bible, by means of these miracles, were proven to be messengers of God. Even Jesus Christ, the One that the fullness of God dwelt was approved to be the Messiah, the One coming, by wonders, miracles, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit: "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-- (Acts 2:22). Jesus appealed to those works done by Him those that the Father had given Him to do (John 5:20,36). Jesus Christ did those works in the Father's name (John 5:38). We must be doers of His will, then and only then can we confirm the truth of a doctrine, whether or not it be of God or of man: "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" (John 7:17).
The highest proof of truth is truth itself, and the highest proof of goodness is goodness it self: Jesus Christ is His own witness for His glory reveals Him as the Son of God to all those whom God has not blinded. The point of miracles, the gifts of the Spirit is not necessarily to prove the truth of those gifts, that the doctrines are true, as so to prove the Divine mission of the teacher for the latter is in order to the former. A man may teach that which is true, but that truth may not necessarily be of Divine origin. But, when a man presents himself as a messenger of God, whether he is to be received as such or not depends first on the doctrines which eh teaches, and secondly, upon the works which he performs. He must teach doctrines confirmed to the nature of God, and be consistent with the laws of our own constitution. If he performs works which evince Divine power, then we may not only know that the doctrines are true, but also that the teacher has been sent by God.
It is then that we do not approve a man by his works, rather by his doctrine, whether or not they are Scriptural, then if his doctrines are Scriptural, his works will be accepted as from God. As I have attempted to demonstrate and show is that the works that are being performed in those Pentecostal, and Charismatic Churches and performed by men and women who have come to believe in those doctrines that are promulgated by pastors and teachers, are not Scriptural, not doctrinal. Those who do such things are attempting to find reality in human goodness, or holiness, but that is not reality: reality is redemption. The revelation of God is redemption. There is where we place faith, that gift of God. It is God who separates people (Romans 1:1), as Paul speaks of himself. As long as our eyes are on ourselves, upon our own witness we shall never get near the reality of redemption. If we are not willing to come to God, that is in contact with the reality of redemption due to our total depravity, then all a person desires is to be made more desirable in their own eyes. If that is your case then you have not come into contact with the reality of redemption, redemption cannot touch you, God cannot delver you while your interest is upon yourself, your own character. You must become recklessly abandon to God and to be separated by Him: for one purpose; to proclaim the Gospel of God.
Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...
Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him
who loved us.
Romans 9:35,37
Tell the Truth In Christ
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment