1)
Would to God ye could bear with me a little
in my folly: and indeed bear with me.\
2)
For I am jealous over you with godly
jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3)
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4)
For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him.
|
I |
t is the attitude of Man which leads
him to try to find an easier way to live for the Lord. For him, it is as
natural as breathing to desire as few requirements made of him as possible. The
fact of the matter is that Man feels God’s requirements are really not fair and
that he is not equipped or able to fulfill them. In a nutshell, Man wants the
easiest way out.
The “simplicity” spoken of in verse 3
encompasses truth according to the word of God. Truth according to God’s word
is simple and its basic tenets provide the foundation for all that the Lord
would have us know of Himself and His gospel.
There is indeed no other gospel and no other truth outside of the scriptures. God
said what He meant and meant what He said when it was given. Therefore, the
only truth one can receive is going to come from scripture. If one is not
taught according to the Word of God, then he will never have the truth. This
cannot be changed no matter how many books one reads or classes one takes. Over
the years, the gospel, as authorized by the Lord and propounded by the
disciples, has been watered down that its recipients might find it
“acceptable.” But, a watered down gospel is worse than
no gospel at all! The purpose of the gospel is to save—and it does this in its
fullness and authority. It, then, only stands to reason that any tampering with
its content will, of necessity, render it ineffective. In that the gospel of
Jesus is the only plan which saves, it must be nurtured, protected and
cherished.
The Lord always does all that is
necessary—nothing less, nothing more. Therefore, we must realize that if Man
could have been or ever could be saved other than by the sacrifice of the life
of Jesus, that sacrifice would never have been made.
What often prevents us from seeing the
importance of the fact that “there is no other gospel” is that we lack a full
realization of the “newness of life” of salvation. This realization is
absolutely essential and indispensable for spiritual success.
Too many of our difficulties arise from
the fact that we (the saints of God) are hesitant to be made to “feel bad.”
After all, we are saved, supposed to be the goodness of the Lord and dedicated
to serving Him. Instead of our emphasis being upon profiting from all of our experiences with the Lord, we
want to profit with minimal discomfort. It will never happen.
Perhaps we do not take our espousal to
Jesus seriously enough. Contrary to popular belief and teaching, once one is espoused (past tense),
he or she is very much married, not just engaged (as ascribed to Mary and
Joseph). According to ancient Hebrew custom, we, like Mary and Joseph, are
married and lack but one thing the “coming together” or consummation thereof.
So, our greatest experience is yet to come. However,
though we may lack one of the greatest “privileges” of marriage, we are married
nonetheless and as the “bride of Christ,” we cannot conduct ourselves as we want.
Quite indicative of one’s marital relationship with Christ are one’s natural
marital problems.
That umbrella labeled “sin” is quite
large—and getting larger every day. Anyone who intends to be a part of this
latter day move of the Lord can have absolutely no part in it. Let those who
make excuses for themselves or others be warned as well. All which does not
promote the holiness of God is wrong—and,
He is not on the side of wrong.
We are too easily drawn away from God’s
plan when we begin to accept the devil’s strategy. You see, he is happiest when
he can convince us to look at our situation and take it upon ourselves to
decide what is best for us personally—and do it. If our flesh was interested in
doing the will of God, all would be well. However, it will always choose what
is best for it and therefore, be contrary to the will and word of God.
How will the rest of the World come to
know that “there is no other gospel”? By us erasing the negative impression
that it is impossible to get saved and stay saved. The shabby lives that many
lead are not worthy of a God who delivers from sin.
People, everywhere, want to see
sensationalistic manifestations of God. We could hazard a guess that even some
reading this “...hunger after a sign.” The cold, hard reality is that the
individual can and will never know how great God is until he gets himself under
subjection.
If your search for joy, peace, help or
anything else ended in you finding Jesus, then your search is over. There is
nothing that can help man, save the power of God that we have on the inside.
All other searches will be useless and fruitless.
There can be no other gospel for the gospel that saves souls is that of Jesus
Christ. Since nothing else can do this, nothing else is recognized by the Lord.
So, by now, we should be able to recognize the blatant lies and tricks Satan
attempts to tell us and play on us when he suggests an “easier” way.
The people of God have wasted irretrievable
time running to and fro trying to appease the flesh. Instead of trying to
alter, modify, change and rearrange our legacy and heritage from the Lord,
we need to “sell it” to a generation who, without us, may never get a chance
to know Him.