Basic Bible Doctrine – Who Says Jesus Is God? (Verbal Testimonies From Mark 1:1-11)

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Wayne Davies

The deity of Jesus Christ is the bedrock of biblical Christianity and one of the foundational truths of the Bible. Repeatedly the New Testament teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, which simply means that Jesus is God the Son.

The evidence for the deity of Jesus is overwhelming and is found on virtually every page of the New Testament. For example, let’s take a look at Mark 1 and see whether the deity of Jesus is presented. Mark 1:1 states categorically that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now let’s see how Mark unpacks that statement with verbal testimonies about the identity of Jesus.

1. The testimony of the Old Testament prophets (Mark 1:2-3).
Mark begins his record of the ministry of Jesus by describing his forerunner, John the Baptizer. And he introduces John by quoting Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. That second verse makes it clear that John’s mission was to tell people to get ready “for the Lord”, and the word “Lord” (in Isaiah 40:3) is the Hebrew word “Yahweh”, the most common name of God in the Old Testament. God Himself was coming, so get ready!

2. The testimony of John the Baptizer (Mark 1:4-8).
John described Jesus as someone infinitely greater than himself. He said that this Jesus would be “more powerful than I” and a person “whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie” (Mark 1:7). The reason John ascribed such praise to Jesus is because John knew that Jesus was not only a man, but also God in human flesh.

John the Baptizer himself quotes Isaiah 40:3 (in John 1:23). And John’s recognition of the deity of Jesus is evidenced when John said “he (Jesus) was before me” (John 1:30) and “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).

3. The testimony of God the Father (Mark 1:9-11).
When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, God the Father spoke from heaven and said to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). So not only did Old Testament prophets predict the coming of the Son of God, and not only did John the Baptizer recognize Jesus as God’s Son, but here is God Himself testifying to the divine identity of Jesus.

Do you ever imagine yourself being present at some great event of the past? Wouldn’t it be cool if there really were such a thing as a “time machine”, so we could travel back in time and witness the past rather than only read about it?

I would love to have been there at the baptism of Jesus. How about you? We would have heard God proclaim from heaven that Jesus is the Son of God!

Is this not a testimony worth our full attention and consideration?  If God said it, shouldn’t we take it to heart?

Yes, make no mistake about it – the Bible is quite clear in its teaching about the identity of Jesus. He is presented as none other than God the Son, God in a human body. May the truth of the deity of Jesus Christ grip our hearts and cause us to bow at His feet today.

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What Is Religious Hypocrisy? (Words You Never Want to Hear From Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23)

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Wayne Davies

According to those who heard Jesus speak firsthand, “no one every spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46). There was something captivating about the preaching and teaching ministry of Jesus Christ. He could say things that either enthralled or baffled his audience.

Jesus also said things that could scare the living daylights out of you. The more I read the four gospels, the more I find statements that petrify me. Like this one: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Jesus is describing a conversation that will take place on Judgment Day between himself and a person who thinks he is going to heaven but ends up in hell. Not every person who says “Jesus is my Lord; I’m a Christian” will spend eternity walking the streets of gold.

Doesn’t that statement grip your soul and make you tremble?

What does it mean? I think it means this: talk is cheap. I can say I believe in Jesus and not really be a believer. I can profess faith in Christ and not really have faith. I can pray the sinner’s prayer and not really mean it.

Jesus continues this account of Judgment Day like this: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

So a person can prophesy (preach), drive out demons and even do miracles and not be a genuine Christian. If that is true, can we not also assume that a person can attend church every Sunday, read the Bible every day, and give away thousands of dollars to help the needy, and not be a true believer?

How can this be? What is the point of these stunning statements?

Jesus is addressing one of his most favorite topics: hypocrisy. He’s describing a religious hypocrite. And he’s confronting all of us with the ultimate eternal destiny of those whose profession of faith is only that. Jesus is making clear the huge difference between profession of faith and possession of faith.

What should we do when we read a passage like this? We look in the mirror and ask, “Am I for real? Am I a genuine Christian, or am I a hypocrite?”

We take to heart the exhortation of Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” This is a difficult thing to do, but it is necessary.

So I urge you to examine yourself today, and as often as is necessary for the rest of your life. Doing it now instead of later could make a world of difference on Judgment Day.

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The Greatest Commandment: Top 10 Things To Do With Your Heart (Psalm 119)

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Wayne Davies

The Bible is a long book. My 1978 New International Version is 1,156 pages long. Ever wonder what the main point of the Bible is? Whether you’ve ever read the whole thing or not, would you like to know one of its central teachings?

One day an Old Testament scholar asked Jesus to tell him the most important commandment in the Bible. For Jesus, this was an easy question to answer. He cut right to the chase with this response: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

The Bible is crystal clear about this – the most important thing I’m supposed to do is love God with everything I am.

But I need help. I need more direction. I want to know what loving God looks like.

What I’m asking is: How do you do that? How do you love God with all your heart, soul and mind?

Is there a passage in the Bible that tells us what it means to love God completely?

I think there is! I think Psalm 119 helps us answer this question. And wouldn’t you like to know not just what we’re supposed to be doing on earth, but how we’re supposed to do it?

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible (176 verses), and virtually every verse is about the Bible. But it’s also a wonderful treatise on the heart, because the word “heart” appears about 15 times (depending on which translation you’re reading).

So here are 10 ways you can love God with your heart, in the order they happen to appear in Psalm 119:

1. Seek God with all your heart (Psalm 119:2, 10, 58)

2. Praise God with an upright heart (Psalm 119:7)

3. Hide God’s word in your heart (Psalm 119:11)

4. Set your heart on God’s laws (Psalm 119:30)

5. Allow God to set your heart free (Psalm 119:32)

6. Obey God’s law with all your heart (Psalm 119:34)

7. Keep God’s precepts with all your heart (Psalm 119:69, 112)

8. Allow the Word of God to be the joy of your heart (Psalm 119:111)

9. Call to God with all your heart (Psalm 119:145)

10. Let your heart tremble at God’s word (Psalm 119:161)

What do you think? Does that help? It sure helps me.

Over the next 10 days, why not spend a day focusing on each of these ten specific ways to love God with your heart. This is what the Christian life is all about. This is what the Christian life should look like.

How are you doing? Like me, there’s plenty of room for improvement, right?

As you work on each of these areas, keep in mind this powerful and comforting promise – “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

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Attributes of God: God Never Sleeps – How Can This Be? (Psalm 121:1-4)

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Wayne Davies

When you need help, where do you look? When you are in a bind, to whom do you go?

The writer of Psalm 121 tells us where he looks and to whom he goes when he’s got a problem. “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

I live in northeast Indiana where it’s about as flat as it gets. We don’t have any hills around here, so I find it difficult to relate to the reference to hills. So if you happen to live in a place devoid of topographical variety, perhaps we need to paraphrase these verses like this – “I lift up my eyes to the trees” or “I lift up my eyes to the sky”.

You get the idea. The point is obvious – the psalmist looked up because he knew that God lives in heaven. And this God above is his source of comfort and strength down below.

More importantly, this believer tells us why he goes to God in time of need. “He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:3-4).

This is an amazing statement: God never sleeps. He has never slept and he never will sleep. He has never even take a nap!

To the child who asks, “Where did God come from?”, we humbly answer, “God always existed. He is without beginning or end.”  And to the child who asks, “How old is God?”, we simply say, “God has always existed. He has no birthday, so we don’t know how old he is. He is eternal.”

So, from eternity past, which is a mind-bending concept that mere mortals will never get our brains around, God has not only existed, but he has existed in a state of complete consciousness. Always awake, never tiring, never running out of steam. He is as strong as he has ever been without ever pausing for a moment to sleep.

How can this be? We love to applaud athletes who excel in their craft and make the rest of us look weak and incompetent. How much more amazed should we be in the presence of the Almighty God who does not sleep, while we struggle to remain awake for 18 hours.

There are a 1,001 reasons to worship the Maker of heaven and earth. Certainly this is one of them — he never sleeps. And because He never sleeps, never takes a day off, never even takes an afternoon off, we can go to him in our time of need, confident that he will hear us and provide the help we need.

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Protected: Basic Bible Doctrine – The Baptism of Jesus and the Meaning of the Dove (Mark 1:10)

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Wayne Davies

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Attributes of God – God’s Ownership and Our Gratitude (Why You Need To Embrace Both)

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Wayne Davies

Lately I’ve been thinking how self-absorbed I can be. Perhaps you can relate to this modern parable:

I got out of my bed this morning and put on my clothes. Then I went downstairs and made a cup of hot tea in my favorite mug. Then I left my house, got in my car and drove to my job. And I did it all my way.

Of course, there’s a sense in which I everything I just wrote is true. And even the Bible condones the concept of private property, otherwise there would be no commandment against theft (Exodus 20:15).

But then I read verses such as Psalm 50:10-12, “every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousands hills . . . for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

This is Almighty God speaking here. And he makes it quite clear who owns everything on this planet. He does. A plethora of Bible passages testify to that (see Leviticus 25:23, Deuteronomy 10:14, Psalm 24:1, Haggai 2:8).

So nothing that I “own” is really mine. It all belongs to God. Only because of his grace do I get to use it and take care of it temporarily. This is what the Bible calls “stewardship”.

Furthermore, the Bible also says that God owns us. He is owner of everything on earth, including us.  He owns us because he made us. And because he created us, he gets to do with us as he pleases.

We belong to him. Signed, sealed, delivered – we’re his.

This is what the apostle Peter had in mind when he wrote, “You are . . . a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9).  Likewise did the psalmist sing, “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3).

If you are fortunate enough to finish this article, it will be because of one reason – the grace, mercy and love of God. If God chooses to end your life before you finish reading this article, he will have done you no wrong. And should I slump over in my chair and die before finishing this article, God will have done me no wrong.

Our lives hang by the thread of God’s sovereign grace, because life is a gift from God. You get one shot, one opportunity, one at bat.

So today I urge you to take a breath and receive a gift from the hand of Almighty God. Such a perspective can renew your spirit, revitalize your gratitude, and change your life.

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Protected: Basic Bible Doctrine – What Does It Mean To Repent? (Mark 1:15)

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Wayne Davies

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Bible Reading Tips – What You Can Learn About God By Asking One Simple Question (Psalm 119:57-64)

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Wayne Davies

Psalm 119 is a treasure chest of truth for the earnest Bible reader willing to search for it. God has revealed himself in his Word and the longest chapter in the Bible teaches us much about the character of God.

When reading any passage of Scripture, you can learn by simply asking questions of the text. The first question to ask is, “What does this passage teach me about God (Father, Son or Holy Spirit)?”

Today I read and meditated on Psalm 119:57-64 and found four verses in this passage that taught me something wonderful about God.

God is righteous (Psalm 119:62)
“At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws”. Isn’t this amazing? The psalmist was so thankful for God’s Word that he would get up at midnight to thank him for it! Note that he is thankful for God’s “righteous laws”. The laws of God are righteous because God is righteous. He always does the right thing. He is morally pure. God is the only perfect being in the universe, and his Word is a wonderful reflection of that perfection, causing David to sing, “the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6).

God is gracious (Psalm 119:58)
God is holy and righteous, but we are not. Scripture repeatedly teaches the utter depravity of humanity. We are sinners – we daily commit acts of unrighteousness because we are by nature unrighteous. We have broken God’s law and stand before him as a guilty criminal before the Judge, deserving of punishment, the sentence of death (both physical and eternal) hanging over our heads.

But God is not only righteous, he is also gracious! He is so gracious that he has provided a way for us to be rescued from the wrath of God. And so the psalmist can cry out, “Be gracious to me according to your promise.”

In the Old Testament, a repentant Jew would offer an animal sacrifice to atone for his sin. Fortunately, this sacrificial system is no longer necessary because God sent his Son Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice, and his death pays the penalty that we deserve to pay for our sin.

And so God is infinitely gracious, extending unmerited, undeserved favor to us by putting forth Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and thereby satisfying God’s justice toward our sin.

God is loving (Psalm 119:64)
Why would God do such a thing? Because he is a loving God. We experience his love every day through the sun and rain that cause the crops to grow so we can have food on our tables. And so the psalmist could say, “The earth is full of your love, O Lord”.

But the ultimate expression of God’s love is the coming of God the Son into the world as a Man. Jesus was the Father’s greatest gift to us and so the best-known verse in Scripture tells us that God loved us by sending Jesus to provide eternal life instead of eternal death to anyone who believes in him (John 3:16).

God is all-satisfying (Psalm 119:57)
The righteousness, grace and love of God are mind-boggling truths. For the Christian, they are the reason we gather weekly to worship Him corporately. And they are the reason we praise him daily no matter where are.

And they are the reason the psalmist can say, “You are my portion, O Lord”. Having experienced the wonder of who God is and what he has done to save a guilty sinner from hell, we too find our ultimate satisfaction in him.

Seeing the righteousness of God most clearly in the person of Jesus Christ, receiving his grace and love through repentance of sin and faith in him, we now can proclaim, “My soul will be satisfied with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you” (Psalm 63:5).

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Protected: Basic Bible Doctrine – What Does It Mean to Believe the Gospel? (Mark 1:15)

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Wayne Davies

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Bible Reading Tips – What Is Your Motive for Reading the Bible?

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Wayne Davies

For many Christians, reading the Bible is critical. We call it our “Quiet Time” and we go to great lengths to make sure we have it. We want to read, study and meditate on the Word, for it is our daily bread. Did not Jesus himself say that “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word the comes from the mouth of God?” (Matthew 4:4).

There is a danger to avoid, however, when we read the Bible — treating Bible time as an end in itself rather than the longing of a seeking heart to experience and enjoy intimacy with God.

Psalm 119:2 speaks to this issue – “Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart“.

And so we must regularly examine ourselves and our motives. I’m writing this article to challenge you and me to ask ourselves the question, “Why do I read the Bible? Do I read the Bible merely to acquire knowledge that becomes a badge of pride, a way to impress my Christian friends, a means to receive praise from others?”

If that is the case, Bible time has little to do with seeking God. Rather, it has everything to do with me – my self-seeking, self-absorbed agenda of impressing others so I can be viewed as spiritually mature, when in fact I may be anything but that.

If this is an area you struggle with, I’d like to encourage you to spend time in prayer about it. Confess the pride of Bible knowledge as an end in itself and ask God to instill in you a greater desire to spend time in the Word because you want to spend time with Him.

Focus on the simple fact that being a Christian is first and foremost an intimate relationship with your Maker. And this relationship, like any good relationship, is characterized by communication between two people – you and your God. This communication must be a two-way street. We communicate to God through prayer, and He communicates to us through the Bible.

God wants to speak to us through His Word. When we read the Bible, we have the wonderful privilege of hearing what He has to say.  And when we listen, with an open heart and a humble mind, there is a communion that takes place that satisfies the soul and brings us into the very presence of King Jesus.

Oh that this would be the cry of our hearts every time we open the Word and read it: “I seek you with all my heart . . . Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain” (Psalm 119: 10, 36).

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