Judson’s Dime

Warren E. Berkley

Judson Woodbridge was one of my mentors. For a few years in the 1970’s, we lived in the same neighborhood and were both involved in the work at the Mulvane church of Christ (Kansas). When there were gospel meetings in the area we would attend together. And we would often meet with other preachers for coffee or breakfast. Especially if visiting preachers were in the area, these get-togethers would be arranged.

Judson always made sure he had a dime with him!

On a couple of occasions, my curiosity about Judson’s dime was answered. Conversations with preachers might take a particular turn, where gossip or accusations would be made against a preacher who was not present. Judson had a very bold way of responding. He took his dime from his pocket, slide the dime across the table to the man making the charges and Judson would say: “Let’s go call bro. ________ right now and talk to him about this. Let’s let him respond.” {This was before cell phones, in that era when a pay phone would place a call for a dime.}

Nobody ever accepted Judson’s offer. There would be some excuse, or the accuser would back down from his accusation. In later years, when Judson began to decline in health, I would go to these gatherings without him. One time I visited with Judson before going to one of these. Before I walked out the door he called me back, and gave me a dime. “You might need this,” he said.

“Do not testify against your neighbor without case, or use your lips to deceive,” (Prov. 24:28).

“Let Us Fear!”

Hebrews 4:1-7 (ESV)

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. ² For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

The first thing you may notice is – There are two historical rest events referred to here, documented in the Old Testament: The rest of God after His creative work, and the rest God promised to the nation of Israel, that only Joshua and Caleb received.

There is another rest promise. And, based on Psalms 95, this other rest promise comprehends the perfect work of the Messiah, which eventually enables God’s people to have fellowship with God eternally.

Now, what could keep a child of God from entering that ultimate rest? The same thing that kept Moses and the Israelites from entering their rest in Canaan – unbelief which results in disobedience.

Once that danger is discovered – when should the person change and get back on course? “Today, if you will hear His voice.”

“Seeing” Is Believing!

Warren E. Berkley

(Previously Published in Pressing On Magazine)

Charles Darwin, in The Origin of Species, admitted he struggled with this evidence. He said: “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest sense,” (1859, p. 170).

In this specific context, it can be said: Seeing Is Believing! Can the reality of human vision be attributed to a random process or natural selection even with mutations?

From the source indicated below:

The Human Eye

The human eye is enormously complicated – a perfect and interrelated system of about 40 individual subsystems, including the retina, pupil, iris, cornea, lens and optic nerve.

For instance, the retina has approximately 137 million special cells that respond to light and send messages to the brain. About 130 million of these cells look like rods and handle the black and white vision.

The other seven million are cone shaped and allow us to see in color. The retina cells receive light impressions, which are translated to electric pulses and sent to the brain via the optic nerve.

A special section of the brain called the visual cortex interprets the pulses to color, contrast, depth, etc., which allows us to see “pictures” of our world. Incredibly, the eye, optic nerve and visual cortex are totally separate and distinct subsystems. Yet, together, they capture, deliver and interpret up to 1.5 million pulse messages a milli-second! It would take dozens of … supercomputers programmed perfectly and operating together flawlessly to even get close to performing this task.

Logically, it would be impossible for random processes, operating through gradual mechanisms of natural selection and genetic mutation, to create 40 separate subsystems when they provide no advantage to the whole until the very last state of development and interrelation.

How did the lens, retina, optic nerve, and all the other parts in vertebrates that play a role in seeing suddenly come about? Because  natural selection cannot choose separately between the visual nerve and the retina.

The emergence of the lens has no meaning in the absence of a retina. The simultaneous development of all the structures for sight is unavoidable. Since parts that develop separately cannot be used, they will both be meaningless, and also perhaps disappear with time. At the same time, their development all together requires the coming together of unimaginably small probabilities.

https://answersingenesis.org/human-body/eyes/the-seeing-eye/

Think of how powerful this evidence is … that we carry in our heads!

Truth Connection: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both,” (Prov. 20:12)

From the published book, DO THINGS WELL (link here).

Read Scripture Well

Warren E. Berkley

“I put you under oath before the Lord to have

this letter read to all the brothers,”

(1 Thessalonians 5:27, ESV)

The public reading of Scripture has long been a central part of what God’s people do. When this is done well, it is not some humanly perpetuated ritual that merely occupies time. It is a practice taught in Scripture that both expresses and at the same time enriches our faith.

This is valuable because, as Paul said about his writings: “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:4). Within our hearts there is the desire to “Seek and read from the book of the Lord,” (Isaiah 34:16). Nehemiah chapter eight gives us a dramatic account of God’s people listening to God’s law. “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading,” (Nehemiah 8:8). They did this “clearly.”

Nevertheless, this scene plays out in some places on a regular basis. During the break after Bible class and before the assembly, a deacon rushes to grab a young man. “You have Scripture reading today,” he says. The reader quickly picks up a pew Bible and scrambles to find a brief paragraph. He doesn’t really know much about that part of the Bible, but upon first glance this passage seems like it will work. He reads it once and marks the place. At the designated time, he takes his place, buries his head in toward the open Bible at his waist and reads in low volume, missing a couple of words and without much regard to inflection, timing, punctuation and appropriate pauses. At the end of the reading, he is relieved it is over (and so are most of the audience members.)

We can do better! God’s word deserves the highest reverence and excellence. The people who assemble need to hear and understand. Above that, God is hearing His own words repeated. Careful! Continue reading “Read Scripture Well” →

When the Holy Spirit Speaks:

Strong Feeling—or Words?

Kyle Pope

In our discussions with friends in the religious world, it is not uncommon to hear people claim that the Holy Spirit has led them to do or to say something. Many such people believe strongly that the Holy Spirit leads them in a direct manner, separate from the guidance found in the Word. When questioned, in most cases, what they really mean by this is that they have felt a strong feeling within which led them to say or do something. It is always important to test all things by the standard of Scripture.

On this issue, this is especially important, lest we find ourselves in the same position as the false prophets in the days of Ezekiel, “who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing” (Ezek. 13:3).

Are there times in Scripture when the Holy Spirit spoke to Christians through a strong feeling? As a test case we can survey the accounts in the New Testament in which we are told that the Holy Spirit spoke. As a record of the early church, and a history of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church, how does it describe the Spirit’s guidance to Christians?

There are six instances in which such direct guidance is recorded. The first example relates to the preaching of Philip to the Ethiopian nobleman. When he sees the man in his chariot, Scripture tells us: “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake this chariot’” (Acts 8:29). We notice that the Spirit’s communication to Philip was clear, concrete, and in the form of a complete sentence. A second example, occurred when Peter saw the vision of the sheet lowered from heaven with animals in it. Scripture records, “While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them’” (Acts 10:19-20). Here we see two complete sentences. One sentence expresses knowledge of things beyond Peter’s senses (i.e. there were three men). The second sentence commands certain behavior. These were not just vague feelings.

Two examples concern the prophet Agabus. The first reveals, “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar” (Acts 11:27-29).

While this account does not reveal the specific words of the Spirit, the nature of the revelation indicates a great level of specificity. We note that the Spirit revealed to him there would be (1) “a famine”; (2) it would be “great”; and (3) it would span “throughout all the world.” The second came when Paul was returning to Jerusalem. The text records: And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles’” (Acts 21:10-12).

In this revelation there is not only a complete sentence but the command from the Spirit to the prophet to use a prop—Paul’s belt, to illustrate what would happen to him. We see this is much more than a strong motivation within the heart of Agabus. It is clear communication in words.

Two final examples both concern Paul. While in Antioch, we learn about prophets in the church in that city. Of these prophets, Scripture records: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2-3). Here the Spirit identifies men by name — “Barnabas and Saul.” Here the Holy Spirit commands their appointment for a specific work. These are words which were spoken, recorded, and understandable. A final example, echoes what would be declared by Agabus. Paul relates: “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me” (Acts 20:22-23). Here, once again, the Spirit uses clear words declaring that “chains” and “tribulations” await Paul. This was clearly not strong feeling, it was communication which could be recorded, written down, and clearly understood.

There is no question that the apostles were promised that the Holy Spirit would speak through them (Mark 13:11). There is also no question that the apostles were promised that the Holy Spirit would directly guide them (John 16:13). These promises were not to all believers. The means through which the Holy Spirit guides believers in general is through the word of God, the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). The pattern of Scripture is that when the Holy Spirit did speak directly to believers it was in words, “which the Holy Spirit speaks” (1 Cor. 2:13). Any strong inclination of the heart which does not follow this pattern cannot reliably be viewed as the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

source: http://ancientroadpublications.com/Studies/BiblicalStudies/WhenHolySpiritSpeaks.html

John’s First Epistle

1 Jno. 2:15-17

The World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life^[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

– 1 Jno. 2:12-14

“The world” in this passage is not the physical universe (sky, trees, rocks, mountains, etc.). In this passage, the world is everything around is that is hostile to God, and that seeks to captivate and enslave us. John says, in essence, don’t be deceived and seduces to fall in love with the world.

He describes what he is talking about: The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. When I want something I shouldn’t have, and seek to exalt myself above God and others (the pride of life); when I invest in the present world for my enjoyment and boasting, the loss I suffer is my relationship with God.

Lutzer was right when he said: “Worldliness is excluding God from our lives and, therefore, consciously or unconsciously accepting the values of a man-centered society.”

And, “Worldliness is not only doing what is forbidden but also wishing it were possible to do it. One of its distinctives is mental slavery to illegitimate pleasure.” (How In This World To Be Holy, by Edwin Lutzer, 1985).

Ambrosia in modern usage is a delightful fruit salad, often with small marshmallows, maybe sour cream or cottage cheese, flavored with some Jello. Look up the origin of the word. It was, in ancient use, “the food of the gods.” Heathens were in search of that mysterious food that, when consumed, would provide immortality.

What the heathens only imagined, Jesus Christ is!

“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh,” (Jno. 6:48-51).

From a Tim Keller Tweet:

ROMAN EMPIRE: “You Christians are too exclusive. You threaten the social order because you won’t honor all deities.”

MODERN WEST: “You Christians are too exclusive. You threaten the social order because you won’t honor all identities.”

“Take Care Brothers”

Hebrews 3:7-19 (ESV)

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

One main idea is easy to discover: “Take Care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart.” In the history of the Jewish people – documented in the Old Testament – many hardened their hearts against God, become ungrateful, grumbling and complaining – they went astray. As a result or consequence, they were unable to enter the promised land. They fell away from the living God.

To paraphrase, the writer is saying – to Christians with Jewish background who knew this history – I don’t want this to happen again to you! Take care, exhort one another daily, consider Jesus, the apostle and High Priest of your profession …

All these warnings begin to stack up in this part of the Hebrew letter. And the message to Christians today is simple: TAKE CARE, examine yourself and hold firm your confidence to the end.

-Quotes from English Standard Version

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

Guidelines  For  God’s Warriors

 “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:  But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”  (2 Corinthians 10:1-6, KJV).

One of the real challenges we face in teaching and preaching is to uphold the truth of God without any hesitation, apology or compromise, but doing that “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” When there is controversy and confusion, when emotions heat up and especially when we must respond to critics, there is powerful temptation to “take off the gloves” and get physical, or at least carnal! Our task, therefore, is to think through this challenge; to decide we will seriously stand fast in our preaching and teaching, and be ready to reprove, convict and exhort. Yet, that decision must be accompanied by another decision – to refrain from carnal tactics, resist the temptation to insult people and jump to conclusions.

The way in which Paul responded to his critics gives us some helpful guidelines for our own behavior in similar situations. In 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, we can study the apostle’s attitude and manner, his methods, and his purpose. Consider …

Attitude & Manner: “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” Here is an intense challenge; to be unrestrained and bold in preaching the truth, to expose error without fear and urge sinners to repent … but to do this “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” This requires of us extraordinary determination and self-control. Being meek doesn’t imply lethargy or weakness. Being meek doesn’t mean we never feel impatience or anger. It means that we are under control, not reactionary. So I must preach the truth and answer error “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.”

Methods: “… not … according to the flesh.” When it becomes clear that error is being taught, disciples are being led away, or sin is being winked at, we may be tempted to react with such vigor and righteous indignation, we forget that we are soldiers committed to high standards of attitude and conduct. Whatever methods we decide upon, we must never feel free to resort to the carnal tactics of men. I must answer error, and I may find it necessary to identify the promoter of error; but I’m not free to “trash” somebody because I don’t like what they are doing, or I suspect they might be wrong about something. A good example is, learning to stand against abortion, but without killing doctors!

Legitimate Methods: “…pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” Our method is to persuade; to use the sword of the Spirit to pull down strongholds; to present the Scriptures in such a way as to cast down the foolish arguments of men, and to preach and teach so that we combat “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

Purpose: “…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” My purpose is to so teach and uphold the truth, that people with good and honest hearts will decide to submit their thoughts to the rule of Christ. Scoring the applause of men must never be my motive (Gal. 1:10; 1 Tim. 1:3; 1 Thess. 2:10).