Resting On and In His Commandments

The law of the LORD is perfect,

converting the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the statutes of the LORD are right,

Rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring forever;

the judgments of the LORD are true

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

yes, than much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

moreover by them Your servant is warned,

and in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 19:7–11

            The misunderstanding of the doctrine of original sin has been the cause for many false theologies. Looking back on the blogs that I enumerated the various heresies and false teaching in regard to God and how man is to have a relationship with God we can find that they try to obliterate in the most and to lessen the impact in the least as to the doctrine of sin; especially original sin. It is not so different in the present age for man attempts to replace original sin from them because they cannot fathom sin, a sin from the original pair as to have any emphasis on their lives and then fill this lack of understanding and desire to desire what this world has to offer. Man, especially in this modern era, has fallen prey to an ideology that teaches that man is independent and has within himself all that he needs to be successful in this life. There is a replacement of Godly knowledge and desire to follow Him with such thins as; “finding oneself,” or to find things that would raise their spirits in such in such things as entertainment, playtime, drugs, illicit sex, pornography, or just to not even think of God: it is to humbling to think of oneself as a sinner with sin that he cannot remove. Men today are prideful, they have assimilated into their thinking of their goodness, or supposed goodness, and that they are somehow the center of their universe; but is this so, or is it just pride and is this harmful? The writer of Proverbs gives this warning: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). This was the problems with Adam and Eve, pride, a desire to have what they were commanded not to have, a desire to be like God, and many today act as if they are little gods. Remember the trial for Adam and Eve was a simple one considering they had no need to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; it was a trial of obedience and a willing submission to the command of God. Many today pick and choose which commandments they wish to keep and those which they avoid. One such commandment that is so blatantly abused is the commandment found in the Ten Commandments; OH! Most will keep the commandment to not covet, to not murder, do not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, to not commit adultery (although it seems as if this commandments is also being abused by Christians), to not steal, to not bear false witness against your neighbor, and even though there is a strong movement to teach our children not to honor their father and mother, that they too are just an evolved creature who is not to have any moral teachings other than to pursue their way and to be prideful in all they do; but, there is this commandment that is not kept by most Christians: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11). Some Churches even abuse the commandment not to make for yourself any carved image and have icons of some saint or some supposed carving of an Apostle, others have pictures of Jesus as though they are the real Jesus and even give some form of homage to them; but then claim that they are just to aid in worship to God, as though they needed them. This is a problem that began with Adam and Eve, they in their pride and disobedience to the command of God thought that they could have what Satan offered them and forgot that God loved them and gave them simple commands, walked with them in the cool of the evening and by keeping His commands they would continue to be blessed by God and have immortality. How could they have immortality? They would keep eating the tree of life. Do we have a tree of life that would give to us immortality? Yes! Jesus Christ! It was God who came to earth, the Wisdom of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, to pay the debt that man could not pay and then to take the act upon the cross, His death, resurrection, and ascension bodily into heaven that He is the tree of life from which His children dine upon and this is everlasting life: “Jesus said to her, ‘ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25–26)? Do you believe this? Will you keep His simple commandments? Or, will you like Adam toss away your relationship with Him for that which Satan presents as something better? I hope that the faith that God has given to you, the enabling of you, and the drawing to Him will make cause for true worship of God and to be an Authentic Biblical Christian.

Jesus answered them, “I told you,

            And you do not believe.

The works that I do in My Father’s

            Name, they bear witness of Me.

But you do not believe, because you are

            Not of My sheep, as I said to you.

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.

                                    John 11:25–28

Prepare Now for the Sabbath and Then Rest On His Day

Richard L. Crumb

           

By The Free Gift Of Faith You Have Been Saved

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have

Heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten

From the tree of which I commanded you,

Saying ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground, for out of it

You were taken; for dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:17–19

            Prior to this pronouncement by God, this curse upon the ground, and upon Adam and Eve that they would no longer be permitted to live in the Garden of Eden where they lived a wonderful and full life, even so to walk with God and talk with God. Before Adam and Eve was an immortal life, one prepared for man when they were created and all God asked of them was not to eat of a certain tree, a tree in the middle of many trees, of trees that bore fruit, shade, and comfort, a life we all surely dream of having, but now as for Adam and Eve, it is only a dream, for some a hope, and for others it is a sure hope due to their believing and having faith in the Son of God which was promised when God cursed the ground and man, a curse upon Satan, the Serpent, the deceiver: “So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on our belly yo9u shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel’” (Genesis 3:14–16; cf. Romans 16:20: Revelations 12:9). This action taken by God, this severe punishment must have been more due to something greater than some trivial crime, even some heinous crime to provoke God to set down such a curse: man was to die and return from which he was taken, and the ground itself was cursed due to Adam’s sin. We must take time to attend to this curse, this act of God as there are those who will not take this account as actually happening, as this is only a story devised to account for thorns, thistles, for earthquakes, for death. Think of this, all Adam did was to eat a fruit from a particular tree. There were other trees with fruit, delicacies to enjoy but God demanded that from a certain tree, the tree of good and bad was to be avoided. Why? This prohibition to refrain from the tree of good and bad, this tree of knowledge held a knowledge that prior to their eating of its fruit they did not have, they knew only good and had an idea of bad due to God’s command to refrain from eating of the tree of knowledge. Man was free, had free will, absolutely free will, many will say we too have free will, and in a sense we do, but we actually have a the will of free choice. I can choose the manner in which I might travel; let’ say to Los Angeles; I can walk, ride a bike, take a car, train, or fly, and I can even choose the day and hour of my departure. That is free choice. To choose salvation takes another will but our souls are contaminated with sin, and completely immersed in sin and has no desire to do Godly things even though we may desire to do good things. But motives of doing good are more often than not only a way to receive personal feeling of good, or of some piety. For the soul to do good and choose God it takes a will that has been immersed in faith. This is what this trial of prohibition to Adam and Eve was, a trial of obedience, and by Adam and Even observing this would by his faith in God show his willingness to be obedient to the command of God. By faith we come to be submitted to God, it takes faith to please God, for we are made in His image, free to choose Him, free to live in the least a virtuous life, (many don’t): “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to god must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Adam had this promise of eternal life but God in making Adam in His image also gave Him this free will and to have free will there must be a demand that would validate Adam’s faith; that would be done by simply following a simple command of God: don’t eat of the tree of knowledge. We too have a simple command: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Saved for what? Eternal life. How can I believe when my soul is far removed from desiring things of God. Saving faith must come into the life a man by God, for only God can give this type of faith: “Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either” (Romans ll:20). The precept that we can glean from this account of Adam and Eve is that Adam and Eve should be content with their lot. Is this not true of Authentic Biblical Christians? We should be content with our lot for we are legally now in heaven for Jesus Christ took to heaven His sacrifice that paid the debt of sin that man could not pay and it is there eternally in heaven making intercession for all those that God had given to His Son. We have the same hope as did Adam and Eve: eternal life. Until Jesus Christ returns to destroy Satan, that is to bruise Satan in the head, once and for all time, we faithfully wait with a sure hope of His promise and His promises are never not fulfilled. Praise God for it is He who gives the faith needed to be saved, the faith that makes cause for our souls to cry out in belief that Jesus Christ is our savior: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the sprit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2). But God who is rich in mercy and power and by His grace: 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” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

            Is this not good news? God, Himself took upon Himself to save some and this by giving them the faith to believe. Do you believe? Are you who have stated that you believe faithfully following His commands?

Therefore He says:

            Awake, you

Who sleep, arise from

            The dead, and

Christ will give you light.

                        Ephesians 5:14

Pray to God in worship today

Richard L. Crumb

Inclining Our Ears To The Words Of God

Teach me O LORD, the way of Your statutes,

And I shall keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep You law;

Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Make me walk in the path of your commandments,

For I delight in it. Incline my ear to Your testimonies,

And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from

Looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your ways.

Psalm 110:33–37

            King David cried out to the LORD for he knew that he was a sinner and had sinned grievously against God and cried to God for help so that he would not be turned away from Him again. Is this your cry? Is this your acknowledgment as to your sinfulness? “Before I was afflicted I went astray. But now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67). Is God the highest priority of your life who has the highest of devotion and worship? Or, are you still seeing your own goodness and rely on your wisdom, in your own powers, and extolling your own excellence even if done is some form of humility? Is self–knowledge having the highest place in your life and a desire to find and have such good qualities that God will accept you? The general truth revealed to man in Scripture does concur with a person having self–knowledge: it is a good thing if used properly. Yet, there is a difference in this wisdom between having a form of self–knowledge and the knowledge of self as God sees you. The difference between the two forms is in the way by which this knowledge is acquired. A man as to his flesh sees self–knowledge complete when he as acquired an overwhelming confidence in his won intelligence and integrity as this will aid him to acquire courage, and does spur him on to do virtuous deeds, a form of philanthropy. Men even fight, against vice, and makes laws which have a foundation in morality. But, when man tries himself by the standard of Divine Justice and this pattern of Justice is revealed to man in God’s word, he finds in himself nothing that would inspire him to such confidence and with more self–examination he often falls deep into despondency. If a man abandons his own confidence a feeling of being incapable of regulating his conduct. God’s will is not such as that man should forget his primeval dignity, that which was given to the first pair, Adam and Eve as this dignity does inspire a man to pursue goodness and justice. When a person things upon the first pair, Adam and Eve, they are drawn to the aspect of immortality as this was the end for which man was created in the first place, a man, and a woman, who would meditate upon God, give God the first of all they have, to give God their worship, and by this means our spirits are raised and our doubts are cast down: we become humble. This was the original. Yet this is what man has fallen from, sin entered into man through the first pair and by such sin we have inherited sin and our souls became corrupted so that our souls do not desire Godly things. What should be the end for man because of the fall? Man has strayed far from the original purpose for creation and have become a miserable lot, and groans for dignity: or we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2Corinthians 5:4). What is being said is this: when man cannot see a way to raise himself up, his spirits, and does often devise a way outside of Scripture to attempt to do so, it is meant that man does not have anything that he can proudly aspire to himself. Therefore for us to examine this subject of original sin and to get understanding on this mater let us divide this subject into two elements: 1) let us consider the end for which man was created, the qualities, not contemptible qualities, those qualities that he was first imbued which would urge man to meditate on Divine things, to give worship to God, and the desire for future life; immortality. 2) We must consider  man’s faculties or lack of faculties, which when perceived will annihilate all confidence in himself and will cover man with confusion. Scary to think that this should happen when all this world attempts to promote among man is his own self–confidence and does not consider original sin. We must then by the first account to teach man what his duty is and for the second account to make man aware how far is from being able to perform it.

            Allow the words of Jesus to spur you on in this discussion on original sin and our distance form Him due much to our antinomy, and desire to be autonomous and believe that our self–confidence is the most extolled way for man to live, to live by their own power: this is not the way of Jesus for he leaves us with this example:

Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself,

            My honor is nothing. It is

My Father who honors Me, of

            Whom you say that

He is not your God.”

                        John 8:54

Read God’s word daily

Richard L. Crumb