Is It Enough that Jesus Died?

After receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior, the two major factors that shape our Christian lives are the messages we hear (preaching & teaching) and the music we sing.   I love good preaching and traditional ‘black church’ choir music.

I remember listening to a well-known “evangelist” in my early Christian walk.  That person had went from a ‘nobody,’ to a ‘somebody’ after using a catchy title to encourage people to stay sexually pure.  That person’s second message was about the armor of God.  The message strongly implied that a Christian needed to have their armor on or they would end up in hell.  Wow!  That message was far from the Biblical doctrine of salvation.

But songs we sing also shape our theological understanding.

Sermons are not the only medium that may have catch titles; songs can have a catchy chorus.  I once purchased a CD and listen to it so much it began to skip like an old vinyl 45 record.  The traditional cultural choir and its reference to Scripture captivated me, but I had exchanged the truth of God’s Word for a lie and reduced a “saint,” to a “Sinner who just fell down and got up again.”

Jesus is not real because I can feel Him in my hands and feet…

Victory is mine because “I trust the Ever living One—His wounds for me shall plead, not because I told Satan to get thee behind…

I don’t have to fear because I don’t have my armor on…

I don’t have to doubt because I fell down and didn’t get up again…

NO, “Enough for me that Jesus saves—This ends my fear and doubt”

1 John 2:2a states, “He is the propitiation for our sins…”

Not my armor, not my ability to get back up again, not even because I feel him in my hands and in my feet…  It is because of His death on the cross.

Do the messages you hear, and the music you sing proclaim the truths in Scripture and strengthen your heart by the grace of God? (Hebrews 13:9)

If not, stop listening to those messages, and stop singing those works-righteousness songs, and embrace music that reminds you of our security in Christ’s finish work on the cross. “My soul has been anchored in the Lord” – Douglas Miller

“I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me” – “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” – Lidie H. Edmunds

You will never hear this song on 88.3 Power & Praise, Philadelphia’s Praise 103.9, Sunday Praise Countdown on WBLS, or Kiss FM, but when you sing this hymn you will proclaim the truths of Scripture and establish your heart in Christ’s gracious work on the cross.

Brian Spivey – D.O.C.

What is Leviticus All About? — Part II

“YOU CAN’T EAT THAT!”

“Unclean, Unclean!” “Don’t eat that!!!

What do a pastor, bartender, and a barber have in common?  People usually share their deep-seated secrets and sins with these men.  But I had a very surreal experience the last time I visited my barber, he confessed his sins to me!  What was it that he confessed?  Nothing that would mar his character I assure you.  His words, “I love to fish and eat all kinds of seafood, even though the Bible commands us not to, I can’t help it.”

Is that really the purpose Leviticus 11?  What is the purpose of the clean and unclean descriptions?  Did God command Moses to write this so my barber, and others like him, can be condemned to hell for enjoying a Lobster or some shrimp?  I don’t think so.  The general purpose of Leviticus is worship, but I think the specific reason for the description of the clean and unclean animals is to foreshadow Jesus.

God declares what is clean and unclean.  His people will follow what He commands no matter how silly it may seem to those who reject Him.  Those that follow Him will be holy for He is holy.  His children will do what He commands and grow in holiness.   As God’s people follow His commands, there will be an outward and obvious difference between the ‘clean’ and the ‘unclean.’  There would be a gulf between the clean – the Hebrews, and the unclean – the Gentiles.  But there will come a day when God will declare some Gentiles as ‘clean.’  That gulf would be destroyed and the clean, both Jew and Gentile, will be declared clean in one new Man – Jesus the Christ.  That day is finally  here!  God gave the apostle Peter a dream and told him, “What God made clean, do not call common” (Acts 11:9).  This message was so important, that God gave him the dream three times (Acts 11:10).  The apostle Paul also testifies that the day is here.  He writes in Ephesians that Jesus is our peace and made both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility… and created in Himself one new man in the place of one.  The purpose for the list in Leviticus 11 was ultimately to point to Jesus.

So to those who love seafood, enjoy your lobster and shrimp and listen to the apostle Paul’s words: “The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.” (Romans 14:6)

Brian L. Spivey