A reaffirmation of Romans 5:3-5

I love when I get reaffirmations of principals.  Here is a great example.  Romans 5:3-5 tells us to glory in our tribulations.  As I have written before I believe that doing so is an outward manifestation of our inner faith.  So take a look at this Scripture from James.

James 1:2-4(NKJV)

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 

knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

Here we are told to take joy in our trials.  That is saying essentially the same thing.  Pretty cool!

"Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines."

We've all seen the headlines.  Bible scholar discovers the secret code blah blah blah.  I saw a new one just the other day.  When I see those I am reminded of this passage.

Hebrews 13:8-9(NKJV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Jesus is the same…..ALWAYS.  I doubt that the scholar really discovered something new.  Keep life simple.  Just stick with the Scriptures.

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,…"

This is a good warning. 

2 Timothy 4:3-4(NKJV)

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 

and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 

The best way to keep this from happening is to always check what you are being taught against Scripture.  There are a lot of things that "sound" Scriptural but really aren't. 

It takes work.  That is why being in the Word daily your whole life is so important.  As you read the Bible over again and again and again you have to look things up less and less.  At this point I have lost count of how many times I have read the Bible all the way through.  But I keep doing it because each time more and more of it sinks in. 

Here is another technique I find helpful in making sure I am not led astray.  When I am offered proof from Scripture about what someone is saying, I read it.  But I don't stop there.  I also look for other Scriptural references on the subject on my own. 

Why do I do that?  Because it is really easy to cherry pick Scripture to back up a point, especially if the Scripture is taken out of context.  As I have said many times, the Bible is a book of balance and must be taken in its entirety.  If you can find additional Scriptures that back up the view you are being taught then you are probably OK going with it.  On the other hand if you find that almost all other Scripture contradicts the one Scripture used to justify a view….beware.  It may be leading you astray.  Make sense?

"…must believe…" Whoa. What was that again?

Here is a verse that I am sure most are familiar with, at least the first part.  "But without faith it is impossible to please God.".  But have you ever noticed the rest of the verse?  I had not noticed it before.  Check it out.

Hebrews 11:6(NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Something we must believe.  That God is.  And that God rewards whose who diligently seek Him.  Notice the diligently part.

If you have one person who studies Scripture on a regular basis year after year and you have another person who reads his Bible for a week every other year, which one is being diligent?  Which one do you think God is going to reward more? 

I disagree with Paul on this and here is why.

Here is what Paul said.

Hebrews 6:4-6(NKJV)

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 

and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 

if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

Now compare that to what Jesus said.

Mark 3:28-30(NKJV)

“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 

but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—

because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus said point blank that there was only one sin that won't be forgiven and that is blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  I don't see anywhere in there where Jesus said no second chances. 

This once again shows why you need to read the Bible with discernment.  Man has this nasty habit of adding their own stuff to God's Scriptures.  It is up to us to tell the difference in my opinion.  

Interesting explanation.

I love the way this is explained from a logical and legal perspective.  That a testament is no good until there is a death which is why Jesus had to die.  And then why there had to be blood involved.  Interesting stuff!

Hebrews 9:16-22(NKJV)

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 

For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 

Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 

saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”  

Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

When Paul contradicts Jesus, who you gonna believe?

For me that is an easy answer.  I go with Jesus every time.  The verse that I am referring to is at highlighted.

Hebrews 8:7-13(NKJV)

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 

Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

If I understand this correctly, Paul is saying that the Law is obsolete and is passing away.  Didn't Jesus say something like "I didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it"? That seems like a direct contradiction to me.  Personally I think this again demonstrates the need for discernment when we are in the Word.