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Discernment
Current Contents:
PSALM 82
ISAIAH 53
THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
AND THEIR PURPOSE
NO MORE COMPROMISE
PSALM 82
A Psalm of Asaph.
"God stands in the congregation of the
mighty; He judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge
unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend
the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4
Deliver the poor and needy: rid [them] out of the hand of the
wicked. 5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk
on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of
course. 6 I have said, you [are] gods; and all of you [are]
children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall
like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for You
shall inherit all nations."
Verses 1 & 6 "gods" Hebrew word is elohim: deity (God,
gods), magistrates, great, judges. Judges are referred to as
"gods" (vv 1 & 6) but they were agents of God not
gods themselves (read Isaiah 43: 10-13). Note verse 7 shows (that
although they were called "gods") they would die like
men. To literally interpret the judges as "god" would
have been blasphemous in Hebrew society. And as for verse 6 -
"Sons of the Most High" - clearly by adoption, and not
by nature (read Galatians 4: 5-8). Viewing the Passage in proper
context we find that "gods" refers to the judges who
were the agents to the Most High God. He (God) is very upset with
their lack of care for the people and is letting the judges know
that although they are the agents of God they will die like mere
men and will fall from there divinely appointed position. Jesus
referred to Psalms 82: 6 in John 10: 34,35. Jesus was saying if
the Old Testament could give divine status to those divinely
appointed, why should they (Jews) find it incredible that He (Jesus)
called Himself God. - Jesus was defending His deity, not mans.
(researched by A. & J. Correia - April 1997)
ISAIAH 53
(to keep the passage in it's entire context we
need to start at Isaiah 52:13)
13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted
up, and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you,
My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man, and
His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many
nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what
had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard
they will understand. 1 Who has believed our message? And to who
has the arm of the LORD been revealed (a)? 2 For He grew up
before Him like a tender shoot (b), and like a root out of
parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should
look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him
(c). 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief (d); and like one from whom men hide their
face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (e). 4 Surely
our griefs He, Himself, bore and our sorrows He carried; yet we
ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (f).
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions (g), He was
crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well being
fell upon Him (h), and by His scourging we are healed (see *
below). 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us
all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet
He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers (i), so He
did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken
away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut
off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my
people to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with
wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, (j), because
He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief;
if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His
offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the
LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of
His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the
Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear
their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with
the great (k), and He will divide the booty with the strong;
because He poured out Himself to death (l), and was numbered with
the transgressors (m); yet He, Himself, bore the sin of many and
interceded for the transgressors."
In this passage we find the sufferings of Christ remove the
penalty that His people would otherwise owe, and as a result He
will undo the effects of sin in them. Death itself will be undone
at last (1 Cor. 15:26). Even as we all have sinned, so He died
for all of us (2 Cor. 5: 14,15). The guilt of our sins was
transferred to Jesus, and He offered Himself as a sacrifice in
our place. As Paul wrote, God "made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us." (2 Cor. 5:21) Verse 5 * Hebrew word for
healed - rapha: mend, cure, heal, make whole (#7495 in Strong's
Concordance); can apply to spiritual or physical healing. Keeping
the passage in context, healed (rapha) refers to a spiritual
healing - by His scourging we are made whole.
Scripture references': (a) John 12:37-41; (b)
Isa. 11:1; (c) Isa. 52:14; (d) Ps. 22:6; Isa. 49:7; (e) John 1:
10,11; (f) John 19:7; (g) Heb. 9:28; (h) 1 Cor. 15:3; (i) Matt.
26:63; (j) Matt. 27: 57-60; (k) Isa. 52:13; Phil. 2: 9-11; (i)
Matt. 26: 38,39,42; (m) Mark 15:27,28; Luke 22:37
Researched by A. Correia 1996
THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH
Before we get into the meat of faith's importance we need to clear up a few things. First, we need to be aware that the Bible is the final authority over any man, religion or organization - as it is written in 2 Tim. 3: 16,17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
Second, we need to understand exactly what the
definition of faith is - Webster's Dictionary defines faith:
loyalty; belief in God; trust. In the Holman Bible Dictionary we
find faith defined as: trusting commitment of one person to
another; particularly of a person to God. And the final authority,
the Bible (NASB concordance), defines faith: believe; thrust. The
importance of faith is seen in that: - You cannot be saved
without faith (John 3:36) - You cannot live victoriously over the
world without faith (1 John 5:4) - You cannot please God without
faith (Hebrews 11:6) - You cannot pray without faith (James 1:6)
- You cannot have peace with God without faith (Romans 5:1) - You
cannot have joy without faith (1 Peter 1:8) - You are justified
by faith and not by works (Gal. 2:16) - You are to live by faith
(Gal. 2:20) - You are made righteous by faith (Rom. 10: 1-4) -
Christ dwells in your heart by faith (Eph. 3:17) - The Holy
Spirit is received by faith (Gal. 3:2) - "Whatever is not
from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23) Faith is our trusting in
God, "in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith
with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming
missiles of the evil one." (Eph. 6:16) Faith is not an
"active force" we command, by way of our words,
expecting God to make our words come to pass. "Now faith
is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not
see." (Heb. 11:1 NIV) Faith is important because it
honors God, and God always honors faith.
From the NASB 1979 p. 1135 and A. Correia
SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THEIR PURPOSE
In Ephesians 4: 1-16 we learn about "oneness" of the church. In verse 7 "but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift."
First, let us understand that ALL Christians share the grace of salvation through faith (Eph. 2:5,8). The above verse tells us each Christian is given some particular gift of grace to benefit the church [body of Christ - the people] (Paul talks of his own in Eph. 3:2,8). To understand what Paul is teaching us look at 1 Cor. 12: 27-31. Here we learn Paul is teaching all Christians together are the one body of Christ and each of us is a separate and necessary part (v. 27). In verse 28 Paul gives us a list of some of the parts Christ has placed in His church; which is His body. In verses 29-31 we find that not every one is an apostle, speaks in tongues (often a misused gift - even to this day) and so on. Paul goes on to tell us in Cor. chapter 13: 1-3 even with all the gifts we are worth nothing at all without love. Verse 8 of chapter 13 tells us that all the special gifts and powers from God will come to an end someday but love goes on forever. Throughout many debated questions regarding spiritual gifts in the New Testament, three certainties stand out. First, a spiritual gift is an ability to express, celebrate, display, and so communicate Christ in a way that builds us and strengthens the faith of other Christians and enlarges the church.
Second, spiritual gifts may be broadly classified as either - abilities of speech, or of loving, and practical helpfulness. In Romans 12: 6-8, Paul's list of gifts alternates between the categories; prophecy, teaching, and exhorting which are gifts of speech. Serving, giving, leading, and showing mercy are gifts of helpfulness. However much they differ as forms of human activity, all are of equal dignity when one properly uses the gift one has (1 Peter 4: 10,11).
Third, no Christian is without some gift of
ministry and God gifts are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29; 1 Cor. 12:7;
Eph. 4:7) . It is every believer's responsibility to find,
develop, and fully use whatever capacities for service God has
given them. Some religions teach that you must speak in tongues (to
show you have the Holy Spirit). Yet, Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 12:30
that all do not speak in tongues and in 1 Cor. 14: 4-5, that "He
who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies
edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even
more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than
he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that
the church may receive edification." (emphasis
mine) And when one prophesies he will come under the law of the
prophets and be held accountable. Spiritual gifts and there
purpose should not be a dividing issue amongst the body of Christ
- we should all become "God-centered" and do as our
Sovereign LORD would have us do and has already equipped us for
according to His grace, remember He gave His life, Oh beloved how
He loves you and me - what more could He do?
researched by A. Correia 5/96 NASB & NGSB,
NKJV third para out of Gifts & Ministries p. 1867
No More Compromise
"Where, beloved, is the teaching on holiness, on purity, on suffering for Christ's sake in the arena of His choosing, on a cross of His sovereign design? Much of our current theology lays emphasis on obtaining blessings rather than on attaining holiness, which comes through trials, testings and sufferings." Kay Arthur (from Beloved)
We are called to test everything
in light of Scripture (1 John 4:1). Paul praised the
Boreans and said they where "more noble minded" because
they listened then tested all things against the Scriptures -
many came to believe. (Acts 17:11) Look around you, with a
discerning eye, there is so much compromise in the church today.
Unity, we must all be united. In most cases there is unity
at the cost of the cross and false doctrine is creeping in, maybe
not exactly from the pulpit. It could be that Elders,
Deacons and teachers from unrenounced cultic backgrounds are
bringing in their doctrine and mixing it with sound doctrine;
salt mixed in sweet water still makes the water salty.
Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide
is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and
many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the
road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Mt.
7: 13,14) We are called to "enter through the narrow
gate". Don't allow yourself to be deceived any longer.
For we are to be "in the world" but "not of the
world" (Rom. 12:2; Jn. 2:15,16) Let your standard be
NO MORE COMPROMISE! Jesus, Himself, said He is the way,
the truth and the life... (Jn. 14:6) and Hebrews 13:8 assures us
that, "Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever."
Study His character, which will lead you through the narrow gate
- choose to follow the narrow road that leads to life and only
few find. We are called to be at peace but not at the cost
of the cross.
By April Correia
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