Author James Herriot

Paid in Full

Author James Herriot tells of an unforgettable wedding anniversary he and
his wife celebrated early in their marriage. His boss had encouraged him to
take his wife to a fancy restaurant, but Herriot balked. He was a young
veterinarian and couldn't really afford it. "Oh, do it!" the boss insisted.
Herriot reluctantly agreed and surprised his wife with the news.

En route to the restaurant, Herriot and his wife stopped at a farm to
examine a farmer's horse. Having finished the routine exam, he returned to
his car and drove to the restaurant, unaware that his checkbook had fallen
in the mud. After a wonderful meal, Herriot reached for his checkbook and
discovered it was gone. Quite embarrassed, he tried to offer a way of
making it up.

"Not to worry," the waiter replied. "Your dinner has been taken care of!"

As it was, Herriot's employer had paid for the dinner in advance. *

God has done the same for us. Jesus' utterance on the cross, "It is
finished" (John 19:30), is a Greek term meaning "paid in full." On the
cross, Jesus paid for the debt of our sins and He paid the debt "in full."

In Today's Walk in the Word (7/22/21), Joe Barnett stated this sublime truth
succinctly:

Jesus paid our sin debt.

We owed it but couldn't pay it. He didn't owe it but paid it. The debt is no
longer owed - It has been paid in full.

We could get by on nothing less.

We need nothing more.

We rely on nothing else.

"Hopelessly in debt" is now past tense. **

All we have to do is accept God's offer of forgiveness and eternal life on
His terms. God will cancel the debt of sin and give eternal life to those
who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their
sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans
10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of
sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue
to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

Your debt has been paid if only you will accept God's offer on His terms.

Won't YOU?

-- David Sargent

* As qtd. by Darryl Dash, www.dashhouse.com. ** "Paid in Full." Today's
Walk in the Word (7/22/2021) by Joe Barnett, Pathway Evangelism,
www.pathwayco.com.

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Why don't some churches use instrumental music in worship?

“Why don’t you use instrumental music?”

Frequently we are asked about our practice of observing a cappella music in our worship services. Folks are curious. They want to know why we don’t have instrumental music. Our practice is different - we’re not like the majority of other religious groups. What is the reason? People really want to know. So they ask, “Why don’t you use instrumental music?”

With no intention to be flippant, we might very well respond with a counter-question: “Why should we?” That’s fair, isn’t it?  Those who think that instrumental music is right and proper ought to be able to tell us why they think so. When we ask this question, the typical responses are:
 
“We really like instrumental music.” Be careful here - - remember that our goal is to please God, not men, not even ourselves (Gal.1:10).

“Well, everyone else is doing It”   Anyone who thinks that this proves the real acceptability of a thing needs to be reminded that Jesus said the majority of people (even the majority of “religious” people) will be condemned in the day of judgment. Read Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23.

“God gave certain people musical talent, and they ought to be able to use it”   If this logic works, then the fella who is a talented mechanic would be justified in rebuilding a car engine during the worship services, too. And the surgeon who wants to glorify God could do an appendectomy before the assembled congregation. Surely we can see the flawed thinking behind this argument.

”They used instruments in the Old Testament”   True, but we are no longer under that law (Col. 2:14-16). We need to find our authority in the New Testament - and there is none.
 
In the final analysis, everything we do religiously must be based on the authority of the Lord (Col. 3:17). If we cannot defend a practice by appealing to the Scriptures, then we ought not to do it. There is simply no New Testament authority for the use of instrumental music in our worship. That settles it!

- by Greg Gwin

 

Awake, My Heart, J. Sidlow Baxter

The Royal Visit

In his devotional book, Awake, My Heart, J. Sidlow Baxter shared the
following anecdote:

In 1934, a British magazine told the story of young Prince Edward and a
visit he made to a small hospital where thirty-six hopelessly injured and
disfigured veterans of the First World War were tended. He stopped at each
cot, shook hands with each veteran, and spoke words of encouragement. He
was conducted to the exit but observed that he had only met twenty-nine men.
At that point he questioned those present, "I understood you had thirty-six
patients here. I have only seen twenty-nine."

The head nurse explained that the other seven were so shockingly disfigured,
that for the sake of his own feelings, he had not been taken to see them.
The prince insisted that he must see them. He spoke to each of them and
thanked them for the great sacrifice they had made and assured each that it
would never be forgotten.

Then he turned to the head nurse and said, "There are only six men. Where is
the seventh?" He was informed that no one was allowed to see him. Blind,
maimed, dismembered, the most hideously disfigured of them all, he was
isolated in a room where he would never leave alive. The nurse said to the
Prince, "Please don't ask to see him." But the Prince could not be
dissuaded.

The nurse reluctantly led him into a darkened room. The royal visitor stood
there with white face and drawn lips, looking down at what had once been a
fine man, but now was a horror. Then the tears broke out, and with lovely
impulse, the prince bent down and reverently kissed the cheeks of that
broken war hero. *

Sidlow made this apt application: "There is one who has stooped far, far
lower, to kiss a far, far worse ugliness - not the physical disfigurement of
a broken hero whose brokenness called forth reverent gratitude, but the
leprous, evil ugliness of corrupt sinners and hard rebels against infinite
love!"

The One who "stooped" so far to demonstrate such undeserved love was Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. "For when we were still without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." - Romans 5:6-8

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7-9).

Because of His love for us, Jesus "stooped" low through His incarnation and
crucifixion, so that you and I can be raised up to enjoy eternal blessings
"in the heavenly places" in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10).

-- David A. Sargent

* As cited in www.ministry127.com

If we are autonomous beings that elevate preferences over truth, we will be in a state of chaos

True Freedom

 

Referring to our Western culture, Christian apologist Abdu Murray states, “If we are autonomous beings that elevate preferences over truth, we will be in a state of chaos.” *

 

For a case study of the veracity of Murray’s statement, read chapters 19-21 of the book of Judges in the Bible.  Warning: you will likely be disturbed by what you read.  “Why is that in the Bible?” some may ask.  The moral degradation that is revealed in that time is directly connected to a philosophy that was adopted by the people: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

 

If every person does what he or she wants – without regard to morality or how it may affect others – then the result is moral chaos and degradation.  “If we are autonomous beings that elevate preferences over truth, we will be in a state of chaos.”  Because of this truth, Murray concludes that “true freedom requires boundaries.” *

 

Dr. Tony Evans has illustrated the concept of freedom within boundaries by using the analogy of a kite:

 

There was a kite that thought to itself one day, “It sure would be nice if I wasn’t hooked up to this string. This string is holding me back. There’s this man down there holding onto this string. If I was just free from the string, I could fly so much higher. I could get so much farther. I wish that man down there would let the string go so I could be free to be me and fly to the sky.”

 

The man let the string go, and the kite thought to itself, “Whee! I’m free.” So the kite was just flying up there and flopping all over in its newfound freedom — no longer subordinate to someone holding the string. Until a fierce wind came by. It began to take control of the kite. It slammed the kite to the ground, tearing it to shreds, breaking the wooden pieces that held it together.

 

Now the kite was destroyed because it didn’t understand one thing. It was being held by the string so it could fly and soar. But the moment it detached itself from the person holding it, there was no freedom. The kite became subject to an enemy ready to slam the kite, at the right time and in the right place.

 

Likewise, we can choose to be free from God. But we will then be free for the Devil to come slam us unless we give God permission to hold onto that string. We’d be wise to declare, “God, I don’t want to be free of You!” *

 

The truth is: we are selfish, sinful creatures (Romans 3:23).  When we “do what is right in our own eyes” ignoring the Word of God, we bring chaos and destruction.

 

However, God still loves us and wants to save us.  He gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16; Romans 5:8-10), so that through Him we can be saved and live eternally with Him (Romans 6:23).

 

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

 

And, in His Word, God reveals the way we ought to live and experience true freedom: freedom to live as we ought within the boundaries set by our loving Creator.

 

-- David A. Sargent

 

* Information gleaned from “True Freedom” by Marylin Joy Tyner of POW Apologetics, www.powapologetics.com.