-------------------------<BrethrenVoice>------------------------- [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: ben@...] [The Moderator would welcome your comments/feedback] [<SUNDAY-GLEANINGS> archives/read online: http://associate.com/groups/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <SUNDAY-GLEANINGS> <5 January 2002> Contents: ----------- 1) <Devotional> "Treasury of David - Psalm 19:4"- C.H. Spurgeon 2) <Bible-Study> "Peace offerings" (Pt-3)-Charles E.Wigg 3) <Bible-Study> "Dispensation of conscience" - J. Stephen 4) <From-the-Gleaner> "Top-stories-of-the-week" - Ben 1) <DEVOTIONAL> TREASURY OF DAVID - PSALM 19:4 C. H. Spurgeon Verse 4. "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Although the heavenly bodies move in solemn silence, yet in reason's ear they utter precious teachings. They give forth no literal words, but yet their instruction is clear enough to be so described. Horne says that the phrase employed indicates a language of signs, and thus we are told that the heavens speak by their significant actions and operations. Nature's words are like those of the deaf and dumb, but grace tells us plainly of the Father. By their line is probably meant the measure of their domain which, together with their testimony, has gone out to the utmost end of the habitable earth. No man living beneath the copes of heaven dwells beyond the bounds of the diocese of God's Court- preachers; it is easy to escape from the light of ministers, who are as stars in the right hand of the Son of Man; but even then men, with a conscience yet unseared, will find a Nathan to accuse them, a Jonah to warn them, and an Elijah to threaten them in the silent stars of night. To gracious souls the voices of the heavens are more influential far, they feel the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and are drawn towards their Father God by the bright bands of Orion. "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." In the heavens the sun encamps, and marches like a mighty monarch on his glorious way. He has no fixed abode, but as a traveller pitches and removes his tent, a tent which will soon be taken down and rolled together as a scroll. As the royal pavilion stood in the centre of the host, so the sun in his place appears like a king in the midst of attendant stars. _______________________________________________________ 2) <BIBLE-STUDY> THE PEACE OFFERING LEVITICUS CHAPTER 3 AND CHAPTER 6:11-37. (PART-3) Charles E. Wigg THE CROSS THE BASIS OF COLLECTIVE PEACE: Next, we are to learn that, through the shedding of the precious blood of Christ and through His death, burial and resurrection, He has not only made peace between man and God, but also between man and man. This is the force of the passage in Eph.2:14-18. The Gentiles were "in the flesh", that is unregenerate, uncircumcised and with out Christ, being aliens, without God, ( Pagans), having no claim on God and having no hope. We, who were so far off, now in Christ Jesus and by His precious blood, have been made nigh. The Jews on the other hand, had the knowledge of God, and the word of God; theirs were the promises. All these things made them proud, superior, arrogant and pharasaical. However could such widely different peoples ever get on together? They could not, the enmity and the prejudice would lead to endless strife division and bitterness. But in the cross of Christ, God has dealt with all this. The Law demanded the death of the sinner, and at the cross Christ took the sinner's place. He was nailed to that cross as the representative of the proud sinful Jew. He was also nailed to that cross as the representative of the unclean Gentile rebel. His death was vicarious, He was my substitute, so that when He was judged, I was judged: when He was crucified, I was crucified. The Jew was crucified; the Gentile was also crucified; thus He made peace, and broke down the middle wall of partition that separated Jew and Gentile. He put both to death, when He died. A dead Jew would never be a problem, or cause trouble or division, for when the Jew was crucified his enmity and prejudice were destroyed. A dead Gentile would never cause division or offence either. That is the end of his pagan ways and uncleanness. When the Lord Jesus was buried we; both Jew and Gentile, were buried with Him, put out of sight forever, as far as God is concerned. But in the glorious resurrection of our blessed Saviour. we were raised, no longer divided, but made in Christ into one new man, thereby He has made peace. He has reconciled both, (Jew and Gentile,) in one body ( His own body,) to God by the cross, having by it ( the cross,) slain the enmity, ( Eph.2:16,) and now through Him we both, ( Jew and Gentile,) by One Spirit, have access to the Father. We are no longer strangers and foreigners, ( to each other), but fellow citizens. Thus Christ, who is our peace, has made peace between us and God, and between ourselves. This is the real basis of our fellowship together. Because of this, we who are from different racial, national, cultural and social backgrounds, can enjoy the sweetest fellowship together, and feed our souls on the richness of the person of Christ, and on the truths of the word of God. [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced by permission] _______________________________________________________ 3) <BIBLE-STUDY> "DISPENSATION OF CONSCIENCE" J. Stephen Genesis 3:22-8:14 STEWARD: Man is dealt with as a whole, no human government yet, no nations yet. No one steward as all men now have a conscience by which they are guided. TEST: What will man do with his conscience, the knowledge of good and evil? (Gen 3:22, 4:7) will he acknowledge and worship his creator and obey the few commandments given or will he seek after things which appeal to his own desires? CHARACTER OF ENVIRONMENT: Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Except the few original commandments given previously, there was as yet no written law. Curse came into effect, e.g. man ruled over woman, thorns and thistles hindered the sowing of crops, etc. Marriage continued but polygamy was introduced (Gen 4:19) Many, many children born, man lived for up to 969 years. There was intermarriage because this was not forbidden until after this dispensation. At least two Murders within only a few generations (Gen 4:8, 4:23) Satan wanted to block the seed (Gen 3:15) hence the death of Abel. Seth is born though to replace Abel (Gen 4:25) Two distinct lines from Adam are evident, via Cain (evil line, Gen 4) and via Seth (Godly line, Gen 5, much more detail). Both lines have a Lamech and an Enoch (Satan is a counterfeiter). CAIN'S LINE: * Lamech introduces polygamy (Gen 4:19) * Jubal Invents music (for entertainment?) (Gen 4:21) * Tubal-Cain was an instructor in Iron and Brass (perhaps the beginning of building of idols?) (Gen 4:22) * Lamech murders (Gen 4:23) SETH'S LINE: * Began to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen 4:26) * Enoch walked with God and was translated (picture of rapture) (Gen 5:18, 22-24, Heb 11:5) * The other Lamech is born who is the father of Noah (Gen 5:25) * Noah's testimony (Gen 6:8-9) THE FAILURE OF THE TEST: Gen 6:5-6, 11-12, Also note Gen 6:1-4 and compare with Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7). Some say that the sons of God in Gen 6:1-4 refer to Seth's line. If so, why were giants born? The answer is simple, these sons of God were angels hence the severe corruption of the human race and the need for total cleansing. One might argue that the Lord Jesus said that angels are not capable of sexuality. He was answering a question asked by the Jews posed to trick him. He did not state that angels cannot cohabit with humans, He simply stated "... as the angels which are in heaven", not just "... as the angels" (Mark 12:25, Matt 22:30). If angels cannot cohabit then why did Lot need to keep the angels from the homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah? (Gen 19:1-5) and who are the angels who kept not their first estate if not for these sons of God? (Jude 1:6). (Also, the term "sons of God" referring to believers is an NT Grace concept.) THE JUDGEMENT - Gen 6:7, 7:23: (Noah went into the ark on the seventeenth day of the second month of his six hundredth year of his life (Gen 7:11) and came out of the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second month of his six hundred and first year (Gen 8:14) He, his family and the animals were in the ark over one whole year!) GRACE AND SALVATION: Noah is commanded to build the ark (Gen 6:14). The ark is an excellent example of how predestination and freewill are both taught in the Word of God. Why was the ark only so big? Did God deliberately only allow it to be built to house the animals and the 8 persons? Or did God know who would not believe Noah's testimony? (Heb 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5). The answer is that God gave all men the opportunity to repent through Noah's preaching perhaps for over 100 years as he built the ark when there had not been such thing as rain upon the earth as yet (2 Pet 2:5) but knew beforehand that only Noah and his family would be saved. This does not support the Calvinistic view nor does it support Arminianism. It simply says that though Noah preached and God was willing for others to repent, He knew they would not and thus instructed that the ark be built just big enough to save those who would be saved. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS DISPENSATION?: If given no rule book but just our conscience (knowledge of good and evil), we will choose evil. We learn that God's love and righteousness still provide salvation for those who do choose good. How does God judge tribes who have never heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? (I am not talking about the western world who have had the gospel for nearly two millennia and who have access to a million bibles). God is just. I believe the scriptures teach us by this dispensation that God will judge them by what they do with their knowledge of good and evil. Do they acknowledge a creator? Do they love God as they know Him? (Rom 1:20, 2:11-15) This is no excuse for us not to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For once the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ has been imparted, they must then be judged according to this (Grace) dispensation's test. Progressive revelation is how the will of God has been revealed to man over the course of time through the scriptures. God's last revelation to man was by the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. (Heb 1:2). We see this in Acts 17:23-31 where after seeing an altar to "the unknown god", Paul preaches the gospel. Before that preaching, they would have been judged according to their conscience but after Paul reveals who their unknown God is, they would be judged by how they accepted the gospel. Most did not accept Paul's doctrine, some mocked and others were curious and wanted to hear more later but not convicted, while a few were converted. (Acts 17:33-34). _______________________________________________________ 4) <FROM-THE-GLEANER> A-GLANCE-AT-THE-TOP-STORIES-OF-THE-WEEK Ben ARAB LEADERS SEE EXILE AS ONLY WAY OUT: Arab leaders are planning to make an 11th-hour attempt to avert war in Iraq by calling for Saddam Hussein to go into exile and spare his country further destruction, according to Western and Arab diplomatic sources. US ACCELERATES PREPARATIONS FOR INVASION OF IRAQ: Tens of thousands of additional American troops are on their way to the Persian Gulf, as the Bush administration's build-up to war against Iraq accelerates. Reports from Washington suggest that the Pentagon will be in position to launch a full-scale war by the end of this month BRITAIN TO SEND 20,000 TROOPS TO GULF: Britain is to send more than 20,000 troops to the Gulf and mobilize 7,000 reservists next week in preparation for war against Iraq, The Daily Telegraph said Saturday. TURKEY SENDS CONVOY OF 100 TANKS, APCS TO NORTHERN IRAQ: The military convoy began moving over the weekend as armoured vehicles crossed the Khabour Gate on the Iraqi-Turkish border. Turkey is said to have already sent more than 15,000 troops in northern Iraq in preparation for a U.S.-led war against the regime of President Saddam Hussein. PM: SYRIA, HEZBOLLAH, IRAN TRAIN TOGETHER: The Syrian army has held joint manoeuvres with Hezbollah along with units of the Iranian revolutionary guards in Lebanon. This information was conveyed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to visiting Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. TONGA TARGETED AS HOME OF BIN LADEN'S SHIPS: In a persisting diplomatic nightmare, the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga has again been linked to the world's most wanted outlaw, Osama bin Laden. BIN LADEN SAID TO HAVE SOUGHT NUKE HELP: A leading Pakistani nuclear scientist, barred by his government from talking to reporters, has made it known through his son that Usama bin Laden approached him before the Sept. 11 attacks for help in making nuclear weapons. UK ARMY SAYS IT HAS RIGHT TO CROSS INTO PAKISTAN: The US military said Friday, it reserved the right to cross from Afghanistan into neighbouring Pakistan in pursuit of fugitive Taliban or Al Qaeda militants. PAKISTAN WEIGHED USING NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Pakistan's president indicated Monday he had been prepared to use nuclear weapons against India earlier this year, but a spokesman later backed off the assertion, saying that was not what he meant when he spoke of non-conventional war. ERUPTION FEARS SPARK ISLAND EVACUATION: All remaining inhabitants of the Italian island of Stromboli have been evacuated amid fears of further violent volcanic eruptions. On Monday part of the island's volcanic cone about the size of a 60-storey building crashed into the sea, causing a tidal wave that damaged boats and houses. POWERFUL STORM WREAKS HAVOC IN SOUTHERN GERMANY: A powerful storm with winds of up to 105 mph caused widespread disruption across southern Germany Thursday, toppling trees and even knocking a train off its tracks, police said. 'TOTAL DEVASTATION' ON CYCLONE-HIT ISLANDS: Fears were growing last night for more than 2,000 people on two remote Pacific islands after an eye witness reported few signs of life amid devastation caused by a powerful tropical storm. SECOND CLONED BABY 'DUE': The scientist who claimed last week that the first cloned human had been born has said that a second cloned baby will be born this weekend. GREEKS TAKE HELM AS EU SETS SAIL: By accident of the Brussels calendar, it has fallen to Greece to take charge of the European Union at the most crucial juncture in its history. EU STARTS SECURITY AND DEFENCE MISSIONS: 1 January 2003 will be an important milestone for the EU as it marks the start of its first operation under the European Security and Defence Policy - the EU Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. TONY BLAIR SAYS EURO TOP ISSUE FOR THIS GENERATION: Britain's dilemma over joining Europe's single currency is the most important decision facing this generation, Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday. ---------------------------<BrethrenVoice>--------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: www.brethrenvoice.net <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32