CAN WE SEE THE BIBLE ALIKE (Continued)

     A pleasant good morning to each one. How good to have you in
our audience. Before we begin with a continuation of the lesson we
began last week I wish to call your attention to a Series of
Lectures which the White Park Church of Christ shall be engaged in
this week, beginning tomorrow evening and continuing through Friday
evening of this week. We have invited five men to guide us in a
study of the Word of God.  Services will be conducted each evening
beginning at 7:30. You have a cordial invitation to visit with at
any or all of these services. Let me assure you will not be
embarrassed. You also will not be asked to make a contribution;
because the collection will not be taken during any of these
services. The New Testament teaches that upon the first day of the
week the collection was taken. (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).  And that is
the way we do it at White Park. You will hear prayers offered from
the heart of the one who shall lead us in the prayers each evening.
You will hear a group of Christians lifting up their voices unto
God through the melody of their heart, singing songs of praise and
adoration without the use of mechanical instruments of music in our
worship. That is the way it was done during the first century. And
you will hear scriptural based lessons from the Word of God.  Bring
your pen and paper, bring your Bible; bring your questions. I
assure that you will be pleasantly surprised; that is if you have
never attended a service of the church of Christ. Why not make your
plans to come and be with us.  I wish to give you the names and the
subject matters which shall be discussed each evening. On Monday
evening, May 4, John Evans of Highlands, Texas, is to speak upon
the subject of, "The Devil's Game Plan."  On Tuesday evening, May
5, Jerry Fite of Pasadena, Texas, is to speak upon the subject of,
"How Shall a Young Man Cleanse His way?" Then on Wednesday evening,
May 6, Tony Mauck of Baytown, Texas, is to lead our study in, "Have
We Lost Sight Of Heaven?" Thursday evening, Jerry King, of Deer
Park, Texas, will be with us. His subject is to be "Woman's Work in
The Church." Then the closing night, Friday, May 8, Russ Bowman, of
Beaumont, Texas, will present the subject, "Victory in Jesus."
Any, yea all of these, will be of great benefit to each one in the
audience.
     My friends, you will not be encouraged to lose your senses,
nor to act in any irrational manner. You will be challenged with
the simple story of the cross and its message for mankind. We have
nothing to offer man but the crucified Lord and His salvation. The
simple story of the cross and the message of the gospel is not too
appealing to the masses today. That is why you see so many
religious bodies engaged in all kinds of fleshly entertainments and
social activities. They do not believe that the gospel message is
enough for today's populace. So they use all kinds of gimmicks. I
even noticed in the Beaumont Enterprise a couple of weeks ago that
one church was having an Easter Egg Hunt. They advertised it as
being Texas Largest Easter Egg Hunt with 20,000 eggs. They offered
free prizes, a bicycle giveaway, with Fun, Fun, Fun. Do you think
that our Lord and Savior offered Himself upon the cross for man to
have fun, fun, fun, and hunt for Easter eggs? Why would a group of
religious people so conduct themselves? The answer is rather
obvious. They are trying to entice a crowd of people. And they must
use something other than the simple gospel of Christ Jesus.  And
where is the scripture for such actions. None was given in the
advertisement. But then, most people do not care for scripture
anyway.
     I now return to the lesson which we introduced last Sunday
morning which I entitled, "Can we see the Bible alike?" Last week I
pointed out some things which keep mankind today from seeing the
Bible alike. Those listed included: (1) ignorance, people just do
not know anything about the scriptures. (2) Deception, people are
deceived in many ways. (3) Conceit, people have too high of an
estimation of themselves and are not willing to humble themselves
to obey the commands of Christ. (4) Prejudice, people have their
own peculiar opinions which they have reached, and refuse to study
the Word of God to learn. And (5) tradition, many are what they are
because of things handed down from those before them.
     Another factor that keeps people from seeing the Bible alike
is Convenience. Let me illustrate this statement. When the Bible
was given in the first century, under the inspiration of the
apostles, people were baptized by immersion. By that, I mean that
baptism was a burial in water, a going down into and a coming up
out of the water. (Acts 8, Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12, and other
verses).  The scholarship of the world is almost wholly united in
acknowledging that baptism was immersion in the first century. But,
today about half of the people who claim to be Christians practice
sprinkling or pouring of water, calling it baptism. Why is that so?
Is it because there are some statements in God's Word that suggest
that sprinkling should be practiced.  Oh, no! Then why do they
practice such? It is argued that sprinkling is more convenient,
thus all right. Thus sprinkling has been substituted in place of
what the Lord commands. Thus convenience has set aside what the law
of God teaches and has become a stumbling block in the way of
seeing the Bible alike.
     Another barrier to our seeing the bible alike is the teaching
that sincerity alone make any religious belief acceptable to God.
Many reason that if we are sincere in what we believe we are right
in the Lord's sight. And yet, that idea is refuted over and over
again throughout the Bible. Paul was sincere while he persecuted
Christ, but he was sincerely wrong (Acts 23:1). Cornelius was
conscientious in his religious devotion to what he thought was his
responsibility, but he was told to send for Peter to tell him words
whereby he might be saved (Acts 11:14). His sincerity was not
enough.
     When we feel that we are acceptable to God because we are
sincere in our belief, then our trust is in our own faith, and not
in God. We have not put our faith in God until we have placed his
teaching above all other considerations.  When we believe that
sincerity makes our faith right, we feel no need to search for the
truth, and so we settle back into a state of complacency. It is
this satisfied state that precludes our seeing the Bible alike, for
it discourages an earnest and honest search for the truth. My
friends, anytime that we become complacent or satisfied, we lose
our desire to search the scriptures, and that leads to a failure to
see the Bible alike.
     You may ask, and rightly so, "Is there any way for all of us
to see the Bible alike?" I believe that there is. It becomes
obvious from what we have already said that if some things stand in
the way of seeing the Bible alike, that these must be removed. If
ignorance stands in the way, we must overcome it by gaining a
knowledge of God's Word. If deception has cast a cover over eyes,
we must throw off this delusion in order that we may see clearly
the truths of the Bible. If conceit has laid hold upon us, we must
break its shackles, and look deeply into God's truth. If prejudice
has blinded us, we must take off the blinders. If human traditions
has become a barrier, we must give them up and accept only what the
Bible teaches. If we are practicing anything in religion for
convenience sake, we must seek a higher motive for what we
practice. If one has been taught that we are all right so long as
we are sincere, we must realize that sincerity alone is not
sufficient. The Word of God is available to each one. We are all
commanded to follow it, without change or deviation. Surely, we
must be sincere, but sincerity itself (or alone) will not make us
right in God's sight. One can be sincerely wrong. And there are so
many examples of this in God's Word.
     Ignorance, deception, conceit, prejudice, traditions of men,
placing convenience above principle, and accepting the thought that
sincerity alone makes a belief right, are all mental blocks that
must be removed before we will see the Bible alike.
     Another barrier to seeing the Bible alike is the elevation of
human opinions above faith. Faith is a conviction based upon
evidence. Opinion is a human guess. Faith comes by hearing the word
of God, and opinion comes from human imagination. A person cannot
say scripturally that he or she has faith unless he or she can read
from the Bible the authorization what he or she believes. Does not
our Lord teach that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God (Romans 10:17). How can we determine what the Lord approves
of? By opening the Bible and reading out of it. Can you find the
passage that authorizes the things which you believe and practice?
Or does it make any difference to you? I hope and pray that it does
make a difference to each one who is listening.
     We can see the Bible alike if we read it with the
determination to know just what it teaches. We must not even read
it with the purpose of proving our own idea, or to prove that
grandmother was right. Too many try to prove to others that they
are right, when we should honestly be searching the Scriptures to
see whether we really do have the truth on everything that we
believe and practice.
     In closing this lesson, let us see what the Lord says one must
do to be saved. Christ commanded his apostles to "teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).  The Lord promised that
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16).
Our Lord told the apostles that "repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). By studying the New Testament of Christ,
we learn that He has promised the forgiveness of sins to those who
hear His word, believe in Him as the Son of God, repent of their
sins, confess their faith in Him, and are scripturally baptized. We
call your attention to Romans 10:17; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans
6:4, as well as many other passages that harmonize with these. When
one obeys these commandments of the Savior, the Father in Heaven
then forgives of past sins and adds that one to His family.
     These thoughts, as well as others, will be included in our
studies next week, beginning Monday evening at 7:30 and continuing
each evening through Friday. As we mentioned in the beginning of
our study today, you are invited to visit with us at the White Park
church of Christ for these services. Capable men have been invited
to guide our studies each evening. All of the lessons will be worth
your time and effort to attend. "Come and let us reason together,
thus saith the Lord."

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