On one occasion Christ was instructing his disciples to beware of covetousness and said, "For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" I am sure that Christ did not mean by these statements that man did not need any food to cause this physical body to live. He was talking about the welfare of man that is to live throughout eternity. This physical body needs food and without it we will soon die. Just as surely as the physical man must have food to live, the spiritual man must be fed to be eternally blessed.
When God made man he provided all that was necessary for his physical being and welfare. Through Christ he has provided every thing that is necessary for the spiritual welfare and growth of man that will last throughout eternity. As man must use the means that God has provided to live, and develop and prosper, even so he must use the means that God has provided to be prepared for eternity.
Man has never been satisfied with what God has provided. Adam was not satisfied to be in the Garden of Eden and live according to God's instructions. He did something the devil told him to do and was cast out. The Jews who were the descendants of Abraham, that God had led into the land of Canaan, and gave the ten commandments, were not satisfied to be guided by His laws, and today they are a hiss and a byword, scattered among the nations of the world never to be gathered together again. Christ has come into the world to prepare us for a home in heaven. He was rejected of men, who actually saw the good that He was doing, and naturally His way is rejected by men today. I am certain in my own mind that He will destroy us who reject His way today, as He destroyed those evil men by the flood.
Soon after Jesus was baptized He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. In His first temptation He said, "Men shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." He was tempted three times and every time He said, "It is written." Every time He used what was written in the old Bible. Therefore it was written in the Bible. He is not talking about living a physical life. It is by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God that the spiritual man lives. That does not mean that I can do what I want to of what God says and mix it with what I want to and be saved. That is what happened to Adam. God told him not to eat of a certain tree, but he ate and was cast out. God told Moses to speak to the rock, but he smote it and God would not allow him to go over into the land of Canaan. If Moses had known what to do in the first place there would have been no need for God to tell him. If we could work out a plan whereby we can be saved, there is no need for Christ having to come into the world to prepare a way. When we legislate for God we reject his way and we are not living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. When we walk by faith, we walk by God's word. When we are just we are living by God's word, because we are justified by it. If we belong to God we are so by His word. We are told, "He that is of God heareth the word of God." If I stand in the day of judgment it will be because I have kept His word. The words that Jesus has spoken will judge me in the last day.
Friends, this world is full of religions and practices that we come in contact with every day, that are not one time mentioned in His word. Many sincere people practice things to be saved, unknown to God's word. Multitudes fill churches every Sunday to engage in worship unauthorized by words that have come from the mouth of God.
We have hundreds of churches made up of honest people who are satisfied, yet such churches cannot be found on God's sacred pages. Many of our lives are so warped by sin that we are a disgrace to society, and surely we would not claim such to be guided by God's word. We talk about "Evangelism" and "America back to God" and many like expressions, but the thing we need most is to discard our traditions, our opinions, our vain worship, our doctrines and commandments of men and get back to a, "Thus saith the Lord" for "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
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This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 04, 1998.