John 3:30

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

Memory Verses

2 Timothy 1:7

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2 Timothy 1:7 KJV For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I’m a KJV guy…not “KJV only” guy, but I often read the KJV, and when I do memory verses I always use the KJV. I have become a big ESV fan lately for reading and studying though. Anyway, the reason I share this is because I would like to show you how studying multiple versions is essential sometimes for proper understanding of the scriptures. It’s also a lot easier for people to do than studying Greek or Hebrew!

So let’s look at 2 Tim 1:7 NASB, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” Now that’s a little different, isn’t it? What if I told you that the word “cowardice” could be used instead of the word “timidity” or “fear?” It is worth noting that the word translated “fear” in this verse is different from the word translated “fear” in the following verses: Rev 14:7, 15:4, 19:5, 11:18, 1 Pet 2:17, Heb 13:6, 11:27. There are several others as well, if you do a word search for G5399 “phobeo.”

My point is this. There are (at least) 2 definitions for fear that we must understand. The first definition, the one used in the verses above that describe a proper fear of God, implies reverence. The word used in 2 Tim 1:7 is a different word. This word has more to do with the cowardice and timidity that people often have out of a desire for SELF-preservation. Let me be clear. God DID GIVE us the SPIRIT OF FEAR and AWE and REVERENCE OF HIM. If you have this, it is from HIM. What God has not given us is the spirit of cowardice that Paul was warning Timothy of in 2 Timothy. If you read the 2 letters to Timothy, you will see that Timothy struggled with the fear of men. He feared persecution for the gospel; I also infer that he was even afraid of some of his own church members’ opinion of him and “his youth.” (1 Tim 4:12) While it is clearly true, and biblical to look up to “elders,” (people of the faith for many years), it is also true that the Holy Spirit may choose to work in any believer’s heart at any rate. Take Paul for example…he wasn’t a Christian for very long before he began preaching and teaching and sharing God’s Word with others! Now he had a lot more special revelation than anyone else, but the concept still applies; the Holy Spirit can and will reveal to a man that which He chooses, and we should test men by what the Bible says, not their apparent reputation, education or age. (Although these factors can be useful!)

Now I’m finally getting to the point of the verse! Paul is telling Timothy that any timidity or fear he had, (as it pertained to his duties as a preacher-teacher-pastor-evangelist), was not the result of God. On the contrary, God had already provided Timothy (as well as all believers) with a spirit of Love, power and self-control, a disciplined mind. Fear of persecution, rejection, or loss of relationships is a self-centered, self-preserving thought, and if captured by your mind and subjected to Christ (Philippians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5) you will not be able to remain that way for long. Even if the fear remains, the cowardice or timidity which paralyzes you, and keeps you from acting correctly, (e.g., sharing the gospel), will be overcome by your love for God, the power you know He possesses and will display through you, and the disciplined mind you have cultivated as the result of the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22-23)! As Tony Miano has reminded me, the cowardly will see the Lake of Fire too (Revelation 21:8), not because works reconcile a person to God, but because if 2 Tim 1:7 is true, then truly regenerate people are no longer “cowards!”

Finally, what are we to conclude about fear anyway? Is it a God-given instinct which aids in preservation of the species? Is there a true fight or flight reaction to external stimuli that God put in us so that we would survive? While this is possible, and there is circumstantial data to show that these phenomenon do seem to occur, I will maintain that biblically we are NOT given a spirit of fear by God. Our sound mind, if anything is that which, and ought to be that which, we use to determine whether to approach a situation, although it does seem we use this to interpret the feelings of timidity we often experience. Let me put it this way. Imagine a person filled with the Holy Spirit, completely trusting that God is sovereign and powerful and Good. Imagine this person believes that every moment of their life is already known by God and every event falls into God’s Holy decree (as the Bible declares). Is it reasonable to believe this person would ever experience self-preserving fear? How many cubits might he add to his stature, (Luke 12:25) or how many years to his own life will he add with this worry? (see Luke 12:22-30) A person who truly trusts the One True God cannot worry! The problem, as always, is a heart problem. We all need to have our hearts turned more toward Him, our focus on Christ as Savior and Lord and Provider, Author and Perfecter (Heb 12:2) of our Faith! It is impossible to worry about self-preservation when you believe that it is God who grants your every breath! It is unreasonable to fear rejection of men when you know you are a child of the King and are but an ambassador on His behalf. None of us, in this life, will ever be fully filled with the Spirit and perfectly live this out, but we can grow in this direction, and trust that the cowardice and timidity we face here will be gone once the curse is lifted. I can say with certainty that Adam did not experience this problem before the fall, and we will not know these terrible emotions after Christ returns. Our world is sin-cursed, and this is just another byproduct of the unholiness we love as sinful men. Praise Jesus for the rebirth of men’s souls, yours included if you are one of His!

If you are finding ministry difficult and fearful, why? Are you actually sharing God’s Word or are you sharing your thoughts and words as the emphasis instead of His? Are you concerned with what people think of you or where they spend eternity and How Christ is magnified? Be unashamed! (Romans 1:16) If there is anything to fear, it would be Christ denying you before His father! (Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 10:32-33) Make sure you are right with Him and then trust Him for every need!

Isaiah 64:6

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Isaiah 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we are all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Wow, this verse it tough to remember.  I think it is because I have heard so many translations of it…and for a long time I thought it ended at the word “rags!”

Let’s take a look at it and see if that helps us memorize it!  Many evangelists will tell you that this verse should be a memory verse for evangelizing.  The first half basically calls us unclean, and compares our righteousness to filthy rags.  What this is saying is that in God’s eyes, even the things we do which seem to be “right” (or quite possibly do, in a literal sense meet the requirements of the law) are nothing more than a filthy rag to him.  Why is this?  Because our hearts are deceitful and wicked, (Jer 17:9).  Even the things we do that seem “right” are not done out of a pure heart and a love for God.  Our righteousness, when it comes from ourselves is abominable to Him.  Any self-sufficiency we have is downright insulting to the One who holds all things together and provides all.  To believe that we have anything inherent in ourselves to impress God with is unreasonable and, in fact, punishable by death…for it is sin.

Think of the folly of this line of thinking: Do you ever think God looks down at a large skyscraper or a strong weightlifter, or billions of dollars in a bank account and thinks, “Wow, that is impressive!”  Certainly not!  It’s absurd to believe that the Creator of all would be impressed with anything at all that creatures do!  The God that accepts human offerings of sacrifice or religion is an idol, created by the minds of men who deny truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).  Reason with me, please!  If there is a god, he could not be coerced or moved by human will, else he would not be God!  And there is a God – and He is not compeled by men!  He wills and does as he pleases!  (Eph 1:4-5)

How about the second half, maybe that tempers the previous haunting thought a bit…we all do fade as a leaf?  What?  This sounds like we are considered weak, and dying vessels.  Our iniquities (sin, lawlessness) take us away like the wind takes away a leaf.  Think about this, leaves don’t even FIGHT against the wind.  I don’t think I am taking the analogy too far by saying we are no different when it comes to SIN before coming to a relationship with God through Christ.  How powerless we are!  Keep in mind who controls the wind and has power over weather! (Luke 8:24).  Even in Job 1:12,19, you can see that it is the Lord who grants that power to Satan if He sees fit to bring Him glory that way.

What a pride-crushing concept!  How can a man ever please God then?  By being brought In Christ, by the Holy Spirit.  When His righteousness is what shines through us (Mt 5:16, 2 Cor 4:6-7) we cannot help but please Him, because He is perfect, and He is always pleased with Christ, and only with Christ.

Genesis 1:31

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Genesis 1:31

And God saw every thing that He had made and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

What a simple verse, truly! But as always, God’s text is packed with meaning, and in this case, utterly under attack for centuries now. Sadly, it is professing Christians who have likely done the most damage with attempts to put meaning here that is not inherent in the text. Notice I did not call those attempts “well-intentioned,” as a truly well-intentioned attempt at interpreting the Bible will start with a biblical worldview and a belief that scripture is the ultimate authority.

This verse follows a pattern of verses in Genesis 1. Once on the first day, twice on the third day, and once on both the fourth and fifth days, God looked upon His creation and calls it (or some aspect of it) “good.” (Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21) During the sixth day, God refers to His creation again as “good,” before He made man (Gen 1:25). But when God declares creation very good, He declares it “complete.” The word used for very has a slightly different connotation than we are used to in English where it is comparative. It is more a description of completeness, or done-ness, to be understood as superlative, exhibiting without reservation the idea of “wholly” or “exceedingly” good, in this case. It is now that we apply proper hermeneutics to infer that sin could not have existed at this point in creation. For creation to be wholly good, by God’s standard of Goodness, sin could not have tainted creation. Since death is the result of sin, we also can know with certainty that no death had occurred, based on properly and reasonably interpreting the Bible.

Secondly, the other pattern that was followed for this chapter was the “evening and the morning were the nth day” phrase. One of the favorite arguments of people who want to reconcile (or compromise) the Bible with evolution and an old age for the Earth is that the Hebrew word Yom, used for day, can also mean a long age. But when have you ever referred to an evening and a morning as anything but a 24 hour day? When have you ever referred to 6 consecutive periods of an evening and a morning as anything but 6 days? You wouldn’t, because it defies reason. God didn’t do this either. God described what occurred, and the order in which it occurred. One reason that He chose to do it this way, I believe, is to intentionally contradict the “wisdom” of man. Evolution and Big Bang theories say the sun came before the earth; dinosaurs (land animals) before birds; and death before man ever existed. Genesis 1:1-31 deliberately and directly contradicts these ideas. Ex 20:11 aids to confirm this. 2 Peter 3:3-7 even prophesies about today’s “scoffers” and believers in uniformitarianism!

Dear reader, God created the world in six consecutive 24 hour days, and then rested. Since the first sin, man had no true rest! God painted a beautiful picture on that seventh day of the rest we have available to us in Christ. If you will give up the strivings of your own hearts, the works of your own hands and lay it all at the cross and follow Him, you can enter that rest spoken of in Hebrews 4:10-11. All those who thirst, come…John 7:37-39.

1 Corinthians 10:31

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Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Can a Christian smoke? Should a Christian drink “socially?” What’s “ok” to do before marriage? These are common questions, and they are good questions, for immature believers to ask, that is. How do they relate to the 1 Corinthians 10:31? I’ll try to show how.

The chief end of man is to glorify God. All of creation is designed to proclaim God’s glory. Even the sin He allows in His sovereignty is used for His good (Rom 8:28). Let us consider to whom Paul is writing this letter: to believers! What is a believer? A believer is someone who has realized their sinfulness and their necessity for a savior. They have been snatched from the depths of eternal hell by our smitten Lord who, by His grace, has chosen them as a people unto Himself. Nothing they did or could have done caused this to happen, it was an act of mercy, (see Titus 3:5)

So what ought the response be to this act of love, grace and mercy? We owe our very lives to God, the Creator and Redeemer! So in what manner ought we live? For Him alone. This is the essence of this verse, (and the entire bible, if you will). Paul’s point above is that EVERYTHING you do ought to be for the glory of God. There are 3 main factors to consider when trying to decide of your proposed act is for or “not for” His glory. (At least that’s how many I’m going to discuss here!)

1. Is it sin? This will immediately disqualify the act. There are obvious sins. Things like activity outside of a man-woman marriage, stealing, lying, cheating, blasphemy and covetousness.

2. If it is not clearly sin, can it become sin? Is it the beginning of a slippery slope? This is where drinking and smoking and drug use fall into play (at the VERY LEAST). These things, in and of themselves, may not be immediately obvious as sins. But against the backdrop of a degenerate American society, where these things are idolized and used for worship and revelry, there is only damage that can be done by participating in these behaviors. I love Todd Agnew’s song, My Jesus where he sings, “If Ephesians says to imitate Christ, why do you look so much like the world?” (Hear it here)

3. Does it add to the Kingdom? Does it point to Christ as Savior? Ultimately, does your act contribute to your ministry, whatever it is? If it does, then great, if it doesn’t, then see questions 1 & 2.

A Christian who is filled with the spirit is ALWAYS glorifying God. We do this ALL THE TIME, if we choose. When you eat or drink, you are generally doing an innocuous, a-moral act, but it can be done with a fervent thankfulness to God and an unashamed outspoken love for the Provider that draws the attention of the lost to Him. Keep in mind that Jesus ate and attended family gatherings and slept. Things that seem unimportant, but He did them all filled with the Holy Spirit and glorified His Father in Heaven CONTINUOUSLY. His example is what we are to follow!

So whatsoever you do, do it all to the Glory of God! Thanks, Matt for Romans 15:5-6 today!

To see an example, check out this blog article about George Whitefield and his zeal for God’s creation in all he did!

John 14:6

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John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

THIS IS WHY I DO WHAT I DO. Many of you know that I do the work of an evangelist. I am actually super excited because I just received 2 boxes of 10,000 tracts that my church designed and ordered from Custom Tract Source and on the same day, we launched our new improved website, Berean Baptist Church and I got to be a part of both those things. Each of these activities is designed with one ultimate goal: to glorify God by pointing to Christ and His finished work on the cross. Our chief aim is to edify believers and herald the gospel to the lost.

Why do we do this? BECAUSE JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO MAN WILL COME TO THE FATHER BUT BY HIM. I believe John 3:18 (along with the rest of the Bible 🙂 ), so EVERY person I see I can safely assume they are going to hell! Why? Because we are all born at enmity with God. There is no way other than Christ. So we tell people the truth. If I err and preach Christ and His Glory to a brother or sister, then they shall rejoice! So I am NEVER WRONG to preach Christ crucified. I fear that with all our boldness in our current apathetic culture that some of us today that seriously herald Christ’s Gospel would be put to shame next to Paul or Peter or Stephen. I pray for a heart like God gave those men.

Finally, on a theological note, I want to make 2 points. Point 1 is that God does not hear the prayers of the wicked. (In the sense that they do not have His ear). Proverbs 28:9 combined with John 14:6 make it pretty clear to me. Any unsaved soul can ONLY talk to God through Christ, and the first prayer honored by God of any man is the prayer of repentance and faith in Christ alone. So please, dear Christian brother or sister, don’t ask your unsaved coworker for prayer! You may thank them for well-wishes…but you do not cover their prayers, and you ought not let them believe you see any effectiveness in their prayer, as you can with your brothers, James 5:16. Secondly, I will make the claim that I believe every encounter with the living God that anyone has had since Genesis 1 was through Christ. Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is and has always been the only mediator between God and man. From creation to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the protection of Daniel’s friends in the furnace to Calvary and today. Praise Him for His character and deeds.

Psalm 19:1

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Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament sheweth His handiwork.

Like so much of scripture, what a simple, yet profound thought! Whereas we humans, myself included, find brevity so elusive, God can proclaim His glory in two short sentences and refute millions of people’s false beliefs in 12 simple English words.

God’s glory is declared by the heavens and the firmament (sky or expanse). Is this personification or do they really talk? Either way, as we dig deeper into outer space and view the complexity of God’s creation, the vastness of the expanse and the beauty beheld, we are continuously convicted of the knowledge of our Creator and His eternal divinity. (Romans 1:19-20) The mere fact that the heavens cannot contain Him, (1 Kings 8:27), while they are far beyond our comprehension is enough to stifle our pride at least momentarily. The sky exhibits to us a clear picture of design, beauty, power and greatness. They are, indeed, the works of His hands. (Ps 104:2, 5).

Possibly more awe-inspiring is my understanding that the complexity contained in our bodies is mathematically even greater than what the heavens declare. There are over 3 billion base pairs in EACH STRAND of DNA in your cells. Look at the human brain’s synaptic connections. There are more potential connections between the billion or so neurons in the human brain than there are atoms in the universe. God’s design is seen everywhere, and His Glory is not hidden but, rather, suppressed (Romans 1:18). This verse is a great foundation for your trust in the scriptural account of creation, so that you can be ready to proclaim God’s Glory as well as the heavens, using His handiwork as a visual aid, and transitioning form there to man’s accountability as a creature and then to the Savior; maybe even for someone you love who is dead in their trespasses, maybe even today!