THE GREAT THINGS OF MY LAW

BEN F. VICK, JR.

Hosea prophesied during the reigns “of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel” (Hosea 1:1). He is called “the death-bed prophet.” This was because he was the last to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom before she fell to Assyria in 722 B. C.  He has also been identified as “the prophet of the broken heart,” because he saw the direction of a sinful nation that would not change courses.  

Among the sad statements in the book of Hosea is this one: “I have written to him the great things of my law, But they were counted as a strange thing.” (Hosea 8:12.) Hosea was God’s messenger, God’s spokesman. These words of Hosea echo and resonate through the centuries to our present time. 

Hosea said, “I have written to him [Ephraim or Israel]….”  God had previously revealed his law to Moses at Mount Sinai to Israel. For the first time, a written law was given to a people. Moses recounted the occasion before his death on Mount Nebo. He wrote:

And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;)…. (Deut. 5:1-5.)

God’s law to Israel was not for all people but his chosen people Israel. It was a law that educated a people to lead them to Christ (Gal. 3:23-25). However, it was abrogated when Jesus died on the cross (Col. 2:14). All are now obligated to a better covenant (Heb. 8:6-13). The first covenant had great things within it, but the second has better things.

Hosea penned, “I have written to him the great things of my law….” Though no man is under that old law system, the law of Moses; today, we are under the new law (Rom. 8 2; 1 Cor. 9: 21; Gal. 6:2; James 1:25). Just as Israel was under a covenant, so are all men obligated to the new covenant which has great things in it. What are some of the great things within the law of Christ today?

The plan of salvation is found within the law of Christ. Actual forgiveness of sins is made available because of Jesus’ death on the cross (Col. 1:1-14). There was no real forgiveness under the old law. The New Testament teaches one to believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4). One must turn away from his sins (Acts 3:19; 17:30). An individual is to confess Christ before men (Rom. 10:10). Then, a person must be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). 

The revealing of the church, the manifold wisdom of God, is found in the law. The greatest divine institution is the church. Therein, salvation is found. All other spiritual blessings are found within it (Eph. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:10). Sweet fellowship is found within it (1 John 1:7). True peace made possible by reconciliation to God is there (Eph. 2:13-19). 

Hosea does not stop with, “I have written to him the great things of my law.”  He sadly adds, “But they were counted as a strange thing.” The law of Moses was foreign to Ephraim because from the time of Jeroboam I, Israel had turned to idolatry. God said, “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.” (Hosea 4:6.)

All that needs to be done for God’s people to consider his law foreign is to neglect it. When preachers do not preach the word and elders do not demand first principles to be taught regularly, the church will see the New Testament as strange. Years ago, an older couple came to the congregation where I was laboring. They had left a church that had introduced the organ into the worship. I asked them when the last time they had heard a lesson against mechanical instruments of music in worship to God. They told me it had been sixteen years. Sixteen years!! Every year there needs to be a lesson on what is authorized by God in worship. I believe churches of Christ in many places have introduced clapping, swaying, or instrumental music in worship (they stand or fall together) because preachers are failing to preach against these things.

 There is a need to be balanced in our preaching and teaching. The grace, mercy, love, and longsuffering of God should be preached for they too are the great things of the law. Christians need lessons on the Christian graces (2 Pet. 1:5-11). We need studies on the existence of God, the deity of Christ, the personality and work of the Holy Spirit, the one church, Christian living, etc. God’s word has rich treasures on the surface and precious truths deep below the surface. We benefit from both. 

Study your Bible daily. It is a lamp to our feet and light to our path (Psa. 119:105). The word of God’s grace can build us up and give us an inheritance with the saints (Acts 20:32). His word is all-sufficient for our spiritual needs (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Do not let it become a strange thing to you. 

JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA

W. L. Totty

Text:  John 6: 15-24

The text of our lesson describes events which occurred shortly after Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand.  The multitude was fed, as Luke says, in “a desert place belonging to the city of Bethsaida,” which was situated on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  The miracle of feeding the five thousand is recorded by all four of the gospel writers.  Luke, however, omits the account of Jesus’ walking on the sea.

It seems that the people were thoroughly convinced by the miracle of feeding the multitude that Jesus was the Messiah, but they had allowed their patriotism and love for their country to blind them to the real purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world.  They had been subjugated to the Roman government for many years; and they expected Jesus to lead them in battle against their enemies, as David of old had done.  Thus we have the statement in John 6:15, “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”  Just why Jesus did not at this time describe to them his real purpose in coming into the world is not known.  For some reason he preferred not to tell them, but to depart from them.  We can only conclude from that that the time had not come for Jesus to tell in detail his purpose.  However, when he was apprehended and taken before Pilate, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world:  if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews:  but now is my kingdom not from hence.”  (John 18: 36.)

We learn by Matthew that Jesus sent his disciples by boat to Capernaum, his home, on the western shore of Galilee, before he dismissed the multitude.  And after the multitude went away, he went up into a mountain to pray.

The record tells us that “they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs” when they saw Jesus walking on the sea.  That would indicate that they had rowed about three miles from the place where they started on the eastern coast of the Sea of Galilee.  Their course, however, did not take them across the main body of the sea, but parallel to the northern shore; so, we are not to conclude that they were three miles offshore when Jesus came walking on the water.  It is possible that he was following along the northern shore of the sea, watching them as they rowed along.  It is a great consolation to Christian people today to know that Jesus is near and is watching us in all of our trials and tribulations.  The apostle Peter tells us that “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.”  (1 Pet. 3:12.)

It is not necessary to conclude that the storm which arose on the sea was a miracle.  It was more likely just one of the many things that are apt to cross the path of the children of God.  And the point that we need to learn is that when those things come, Jesus is there to help us.  In the midst of their trouble, they saw “Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship:  and they were afraid.”  Matthew says, “They were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.”  Fear always reflects a lack of faith.  The disciples so soon forgot the loving care and protection of Jesus when he had performed the miracle to save the multitude from hunger.  Now they revert back to superstition and believe that they see a spirit and are afraid.  But Jesus calmed their fear by saying, “It is I:  be not afraid.”  In other words, where Jesus is, there is no cause for fear.

Matthew tells us that Peter asked Jesus for permission to walk on the water; and the record says, “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”  Faith had dispelled fear, and Peter was able to walk on the surface of the water just as Jesus did. But Matthew further tells us that when Peter “saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.”  Peter’s faith, though strong enough to enable him to walk on the water, was not strong enough to completely annihilate fear.  As long as he looked to Jesus, he was able to walk on the surface of the water; but when he took his eyes from Jesus, and focused them on the boisterous sea around him, he lost his faith; and fear took possession.  It manifests a weak faith for us to be afraid when God has promised to be with us.

At that point, the disciples “willingly received him into the ship:  and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.”  How true it is today that when, in the midst of trials and perplexities and troubles of all sorts that come upon us daily, we receive Jesus, we are immediately transferred across the sea of our material troubles.

(Gospel Advocate, August 1, 1957, pp. 482-483.)

THE PREACHER AND HIS TEXT

Mike Kiser

       “The word text is from the Latin textus or textum and signifies something woven or spun. It is, therefore, that out of which the sermon is woven, the basis of the sermon or discourse” (William Evans, How to Prepare Sermons, p. 25). 

       One of the first questions to be dealt with must be: “Does a sermon have to have a text?” Phillips Brooks in his monumental work Lectures on Preaching made this observation:

For over six hundred years now it has been the almost invariable custom of Christian preachers to take a text from Scripture and associate their thoughts more or less strictly with that.  For the first twelve Christian centuries there seems to have been no such prevailing habit. 

Some today would say yes, a sermon should have a text, and some would say no! My personal preference has always been to preach from a text.

A good thing to keep in mind is that a text out of context is nothing more than a pretext. This can happen when the preacher takes a passage of scripture as the text for his sermon and then makes no further use of it or allusion to it. Probably most young preachers starting out have been guilty of failing to handle aright the word of truth on this matter. 

Sometimes the temptation to be sensational causes the immature to select outlandish titles for their sermons such as:  “Seven Ducks in a Muddy Stream,” “Seven NOTS in the Devil Tale,” “Giving the Pigs a Permanent Wave,” and such like. Then off the preacher goes to twist a text around to fit his topic. The congregation gets carried away but not necessarily to get their feet planted on higher ground.  If an older preacher happens to be in attendance, he reflects upon an occasion or two in which he carried on like that in his pulpit, and with a silent whisper to himself says, “He will quit doing that after a while.”

It is a good thing to preach “from” a text and not come along after the sermon has been constructed and search through the concordance for a verse to hang over the front door. To use the words of William Evans again, “The text is not to be a mere motto for a sermon, nor is it to be chosen after the theme or subject is chosen, and the sermon finished” (p.25).

G. Campbell Morgan gave three solid reasons for preaching from a text: (1) the authority that is in the text as being a part of the word of God, (2) the definiteness which it must give, when properly dealt with, to the Christian message, and (3) the maintenance of variety (Preaching, p. 60).

A well-chosen text can arouse the interest of the congregation.  It also can gain the confidence of the congregation that the preacher is going to proclaim the Word of God, that indeed they are about to hear a “thus saith the Lord.”  James David Burrell wrote:

As the shadows of the Dark Ages gathered and deepened, the Bible became a neglected book, almost as wholly forgotten as in the period preceding the reign of Josiah.  Preachers began to take their text from the fathers, from Aristotle or other philosophers, from almost anywhere.  As a result, the message of the pulpit became distinctively ethical, not infrequently secular, and the Biblical factor was largely eliminated from the current consideration of the problems of life (The Sermon, p. 29).

Some congregations may be headed for the Dark Ages again as their esteemed pulpit committee praises them over their selection of “Dr. Boorus Moore” to occupy center stage to entertain the faint-hearted with his worthless opinions.  And “I say so” from the pulpit is a sure way to send the sheep into a wilderness wandering and the young folks to their ever-ready texting machines!  A text will always help the congregation to stay with the preacher’s train of thought, and at the same time, it will keep the preacher on track as well.  The text is a sure nail on which he is to hang his arguments. 

Jacob Fry, in his short but worthwhile work, Elements of Homiletics (1897), gave some good advice on the subject of “Choosing a text.”  He had a list of eleven “dos and don’ts.” These three I will share with you: (1) “Texts should neither be too long or too short.” His words of caution suggested that an “extended passage” could confuse the mind by the variety of subjects included and because the text is not easily remembered.  But the opposite problem would be selecting one or two unimportant words from a verse and building the sermon around them. (2) “Passages should not be chosen for text simply because they are unusual and striking.” The problem being they may not teach what the sermon is meant to set forth.  (3) The following worthwhile observation was on the question of whether it is proper to use “texts by way of accommodation., i.e. selecting a text for the purpose of illustrating some truth to which the text has no reference or connection.” Fry gave this observation: “The chief objection urged against it is that it is an unauthorized use of the sacred narrative and puts a meaning into it which was never intended” (p.15-24).

How do we choose a text?

Texts are sometimes chosen out of our regular reading, sometimes in order to deal with some special need, sometimes in order to define doctrinal teachings, and sometimes because of their revelation of great things...in that regular reading of the Bible devotionally, there will constantly be discovered some one text, some one statement, some one verse, which grips.  When such is the case let us never hurry on.  It is good to stop and put it down.  Postpone further reading, until we have at least said to ourself, Why did that arrest me; what is there in that which pulled me up?  Make note of it (Morgan, p. 64, 65).

The Bible is a big book!  A Bible-reading preacher will never run out of ammunition. 

—Gospel Gleaner.  Summer 2022.

ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR THE SAME END

W.L. Totty  (Deceased)

       The apostle Paul compares the church to the physical body.  He said, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body; so also is Christ.” (I Cor. 12:12.)  As there is but one Christ, there is also but one body.  Paul says, “For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (V. 13.)

In comparing the church with the physical body, the apostle Paul said, “For the body is not one member, but many.” (V. 14.)  Christ “is the head of the body, the church,” (Col. 1:18); and “we are members one of another.” (Eph. 4:24.)  Paul says: “If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?  If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.  And if they were all one member, where were the body?  But now are there many members, yet but one body.” (Vs. 15-20.)  That does away with the idea that there are many churches using different names and teaching various doctrines.

The above scripture is easily understood.  All the members of the human body, each with a different function, constitute only one body.  Our work in the church must be done according to our individual ability in order to receive a reward.  The parable of the talents illustrates that point.  (Matt. 25:14-30.)  We cannot all be preachers, because we do not all have the ability to preach.  But if we were all qualified to be preachers there would be no one to whom we should preach.  Neither can we all be elders, because many of us do not meet the qualifications.  Even some who are holding that title are not qualified, because they have not studied to show themselves approved unto God.  But if all were elders, there would be no flock over which they would need to be shepherds.

However, each member has some talent to do some work of the church; and though it may not be as a teacher, preacher, or elder, there is much other work to be done in the field by individuals.  Some members seem to think that all the work the church does is during the assembly and that if they are not publicly participating in that work, they are not pleasing to God.  But there are the sick to be visited, negligent members who need to be called upon, and the alien sinners to be contacted; and there is always a need to be an example to others in our daily living.  We must always remember that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  One may have a stronger light than the other, but we must let what we have shine so others may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 15:16.)

There are members of the church who seem to think that they can worship and serve the Lord once a week and that is enough for the whole week.  However, important as it is, there is much more work to be done than not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.  Christianity is an everyday obligation.  The Bible says, “...be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (I Cor. 15:58.)

The writer to the Hebrews says, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,” (not necessarily teachers from the pulpit or in the classroom), “ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” (Heb. 5:12.)

Every member of the church has his own work to do, just as the members of the human body have separate and distinct functions; for instance, the heart cannot substitute for the lungs; neither can the lungs perform the function of the liver.  In the church, one may not be able to do what the other one does, but we must understand that every work in the church is important, just as the work of each member of the human body is important to the well-being of the whole body. 

The apostle Paul says, “The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.” (I Cor. 12:21-22.)  A member of the church, with talents of the very least significance, as long as he puts those talents to their proper use, is important in the sight of the Lord.

Further, Paul says, “And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.” (I Cor. 12:23-24.)  You recall that Jesus said the widow who cast into the treasury two mites had given more than all the others who gave of their abundance. (Mark 12:42; Lk. 21:2.)

As we increase our faith, let us also use our talents to increase our number, never becoming satisfied with what we have already done, but striving to grow stronger in the favor of God in order that at the end we may hear Jesus say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

—The Informer, Vol. 29, No. 6.

    December 14, 1975

“ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS”

BEN F. VICK, JR.

In the last gasps of Judah’s life in the land, the prophet Jeremiah looked on with tears. It was in the days of Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. It was then that God commissioned the prophet from Anathoth. Jeremiah tells of this commission: “Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” (Jer. 1:9-10.) God put the words in Jeremiah’s mouth. That’s verbal inspiration. Jeremiah’s work involved some negatives:  root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down. It also involved some positives: to build and to plant. 

Preaching involves both negatives and positives. It is not all negative, but more than most think. It is not all positive, less than some practice. In Paul’s last letter, he told the young preacher Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Tim. 4:2.)  Preachers are not in the work to please men. Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10.)  I heard Foy E. Wallace say that he had no friends when he stood to preach. Of course, he had many friends, but he meant his responsibility was to preach the gospel without favoritism. 

Jeremiah’s task was heavy. However, the Lord said to him, “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.” (Jer.1:17-19.) In our own vernacular, the Lord said: Jeremiah, roll up your sleeves and go to work. You speak unto them all that I commanded you. Show no fear at their expressions lest I cause you to be dismayed in their presence. I have made you a defenced city, an iron pillar and brass walls against the princes, priests, and the people. God prepared Jeremiah for the onslaughts of the opposition. They would not be victorious. God promised to be with Jeremiah and deliver him. 

As Jeremiah watched Judah’s demise, his heart was heavy, and the tears flowed unceasingly. He said, “When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.” (Jer. 8:18.) With great sadness, he said, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” He lamented, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jer.8:21-22.) Gilead was known for her balm, her salve; she had physicians there, but Judah did not seek her spiritual recovery. Thus, Jeremiah cried, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; That I might leave my people, and go from them! For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” (Jer. 9:1-2.)

God’s spokesman said to Judah, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” (Jer. 6:16-17.)  Jeremiah was calling upon the people to stand in the forks of the road to see. Then ask for the old paths, the old ways, the good way, and walk therein. Observe the verbs:  stand, see, ask, and walk.   People must seek the truth. Yes, it is the old way but the best way. A love of the truth will cause one to find the truth. Solomon said, “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” (Prov. 23:23.) 

In seeking the old paths, one does not go back to the Restoration or Reformation movements, nor to what the ecumenical councils have said; but one must go back to the New Testament. Go back to the old Jerusalem gospel. That is the old paths men must seek. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8.) Yes, we are duty-bound to preach the gospel to the lost world, but men are also obligated to seek the truth as the merchantman seeking goodly pearls. 

Once recognized as the Lord’s church, some have left the old paths, such as the Skillman Avenue congregation in Dallas, TX. Because they were dwindling in size, their elders surveyed the membership in November of 2021 to see if they would be willing to merge with The Hills church (once the Richland Hills congregation which left the old paths years ago), and now has three campuses). The Skillman Avenue survey also asked if members were open to the appointment of women elders. They have had a woman, Makenna Miller, as a youth minister. One of the ministers, John Mark Davidson, who began working with the church in 2011, resigned in 2018; but during his tenure, he developed a plan to revitalize the Skillman Avenue congregation. Part of the plan was a second service with instrumental music and expanded roles for women. Four of the six elders resigned after Davidson shared his plans. One of the four was persuaded to stay. All four elders should have risen in the strength of Israel’s God and stood in the gap. They should have fired those ministers. The Hills congregation(s) is/are no better. A vote was taken at Skillman Avenue and was two votes short of merging. Both of these groups have departed from the old paths. (See The Christian Chronicle, July 2022.) Who is to blame? Preachers who did not preach what was needed and elders who did not demand the truth to be taught. The way was paved for liberalism to infiltrate by failing to preach the old paths.

If Judah had sought the old paths and walked in them, she would have had rest for her soul. The sad refrain is: “But they said, We will not walk therein.”  Let us read, weep, and learn. Let the watchmen sound the trumpet.