Abraham was justified because of his faith. Romans 4: 13-17.

 In our last dive into Romans, we saw that Abraham was justified because of his faith. Now he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the covenant God made with Abraham for the Jews. However, through faith, we have been grafted into the vine and are, therefore, Jews by faith.

So that Abraham might be the father of all who believe; well, that certainly means me.

On that note, let's dive in.

Romans 4:13 NASB For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law but through the righteousness of faith.

Perhaps a cleaner version would be the NLT.

Romans 4:13 NLT  Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

Faith, in and of itself, does not have righteousness, but a right relationship is acquired by having faith in God.

Since the Jewish community, in general, does not put their faith in a relationship with Yeshua, then all they have left is an arrogance in the law, and this is why Paul has to say,

Romans 4:14-15 NLT  If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.  (15)  For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

Premise the next few bits of information under this assumption, “If God's promise is for”

• “those who obey the law,”

  Let's not pull any punches here; he is talking about the Jews. None of which keep the law either. Want proof?

  Genesis 6:5 NASB Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

• “then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.”

  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you know that faith is necessary, and the promise is real and gives validity to our hope that there is a heaven to gain, and finally, peace in the love of the Father's arms.

• “For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it.”

  There are many translations, and this one is not necessarily a true statement.

  Some will tell you that the King James version is the only correct and accurate translation, so let’s see what it says. “Because the law worketh wrath.” The Strong’s concordance tells us that the word worketh also means accomplishes or causes. 

  Seriously, the law causes wrath?

  If I kept the law, I might be boring, but shouldn't I be considered righteous in God's eyes, and therefore, excluded from God's punishment?

  The simple answer should be yes. You don't get punished for trying to obey the law.

  You get punished for disregarding the law. Let me ask you a question.

  How many laws (commandments) did Israel start with?

  Ten; and the focus of those laws was to love God and love on people by treating them right. Of course, the idea of being “right” is not based on human standards but on God’s character, nature, and moral standards.

  But Paul writes (NET translation) because where there is no law there is no transgression either.

  The young granddaughter, who reads quite well, ignored the signage at the park, which stated, No riding of any wheeled vehicle on the rubber playground mats, and her tire went between the cracks, which caused her to fall and scratch her face. Her dad did not realize that it was his child screaming because she was actually hurt; then he yelled at her that it was her fault, and she shrieked back, I didn’t know. I will say this, as the adult, I believe it was her father’s job to make sure she learned the rules, but he didn’t do that; he merely focused on some video on his cell phone, as he always does. She is very capable of reading, but who looks at the signs. 

  Isn't this a summary of who we are and what we do?

  Perhaps a better way of considering the law might be this; the law shows us how frequently we stumble and how much we need a savior. 

Romans 4:16 (GW)  Therefore, the promise is based on faith so that it can be a gift. Consequently, the promise is guaranteed for every descendant, not only for those who are descendants by obeying Moses' Teachings but also for those who are descendants by believing as Abraham did. He is the father of all of us,

The promise, once again, is God's promise to Abraham. Hebrews 6 covers it.

God made a promise to Abraham. Since he had no one greater on whom to base his oath, he based it on himself. He said, "I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants." (Hebrews 6:13-14 GW)

Those descendants came through both Ishmael and Issac, but the promise was through the promised seed, Issac.

I struggle to find a translation of Romans 4:17 that made sense.

Romans 4:17 Moffatt NT (as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations). Such a faith implies the presence of the God in whom he believed, a God who makes the dead live and calls into being what does not exist.

Abraham has been married to Sarah, who is now in her 90’s and well past childbearing age, and has produced NO children. Sarah suggests he try it with Hagar, and it works. I am not a doctor, but something tells me that the problem was not Abraham. The problem here is that the promise was meant to be through Sarah, not Hagar. The ability to have faith for a child just became more unreasonable. And yet, Abraham believed God.

The father of many nations, but who would think in these terms?

If we take this idea back to Noah, we can see that the entire earth was, once again, entirely populated through Noah and his descendants.

Consider something, thousands of years later, people seeking religious freedom came to America. There were already people here, but it seemed like there was plenty of land and you could throw a rock and not hit anybody. The point I am making is that there were a number of people but they were not shoulder to shoulder as it often feels now. 

Abraham, most likely, had no idea of what that would eventually look like.

What did Abraham know of God?

Not much. This is a huge assumption because as you read about Adam's transgression in the garden (Genesis 3), you come to the discernment that God instructed Adam in how to keep the penalty for transgression at bay (Genesis 3:21). We ignore the fact that Adam passed this information along orally, first to Cain and Able – whom Cain killed, and then to Seth (the third son in the lineage), who passed that same information down the line to Noah. I am pointing this out because the answers are there if you are willing to think outside the box. But then, there was this lifelike dream that was like no other Abraham had ever had. This dream is where God promises that He will make Abraham the father of many nations.

There was something extraordinary about this dream because we all read about the sacrifice, the blood, and what was said, as though Abraham was physically standing there before God.

I write these studies for believers, and many of them may be familiar with the manner in which God introduced Himself to Abraham; it is because of this assumption that I don't always insert the Bible passage that validates what I am saying. That assumption could be an issue as I am always hoping that some may be coming into a relationship with God as they read this, and seeing the passage would possibly cause faith in them.

That being said, the first interaction, where we see God speaking to, at this point, Abram, is in Genesis 12:1. We are merely spectators and can only assume how this utterance took place, because the details, like so many other incidents in scripture, are left out.

If I look up the Hebrew meanings of what seems like a simple word, “said” we find that some of the likely interpretations are to say in one’s heart, or to think. In reality, the heart is the mind. 

Many years ago, someone said that we should practice listening to God's voice. The idea behind this practice is to respond when He tells you to do something that will bring life into a situation. He will not tell you to jump off a cliff, that would be the devil. If an assertion like this is something you would say, then you should know that the fact that you are bringing out this alternate point demonstrates that you are capable of hearing voices in your head. Not to worry, we all hear voices in our heads. For some, the voice sounds like your wife; a friend; a drill sergeant, or God. Many of us have to sort out which voice we are going to respond to. Practicing listening to God's voice, which is no different than the Holy Spirit of God, could, as it did for Abraham, turn out to be an interesting and productive thing.

Moffat's translation tells us “Such a faith implies the presence of the God in whom he believed.”

Wow, how would it change your life if you did not believe in God, and then, suddenly He appears before you in a very realistic dream, as Jesus Christ, whom you recognize; and therefore, believe what He tells you.
I met such a man - a Muslim, and he now preaches Jesus.

Let's do the breakdown of Romans 4:17.

• “a God who makes the dead live and calls into being what does not exist.”

  Lacking a doctor capable of doing all the tests necessary to determine which of them was infertile could imply that Abraham's body was dead too. But we are not talking about Abraham when we talk about dead people. Paul is referring to Issac, Abraham's son.

  Wait a minute.

  God spared Issac’s life at the last second by causing a Ram to appear in the thicket suddenly.

  So how does death apply to Issac?

  It doesn’t, any more than Sarah being included in this conversation because she was barren unless these people are primarily symbolic. No doubt, all these people died, but Issac represented Jesus and his willingness to be sacrificed for sins. And, if you want to get picky, there was Lazarus, Jesus’ friend. He was dead for four days. There is a significance to that four days as the Jews believe that the spirit stays with the body for three days. This is also the reason that Jesus referred to Jonah as an example of His death and resurrection. So Jesus’ hesitation in going to see him was meant to prove that Lazarus was completely dead and his resurrection, therefore, was to be taken seriously.

• “ and calls into being what does not exist”

  For Sarah, the ability to produce a baby did not exist, and yet there it is.

  The nation Israel did not exist, and yet, there it is.

  Heaven and earth did not exist, and yet John tells us that Jesus, the Word, spoke them into existence.

  If you think about these statements, there are a vast number of other examples as well; and each of those is a call for us to apply faith to the things we think are impossible.

At just the right time Christ will be revealed. 1Timothy 6:13-21

When I closed the last post on 1Timothy chapter six verse 13, we ended with “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.”

Right away, I realize that I, and Paul, are making a huge assumption, and that is that you have a world view founded in the Word of God and understand that there is no law to which we answer that is higher than God's law.

Note that I said, to which we answer. Having spent much of my life in the church, this idea of answering to God carried the penalty of hell. I have since come to understand that hell plays no part in a believer's life, except to understand that Satan, and those who choose to follow him, will spend eternity there. When I say I lived under this misconception, it is not an idea that I actively tried to develop, but one which was repeatedly imposed upon me. My mother, bless her darling heart, expressed it to us children, and it was nothing less than the things she learned during her early days in the church.

So, for Paul to express that before the eyes of God, with whom nothing gets by Him, should carry deep importance and responsibility. If you are a Bible student, you have noticed that obeying God carried great reward, whereas disobeying brought on penalties. It is not as if God is going to or needs to strike you down; we are already down because we were born into sin. Let me give you a scriptural reference or two.

Deuteronomy 28:1-4 NASB (1) "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth. (2) "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: (3) "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. (4) "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

This list of blessings just seems to go on and on. However, there is a negative side.

Deuteronomy 28:15-21 NLT “But if you refuse to listen to the LORD your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: (16) Your towns and your fields will be cursed. (17) Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed. (18) Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed. (19) Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed. (20) “The LORD himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. (21) The LORD will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

While it clearly says that the Lord himself sends curses on you. This statement is not difficult to understand when you realize that the earth we live on has a curse on it, and that is where we live. In Genesis chapter three, we see Satan attempting to deceive Eve, and he did. The pathetic aspect of this deception is Adam stood right there, beside her, hearing everything being said. Do we see him scream out in protest? Not at all, so Eve handed the fruit, that she had taken a bite out of, to Adam; and, by his actions, he committed high treason and handed the earth over to Satan.

Here is what God said about Adam's actions.

Genesis 3:17 NASB Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil, you will eat of it All the days of your life.

The other thing I wanted you to see from 1Timothy 6:13 is that Jesus “testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.” In the previous post, I think I mentioned how Jesus was physically abused by the temple guards and then handed over to the Roman guards, who beat him to within an inch of his life, among other things. To put it bluntly, he was tortured for His faith, yet He still made a good confession before Pilate. I pray that should that day come, I am so strong in my faith and understanding of God that I serve that I also make a good confession.

With that, let's move on.

1 Timothy 6:13-16 NASB I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, (14) that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) which He will bring about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, (16) who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

You already know that Jesus testified a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Still, Paul continues by saying, you keep the commandment... until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time. Think about this, the commandment has everything to do with the appearance of Jesus Christ, who will come at the proper time.

I am not a grammarian, but I do have common sense; and, I have to apply that common sense to the paragraph above because, upon my initial read, I thought that the phrase, “which He will bring about at the proper time,” applied to a commandment which motivated Christ's return, and which we do not see in this passage.

I see now that the commandment has much to do with Paul's words in 1 Timothy 6:10-12. There we can see that verse 10 carries an admonition about money because the love of money will cause you all kinds of grief.

In verse 11, Paul declares that Timothy, and those he teaches, need to flee from these things. These things include the love of money and the things that are to be understood as being in opposition to what we see as good in verse 11 - righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

Verse 12 details how we are to fight the good fight of faith, but how long?

Until Christ returns to catch us away. But there is another aspect that we fail to pay attention to. I will give you several examples.

• The Tree of Life translation states: “Take hold of the eternal life—you were called to it, and you made the good confession for it in the presence of many witnesses.”

• The NLT conveys this: “Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.”

• The Complete Jewish Bible puts it this way. “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses.”

For me, and I might add, this aspect where we take hold of this eternal life that is now ours through Christ Jesus has become crucial in light of the Presidential transition here in the United States of America. We, the people, got robbed; and the people who robbed us do not care, as they are fulfilling a grand and evil scheme that is played out in scripture.

On several occasions, I have been told not to pursue God, nor talk about eschatology, because Jesus Christ will probably not be back for, say, forty more years. I cannot endure such talk because I am well aware of current events going on globally. We could wake up to the news that Iran is firing missiles and lighting up the Middle East. Some would literally pull their hair out at such news but not me; for on that day, I will throw both arms in the air and shout praise the Lord, because my Jesus will be here at any minute.

1 Timothy 6:15 tells us, “...At just the right time, Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. (NLT)

And, until that day happens, we are not to be terribly concerned because -

... through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. (1 Peter 1:5 NLT)

At the right time, He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

1 Timothy 6:16a NLT He alone can never die,

1 Timothy 6:16b CJB who dwells in unapproachable light that no human being has ever seen or can see,

And though may not be honored now, the day is coming when _

1 Timothy 6:16c CEV God will be honored, and his power will last forever. Amen.

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Once again, Paul directs Timothy to speak candidly; this time to the rich.

1 Timothy 6:17 NASB Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

At times I find it difficult to comprehend that believers could be among those who are rich in this current worldly atmosphere.

The Greek word translated as rich can also mean abounding.

So my comprehension is just wrong. Look at Abraham.

So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. (Genesis 13:1-2 NASB)

The word, directed, as said to Timothy, is the Greek word paraggellō. A common translation is to instruct, but it takes on a whole new meaning if you are not in a relationship with the hearer. The word also means to transmit a message, which is understandable, as Timothy preaches to a general but primarily Jewish crowd of converts.

Conceited by definition means: Entertaining a flattering opinion of one's self.

In my Bible, we never see Abraham holding a flattering opinion of himself. 1Timothy 6:17 conveys that we are not to fix our hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.

Is that what we saw with Abraham?

Without a doubt, and I would hope that you noticed, above all else, that Abraham put his faith in God.

1 Timothy 6:18, 19 NLT Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this, they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

• Use your money to do good.

• Be rich in good works.

  It is not because you are trying to earn a better position, next to Christ in heaven, but because it is a decent thing to do in God's eyes.

• If, at all possible, be generous to those in need.

• Always be ready to share with others.

And yes, Paul does explain that there is a benefit being stored in the future (in heaven,) for those that do good works. I can associate this with what I see in Matthew 25. You should read verses 31-46 on your own time. The context is that all the dead have been called to this throne. We see the same thing in Revelation 20, where we see the Great White Throne. Dead, these people did not go up in the rapture, so they were not believers, as we understand it. There is another group of dead and that number grows through the seven years of God's wrath. Again, the Revelation defines that an innumerable amount who die for their testimony through this time called the Great Tribulation, however, these are resurrected to God, and therefore excluded from this call for the dead. Hard-pressed to define the how and why of this group, all I can do is to realize that God's mercy is beyond my comprehension. Look at how they obtain their entrance into the kingdom.

Matthew 25:34-36 NASB "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (35) 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; (36) naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

The actions of these people look like works, but not really, because those who attempt to gain their entrance into the kingdom, are told, that doesn't work, it is by faith alone.

Romans 3:20 NASB because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Well, there you have it, NO ONE will be justified in God's sight, and yet, this group in Matthew 25:43-36. Obviously, we cannot stop here.

Galatians 2:16 NASB nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

It is only by faith through and in Christ Jesus. I know, this doesn't explain how these people gain access, but then, as I said, God's mercy is beyond our understanding. An example of this might be the parable of the person who gets hired, at the beginning of the day, and then gets enraged as others are hired just before dusk, for the same wage. These people that the NASB calls the king, is also the great shepherd and has the right to bring others into the kingdom based upon their acts of kindness, or mercy.

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Paul finishes chapter six with an admonition to Timothy.

1 Timothy 6:20-21 NLT Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. (21) Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God’s grace be with you all.

• Guard what God has entrusted to you.

  Guard also means to watch over or preserve. This responsibility falls on no but us.

How do you go about doing that?

I am glad you asked. Paul tells us to “avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.” I find that I have opportunities to deal with these foolish discussions on a daily basis, and not because it is a situation that I long for.

Paul tells Timothy that some have wandered from the faith by following what these people have spewed out of their mouths as they disperse their foolishness.

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If you have not figured it out Paul, wrote to a believer (Timothy) about those who are either believers themselves or feigning a belief; I do the same when I write. Don't go getting judgmental because we have just moved over into the wheat and tares category. In the horticultural world, I had to learn to distinguish between a weed called brome and wheat; they look so similar, and though I have forgotten far too much. For a time, I knew how to make the distinction between the two. Since most of us do not, we have to leave the separation and, therefore, the pulling of those weeds by God.

I charge you in the presence of God. 1 Timothy 6:13.

If you are a student of the Bible, then you know that we are on the brink of the church being snatched out of here and God's wrath is about to be poured out upon the earth. The message, that I hear coming out the mouths of those who feel they are the global elite, is that they must reduce the population and control those who are left upon the earth, in a fashion that best suits the lifestyle they want to live.

The combination of God's judgment and the cruelty of humanity will lead to a slaughter of those who choose to follow Christ during this time frame, and these are considered to be the martyred saints. (For those who think that humanity can be peaceful and fun, think again. At the point at which God had decided to destroy every living thing on earth, this is what He saw.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 NASB)

Perhaps the NASB does not convince you of the depravity of the human heart, maybe the CEV translation might.

The LORD saw how bad the people on earth were and that everything they thought and planned was evil. (Genesis 6:5 CEV)

As John looks into heaven for the second time, he sees martyred saints; while the number was remarkably large the first time, it is uncountable the second time. It is the death of these “saints,” in record numbers, that leads Christ to say, “the tribulation will be so great.” I will show you this in scripture but want you to pay attention to the wording and how it changes across translations. I will ask for you, as the Holy Spirit told me that several of you will say, why is that important?

The NASB seems to be the common translation, as far too many of us take those two words and apply them to the time of wrath.

"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. (Matthew 24:21-22 NASB)

The word great is the Greek word megas. For many of us, we are familiar with some store having a “mega sale”. The assumption is that their sale is bigger and better than anyone else's. The simple explanation that the Holy Spirit is trying to make, is that this time, in which some megalomaniac rules the earth, the death toll will be exceedingly great.

It would easy to say, we have never seen anything like this, and though some fool may have told you that there was no holocaust, there was. Jewish death tolls reached 6 million; Soviet civilian death tolls reached 7 million; Soviet prisoners of war were around 3 million; non-Jewish Polish civilians hit around 1.8 million, and more than 700,000 people were killed in the death camps for being dissidents, activists, criminals, homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses, Gypsies, Serbians, and people with disabilities. To add to the graphic nature of these numbers, the people of Warsaw said that it rained ashes daily. There is no doubt that the death toll, primarily of those who follow after Christ, during this time of wrath, will exceed those numbers that the death camps generated.

Tribulation is the Greek word thlipsis and – get this, means pressure, affliction, burdens persecution, troubles, and tribulation.

Dear Lord, there is not a day that goes by that I don't experience some form of pressure or affliction. It makes me grateful that I was born in America, and up to March of 2020, it was a sane place to live without the threat of violence, as some of you have.

I light of my introduction above, Paul has some sound words for us all.

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1Ti_6:13-14 NASB)

End, page one.

Look at how the ESV expresses verse 13.

1 Timothy 6:13 ESV I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,

Charge, as we see in the NASB, is the Greek word paraggello. It not only means to charge (as in a legal pleading), but it also carries the connotations of transmitting a message, declare, or command.

Paul may well be saying to Timothy, I command you. Wow, that seems like a harsh way of speaking to someone who could easily be seen as a volunteer. Maybe that's our problem, we merely see ourselves as volunteers, who have the option of walking away at any time.

But there is something I think we need to consider.

Skimming through the Book of Acts leaves you with the impression that everything happened in fifteen-minute increments over a short period of time, and that was not the case. Most of these events occurred over seasons and years.

How would you possibly build the strong bonds that Paul had with the varying bands of new believers he established, in just a few short weeks?

These bonds, built over an extended period of time, allowed Paul to feel that he could speak boldly into their lives, just as we see him doing with Timothy, a young man that may well be in his early thirties by this point.

Some people's words apparently no longer have any value, but there was a time when we used to have people place their hand upon a Bible and swear to tell the truth; even though they do that, they still lie. Paul tells Timothy, I am writing this to you with God looking on, holding you to what I say. I am even calling upon the witness of Christ Jesus, who beaten and bloodied by Jewish and then Roman soldiers, and yet, still made a good confession before Pilate.

Now here is the punch line. I charge you, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of Jesus Christ. That appearing, was for them, a long way off, but they lived as though it was coming any minute. On that note, I recently listened to Chelsi Bedell, a Christian vlogger, talk about a meeting that she went to with her husband. There, Benny Hinn was introduced to the audience. This is the same Benny Hinn that cheated on the wife; and, it is the same Benny Hinn who got wealthy from the ministry. After years of this showmanship, he denounced the faith movement that was so lucrative to him. On that stage that evening, Benny Hinn said, coming to Jesus is the easy part, staying close to Jesus is the hard part. Chelsi said when I heard this I knew it was wrong and that he was a false teacher. Think about Benny and the path he put himself on, it only seems logical that he would say, this road we are on is hard, simply because he could not leave the monetary wealth and was therefore sucked into cheating on his wife.

What did Jesus say?

Take my yoke upon you, for it, is easy and my burden is light. I can tell you that Benny struggled, but his struggle wasn't with God, it was with his own desires, for money and lust.

Once again, Paul tells Timothy, you keep the commandment without reproach.

Well, that's great, but how do you do that?

The answer had already been given in verses 11 and 12, where it says:

But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12 NASB)

End, page two.

You keep the commandment, without reproach by:

• Fleeing from these things.

  The things are the things we see in verses like 1Timothy 6:10, where it says

  "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (NASB)

• Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

  The pursuit of anything else is simply fulfilling your lusts. You figure out if it is destroying you and your relationships.

• Fight the good fight of faith.

  We are not merely swinging at the clouds, we pray and we do it as if our lives and families depended upon it.

• And. take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.

  Hold are the Greek word epilambanomai and means to seize as if for help.

Paul told Timothy, in verse 14, that he should keep the commandment without stain or reproach.

Stain may be best explained through the NLT translation, when it says, “Then no one can find fault with you.”

Reproach is the Greek word anepilēptos. It only occurs three times in the New Testament and all of them occur in 1 Timothy. It is best defined as irreproachable and means free from blame; upright, and innocent.

While God somehow sees us in this manner, it is hard to imagine how as we know the stumbles we make. But God looks through the lens of Jesus on the cross, where everyone was forgiven of sin and redeemed. Sin is that thing which is a permanent part of us thanks to Adam. Since that time every human has been born broken by sin.

Obviously, we needed help.

I have gritted my teeth and sweated as I tried to resist sin, and yet still failed - as far as I was concerned. So there is something here that keeps trying to tell me that staying above reproach is an achievable thing. I will not ask Benny Hinn how to stay above reproach, as he has proven, that he too, is merely a broken man; as we all are.

I want to add one more thing before I end this and move on to the next study.

I put myself in recovery because I was, and still am, an angry man. Before you get all judgmental hold on a minute and pay attention. In recovery I learned, that because of our brokenness we will never be free from our addictions; as I pointed out, mine is anger. But many will say, doesn't this life in Christ make us free from “everything” that bound us? Having known the Lord for many years, and learned that He is faithful, I know that freedom is His heart toward all of us. He has done everything necessary to make that happen. You might remember that Paul whined about his thorn in the flesh – we, religious zealots, turn that thorn into a variety of things. I happen to think that thorn was anger, just like mine. God's response to Paul, was that His grace was sufficient. Translation, I have given you everything you need to be free. 

Alright, here comes the deep wisdom. An alcoholic, or an angry man, has to realize that while they walk this earth (before the rapture) they are dependent upon God's grace and the investment that we have made in our relationship with Christ. What is that investment, since we have nothing to give but our lives? It is exactly that, we, knowing that we are incapable of managing our own lives, turn them over – daily, to the grace and mercy of the living God, Christ Jesus. In doing this (I got this from a television show I watch,) have to make a conscious decision to choose wisdom. Is what I am contemplating worth the pain and harm I am going to do myself and those around me? I, like so many others, have been choosing wisely. Note: I am not asking your opinion, but God's. His opinion is written in His Word. You should consider reading it if you aren't already.