In This Issue

• "HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID!"
• “DO NOT BE ASHAMED”
• BAPTISTS SEEK TO CONVERT JEWS
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
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Matthew tells us that after Jesus had driven the moneychangers out of the temple and overturned their tables, “Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant and said to Him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’  And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes.  Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise”?’  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there” (Matthew 21:14-17).

We might again underscore, as we have before, that in the days before the New Testament had been put into written form, the miracles of Jesus and His apostles were the credentials that proved their message and ministry were from God.  Jesus had just driven out those who were abusing the temple by turning it into a market place.  The miracles that Jesus performed for the blind and lame were indeed done with compassion on them, but even more so, in order to establish in the minds of those present that He had acted on Divine authority in the cleansing of the temple.  As Nicodemus had said on another occasion, “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” (John 3:2).

In addition to being an act of Divine compassion, and a matter of proving His heavenly authority, these miracles also served to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.  Isaiah had foretold some 750 years before, “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.  Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongues of the dumb sing...” (Isa. 35:4-6).

These great miracles caused the children who were in the temple to praise God and honor Jesus by saying what they had heard the multitudes saying the day before:  “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  This also fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy found in Psalm 8:2, “Out of the mouth of babes and infants You have ordained strength,” or as it was translated in the Septuagint (Greek) translation, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise.”

Thus Jesus received the praise of the Jewish multitudes and rebuked the chief priests and scribes.  After the exchange, Jesus left for the suburb of Bethany, where He was staying each night.  The hatred of the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem is quickly building, and before the week is over, they will be able to turn the multitudes against Jesus, arrest Him, try Him, and cause Him to be crucified.  But even that will not be the end of Jesus Christ, but only a beginning.

--CRJ

Do you ever read the Bible in public?  On a plane?  On a bus?  While waiting in an office?  While on jury duty?  My son, Mark, told me that he heard the late brother Paul Andrews tell about being in a doctor’s office waiting his turn.  He was reading his Bible and a lady said to him, “You must be a preacher!”  They discussed this and he settled back to reading.  He noticed a little later that she picked up a “Movie Magazine” and was reading it.  He said to her, “Oh, you must be a movie actress!”  What is your first thought if you see someone reading a Bible in public?

Many years ago, there was a ferry between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey.  A man was sitting reading the New Testament and a preacher of the gospel happened along and said, “Understandest what thou readest?”  A conversation ensued, an acquaintance, and further study and the man became a Christian.  I later knew him as an elder in a congregation in Philadelphia.  Reading the Bible in public will sometimes evoke questions.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Tim. 1:8, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”  In verse 12, he wrote, “For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  In verses 16-17, an example is given of Onesiphorus: “The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains: But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.”

We associate the Bible with holiness, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, church, noble characters, obedience and responsibility.  If we see a preacher with a Bible we feel that is as it should be.  How about a Christian with a Bible?  In Mark 8:38, Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”  Where do we go for the “words” of Jesus?  What does the generation about us now need?  Paul exhorted the Philippians to “hold forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:16).

We have thriving congregations in the brotherhood today that had small beginnings.  If you were living in a community where brethren were trying to start a work and they began in a rented hall -- maybe a “store front” type of place -- would you help them, or wait until the place of meeting became respectable in the public’s eyes?  I remember Stanley Lovett and the brethren in Danville, Illinois renting a “store front” building nearby trying to spread the gospel.  In early work in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, we tried “tent meetings” with James P. Miller, and others.  A tent in North Philadelphia did not look very imposing amid the big denominational structures.  To come in the evening and find tin cans thrown in everywhere and our chairs turned over was not a good sight.  When such opportunities arise, it takes more than a preacher and a song leader -- we need faithful brethren who are not ashamed of the word of the Lord!

What did it mean to the apostle Paul for Onesiphorus to diligently look him up, not being ashamed of his chains?  When he looked him up he was showing he was not ashamed to associate with his “kind.”  Paul expressed what it meant to him by saying, “he oft refreshed me.”  But Onesiphorus went further than this, because Paul wrote of him, when asking the Lord to be merciful to him, “and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well” (2 Tim. 1:18).

We have brethren in foreign countries trying to plant the seed of the kingdom amid trying circumstances -- lack of meeting places, state religions, loose morals, etc.  They need us to read their reports, pray for them, support them, write them a note without soliciting an answer.  In raising money for Nigeria over 30 years ago, and speaking to the brethren about plans, my closing remarks sometimes were, “Heaven may reveal you did not go, let it not reveal you did not send.”

Let us not be ashamed of God’s word, the gospel, and those who are in need of our help and visits.  Let us not be ashamed to “hold forth the word of life” in our own moral lives with our peers, our example with others, and in aiding the cause as we have and make opportunity.

--James L. Finney, Christianity Magazine, October, 1989

Recently on a TV news program the story was told of a young Jewish boy who was invited to attend a youth program at a Baptist church.  The young boy was asked to “accept Christ as his Savior” and was told he was “saved” and now a “Christian.”  The young boy’s parents and some in the Jewish community seemed to be upset over the attempts by the Baptist church to bring the young boy to “believe in Christ!”  First of all, New Testament Christians know that the plan of salvation as taught in the New Testament involves faith, repentance, confession and baptism.  Baptists teach error when they teach that God’s plan of salvation is “accept Christ as your personal Savior.”  Read Acts 2:37-42; 8:26-36 and other examples of conversion in the book of Acts.  The news person on the program said that the Baptist church was “trying to take the Bible literally in trying to convert all to Christ.”  The news people were calling for people to be more tolerant of other religions and not try to “convert” people from “other religions” to “your religion.”

Think about that for a moment.  If you went to a “Jewish Rabbi” and told him you were thinking about becoming religious, what do you suppose he would do?  Do you think he would give you some literature on the Catholic Church?  Perhaps the “Jewish Rabbi” would give you some materials on how to become a Buddhist!  Do you think he would give a person materials and encourage him to be a Baptist?  No!  He would seek to encourage him to be a Jew.

In Ex. 20:3-17 God gave Moses the ten commandments.  The first, found in verse three, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  There were several so-called gods in the land of Canaan but the Jews insisted that all men follow the true God.  There were many religions in the world then but God was the author of Judaism.  The religions of men were false religions.

Christ died on the cross and did away with the old law, Col. 2:14.  Jesus died on the cross to provide the way of salvation for all, Rom. 5:8; Heb. 2:9.  Jesus said, “Ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).  If we follow the Bible how tolerant can we be?  Can one be saved according to the New Testament, who denies Jesus is the Christ the son of God?  Religious division is sinful, 1 Cor. 1:10-13.  Christ built only one church, Matt. 16:13-19.  If one chooses not to follow the Bible, one religion to him may be as good as another.  The Baptist church and other man-made denominations follow certain parts of the New Testament.

As New Testament Christians who are members of the Lord’s church, we have our instructions from the Lord.  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).  We seek to convert all to the truth, God’s Word, and we make no apology for it

--Ronald D. Gilbert, Seibles Road bulletin, Montgomery, Alabama

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