When the Monkeys Come Home     Spain is in the midst of a move to grant near human rights to apes.  The movement is named the Great Apes Project and their declared goal is “We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.”  You might well ask how in the world did anyone come to believe such a thing.   What is happening is that the theory of evolution has escaped the science lab and classroom and is now having practical implications in the real world.  If, and I do not believe it at all, evolution is true, then by all means we should give rights to apes.  But how far will all this go?  Already same-sex marriage is receiving judicial approval though the vast majority of Americans reject it.  Will humans be allowed to marry apes if they have the same rights as humans?  There is no stopping point once you leave the moral absolutes of the Bible.     For years Christians have suffered through having their children taught a theory of science that quite frankly is in direct opposition to our faith in the Word of God.  Perhaps we thought it would stop at just being a philosophical issue, but we all must remember that worldviews have practical implications.  A Christian worldview, when practically applied makes each individual out to be someone special in the eyes of His Creator.  You matter to God is an important truth.  Evolution on the other hand, makes us all to be random accidents of nature with no moral foundation or meaning.  In a recent internet forum post one evolutionist stated that we are not the princes of the earth, we are the descendents of worms.  Can we really expect people to hold life sacred if we teach this as truth?  One agnostic recently stated that he held no one’s life sacred, his own, his family, nor his dog or cat either.  No wonder our youth are finding meaning in alternatives that include gang affiliation and alternative lifestyles of one form or another!  When you are just a random accident, life has no meaning.     The truth is that you are important to God.  In fact, you are so important to God that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place.  It would be wrong to blame all of the world’s problems on atheism and evolution.  The fact is that men are born with a bent away from God.  Theologians called it human depravity.  Men have a sinful nature that leads them in the opposite direction of God.  That is why He has come looking for us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  His work is to draw sinners to personal saving faith in Jesus.  It is very apparent that He loves you.  You are worth more than many sparrows or apes to Him.

I Think I’ll Go to Church    Did you know that the Bible has much to say about attending your local church?  In fact, God takes it very seriously.  Look at this text of Holy Writ: “24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”  (Hebrews 10)  This article will not make for popular reading in today’s attitude of take-it-or-leave-it religion.  So many people seem to expect God to just be waiting on them to have their next emergency so that they can avail themselves of His mercy and grace by suddenly starting to church.  Whatever happened to the fear of God and recognition of His holiness?     Bless His name He is the God of the second chance and is full of mercy and grace.  All believers are now and will be eternally grateful for that truth.  However, it needs to be stated and made plain from the Bible that God will not be trifled with by man.  The nation of Israel made that fatal mistake.  After all, they reasoned, they had the Temple and the Word of God.  How could it be that they would fall under His judgment?  The disinclination to be sincere in worship, to view it as a duty and to “get it over with” doomed the shallow religion of Israel to failure.  What of our country?  It is said that one of the reasons Rome fell was its glorification of sports.  In America today, your reading skills may be poor, your character questionable, and, yet, if you can play a game you can make millions of dollars of income.  Teachers, as well as law enforcement, are on the low end of the pay scale yet their jobs are much more important than any ball player.  Even in conservative Tipton County multitudes opt for the ball field rather than church.  What message are we sending our youth?  It appears that our society as a whole is telling them loud and clear that worshipping God on a regular basis is not as important as the traveling ball team schedule or some tournament.      It is my considered opinion that nothing is going to make the impact on our children that a deep relationship with God can.  Sports, fun, making money all have their proper place in our life.  Allowing good things like sports and fun to crowd out the best things of knowing and loving God is going to have a high cost in the long term.  It won’t matter in eternity whether you hit .400 or not.  It will eternally matter whether you know Jesus Christ.  The rewards and crowns to be given to believers do not include anything about our social station or financial wealth, but are based on our faithfulness to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let Joshua’s decision be yours, “…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

For Whom Did Jesus Die?   One of the most discussed doctrines in theology is that of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  In other words, “For Whom Did Christ Die?”  There are a plethora of different positions that one can find in the pages of theology books.  This is such a vital doctrine that I would say that no Christian writer can avoid revealing his position on the blood of Jesus Christ.  It is not my intent to try to cover all the positions that are taken over the atonement, but to deal with just the subject at hand.      Basically, the discussion can be looked at from two perspectives.  First is that Jesus only died for a limited group, hence the term, “limited atonement.”  The second perspective is that Jesus Christ died for all men; i.e., “unlimited atonement.”  Without trying to get overly technical, there are those who believe that Christ died for all men and so all men will be saved.  This is patently false.  There will be many who do not go to heaven when their earthly life is over.  There are others who believe that the blood of Jesus is effective for believers and sufficient for the world.  I would not fall out with those who hold to this position, but recent study has led me to hold that Jesus Christ did in fact actually, not just potentially, die for all men and the penalty for sin has been paid.      The wrath of God against sin demanded a payment.  That payment had to be death for the guilty (Romans 3:23; 6:23; cp. Genesis 3).  The issue at hand is that since God the Father would have to be totally satisfied for any sinner to enter into heaven; then it follows that His complete wrath would have to propitiated.  It is on this basis that we can invite any sinner to come to Christ in faith for salvation.  To hold that the atonement was limited to the elect, those foreknown in the mind of God to salvation, would aim the atonement at men and not at the Father.   This would mean that only a part of His wrath was satisfied.       I sympathize with those who do not want to impugn the sovereignty of God.  However, in trying to defend Him some have made the error of finding a problem where none exists.  Only a sovereign God can say, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  The price has been paid!   All are invited to come to the Father through the Son (John 14:6).      Let me give you a personal illustration.  As I was studying for the ministry, I was reading a book by B. B. Warfield.  My son was crawling around on the floor as I read.  I pondered this thing called “limited atonement.”  As I thought it through, I looked at my son, and this is how I dealt with it.  Could I be honest with him and with God by telling him that Jesus Christ died for him?  How could I tell others that they were welcome to come to Jesus if Christ had not died for them all?  I settled it in my heart by the study of the Word of God that the Father is totally satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ.  His death and blood atonement is for all men.  Not all will avail themselves of it, but none of it is wasted.  It takes all of the Blood of Jesus Christ to save just one sinner.  It was shed for all.  “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

What is your Hand Gripping?            Eleazar gripped his sword so intensely and so long that his hand literally had to be pried away from the sword.  He had found something that so motivated him that he was willing to risk life and limb to make sure that it was safe.  In this instance, it was the defense of Israel from the Philistines.  Eleazar held his people and land so dear that no effort was too much to ask.  He stood with his friends for God and King against a fierce enemy.           I enjoy reading about heroes who stand up no matter what the odds.  The Lord gave them victory and that made the stand all the more glorious.  You and I are in a battle of epic proportions.  The souls of our families are at risk.  The Devil wants you to quit the efforts you have been making to serve God and simply take it easy.  He is not trying to get you to commit adultery as much as he is trying to get you to think about it.  He is not trying to get you to be involved in deep sin as he is trying to get you to quit resisting the flow and trend of the world towards tolerance of wickedness.           Something will be filling our hands.  It may be work, money, power or prestige, but all of us are giving the majority of ability to something.  I want to encourage you to give it to the Lord.  Provide for you family, yes, but do not forget their spiritual development is more important than a comfortable retirement.  Give them what you can, but do not forget to point them to the Giver of all things, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.           Grip this world loosely.  It is but a fading shadow and not that which should consume our thoughts.  1 John 2: 15-17, says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”  Perhaps a better way of saying this is do not allow the world to grip you.            What is filling your hand now?  Is it the world or is it the love of God?  Are you doing the best you know how to serve Him faithfully?  If so, keep keeping on!  If not, start now!  Do not wait another day.  It is high time for the Lord’s people to fill their hands with the Word of God and lay low those who are in rebellion against the King of Kings, bringing them to Him so that they might be reconciled to the Master.  Without fear or favor take the Bible to friend and foe.  The Lord will bless you efforts even to the prying of the sword from your fingers at life’s end.