WILL KNOWLEDGE SAVE?

In chapter four of Hosea, God condemns Israel for her refusal to obey His Word. In verse 1 we note, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” What a desolate condition!

This was a time when there is no truth. A time where the mercy of God is not accepted nor is the knowledge of His goodness respected. God says that the people have separated themselves by “swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery…” (cf. Hosea.4:2). In verse 6 the ancient prophet penned words of destruction due to the malady of the time, hear him, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

It is the case that the people of Hosea’s day had refused to acquire and live by knowledge of the Word of God. They never thought of the penalty for their neglect in all likelihood. They were going along to get along and practicing the same sins as the people about them while God had commanded them to be separate or different from those nations around them, but this seems to have never entered their thought process. They wanted to be like the nations about them when they desired a king. God granted them their wish, but their desire led to great suffering and turmoil.

As Hosea writes God is rejecting His priests and His people. He even forgets their children. A calamity exists in the land that does not respect and know God. We are taught in the Scriptures that eternal life is to “know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). It is rather obvious that there is trouble in our land this day in the year of our Lord, 2015.

Unless we come to a knowledge of God, man will be lost. We remember a classic passage in Judges 2:10 that address situations like this. “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” The first generation out of Egyptian bondage perished in the wilderness.

The second generation is the one that Judges is addressing who were faithful. The third generation was lost because they did not know the Lord. They served Balaam while forsaking the Lord.

Are we talking about an antiquated condition? No! A thousand times NO! We are describing present day America. We are talking about a time when God is respected less and less. There is lying, swearing, killing, stealing, adultery and the list goes on and on. Filth and turmoil fill our news programs while the Bible is closed on the shelf and most of all closed to our hearts. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Knowledge alone will not save. It must be applied to the heart of man. The condition of our time is such that we had better WAKE UP, OPEN UP and READ UP if we want to GO UP to heaven some day. All one has to do is read the front page of the newspaper and we see Hosea all over again.

Harrell Davidson

WILL KNOWLEDGE SAVE?

In chapter four of Hosea, God condemns Israel for her refusal to obey His Word. In verse 1 we note, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” What a desolate condition!

This was a time when there is no truth. A time where the mercy of God is not accepted nor is the knowledge of His goodness respected. God says  that the people have separated themselves by “swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery…” (cf. Hosea.4:2). In verse 6 the ancient prophet penned words of destruction due to the malady of the time, hear him, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

It is the case that the people of Hosea’s day had refused to acquire and live by knowledge of the Word of God. They never thought of the penalty for their neglect in all likelihood. They were going along to get along and practicing the same sins as the people about them while God had commanded them to be separate or different from those nations around them, but this seems to have never entered their thought process. They wanted to be like the nations about them when they desired a king. God granted them their wish, but their desire led to great suffering and turmoil.

As Hosea writes God is rejecting His priests and His people. He even forgets their children. A calamity exists in the land that does not respect and know God. We are taught in the Scriptures that eternal life is to “know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). It is rather obvious that there is trouble in our land this day in the year of our Lord, 2014.

Unless we come to a knowledge of God, man will be lost. We remember a classic passage in Judges 2:10 that address situations like this. “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” The first generation out of Egyptian bondage perished in the wilderness.

The second generation is the one that Judges is addressing who were faithful. The third generation was lost because they did not know the Lord. They served Balaam while forsaking the Lord.

Are we talking about an antiquated condition? No! A thousand times NO! We are describing present day America. We are talking about a time when God is respected less and less. There is lying, swearing, killing, stealing, adultery and the list goes on and on. Filth and turmoil fill our news programs while the Bible is closed on the shelf and most of all closed to our hearts. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Knowledge alone will not save. It must be applied to the heart of man. The condition of our time is such that we had better WAKE UP, OPEN UP and READ UP if we want to GO UP to heaven some day. All one has to do is read the front page of the newspaper and we see Hosea all over again.

Harrell Davidson

Who Sets the Terms Of Fellowship

The original word for fellowship is "joint participation." Another word that describes fellowship is "partners" (cf. Luke 5:7, 10). These disciples were partners in the occupation of fishing, but we are not talking about fishing. We are talking about what the word fellowship means and how it is used in the Scriptures. The church in Jerusalem "...continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).

If we can ascertain what the apostles' doctrine was/is we will know the answer the question posed above. Jesus said, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke9:26). Jesus said, “My words.” Were the words He spoke His own? No they were not! Jesus plainly said, "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me" (John 17:8). Now, please notice with me the following. The apostles' words or teaching and the words or teaching of Christ was received by Christ from God the Father. They were not His words in that they originated with Him, but the very Words of God – the words God gave Him. Therefore, the apostles' doctrine was the doctrine of Christ which was the doctrine that God gave Him and He to the apostles. Anyone who can see through a ladder can see this.

Let us back up to Acts 2:42 and ask, was one not following the apostles' doctrine in fellowship with them? A resounding "No!" Okay, was one not following the apostles' doctrine in fellowship with Christ? Again the answer is "No" We ask again, was one who was not following the apostles' doctrine (teaching) and the doctrine (teaching) of Christ, in fellowship with God? Again, the answer is absolutely "No" Since the saved were added to the church (cf. Acts 2:47) those who did not obey the apostles doctrine would not be in the church would they? "No!" There were no saved ones outside the body of Christ. One may ask, what if one had obeyed the Gospel and was added to the church but followed not in the doctrine of the apostles, Christ and God, are they in fellowship with the faithful in the Lord's church? "No!"

Did not Paul and other inspired writers warn the church about fellowship practices? Of course they did! Consider Paul's letter to the Ephesians when he commanded, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). We wish to ask, was this Paul's doctrine alone? No, it was the doctrine of Christ. Was it the doctrine of Christ alone? No, it was the doctrine of God. What is/are "works ofdarkness?" This is any work or practice that is not authorized in God's eternal Word. How, then, can we fellowship those who do not follow the teachings of Christ?

What about those who bid God speed to one who does not abide in the teachings of Christ (cf. II John 9-11)? The Scriptures say that such a one does not have either the Father or the Son? Someone might say, "Brother so and so does not believe the error nor does he teach the error of the false teacher. Why he only speaks on the same programs with the false teacher." God says in essence that such a one has left God behind.  

Harrell Davidson

“Will Modernism Destroy Us?”

In the past several years we have seen modernism raising its ugly head in the churches of Christ. Several elderships and many preachers have taught regarding the perils of modernism. These saw the effects of it in various congregations as well as in many denominations. We raised our voices and some heard while others did not care. Those who a few years ago had the “I don’t care” attitudes are today given over to modernism and its trends. 

We submit that modernism is not a new thing at all. In fact, the tempter was the first modernist. When Satan said, “yea hath God said,” he began the slippery slope down the dark road of modernism. 

Modernism promised in the temptation something that is impossible for man to be—“as God.” We must understand that modernism denies the reality of sin. Modernism waters sin down to the point that it no longer exists regardless of what the Scriptures teach. For instance, look what Adam said after the fall, “the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). 

Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed God, and from then until now man has not been prone to shoulder his own personal responsibilities for the most part. 

Very few in the Scriptures admitted that they had sinned. We want to shift responsibility to someone or something else because we must “white- wash” our own faults and set out thinking toward a more modern view of the Word in order to justify ourselves. Why? Because modernism is man’s effort to make the Bible conform in varying degrees to what man wants all the way to re-constructing the Gospel to the restructuring of the church. 

Ah, now we see why so much liberalism and compromise permeates us today. Many do not want to do what the Bible says so we will get us a new Bible that will suit our own style of living or we will ignore plain passages not thinking of judgment (cf. John 12:48). The modernist goes on with these thoughts and teaches that “everything dwells in varying degrees and can be measured.” Measured by what? Of course, by the instrument or thing that the modernist creates! 

This would require some method, and the way to determine method is very important. For instance, you cannot smell, taste, or see the modernist. An x-ray machine will not find them out. However, their words do and will betray them. Subjectivity led to this malady in a large way. The conduct of some Christians makes others resign from the thought of pure Christianity, and this is hypocrisy. Division has been created among us as well as the religious world in general. 

This, in my judgment, is one of the things that has led many toward agnosticism. And, why not! The modernist already rejects the Bible especially every miracle that is given therein. There is no study among them except trying to find a defense of the very selfish doctrine they hold dear. They can, all day long, tell one what the Bible does not say, while ignoring what it does say. All of us need to study the Bible more than we do because this is the only thing that will lead us to a wholesome Christianity. We need to ask for evidence. We need to state (live) our faith instead of showing a lack of faith. We need to teach the Scriptures to our children. As long as we feed them with intellectualism, modernism will flourish. Modernism will starve to death if we will feed ourselves and the people we teach the pure Word of God. 

Harrell Davidson