safe = finally

I'm in Portland.  And there is too much snow.

Done.

*Jaiqu

need = more

You know what we need more?  People to preach [and teach] the Truth.  It saddens me deeply how many pastors are doctrinally confused and don't even know what the truth is.  Have you read the whole Bible?  More importantly, did you understand any of it?  How many times in church have you heard a pastor say 'I don't really understand this, but what I think is...'.  Yeah...that needs to stop.  We, who claim to be Christians, need to have a passion for the Word of God.  In Jeremiah 35:15 God says "I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them." God Almighty, through time and space, has worked diligently to prepare scripture for your edification and not to deceive you (2 Timothy 3:16-4:3).  If God has spoken through the Bible, and in Him is ALL Truth; then shouldn't we be passionate about KNOWING what He says to us!  I say all of this as an aside.  What I really want you to hear is what Jesus says in John 8:31-58 (read it all, I will be focusing on verses 42-47).

First, look at John 8:31.  Who is Jesus talking to?  "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said...".  This passage is for everyone who claims to believe the words and works of Jesus.  It is going to draw a strong distinction between true believers and those who are deceived.  This applies to you!  Listen closely and take heed to Philippians 2:12-13 and 2 Corinthians 13:5.  Search the scripture and gain confidence in your salvation (for if you have it, you will never lose it) or learn what you must do to be saved (which is really no work at all since "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure").

What does Jesus tell them?  "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32).  Jesus is talking about the gospel, the good news.  You are a sinner and a slave to sin ("I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin" John 8:34), but God can free you from that slavery and forgive you of your sins ("if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." 8:36).  He is talking about salvation.  Shouldn't what the Savior, Jesus Christ, says about salvation be paramount in your search for truth!

Read through to verse 42 where Jesus says to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here."  So what is the necessary condition for salvation in this verse?  That God is your Father.  Is anyone able to choose their father, or are we born of our fathers?  You did not choose God to be your Father, God adopted you, by His choice, to be His son (John 15:16).  We are going to come back to it, but look ahead to verse 47, "He who belongs to God hears what God says."  Does this sound like you chose God?  Or did He buy you at the price of His son?

At this point, you may be defensive.  This is probably not the good news that you learned as a child.  You probably learned that God has given us a gift to be accepted or rejected by our free choice.  Look what Jesus says in verse 43, "Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say."  Jesus does not tell them that they have rejected Him (verse 31 says that they believed Jesus...so in a sense they had accepted and not rejected Him), instead He tells them that they are INCAPABLE of understanding Him.  So if you are infuriated with what I am writing and refuse to accept the testimony of scripture, all glory be to God, He has closed your ears so that you would not understand and repent (Mark 4:11-12).

Do you think I am being severe?  Look at what Jesus says next in verse 44, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire."  This is Jesus Christ, God incarnate, speaking.  He is speaking to everyone who claims with their mouths to believe in Him but with their works prove that they hate Him (there is no middle ground, if you are not living for Christ, you are in rebellion against Him.  Matthew 12:30).  This may be you.  Do you know?

Continue on to the end of verse 44 through verse 45, "When [the devil] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lie.  Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!"  There are so many people out there seeking to deceive and they weave strange doctrines to attract the unwary passerby.  And so many people fall victim to these deceivers because they are children of the devil (according to Jesus) and prefer a lie to the truth.  How sad and appalling is this truth which is abundantly evident in this day and age!  Be like the Bereans and search out the scripture to see if what you have been taught is true (Acts 17:11).  Be diligent and do not be deceived by false gospels, for they are really no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-8).  Examine my words also and see that they line up with what God says is true.  I seek to only speak what God has first spoken in His Word.

Now let's revisit verse 47, but first take a look at Romans 10:14, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"  Now let's apply this to what Jesus says in verse 47, "He who belongs to God hears what God says.  The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."  Let me quickly say as an aside that when He says 'hear' it should be taken to mean 'understood' (which agrees with the meaning of the word in Greek).  He is not talking about audibly hearing God, but understanding what God has spoken through Jesus Christ and through His prophets in the scriptures.  Back to the verses; Jesus is saying that only those who belong to God understand the gospel. Paul adds to this by saying that no one believes in Jesus Christ nor calls on His name unless they understand the gospel.  And Paul firmly believes in the implication here; that no one comes to salvation unless God has chosen them and caused them to hear, to understand, to believe and finally to call upon Jesus Christ.  Look at the flip side as well...if someone does not believe the gospel which is preaching rightly, it is because they do not belong to God and He has not made them spiritually alive (as in Mark 4:12, "Seeing they may see and not perceive,And hearing they may hear and not understand").  God not only authored the plan of salvation, He authored YOUR salvation (if you are saved).  Meditate on that.

Another implication of verse 47 is that if God has saved you, then He will also grant you the ability to understand scripture (not that you will understand it completely at first, but that you will finally be able to understand it).  This is echoed in 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 which says that we have received "the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand." So if the Bible makes no sense to you, examine your salvation.  If reading the Bible is a burden and never a delight, examine your salvation.  Hopefully, there is just something God needs to correct you on first, or else are you truly saved?  I read the Bible at least two times through before God finally enabled me to understand it.  I believe that I was not saved during that time (which is why I got only base facts, without meaning or substance, from reading scripture), but now am (and how glorious it is to finally be able to understand the rich mystery of salvation by God's power).  And as God sanctifies me I understand more, by Him.

If you have questions, leave a comment or email me at mersayochan [at] gmail [dot] com.

I pray that God will use this to encourage and challenge you.  If it is God's will, He will use this to rebuke you.  In that case I pray that He will also grant you repentance that you may be saved.  Praise God.  Done.

*Jaiqu

look = new

So I replaced my 'shmaybe interesting' list in the sidebar with my 'what Jaiqu reads' list. I keep up to date on all the blogs listed thanks to Google Reader. Don't use it? You must. It's quite fantastic. I'm in the library right now...just finished my take home final. It's really messy so I think I'm going to reprint it and copy my answers over to the new exam. Yay for free printing in the CSL. Do you use Skype? Call me then. [square brackets are the new parentheses.] Done.

*Jaiqu

WikiDino = alive

WikiDino lives.  In other news; my hair is shorter again.  In other news; I am almost done with this quarter...just have to survive finals.  In other news; I am going insane.  In other news; I have been facebooking more often than usual...an unhealthy habit in the least.  In other news; OpenGL is more awesome than I originally thought.  In other news;...ok I think that's enough.  Done.

*Jaiqu