Spiritual Nuggets

For 02-01-2009

131. A very pertinent passage for our day to take to heart is this one:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Pet 2:1-3)

QUESTION: What kind of swift destruction will come upon those false teachers? Answer: it has to be swift spiritual destruction because they remain physically alive. This is another passage which shows the eternal security teachers were once saved but lost their salvation when they taught their message. (See also 2 Peter 2:15.) Preaching a false gospel will damn a person (Gal. 1:8,9).

132. How serious is it for savage wolves in sheep’s clothing to add something that is not true to the salvation message and teach that to people already saved? Please read this carefully:

Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. (Acts 15:1,2)

The false teaching of: Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved was strongly opposed by God’s servants who stressed unity, tolerance and love. People need to know that Christian unity, tolerance and love are all based on God’s truth. Also, Paul and Barnabas were being faithful shepherds to oppose those false teachers and that doctrinal poison. May God raise up thousands of shepherds that are loving as they were.

133. In Acts 15 it becomes apparent why God used Peter in Acts 10 to lead Cornelius and his household to salvation, that is, so he could present their Gentile conversions as proof that God saves people without circumcision. It was at the Jerusalem Church Council where the following took place, as Cornelius is referred to:

After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:7-11)

Grace is the opposite of the message of those false teachers mentioned in Acts 15:1. That is shown elsewhere too. In Eph. 2:8,9, the works likewise refers to circumcision and the customs of Moses. Works is not obedience to God. Paul stressed obedience to God, but opposed works for salvation:

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. (1 Cor 7:19)

1 Cor. 7:19 and obedience was part of Paul’s grace message. Is it part of your understanding? The eternal security teachers tend to teach we cannot keep God’s commands and obey, we must sin all the time and even Paul was the worst of sinners. They, therefore, are not teaching like Paul, the real grace teacher.

134. Luke wrote two books of the New Testament (Luke and Acts) for just one person to read—Theophilus (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). Those wonderful books have blessed, fed and informed multiple millions over the centuries, but it started out so small—seemingly for only one person. God can channel big blessings to multitudes from something not originally meant for a crowd.

135. In Acts 2:13 we read:

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

The darkened and deceived people of this world can be so out of touch with reality that they can actually have that sort of bizarre reaction to the things of God. They appear foolish to them. This reflects, to just a small degree, the depth of spiritual blindness unsaved people walk in.

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