THE GREAT PHYSICIAN AND HIS PRESCRIPTION

On one occasion when Christ was eating and having social fellowship with tax-collectors and sinners, the self-righteous Pharisees severely criticized Him, claiming that anyone who professed to be of God would not be found associating with such people. Jesus' response was: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Matthew 9:12-13).

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He did not come to save those who thought they were already in a right relationship with God.  Of course, no one is, though many think they are.  But the fact is "There is none righteous, no, not one . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G" (Romans 3:10, 23). 

The first step toward getting well is to recognize that one is sick.  Once that is done it is advisable to find a competent doctor and take the medicine that he or she prescribes.  Likewise, the first step in being saved is to recognize that one is lost.  Once that is done it is advisable to turn to the only One who can save and follow His plan for being saved.  The only One who can save us is Christ.  "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

It goes without saying that we must have confidence in an earthly physician.  But if we want to get well we also must be willing to follow the doctor's orders. Christ is the Great Physician of the soul.  We need to learn as much about Him as we possibly can.  He alone can heal us of all our soul's diseases.  But He has a "prescription" for getting us well and we must follow that "prescription."

After Christ had died for the sins of all mankind, been buried, and resurrected (I Corinthians 15:1-5), He appeared to His disciples and said to them: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).  He told His apostles to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16).  To those same men Jesus said: "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). These passages encapsulate the Great Physician's "prescription."

When one turns to the book of Acts one finds the apostles carrying out the charge that Christ had given to them.  Beginning in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and spreading out from there, they preached the gospel, urged people to believe in Christ, to repent of their sins, to confess their faith in Christ, and to be baptized for (eis = in order to) the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 8:26-40; 10:34-48; 16:30-34; 18:8; 22:16).     

It seems to me to be the ultimate cruelty for those who profess to be  preachers of the gospel (the good news) to talk constantly about the Great Physician but to never tell sin-sick souls what the "prescription" is by which they can be "healed" (that is, what they must do to be saved).  No one likes to keep going to a doctor for visits and consultation, but with no instructions as to how to get well.  Let those of us who preach tell people about the love and care and compassion of the Great Physician and of His power to "heal," but let us not fail to tell them what His "prescription" is for being saved and about the after-care that is so vital to maintaining good spiritual health.

Speaking Schedule:

November 11: Cottontown Church of Christ,Cottontown, TN

November 18: Oak Grove Church of Christ, Red Boiling Springs, TN

Hugh Fulford

October 30, 2012

Christ

Jesus Christ lies at the heart of God's great meta-narrative of redemption about which we wrote last week.  Since He does, all people need to know the following Bible truths about Christ.

1. He co-existed with God from all eternity in a pre-incarnate (pre-fleshly) state.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2). 

2. He became flesh and dwelt among us.  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…." (John 1:14).  This was accomplished through means of the virgin birth.  "And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and call His name Jesus…Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know (have not had sexual relations with, hf) a man?'  And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God"(Luke 1:30-35).  

3. He lived a sinless, perfect life.  "Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth" (I Peter 2:22, quoting Isaiah 53:9).

4. He spoke the words of life. "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63b). "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

5. He died to atone for the sins of all mankind.  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 

6. He was given an appropriate burial.  "And when Joseph (of Arimathea, hf) had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed" (Matthew 27:59-60).

7. He arose from the grave.  "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

8. He ascended back to the Father in heaven.  "And when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud receive Him out of sight" (Acts 1:9).

9. He ascended to receive and to reign over His kingdom.  (Daniel 7:13-14).  This kingdom is not earthly or secular but spiritual, being comprised of all who have obeyed the gospel of Christ, been saved from their sins, and added to the church (John 18:36; Colossians 1:13-14; Acts 2:47).

10. He ever lives to make intercession for us. "Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:22).

11. He will come again.  "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts1:11).

12. He will judge the world and deliver the kingdom to God the Father (II Timothy 4:1; I Corinthians15:24-26).

Hugh Fulford

October 9, 2012

GOD'S META-NARRATIVE

A meta-narrative is an over-arching, comprehensive, controlling story.  God has such a story.  It is the story of human redemption from sin, culminating in eternal life in heaven.  This beautiful story is gradually unfolded on the pages of the Bible.  Far from being a disjointed collection of sixty-six documents, each book of the Bible is a part of this amazing meta-narrative, and each makes its own contribution to the unfolding of God's eternal purpose to save man through Christ.  Where does this tremendous story begin?

Paul, an apostle of Christ, wrote of God: ". . . who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Timothy 1:9).  Similarly, Paul spoke of the "hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" (Titus 1:2).  Thus, God's grand meta-narrative was conceived in His infinite mind before the world ever existed, and though Christ did not suffer for the sins of the world in historical reality until the end of His earthly ministry, in the grand purpose of God Jesus was "the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).

The Old Testament, with its various promises and covenants, was only a precursor of Christ and the ultimate revelation of God's purpose as set forth in the New Testament.  The promised seed of woman (Genesis 3:15), the call of Abraham and God's promise to him (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 18:17-18), the people chosen to bring forth Christ according to the flesh (the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews), the Law of Moses with its various institutions (commandments, tabernacle, temple, priests, sacrifices, rituals, and festivals), God's marvelous covenant with David (II Samuel 7:1-17)—all of these and more—provide pictures and previews of God's complete revelation of mankind's Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the gospel plan of salvation. But Old Testament laws and institutions were never intended to be the final word, "God having provided something better for us" (Hebrew 11:40), that "something" being Christ, the gospel, and the church (the community of the redeemed) which is "the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23) and the magnificent manifestation of "the manifold wisdom of God" (3:8-12).

Many Old Testament prophecies speak of Christ, the new covenant He would inaugurate, and the spiritual kingdom He would set up.  Some of the more significant prophecies are those found in Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53, Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Daniel 2:31-44.  Oddly, those  uttering the prophecies did not always comprehend their significance (see I Peter1:10-12), but God knew what He was doing in gradually unfolding His great meta-narrative!  "Known to God are all His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).

It remained for Christ, however, to begin to reveal all that God had had in mind from the beginning.  Thus, during His earthly ministry Christ began to "utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 13:34-35).  He spoke of His faithful followers being able to "inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).  Because God's ultimate purpose and plan had been kept secret from the foundation of the world, it was referred to as "the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God" (Ephesians 3:9).  "Mystery" does not mean something mysterious or incomprehensible, but to the fact that up until a certain point in time God's grand scheme of redemption had not been revealed.  However, with the coming of Christ, His ministry, His death, burial, and resurrection, His ascension, the setting up of His kingdom (otherwise known as the church) on the first Pentecost following His resurrection (Acts 2), and His reign over that spiritual kingdom, the "mystery" has been revealed (Ephesians 3:3-7) and all that was "according to the eternal purpose which He (God, hf) purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11) has now been made known by "the word which by the gospel was preached to you" (I Peter 1:12, 25b).  (See also Colossians 1:24-29).

In a grand doxology to God's marvelous meta-narrative, Paul wrote: "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now has been made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.  Amen" (Romans16:25-27).

What an amazing story!  We all would do well to learn that beautiful story and how to avail ourselves of "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (II Timothy 2:10).

Speaking Schedule:

October 7 (a.m.): Bethlehem Church of Christ, Lebanon, TN

October 7 (p.m.): Red Hill Church of Christ, Manchester, TN

Hugh Fulford  

October 2, 2012