Man’s Way or God’s Way?
// April 3rd, 2010 // View Comments // Bible Study, Mark's stuff
By Joel Moore
Benchley, March 21, 2010
- Isaiah 55:8-9
- Matthew 6:24
- The Word of God is our sole source of authority. II Timothy 3:16-17
- To supplant God’s Word with your own beliefs is to commit the sin of presumption.
- This disposition was unacceptable in the Old Testament and is still unacceptable today under the New Testament. Deuteronomy 17:12-13
- Salvation
- Man’s way: An individual can be saved by a variety of methods and may choose the one that please him the most.
- God’s way: It is be baptism (immersion in water) that one gains entrance into a saved relationship with God (John 3:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27; Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21)
- There are, however, prerequisites to this immersion. First, one must believe (i.e., have faith) (Romans 10:9-10,17), repent of his sins (Acts 2:38), and confess Christ as Lord (Romans 10:10).
- After baptism, the Christian is to press on towards perfection. Hebrews 6:1; II Peter 1:5-11
- The organization of the church
- Man’s way: The church may be organized in any way that is determined best by man.
- God’s way: In each local church, there are to be elders who lead the flock in that location (I Peter 5:1-4), deacons who help the elders (I Timothy 3:8-13), and members (Romans 12:4-5).
- The local church must be organized to the degree to which is can be scripturally organized.
- Controlling one’s thoughts
- Man’s way: I can think about whatever I want. Matthew 15:17-20
- God’s way: It is imperative that a Christian control his thoughts and not think about whatever he wants (II Corinthians 10:3-6).
- Let us remember that all sin develops from desire and a response to temptation (James 1:14-15); therefore, if we control our thoughts (where desire originates and ruminates if uncontrolled), we can effectively control sin.
- Moreover, in order to better control our thoughts, we must replace evil thoughts with good, wholesome meditation (Philippians 4:8; Psalm 1).
