Worship by the Lake

This last Sunday we had our first Evening Worship Time at the main pavilion near the lake at Sherando Lake Recreation Park. It was amazing to be able to sing and worship right in the middle of God's beautiful creation. We are planning for this to be a regular meeting time where we can study the Word and praise and give thanks to the Lord.

From Facebook - The Rock Ministry

Ric Pointer

Admin · 28 March

“What we have to grasp, then, is that the bad conscience of the natural man is not at all the same thing as conviction of sin. It does not, therefore, follow that a man is convicted of sin when he is distressed about his weaknesses and the wrong things he has done. It is not conviction of sin just to feel miserable about yourself and your failures and your inadequacy to meet life's demands. Nor would it be saving faith if a man in that condition called on the Lord Jesus Christ just to soothe him, cheer him up and make him feel confident again. Nor should we be preaching the gospel (though we might imagine we were) if all that we did was to present Christ in terms of a human's felt wants. (`Are you happy? Are you satisfied? Do you want peace of mind? Do you feel that you have failed? Are you fed up with yourself? Do you want a friend? Then come to Christ; he will meet your every need"-as if the Lord Jesus Christ were to be thought of as a fairy godmother, or a super-psychiatrist.) No; we have to go deeper than this. To preach sin means not to make capital out of people's felt frailties (the brainwasher's trick), but to measure their lives by the holy law of God. To be convicted of sin means not just to feel that one is an all-around flop, but to realize that one has offended God, flouted his authority, defied him, gone against him and put oneself in the wrong with him. To preach Christ means to set him forth as the One who, through his cross, sets men right with God again. To put faith in Christ means relying on him, and him alone, to restore us to God's fellowship and favor.”
― J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God

The Sabbath - Ric Pointer (from discussion on FB)

Historical evidence to show Sunday worship was a universal practice of all the church’s outside the land of Israel by the beginning of the 2nd century. 
Take note that every day of our week has a reference to a pagan name since these words come from an ancient culture and time period, but! Could we also apply their example of Sun worship to Saturday which is named after the Roman god Saturn?Like every day of the week it has a reference to a pagan name since many of these words come from that time period.

The point is, is it fair by those who motivate others by guilt to apply their example of Sun worship to us and not to also apply the similar example to themselves as participating in a form of idolatry of Saturn worship.

We don’t worship the day or the name of that day (which would be idolatry) we worship the maker of days, of that day and every day. God made all the days of the week and does not expect us to only worship on one day.
It was called the Lords day, and upon it the primitive church assembled to break bread. No regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament nor, indeed, is its observance even enjoined. Yet Christian feeling led to the universal adoption of the day, in imitation of the apostolic precedence. In the second century its observance was universal."

Ignatius 110 A.D. wrote in his epistle to the Magnesians 9…" If they who were concerned in old things, arrived at a newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living according to the Lord’s day, by which our life sprung from him and by his death (whom certain persons deny)…we have been made his disciples, let us live according to Christianity."

Barnabas 120A..D. "Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose again from the dead"

Justin Martyr 140 A..D. "Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness, made the world; and Jesus Christ our savior , on the same day rose from the dead."

Didache 80-90 A.D. "And on the day of our lords resurrection, which is the Lord’s day meet more diligently."

The quotes given here are only a few in comparison to numerous others available. We do not formulate our doctrine from history in and of itself however! Their quotes do show what took place in history. These are quotes from those who kept the canon of scripture, built churches and defended the faith among the pagans long before 361 A.D.

Saturday, is not the real sabbath. It never was, and it is not now. It is a picture or a reminder of the real sabbath. The true sabbath is a rest; the Jewish sabbath is a shadow, a picture of that rest. All the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. They were predictions, fore views, of the coming of the One who would fulfill all these remarkable things. Every lamb that was brought as an offering was a shadow of the work of Christ. Every burnt offering, every bit of incense that was offered, was a picture of the fragrance of Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was a shadow of him. The high priest, in his garments and his office, was a shadow of Christ as our High Priest. Read the book of Hebrews and you will see how beautifully all this is brought out. These Old Testament shadows were looking forward to the coming of the One who would fulfill these and thus end them. When the work of Jesus Christ was finished the shadows were no longer needed.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1-3)

It is obvious from this passage that the supreme meaning of sabbath is rest. In fact, the word "seven," the word "sabbath," and the word "rest," are all the same basic word in Hebrew, Shabat, seven, sabbath, rest. Therefore, the heart of the meaning of sabbath is rest. That is its primary significance.

When the Lord came, and his work was ended, making possible the true fulfillment of God's intention in the Sabbath, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly sabbath ended at the cross.

Paul specifically says this. In the letter to the Colossians he confirms it to us. In Chapter 2, beginning with Verse 13, he says,

And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it [not him; it, the cross].

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:13-17)
Hebrews 4:9-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
 I whole heartily agree that issue is not one that is a base of salvation. But it is one that goes to the core of understanding who Jesus is. We both agree that few know the vastness the Torah “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of me . . . For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me (John 5:39,46).” should be recognized as much John 3:16. The entire Old Testament was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. Everything was pointing toward Him. The New Testament writings were never presented as something entirely new. On the contrary, they attest their root in the long religious experience of the people of Israel, an experience recorded in diverse forms in the sacred books which comprise the Jewish Scriptures. The New Testament recognizes its divine authority. This recognition manifests itself in different ways, with different degrees of explicitness.

Most evangelicals “know” these verses Matthew 28:19-20 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
18-20 But Jesus came and spoke these words to them, “All power in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. You, then, are to go and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and, remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” I do question how effective “are to go and make disciples “ has been done. I do not profess to be “guru” of discipleship but it is the core of why set up the Rock Ministry. Every post I do here is to that end. No post has ever been intended to be exhaustive to any topic it presents and is always open to discussion. Of course, I will defend the primary intent of each posting. It is my hope that all that read them are Bereans and examine the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. I encourage any or all to respond with supportive reasoning as to why or why not agree or wish to post more on the topic. 

The following is biographical primarily to my Sister Shirley that I was not in contact for apx 25 years. But it may be of benefit to others to understand something about me and why I have the beliefs I have.
Sunday School and even the Old Testament survey I took at OBU prepared to respond with clarity to the various Jewish and Jewish “Root” type groups that I have been engaged in over the last few years. Thankfully while I was in my 3 years “Arabian desert” while homeless I questioned everything I was taught. It was after I met a young man was an Orthodox Jew and who came to Christ after someone spent a long time just using the Old Testament to show him The Messiah. I realized I could not do that more than just marginally. I knew I was not even aware of most of the answers he was taught of why the Messiah had not come yet. That was 8 years ago and studied at least 10 hours a day the scriptures and reading some inspirational books. Then I started to read doctrinal books by various denominational authors and the most beneficial were those that I disagreed with. It encouraged me to exam their interpretation of a text. Later I became embroiled a dispute between some of my friends over Calvinism. Interestingly the word Calvinism was never used for months. Then one of my close friends called me a Calvinist as a derogatory term. Any way I vehemently denied that anything I was saying was based on him as I just recognized him as one of the reformers and did not recall reading anything he had written and was just giving answers in depth from my own study. That started my intense study of the Reformation and early church history along with the myriad doctrinal issues. I no longer looked at it as historical events but the very reasons the issues were important for them at that time and why we think the way we do today. My involvement with the Black Hebrew Israelites is a continual debate of most issues that were central to the early church and in the reformation which concerned the primary issue of who God is and all that entailed. 
The most puzzling issue I have is how to encourage people to realize what the early church thought about Christianity; that it was not separate from Judaism. As we have not spoken in detail on your conceptions and practices, I do hope you share those with me and that we both feel conformable discussing them.

Sermon on 1 John 7-9 - Ric Pointer

[the following sermon was preached at the Black Diamond Church Without Walls in Second Life on 3rd March 2019]

I wish to share some versers with you

1 Peter 1-2, messenger of Jesus Christ, sends this letter to the exiles of the dispersed tribes (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia), whom God the Father knew and chose long ago to be made holy by his Spirit, that they might obey Jesus Christ and be cleansed by his blood: may you know more and more of God’s grace and peace.

3-5 Thank God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in his great mercy we men have been born again into a life full of hope, through Christ’s rising again from the dead! You can now hope for a perfect inheritance beyond the reach of change and decay, “reserved” in Heaven for you. And in the meantime you are guarded by the power of God operating through your faith, till you enter fully into the salvation which is all ready for the denouement of the last day.

6-9 This means tremendous joy to you, I know, even though you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident—it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold, as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire. This proving of your faith is planned to bring you praise and honour and glory in the day when Jesus Christ reveals himself. And though you have never seen him, yet I know that you love him. At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even now he brings you a joy that words cannot express and which has in it a hint of the glories of Heaven; and all the time you are receiving the result of your faith in him—the salvation of your own souls.

10-12 The prophets of old did their utmost to discover and obtain this salvation. They did not find it, but they prophesied of this grace that has now come to you. They tried hard to discover to what time and to what sort of circumstances the Spirit of Christ working in them was referring. For he foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them. It was then made clear to them that they were dealing with matters not meant for themselves, but for you. It is these very matters which have been made plain to you by those who preached the Gospel to you by the same Spirit sent from Heaven—and these are facts to command the interest of the very angels!

This is the Word of God

Pray with me

Father we come before you as your Children. We know that because the Bible tells us so. We come seeking to know you more this day and to Worship you. In Jesus name Amen

Turn once more to 1 John

We are now experiencing the unique ministry of John the Mender, the apostle whose particular function it was to call men back to fundamentals. This was foreseen, in figure, in the act John was performing when he was called by Christ, for he was found mending his nets.

The ministry of a mender is very much needed in any hour of weakness and attack. This is why the Holy Spirit chose the Apostle John to be the last writer of Scripture. His writings came at a time when the Church had begun to be infiltrated by various false concepts and ideas, and strong persecution had arisen.

John lived in the reign of Domitian, the Roman emperor whose cruelties exceeded all those before him, including even the infamous Nero. The Church was under great attack, not only from the violence of a direct and frontal attack on it by the Roman empire, but also from the subtle and much more dangerous attacks of various ideas which had arisen.

Now you will recognize that we live in the same kind of a day. Today much of the Christian church is under direct and frontal attack. Here in America we are free from that, and we ought to give thanks every day for our freedom, but here we are exposed to a very powerful barrage of attack by many devious errors that exist today.

The Christian faith is threatened with a very subtle undermining that removes all vestiges of vital Christianity, leaving us dull, dead, and useless. So this letter of John's has tremendous significance for us.

John is writing to Christians and pointing out that their great need is fellowship with Jesus Christ, i.e., to hold all things in common with him. Not just to talk about it -- he makes that point clear.

It is so easy to say we have fellowship but what is needed is to really have fellowship, actually enter into the experience of having all our resources in common with him, and all his resources in common with us.

In other words, it is to turn from a reliance upon methods and propaganda, programs, and pronouncements unto power; to discover again the power of genuine Christianity.

We have looked enough at this letter of John's to know that fellowship is not  an automatic thing. Simply because you are a Christian does not mean that you have fellowship with Christ.

That needs to be made clear, for there are many who feel that it is almost automatic, and they take it for granted. But there is a key to fellowship, and the key, as John is reminding us, is to walk in the light. "If we walk in the light we have fellowship, one with another" (1 John 1:7 RSV), i.e., with Jesus Christ and with one another as well.

in the light, as we have already seen, means to see and treat things exactly as the light reveals them to be. Suppose you and I were in this room with the lights out and it was dark outside and we had never been here before. It would be quite likely that moving around in the room, stumbling over pieces of furniture, we might mistake the character of them.

We might think the piano was a table, or the organ was a piano. This would be understandable in view of the absence of light. But once the light comes on, we would be stupid morons if we went on calling the piano a table and the organ a piano. The light reveals them for what they are, and to walk in the light is to call things what the light reveals them to be.

Now, the Apostle John simply applies this to life. He says God is light and to walk with him in the light of his Word is to see life as it really is. Well, then, act accordingly: That is walking in the light. Adjust yourselves to what you see.

Treat things realistically. That is walking in the light. Openness, honesty, and obedience, these are the characteristics of walking in the light. This is the key to fellowship, and fellowship is the key to the enjoyment and glory of vital Christianity. So it is exceedingly important that we understand what this means.

The apostle now points out that there are three ways by which, traditionally and continuously, we avoid walking in the light.

We have already looked at one, the tendency to avoid light, to refuse to look at what it reveals, i.e., never to examine ourselves. This is the unexamined life, and even Plato says that an unexamined life is a life not worth living. The need for Christians these days is to examine themselves in view of what they see in the light.

Now you see why I shared 1 Peter with you …. read it at home - listen to what it says

But now we shall look at a second thing which will keep us from walking in the light and thus miss out on fellowship. It is given in Verses 8 and 9 of Chapter 1:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9 RSV)

It is necessary that we note first the difference between the words, sin and sins. In Verse 8 it is in the singular number, "If we say we have no sin," in Verse 9 it is plural, "If we confess our sins." Now this marks a very important distinction, the distinction between the root which is sin, singular, and the fruit, which are sins, plural. Sin is that fallen twist in man which makes him want to play God on every occasion.

We know how this is: We want the world to revolve around us, always to be the center of things. That self-centeredness is sin. It goes by other names as well -- pride, selfishness, or independence. That is the root, the twist in human nature which makes us commit sins.

Sins, therefore, are those specific forms which this inward bent makes us take from time to time. They can cover a wide range of experience. There are many kinds of sins, but all from one root, sin.

This is now what John is zeroing in on. He says if we say we have no sin, that is, no capacity to commit sins, if we deny the very possibility of sins, then we deceive ourselves. Obviously, this is a worse case than the previous one. In the first instance, you remember, John says, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth" (1 John 1:6 RSV), i.e., we are trying to deceive others and to some degree we often succeed.

But if we say we have no ability to sin at all, we are only deceiving ourselves. Others are quite aware that we are lying to and deceiving ourselves. They are not fooled, it is we who are. That is always pathetic. The man who ignores the light deceives others, but seldom himself. He knows that he is not living as he ought, he knows he is ignoring light.

But this one deceives himself. He actually believes that he can no longer sin, that there is no longer any possibility of evil in him.

But this one deceives himself. He actually believes that he can no longer sin, that there is no longer any possibility of evil in him.

But this one deceives himself. He actually believes that he can no longer sin, that there is no longer any possibility of evil in him.

You say, does this really happen? Are there people so deluded that they have come to the place where they really think they cannot sin? Unfortunately, we must say "Yes," it often happens in our day, and for several reasons.

But whenever it happens, the one who makes this claim loses immediately that glorious "fellowship" which makes Christianity so vital and unforgettable. He loses his power, his influence, his vitality, and his effectiveness as a Christian. His life becomes lusterless, orthodox, dull, and deadening. Now how does this happen? There are primarily three ways in which this occurs:

First, a Christian can become the victim of one of the cults which teach along this line. There are cults which deny the reality of sin, who say that sin is but "an error of mortal mind." Sin, they say, has no real existence, it is a mere figment of the imagination, and all that is necessary to deal with sin is to correct your thinking.

You will recognize that this teaching is widespread. It is represented by groups such as Christian Science, the Unity School of Christianity, and Religious Science. Also, it is widespread in non-Christian religions such as Theosophy, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

They teach this concept that sin does not really exist, it is merely in the mind. Truth exists, and good exists, but sin does not have objective reality.

Unfortunately there are many who are really Christians who have fallen into this trap and believe that sin merely calls for an adjustment in their thinking.

 But John says if you believe that, the truth is not in you, there is no light in you, for light is truth and truth is light. The truth as it is revealed in Jesus says quite differently.

According to the word of the Lord, both directly from his own lips and through the apostles that followed, the truth is that sin is a very objective reality. It does exist, it is always a present possibility. It finds its final expression in the great hosts of satanically-controlled beings who are at work in the world, as we have seen in previous series, influencing and controlling the thinking of men.

Sin is personified in the person of the adversary, the devil, but it exists as a very powerful and persuasive factor in life. To treat it as though it is not there is but to practice self-deception and to become the victim of the saddest of delusions.

Then there are those Christians -- and very devout Christians, for the most part -- who have come to believe that the root of sin with which they were born has been somehow eradicated.

By the activity of the Holy Spirit in the outworking of their salvation, it has been completely torn out, lifted out, and they are freed from the root of sin. There are a considerable number of Christians who follow this teaching today.

They group themselves in denominations that usually bear the name, holiness. They interpret sanctification as a digging out and eradicating of the root of sin. Often they even base this idea upon a verse here in First John. Many of them quote First John 3:9: "No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God."

We must admit that at first glance this looks like a confirmation of that view. I shall withhold the explanation of that verse until we come to it in the study of the passage, but suffice it to say now that it does not mean that the Christian's ability to sin is totally removed.

But there are those who take it that way. Having gone through this wonderful experience of sanctification, and they are usually ready to describe it to you in the most glowing terms, they now say they have reached a place where they no longer sin.

I am always reminded of the words of D. L. Moody when someone came up to him and told him that he had reached the place where he no longer sinned. Mr. Moody, in his practical way, said, "Well, I'd like to ask your wife about that."

Here again, those who do this are self-deceived. They walk in the darkness and therefore they are without fellowship, for the key to fellowship with Christ is to walk in the light. If you have reached the place where you say there is nothing for the light to reveal anymore, all sin is taken away, there is nothing to look at anymore, then, of course, you are deceiving yourself and walk in darkness and it always results in loss of fellowship.

Now there is a third classification, even more subtle, but perhaps more widespread, that occurs among the best instructed Christians, those who have learned that there is a possibility of being free from sin by walking in the Spirit.

They have fully grasped the implications of the great verse in Galatians that says, "if we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh," (Galatians 5:16 KJV). They are aware of the mighty possibilities for freedom from the control and power of sin and they enter into this with all their heart. They give themselves diligently to understanding how to walk in the Spirit in every circumstance until they believe that they have so mastered the process of being free from sin that they invariably fulfill it; therefore, they do not and even cannot, sin.

It seems a perfectly logical position to take, does it not? Theoretically it is possible, for any given period of time, to so walk in the Spirit that we are free from sin, we do not sin. This is the whole purpose of salvation in its present tense. When we manifest the life of the Spirit, we do not sin. This is true. But the remarkable thing is that, as you read the pages of the New Testament, you discover that no New Testament Christian ever makes a claim to sinless perfection.

The only one who could say, and did say, that he was without sin was the Lord Jesus himself. All others are reminded that though we must face constantly the challenge of walking without sin, nevertheless, the subtlety of the enemy, the cleverness of the wiles of the devil, the ease by which we can deceive ourselves and be deceived, is so prevalent and powerful that there will be times when we succumb, times when we fail.

As Paul warns his readers, "He who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall," 1 Corinthians 10:12). This is why the Christian is always exhorted to walk in fear and trembling. As Paul writes again, "If any man thinks he knows something, he knows nothing as he ought to know it," 1 Corinthians 8:2). When we think we have come to the place where we have mastered the processes of walking in the Spirit, then we need to think again.

We have not yet learned it all. Even the Apostle Paul can say of himself at the close of his ministry that he regards himself as "the chief of sinners" 1 Timothy 1:15), not because he sees sin abounding in his life, but because as his conscience is sensitized his awareness of transgression multiplies. He is fully aware of the ease with which he can fall into an attitude of mind that is contrary to the things of the Lord.

He is aware of the fact that not until he stands in resurrection life with a redeemed body will he be totally free from the taint of sin. This is why our Lord himself taught in the great Lord's Prayer that we are daily to pray, "Lord, lead me not into temptation," Matthew 6:13, Luke 11:4). The pressures are so great, the opposing forces are so subtle, that it is easier to succumb.

Then let us not take this stand. If any man deny sin, if any man says he cannot sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. Then what is the remedy? Well, as we have been seeing all along, it is always the same thing. It is to walk in the light. It is to face reality. Specifically, as the apostle puts it, it is to confess our sins.

Regardless of whether we have deluded ourselves into thinking there is no root sin in us anymore, it will still be there and it will keep on producing sins, and all the more if we think there is no need to guard against it. Well then, face the sins, John says. Take a good look at them and agree with God about them.

The light reveals them to be there.

Remember the word of the Lord himself? "Out of the heart of man," he says, "proceed murders, adulteries, fornications, evil thoughts, etc." Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21). All these things come from within. The root is still planted deep within our physical natures and we shall not escape it until the body is redeemed.

Of course, we do not need to yield to it, that is the point of redemption. As we learn to walk in the Spirit there can be great, protracted periods of time when we walk free from the taint of sin. Ah, but when we do sin, do not try to hide it, do not cover it over, do not, out of some mistaken notion that you will lower yourself in the estimation of someone else, refuse to acknowledge sin. Confess it, say what it is -- anger, or malice, envy or lust, jealousy or selfishness or ambition -- any of these things.

Do not deny them and do not deny the root. Face the reality, the apostle says, confess these faults when they do appear.

Now the word confess, as you know, does not mean to ask for forgiveness, and you will see why in a moment. Christ's work for us upon the cross has already done all that is necessary to forgive us. What God wants us to do is to look at the sin before us and call it what he calls it.

That means to agree with God about it, and that is what the word confess means: Fess comes from a root which means "to say," and con means "with." "To say with" God what he says about this thing, that is confessing sin. There is a popular song which you sometimes hear in Christian circles,

If I have wounded any soul today, If I have caused one foot to go astray,

If I have lived in my own selfish way, Dear Lord, forgive.

That is not a confession at all. The "if's" take it out of the realm of confession. Do not say "if," say, "Lord, I have caused some foot to go astray, I have lived in my own selfish way." That is confession, which is agreeing with God. When you agree with God about these things, what happens? Well, we are told,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 RSV)

Sometimes, I might add, there is need for confession to others besides God who are injured by what we do. There is need, often, for restitution. If we are honestly saying what God says about it, then we need to do something about it. We need to remedy the harm we have done as much as possible, and God will sometimes demand this of us. There is no sense of forgiveness granted to us until we have moved in restitution. Ah, but if we look at it as he does, then he says we are cleansed.

The cleansing is not based upon God's mercy, or his kindness, or his love, least of all his caprice; it is based on the work of Jesus Christ. On that basis God is faithful and just to forgive, and he would be utterly unjust if he refused to forgive a penitent sinner.

God himself would be wicked if he refused, on the basis of the work of Christ, to forgive a penitent sinner. That is how certain we can be of the cleansing that comes when we agree with God about these things.

Do you remember how our Lord himself dramatized this for us in the solemnity of that Last Supper, before he went to the cross? Gathered with his disciples in the Upper Room, he took a basin and a towel and girded himself and set about to wash the feet of the disciples.

You can be related to me by sharing my life, but you do not have any fellowship with me unless you let me wash you feet." "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me," (John 13:8b KJV). Peter, in his impetuosity, always plunging himself to the full in everything said, "Lord, if that's the case, then wash me all over," John 13:9).

Again the Lord has to correct him. "No, Peter, he that is bathed does not need to wash again," John 13:10). That first cleansing of redemption, that coming to Christ which washes away the guilt of the past, the Adamic guilt, that is "bathing all over." Jesus said he that is so bathed does not need to wash all over again, but he does need to wash his feet. This is what John is talking about -- this repeated washing of the feet.

Whenever we are aware of having fallen into a fleshly reaction, into sins, then let us stop right there and in our hearts before God agree with God about it and experience anew this wonderful cleansing, this faithful and righteous cleansing of our lives, "cleansing from all unrighteousness." That is keeping the feet clean.

That is what John is saying. If we say we cannot get dirty feet, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we face up to it, and confess it, and agree with God about it, (and that is sometimes hard to do because we want so desperately to get him to agree with us) well then, the cleansing that the Lord Jesus has fully and abundantly provided for on the cross is immediately ours, and we are as though we had never sinned.

Now let us thank God for that.

Bow in Prayer

Our Father, in what practical terms to these verses of Scripture reveal to us the tendency of our own heart to deceive ourselves, and also the readiness of your heart to cleanse us and to fit us for fellowship with the Lord Jesus, holding everything in common with him.

What a tremendous thing this is. May we, by thy grace, understand it more and more, and understand ourselves better and better, until we learn to walk in fellowship, and in fear and trembling, knowing that the next moment our hearts can trick us into falling back into walking in darkness again. May we walk softly before thee, looking to you for cleansing love, in Christ's name, Amen.

[Based on a sermon by Ray Steadman]

Jesus is the Meeting Place - by Ric Pointer

JOHN 2:20 “This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”

21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.

22 After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.…


The point is that under the terms of the old covenant, the temple was the great meeting-place between a holy God and his sinful people. This was the place of sacrifice, the place of atonement for sin. But this side of the cross, where Jesus by his sacrifice pays for our sin, Jesus himself becomes the great meeting-place between a holy God and his sinful people; thus he becomes the temple, the meeting-place between God and his people. It is not as if Jesus in his incarnation adequately serves as the temple of God. That is a huge mistake. Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” It is in Jesus’ death, in his destruction, and in his resurrection three days later, that Jesus meets our needs and reconciles us to God, becoming the temple, the supreme meeting-place between God and sinners. To use Paul’s language, we do not simply preach Christ; rather, we preach Christ crucified.

Apocalyptic Language - by Ric Pointer

The first principle is the fact that the book of Revelation uses extensive figurative language. Revelation is a book of apocalyptic literature. Several books of Jewish apocalyptic literature are available for study. In the Old Testament, the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Joel contain apocalyptic literature. Also, certain extrabiblical books such as the Book of Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, and the Book of Baruch fall into the literary category of apocalyptic writings. Apocalyptic literature uses signs and symbols to veil its message to outside readers. This type of literature was written when the Jewish nation was amidst one of its most tumultuous times—when the Israelites were under attack, or ruled over, by another powerful nation. Ray Summers explained as follows: “The personal safety of both writer and reader was endangered if the persecutors understood the true meaning of the book. For this reason the message of the apocalypse was written so as to conceal and to reveal—to conceal the message from the outsider but to reveal its message to the initiated” (1951, p. 5)

Apocalyptic language uses a system of figurative language. This type of language uses symbols to get across to its readers specific messages. We use figurative language everyday. Suppose a person said that his boss “flew off the handle” one day at work. The mental picture of that phrase might be of a person attached to a teapot handle flying off using a pair of wings, or it might be of a hammerhead in the shape of a person coming dislodged from its handle. But the true meaning of the phrase is that the boss became very angry. To illustrate further, suppose someone said that his dog “kicked the bucket.” Literally, we would be watching for a Kung Fu dog that could abuse a container with his feet, but the figurative meaning simply is that the person’s dog died. Now, suppose that we write down a long list of these figurative statements and bury them in a time capsule. In 2,000 years, a civilization not familiar with such statements uncovers our list and reads the figurative language. Our kicking dog would be just as confusing to them as the seven-headed beast of Revelation is to us today. Therefore, we must read Revelation with figurative language at the forefront of our mind, remembering that apocalyptic literature had an elaborate system of such language that was used to convey social and political happenings of the time.

The Importance of the Destruction of Jerusalem - by Ric Pointer

There is far more to think about in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD than "ships" and "Egypt" It is greatly to be regretted that those who, in our day, give themselves to the study and exposition of prophecy, seem not to be aware of the immense significance of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, which was accompanied by the extinction of Jewish national existence, and the dispersion of the Jewish people among all the nations.

The failure to recognize the significance of that event, and the vast amount of prophecy which it fulfilled, has been the cause of great confusion, for the necessary consequence of missing the past fulfillment of predicted events is to leave on our hands a mass of prophecies for which we must needs contrive fulfillment in the future.

The harmful results are two fold; for first, we are thus deprived of the evidential value, and the support to the faith, of those remarkable fulfillment of prophecy which are so clearly presented to us in authentic contemporary histories; and second, our vision of things to come is greatly obscured and confused by the transference to the future of predicted events which, in fact, have already happened, and whereof complete records have been preserved for our information.