Problem solved! by Gary Rose

Which answers the question: How do you completely dunk an Oreo in milk and not get your hands wet?  Now, I imagine if there was no picture and someone asked you the question. I think most of us would be hard pressed to come up with the answer, don't you?

Then again, if someone really, really special; someone very smart and savvy was asking- then would you get it? Consider also, that YOU are somebody, also very smart and a person of the times, with great understanding; would YOU GET IT?

And so we consider a passage of Scripture where someone very smart, very savvy and a SOMEBODY gets taught something that even he has trouble understanding...

John, Chapter 3 (World English Bible)

  ¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  ² The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 

  ³ Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, ^*n1 he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” 

  ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” 

  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.   ⁶  That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (emp. added vss. 4-6)  ⁷  Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’   ⁸  The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 

  ⁹ Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?” 

  ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? (emp. added vss. 9,10)   ¹¹  Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.  ¹²  If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?   ¹³  No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.   ¹⁴  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,   ¹⁵  that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.   ¹⁶  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.   ¹⁷  For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.   ¹⁸  He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.  ¹⁹  This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.   ²⁰  For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.   ²¹  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

Nicodemus just couldn't understand how an adult could be "born of the water and the spirit". His lack of comprehension really had nothing to do with his intelligence, but rather with his preconceptions. 

Jesus taught, but Nicodemus didn't really listen. And yet, today, there are an untold number of people out there who believe that water baptism has nothing to do with salvation.

Don't walk in darkness- listen to what Jesus says, and then do something about it, today!!!

Bible Reading April 26 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading April 26 (World English Bible)

 Apr. 26

Deuteronomy 7, 8

Deu 7:1 When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;

Deu 7:2 and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;

Deu 7:3 neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.

Deu 7:4 For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

Deu 7:5 But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire.

Deu 7:6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Deu 7:7 Yahweh didn't set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:

Deu 7:8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deu 7:9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,

Deu 7:10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.

Deu 7:11 You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.

Deu 7:12 It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers:

Deu 7:13 and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.

Deu 7:14 You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.

Deu 7:15 Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, he will put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.

Deu 7:16 You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.

Deu 7:17 If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?

Deu 7:18 you shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;

Deu 7:19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out: so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Deu 7:20 Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.

Deu 7:21 You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God.

Deu 7:22 Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.

Deu 7:23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed.

Deu 7:24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.

Deu 7:25 You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

Deu 7:26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

Deu 8:1 You shall observe to do all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers.

Deu 8:2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.

Deu 8:3 He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn't know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live.

Deu 8:4 Your clothing didn't grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.

Deu 8:5 You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you.

Deu 8:6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

Deu 8:7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills;

Deu 8:8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;

Deu 8:9 a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.

Deu 8:10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you.

Deu 8:11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day:

Deu 8:12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein;

Deu 8:13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

Deu 8:14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

Deu 8:15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;

Deu 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn't know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end:

Deu 8:17 and lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.

Deu 8:18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.

Deu 8:19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

Deu 8:20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you wouldn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

 

Apr. 26, 27

Luke 15

Luk 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.

Luk 15:2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."

Luk 15:3 He told them this parable.

Luk 15:4 "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

Luk 15:5 When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Luk 15:6 When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

Luk 15:7 I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Luk 15:8 Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?

Luk 15:9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.'

Luk 15:10 Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."

Luk 15:11 He said, "A certain man had two sons.

Luk 15:12 The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them.

Luk 15:13 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

Luk 15:14 When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

Luk 15:15 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

Luk 15:16 He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.

Luk 15:17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!

Luk 15:18 I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

Luk 15:19 I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants." '

Luk 15:20 "He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luk 15:21 The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

Luk 15:22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

Luk 15:23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;

Luk 15:24 for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.

Luk 15:25 "Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

Luk 15:26 He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.

Luk 15:27 He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.'

Luk 15:28 But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.

Luk 15:29 But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

Luk 15:30 But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'

Luk 15:31 "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

Luk 15:32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' "

Are You on the Right Road? by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/whatroad.html
 
Are You on the Right Road?

You may be on the right road or you may be on the wrong road.

What determines whether you are on the right road? How many other people are on the same road? How nice the scenery is? No, you are on the right road if it leads you to the right destination. You are on the wrong road if it takes you to the wrong destination. You are traveling on some road now. Where are you going?

Many are on the wrong road.

"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace" (Isaiah 59:7,8).

Do you think you are on the right road?

Even so you must be careful because according to the Scriptures: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts" (Proverbs 21:2). Jeremiah prayed: "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). Man needs guidance from God.

God shows people the right road: "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16).

How can you know you are on the right road?

The Psalmist prayed: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). You can know you are on the right road only by the word of God.

God's way is the right way.

Any other way is a wrong way because it leads to destruction. "The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity" (Proverbs 10:29).

Abraham, the father of the faithful, was to "command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord" (Genesis 18:19).

The right way, God's way, leads to life; the wrong way leads to death. "I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble" (Proverbs 4:11-19).

We must be careful whom we choose to accompany. "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray" (Proverbs 12:26).

"In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death" (Proverbs 12:28). "The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below" (Proverbs 15:24).

The right road is the highway of holiness.

In a prediction of the kingdom of the Messiah, God's Anointed, Isaiah said: "A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray" (Isaiah 35:8).

Christ is the way.

Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

There are only two roads.

Jesus said: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13,14). "Then one said to Him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able' " (Luke 13:23,24).

Have you passed through the narrow gate?

Many people think they are on the right road when they have never gone through the narrow gate.

"The way which leads to life" is the way of faithful service in Christ. Jesus admonishes His followers: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).

"The narrow gate" represents God's conditions for salvation. One must go through this narrow gate to be saved and get on the right road.

The wrong road is broad and has a wide gate.

Some claim that everyone will be saved. Jesus said that few will find the way to life.

Some claim that good people in all religions will be saved. Peter said that salvation is only "by the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 4:10). "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Some claim that salvation can be earned by doing good works. Paul says: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (Galatians 2:16).

Some claim that they can be saved by faith only. James says: "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. ... For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:24,26). James says about Abraham: "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?" (James 2:22).

Some claim that they can be saved by performing religious rituals, when their lives are full of sin and their hearts are full of pride, jealousy and hatred. But we are warned: "Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God" (Hebrews 12:14,15).

Some claim that they are on the right road because their parents had them christened when they were babies. But Philip told the Eunuch that he had to believe with all his heart before he could be baptized (Acts 8:37).

Because the way to destruction is so broad, we could go on and on telling about wrong ways people think they can be saved.

How do we go through the narrow gate so we can walk on the right road?

Jesus said: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). Paul wrote: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

The gospel of Christ "is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). The good news is "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

We must confess our faith to pass through the narrow gate. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation" (Romans 10:9,10).

The "good confession" (1 Timothy 6:12,13) is: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37; Matthew 16:16).

We must also repent to pass through the narrow gate. We must be sorry for our sins, decide to turn away from sin and serve God.

When some came to John for baptism although they had not repented, he replied: "Brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:7,8).

When we are baptized on the basis of our faith, repentance and confession, we become a part of the body of Christ and receive forgiveness of sins. We pass through the narrow gate and begin a walk in newness of life.

Peter told believers on the day of Pentecost: "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

Paul explained to the Romans: "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3,4).

Are you on the right road?

"The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below" (Proverbs 15:24). Are you on the highway of holiness, the difficult way that leads to life?

Have you entered the narrow gate? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that He died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead the third day? Have you repented of your sins and completely dedicated your life to God? Have you confessed your faith in Christ? Have you been baptized into His death so you can rise to walk in newness of life?

If so, let us walk together on the way of life that winds upward to the heavenly city where death will be no more.

If not, I urge you to obey the Lord and enter the narrow gate that leads to the way of life.
Roy Davison

The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

Should David have been Stoned? by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=652&b=Leviticus

Should David have been Stoned?

by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

In Leviticus 20:10, the Bible records: “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.” In 2 Samuel 11:3-4, the Bible declares that David took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and committed adultery with her. In chapter 12 of that same book, the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin, thereby convicting David of his sin and bringing him to repentance. There is, however, no record that David was stoned or put to death because of his adulterous union with Bathsheba. In fact, David was allowed to continue his reign as king of Israel. Skeptics have pointed to this scenario and accused God of being a “respecter of persons,” claiming that He showed David more mercy than the Levitical Law allowed. Certain Bible believers have done the same, claiming that God simply had mercy on David in spite of what was written in the Law.
A close look at the actual Law of Moses shows that these conclusions are incorrect. God did not jettison the Law of Moses in order to keep David alive. Mosaic regulations specifically stated that a person could be executed only if there were two or more witnesses to the crime (Deuteronomy 19:15). One witness was insufficient to invoke the death penalty (Deuteronomy 17:6). When we look at the situation between David and Bathsheba, we do not find that even one eyewitness was present to verify the adultery. In fact, it seems that the entire adulterous affair was quite hidden from the general populace. Only with the arrival of Nathan, the prophet, who was sent by God, did the details surface concerning David’s adultery. Nathan, however, could not be a witness against David, since there is no record of his having been at the scene of the crime. And even though he apparently got the information directly from God, that still would not fall under the ordinance mentioned in Deuteronomy 19:15. Furthermore, he still would need one more witness in order for David to be stoned.
In truth, if those under the Law of Moses were condemned based on whether or not God knew of their crimes, then far more deaths would have occurred, since “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). We find, then, that the Mosaic Law was not ignored in David’s case; nor is this an instance of God showing partiality. Yet, even if there had been witnesses, and the Israelites had not properly followed the judicial procedures as set forth in the Law of Moses, it would not have been God’s fault, but the fault of the Israelites who failed to obey God’s commandments.