THE BELIEVER’S BOAST

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74 - THE BELIEVER’S BOAST

December 3, 1961

Henry F. Kulp

 

 

Galatians 6: 11-18  As we look at the 11^th verse, I think it lets us right into the heart of the Apostle Paul. Do you want to understand the Apostle Paul better than what you do? This verse will tell you much about him. He was some distance away from Galatia when word came to him that the Judaizing teachers had come in among the different assemblies there, and they were spreading the Gospel of works. Discrediting him and the Gospel he preached.

 

1/  The Apostle was so much disturbed by what he heard that he sat right down and penned this letter. It glows with a white hot heat of his burning zeal for the Gospel of God. It was not the usual thing for men to write their own letters in those days. Letter writing was a distinct occupation, as it still is in the different cities of the East. And if a man had a great deal to do, he would engage one of these professional letter writers. Just as a man here today engages a stenographer. He would not attempt to handle it himself.

2/  And so, ordinarily, the Apostle dictated his letters to various persons. He wrote them out and signed them and sent them on. But in this case there was no one close at hand that he could dictate to, and he was so stirred in his spirit that he thought he could not loose a moment in getting this letter off, so he sat right down and wrote it himself. He refers to this in verse 11.

 

3/   Compared to the Roman Epistle, this is a very short one. It is not more than a third the length of I Corinthians, and only about half the length of the second epistle to the Corinthians. Compared to the other writings of the New Testament it is indeed brief.

4/   If you were to go back to the Greek you would see that he did say, you see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hand, and that indicates not only that he was not used to letter writing, but also he had some kind of affliction with his eyes that he was not able to see well.

  

5/   You remember the time he was on trial in Jerusalem and the High Priest commanded him to be smitten on the mouth. God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. I think you will find this in Acts 23: 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

And someone said, do you speak evil of God’s high priest? And at once he apologized and said, I did not know that he was a high priest. He ought to have known for there Ananias stood, no doubt in his priestly robes, but if Paul were at the other end of the room with his poor eye sight, he may not have recognized the man.

6/   And there are other suggestions in Scriptures that tell us the same thing. He had already said in this letter, Galatians 4: 15 I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. They would not have wanted to do that unless his sight was poor. I take from all this that he had an affliction of his eyes that he had to endure for many years. So therefore, when he sat down to write, he was like a half blind person, writing in big sprawling letters. He realized that he was not sending a neat manuscript, such as folks who made a profession of letter-writing would, so he apologized for it by saying, “You see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hands.” 

7/  I think that manuscript with its large letters ought to have touched the hearts of the Galatians, should have made them realize how much he truly loved them and how he was concerned about them. THOSE GALATIANS SHOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED WITH HIS OWN HAND AT THE COST OF PAIN, AND EFFORT HE HAD WRITTEN TO THEM BECAUSE HE LOVED THEM.

8/  You will notice the contrast here in verse 12. The Judaizers were not concerned for the Galatians spiritual well-being. Their motives were not pure, they merely sought to make a fair show in the flesh.

9/  And then you can make another contrast. Not only did these folks want to make a fair show in the flesh, but they were afraid of persecution. That is something that Paul never feared in his life. Paul never shrank back from being persecuted. He was willing to pay the price of taking a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Just contrast this with Galatians 6: 17 where he says, from henceforth let no man trouble you, for I bear in my body, now notice, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn’t afraid to suffer persecution for these Galatians. He wasn’t afraid that he would be beaten. These Judaizing teachers who went into the province of Galatia knew that when you fought someone who believed in legalism you were putting your very life on the line. And you can always see that hatred of those who are legalistic. They tear you apart with words if they can’t tear you apart with their own hands. They tear you apart. There is nothing graceful, there is nothing loving about a person who is legalistic, and these Judaizing teachers knew if folks could get their hands on Paul they would kill him, and if they took sides with Paul they would be killed or maimed  perhaps.

10/  Galatians 6: 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

Paul goes on to expose these men even more when he says, neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. In other words, the very thing they have been telling you to do they haven’t been able to do themselves, because no one can live up to the law. 

Folks say to me, well, the Sermon on the Mount is good enough for me – I’ll live by it. Did you ever see a man who has done that or is able to do that? 

Read Matthew 5 & 6 and see, test yourself honestly. Test yourself and see how far short of these wonderful portions of Scripture you fall.

11/  Then notice, he says they glory, they boast in your flesh. I read once where a certain worker said, The boast of a man, measures a man. What is meant by that is whatever one glories in reveals what he is. That which he esteems most important or valuable in his life reveals his innermost character. These folks, these Judaizing  teachers, boasted, glorified in the flesh , and flesh is corrupt. 

  

12/  But Paul says, God forbid I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said I never boast about flesh, or in flesh. I only boast about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   

13/  Everyone who submitted to circumcision became a feather in the cap of these false teachers. Another success for them, because they would boast – so and so, he believes that grace Gospel and he has been circumcised. But Paul said that is not true – when I lead one to the Lord through the Grace Gospel, I just glory and boast in Jesus Christ and what He has done by the cross to make it possible for man to be saved. 

14/  Notice, in verse 14… But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

…the cross does not even have a close competitor. Paul is very emphatic for he says here, but God forbid that I should glory. In other words there is nothing even close that Paul would consider. 

15/  Now come with me and stand at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will see at the cross of Christ that it reveals the hatred of man for God. Mankind has ever despised God. Before Christ went to the Cross of Calvary. 

Matthew 27: 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

They didn’t want Him – they hated Him, but the cross proves the hatred of mankind when Jesus Christ was upon earth. He had done nothing but good in that day, but still they hated Him.

You can see what men thought of Christ when He was on the Cross. 

Matthew 27: 39 - 43 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

First the crowd, approximately a million strong passed by the cross when He hung there for six hours, and they said, come down from the cross – they didn’t want the Christ. Then the chief priests those who were raised from childhood to do the ceremonies and sacrifices there in the temple, all these ceremonies and sacrifices pointed to Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, but they mocked Him and said, Come down from the cross. 

The Scribes who copied the Bible were so careful as they translated the Bible, they said Come down from the cross. The elders, those who were the ruling body of the nation Israel said come down from the cross and we will believe Him. They hated the cross. These Judaizing teachers may have said, Oh, we believe Jesus Christ died for us, but they in reality, hated the cross, they proved it by their viewpoint of circumcision being added to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

 

16/  It hasn’t changed one iota today. There is not one bit of difference in or present day and age. 

I Corinthians 1: 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Man today doesn’t think any differently about it, he doesn’t want to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want to be redeemed with that precious Blood. He wants to be saved with what he can do, what he can offer to God.

17/  Then as you look at the cross of Jesus Christ, and at these wooden beams that held Him there, but the cross and all it stood for, His death for sin, we not only see the hatred of man but we see the awfulness of sin. The world says sin is a mistake, but God says, no, it is terrible. He tells us the wages of sin is death. It is so bad that My Son had to pay the price of the wage of sin so that sinners can be free and be in My Presence.

18/  And then this verse reveals to us the glory of God. The cross not only reveals the awfulness of sin, but it reveals the Glory of God. Remember what the Psalmist said?

Psalms 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

The heavens declare the Glory of God. That word, declare means make known—but in the cross there is the Glory of God that outshines the stars. They are cold and lifeless things while the cross of Jesus Christ is warm and it is life-giving.

19/  Now the heavens reveal the hand of God. The hand of God in Creation, and what a powerful hand it is, but the cross of Jesus Christ reveals the heart of God, and what a heart. 

You have folks say when they are touched by your generosity, your love for them, they will say, you are all heart. When I look at the cross, and I see the glory of God in that cross, I say God is all heart to take the vile sinner like Henry Kulp and save him by that death, because He gave His Son to die for me.

20/  Let us notice in I John 4: 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And how did He love us? By sending His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. The cross reveals the love of God to me. The glory of God and the cross reveal how much God loves me even though I am certainly unlovable.

21/  Galatians 6: 14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Then the cross of Calvary shows me that it is a means of separation. All who believe in Jesus Christ by the cross are crucified unto the world—they are separated from the world, they should be dead to the world. There is an Old Testament illustration that I think fits in here so well.

Remember about Israel. They had been slaves to Pharaoh there in Egypt, and god had called them out of Egypt, and had separated them, and had driven Pharaoh to let them go, and as they were escaping from the Egyptians, and the Egyptians were pursuing them, wanting them back regardless of the fact that they had let them go, there is old Pharaoh on one side of the sea, crying, You come back here and serve me—put your necks under the yoke of bondage again, and I may be using a sanctified imagination, but I think I can use it here. I think I hear the Israelites saying, Goodby, Pharaoh, goodbye Pharaoh, we want no part of you, and then the Red Sea rolls between them. 

They had been crucified to Egypt, and Egypt had been crucified to them. The waters of the Red Sea rolled between them and destroyed the Egyptians. 

Just so it should be with the world. Not just the wicked things, but even the beautiful, cultured things.

22/  The Israelites could not go back. Remember they trembled when they stood at the shores of the Red Sea—ow could they get across? And God made it possible for them to get across, but how could they get back to Egypt if they wanted to get back? They donut not because the Red Sea now stood between them and their return to Egypt. So it should be with the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ—we have been crucified to this world.

23/  Then Paul elaborated, Galatians 6: 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Crucified and separated, for he says, As many as walk according to this rule—what rule? He has not laid down any rule. Yes, he has, for he has said we are a new creation. That is the way to test everything that is put before us. Is it of the new creation or is it of the old creation, so we can judge whether we should be dead to it, or it should be dead to us.

24/  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy.

Peace and mercy come through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

AMEN

Ref: 12/03/1961/ 74 - THE BELIEVER’S BOAST / June 25, 2020

WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO CALL GOD FATHER?

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KULP – 312 - WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO CALL GOD FATHER?

August 20, 1961

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

Galatians  4: 1 - 7 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Paul, in Galatians 3 is explaining the reason the law was given. It was given first of all to Israel, and Israel alone. It was to be Israel’s school teacher to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Now in chapter 4 he points out that the nation of Israel, the Jew under the law, was an immature child—a child who’s not even able to speak. He is heir of God all right, but he hasn’t reached the place of heir. He’s as a child who does not recognize he has a great heritage, he has a great inheritance coming to him…Thinking that a penny, a bright shining penny is far better than an inheritance than a couple millions because he’s not able to understand what a couple million dollars would mean. And therefore, as we read here in the first verse of chapter 4, he is differing nothing from a servant; he’s just like a servant.  

1/  Galatians 4: 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

But we in this day and age are not under law, and we’re not as immature children, but we have received the adoption of sons. Now what does that mean? When we think of adoption of children in this day and age, we generally think of taking and bringing up other people’s children. But that is not what the Greek word means in this portion of Scripture. It means the placing of a son—those who are already children by blood. In the life of a Hebrew boy, there came a time appointed by the father when the  adoption proceedings took place, and the boy was declared to be the son, an heir of the father. Before that time he had been a son indeed, but he was under tutors and  governors, and he had been told what he must do and must not do, what he may and may not do. He was not much different from being a servant. But when the time appointed finally arrived, he is now a grown son indeed. It is assumed he will no longer need the overseers to keep him in check. And so the adoption proceedings take place. The father would take this son who was up to this time considered a minor up to the forum, answering to our courthouse, and there officially adopted him as his son. Now that shows the difference between the Jew under law and we today under grace. 

Under the law, the Old Testament believers were all God’s children, but they were definitely not recognized as His sons. But in this age it is different. All of God’s children are also His sons. Now you say, Well what’s the difference? Quite a bit.

2/  Under the law they had never reached the age of maturity; but now we are the sons of God.

3/  Remember that in Jeremiah 31: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

God speaks of the Jew as the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land Egypt. They were not adopted as sons at that time. But we at the present time are adopted as sons.

4/  Before we consider our adoption as sons, having received the spirit of adoption, let us look at how this adoption became ours. 

Galatians 4: 4 where we read: But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law.  

Now there are those who tell us that Jesus Christ was not God’s Son from eternity. They say He became the Son when He was born on earth; but verse 4 definitely denies any such teaching. God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman. He was the Son before He ever stooped from the heights of glory to the virgin’s womb.

5/  Now notice in this Scripture He was made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Now Christ gave us this exalted position as the Son of God, and put Himself under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the Father. He was put in the position of a child, of a servant. He was put in the position of obedience.   

Philippians 2  While He was on earth, He was God’s beloved Son to be sure; but the declaration of full Sonship could not yet be made. The adoption proceedings could not yet take place.

6/  Psalms 2: 7 I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I gotten thee.   

Notice this Psalm, for it tells us: I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I gotten thee.  And naturally you will ask, what day? Or, when was our Lord declared to be the Son of God? You will find the answer in Acts 13: 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, that He raised up Jesus again. As it is written in Psalms 2, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. So it was at the resurrection that the decree was made that Christ was declared to be the Son of God, begotten.

7/  The same thing is told to us in Romans 1: 4 Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, now notice, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. 

The adoption proceedings as far as Jesus Christ is concerned are all over.  He was declared to be the Son of God on His resurrection day. So Christ put Himself in the place of obedience, subjection and was declared to be adopted by God the Father on His resurrection day that we might have the adoption of sons.

8/  Ephesians 1: 3 - 6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Now notice what it says here. We, not according to our works or our character, or our devotion, but rather by His own good pleasure of His will, He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we might be predestinated unto the adoption of children. But how could He make us holy and without blame before Him, and give unto us the place of adoption? There is only one answer and it is given to us in this Scripture, by Jesus Christ.

9/  Now notice, we are not merely saved, but we are accepted as grown sons in Christ, the beloved son, and given a place at the Father’s right hand where we have free access to all the Father riches in the heavenlies. 

So when Israel was under the law, they were as  immature children, as minor children under tutors and governors, with a thousand commands, not just ten commands, telling them what to do.  And now today without the law in Christ Jesus, we’re full grown mature sons in Jesus Christ. Now, we do not want to go back under the law? I’m sure you don’t. Our position is far superior to that which is under the law. How much better is our position in grace.

10/  Now we have received the Spirit of adoption, we’ve been called the full-blown mature children of God by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is speaking of our position. But actually we’ll have to wait until we are raised from the dead, and it will be by resurrection when we will come to the fullness of this position.  

Romans 8: 15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

It is by the Holy Spirit, placing us as sons of God, that we cry out Abba Father.  It is only when we have the spirit of adoption that we’re able to call God our Father.  And so we have the answer to the question that we’ve ask in the title of our message, Who has the Right to Call God Father?  We do, the ones who are full grown sons of God in Jesus Christ.

11/  Does this give us the right to live any way we want now, for we are not sons under probation, but we are full grown sons the moment we believe. Does this give us a license to sin? Oh no! Remember when Israel was under law, when they were mere, minor children, and were under tutors and governors and told what they may not do, what they may and may not say, God told them:  Exodus 20: 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Now most of us believe that we do this by swearing or by profanity. But that’s not exactly what it means here. But as children they were still called by the name of the Lord and are responsible to magnify His name. If they did anything that brought dishonor upon His name, they are taking the name of the Lord, their God in vain, for notice the word  Thy God.  Remember what the apostle Paul said. He said of them: Through you the name of the Lord is blasphemed among the Gentiles.  

Romans 2: 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

In other words, The Gentiles saw so much that was wicked and corrupt in the behavior of God’s earthly people that were called by His name, that they said, If these people are like their God, He must be a very unholy being indeed. Well, if that is true of minor children under the Law, what should it be of us who are called the children of God – full grown mature children! How much more should we be careful of bring dishonor to His name.

12/  But now let us turn to the adoption of sons. We already have it in position, but it is not ours until a time of resurrection. 

Romans 8: 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Someday we shall come into full enjoyment of that position. And who knows how soon. Now notice when we come to  the fullness of this position, we will have as it says in Romans 8: 23 the redemption of our bodies.

13/  The first thing we must see is that our resurrection body is linked with the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as our resurrection body is linked with Him.  

Philippians 3: 20, 21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Now there is a thought here that thrills me tremendously and I’d like to pass it along to you this morning. There is nothing that can be said about the body of the Lord Jesus Christ besides the question of the marks of His wounds, that cannot be said about our bodies in the resurrection. What a glorious thought!

14/  First of all, our bodies will be a material reality. Let us therefore look at the resurrection of our Savior in order to find out what has been revealed to us about the nature of His resurrection body. It was a tangible, material body, and yet it was not a body that was subject to the laws that govern our material bodies in which we live today. Now we said His body was one that could be seen by the human eye. 

John 20: 20  And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  

I Corinthians 15: 5 – 7 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

They saw the Lord; they recognized Him; they identified Him as Jesus Christ.

15/  It was a body that could be touched with the human hand. The disciples were terrified when He appeared in their midst; they supposed they had seen a ghost.  

Luke 24: 39  But Jesus Christ said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and My feet, that is I myself. Handle me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as ye see me have. 

It was a body that could be touched with human hands.

16/  The same verse also showed that it was a body that had a voice that could be heard by the human ear.

17/  On the third occasion on which the Lord revealed Himself to the disciples, they were returning to shore after a night of fishing in which they had caught nothing.  

John 21: 12  Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

The Lord commanded them to cast their nets on the right side and they brought forth the second miraculous draught of fishes. And when they come to shore they saw the Lord had lit a fire and fish were broiling thereon. The Lord then invited the disciples to come and dine with Him. Therefore, we must see that the body which our Lord possessed after His resurrection was that He could eat and did eat food in a normal manner.

18/  But on the other hand, we can see that there are differences between the resurrection body of Jesus Christ and our present bodies.  And this can be seen in several statements in the New Testament. First of all, when the angles rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb in which the Body of Christ had been laid, they did not do it in order to let Christ out, but in order to let the disciples in. The Lord had arisen, and not bound by physical laws which govern our bodies. He had passed through material things to appear in a recognizable form. His Body had been wrapped around with the linen of the burial with expensive spices between the layers of the cloth. But when he arose He passed through the bodily wrapping, leaving them in the shape of His body but empty of that body. After passing through the linen clothes and the walls of the tomb, the Lord Jesus Christ passed through the walls into the upper room where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.  

John 20: 19 The same day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors where shut, and Jesus stood in the midst.

19/  Another difference between the Lord’s resurrection body and our present bodies can be seen from a comparison in two verses in the New Testament. In the great resurrection chapter, Paul says in I Corinthians 15: 49 As we have born the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

In death the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was removed from His body. When He rose from the dead He said to the skeptical disciples: Handle Me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones that ye see that I have.  

Luke 24: 39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

How amazingly wonderful the way everything fits into every other verse, so that there is no possible contradiction in the revelation which God has given to us concerning His Son.

20/  Another difference between our Lord’s resurrection body and our present body is that his body was not subject to disintegration and decay as is ours.

21/  The final difference between our Lord’s resurrection body and our present body, is that He was able to move without restraint of gravity and to travel with the speed of thought.  

John 20: 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

At the first morning of His resurrection He met Mary and said to her: Touch me not, for I’m not yet ascended to my Father. Later the same evening He appeared to the disciples and said, handle me.  

Luke 24: 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

The inference is inescapable. Between the time when He told Mary not to touch Him and told the disciples to touch Him, He had been to heaven and returned.

We know in Acts 1: 10, 11 that He was caught up right out of the sight of the disciples. 

 

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

So we know at the adoption we will have a resurrection body like unto His body, that can be seen, heard, touched and which are able to partake of food, bodies that are flesh and bone. They are bodies that can pass through material objects, and are capable of traveling with the speed of thought.

22/  I Corinthians 15: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

Paul tells us that the body is sown in weakness but is raised in power. The body is buried in weakness, but it is raised in power. There is no argument possible about the weakness of the dead body: even though it was the body of a great athlete, it could no more run or wrestle or box or play ball. But the resurrection shall be in power. Even though it was a body of a hopeless cripple, it will be a body that can do all things that anyone else can do. It will be like the body of the eternal Son of God.

AMEN

Ref: 08/20/1961 / 312 - WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO CALL GOD FATHER? / 06/25/2020

MAN’S GREATEST FOLLY

Photo taken from patio

 

 

MAN’S GREATEST FOLLY 

February 16, 1964

Pastor Henry F. Kulp 

 

Romans 3: 13 - 20 Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 and the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Here Paul is proving that all men are sinners. He brings fourteen indictments against the race. There is absolutely no hope for the human race in itself. Paul shows that man is totally and completely depraved. 

Notice, verse 19 Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

You see all that God wants is that men stop talking. Oh, how men love to boast, and they always have a good word to say for themselves. If a man doesn’t have a good word for his neighbors, he always has a good word for himself. That is true of you. It is true of me. So God says, let all the world stop talking. Every mouth be closed, let all the world become guilty, and that is what Paul is aiming at. He is aiming to bring the whole world into a guilty position before God that they may know that they are lost. 

And this shows that man does not need religion, he needs Christ. Religion makes you think a lot of yourself, because look what you have done. And all religion can do is make you think of yourself, and so you have got to get rid of every atom of religion. You want to see this in action?

Luke 18: 9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ... and you know the Scripture tells of the Pharisee and the Publican. Here was a Pharisee—religious man, and in verse 11 Notice what religion has done for him. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

He prayed to himself—I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. I don’t do any of these things. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. But, notice the Publican in verse 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. That is exactly where God wants mankind to get—to this point.

 

2/  Now notice Romans 3: 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

People tell me I ought to preach the law, because by the law is the knowledge of sin. You have the knowledge of sin —the law has done its work. All one has to do is be sensible about this thing, and he will recognize he is a terrible sinner. Folks think we ought to take the juvenile delinquents and teach them the law. They don’t need the law—actually, every one who is part of a gang who goes out and beats people up or destroys property, they know this is wrong. What do they need? 

Matt. 17: 16, 17 And I brought him to the disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.

You will remember when Jesus Christ came down out of the Mount of Transfiguration He had three disciples with Him. The other disciples were waiting at the foot of the mount. When He came to them, He found a crowd about the disciples, and in the midst was a poor boy and his father. And, the father was saying, I can’t do anything for my boy, he has a demon, and even the disciples can’t help him. Do you remember what Jesus Christ said? He said, Bring him to Me. 

That is what you have to do with your juvenile delinquents—bring them to Christ Jesus, there is no other way. The church is wasting its time in trying to find another program. Our program is to take Christ to the world when it recognizes it is a sinner. First, show them that they are sinners and Christ is the answer to their sin. Take them not to some legal, ethical standards. Take them not to some rite or ritual, but take them to Jesus Christ, He is the answer.

3/  But as God lists the fourteen indictments against man, there is one that stands out in my mind, and it seems to be man’s greatest folly. It is given to us in Matthew 17: 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Look what sin has done to the human mind. He is no longer afraid of God. There is no fear of God before his eyes. Did you ever stop to think about the thought of eyes? 

Go back to Genesis 3: 5 where Satan, as he was testing Eve and trying her, said God doth know that the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. They were opened, all right, when she partook of that fruit. They were opened to the point that they could no longer see. Now man, with his eyes cannot see and fear God.

4/  God wants man to fear Him. Don’t you ever forget it. You have heard so much about the love of God, that man has been drawn into a side avenue. God wants to be feared, and as a matter of fact, the fear of God is a wholesome thing and a necessary thing. I would just like to spend a few moments this morning showing you the fear of God in the Bible. 

The first time the phrase is ever found in the Bible it is on the lips of Abraham. 

Genesis 20: 11 And Abraham said, because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 

Here Abraham is trying to explain his sin in departing from the holy land, and attempting to shield himself by having Sarah lie. He said, that the reason was because he thought the fear of God was not in the palace of Abimelech. The fear of God is a wholesome thing, and it will keep us from doing many things we would otherwise do. The sad part here is that Abraham said in the palace of Abimelech there is no fear of God, when rather, in his own heart there was no fear of God. He would never have left the land God gave him to go to Egypt, if he feared God. And, then he would never have told Sarah, his wife, to lie if he feared God, but he did both of these deeds because he had lost the fear of God in his life.

5/  Exodus 18: 21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: 

Moses’ father-in was a wise man and suggested to the great leader of Israel a governmental plan, which had the approval of God. Moreover, thou shalt provide of all the people, able men, such as fear God. Men of truth, and so forth and so on. So, here to be leaders in the nation, they were supposed to have feared God.

6/  Then notice, Exodus 20: 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Here we have the children of Israel as the law had just been given to them, and they see the thunderings and the lightenings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and shaking, and they stood afar off—that is they reeled backward, and Moses said in verse 20 Fear not—in other words, don’t be afraid of this, for God has come to prove you, that His fear may be before your faces that ye sin not. So God stated that the reason that He gave the law, was that men might fear Him and thus keep from sin.

7/  Leviticus 19: 14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Here we see it is the fear of God that keeps a man righteous that prevents a man from cursing a dead man, or putting a stumbling block before a blind man. Then if you will go to Leviticus 19: 32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. It is the fear of God that makes a man honor the aged. 

Then go ahead to Leviticus 25: 17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. 

Here it says that the fear of God destroys oppression. We will not oppress one another when we have the fear of God in our hearts. Also it brings out, Leviticus 25: 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God. It will eliminate hardness in government. 

Then, Deuteronomy 13: 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;  It will make a man turn from idolatry. 

Then notice, Deuteronomy 19: 20  And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. The fear of God gives a man the character of speaking the truth and turning away from perjury. The fear of God is a wholesome thing, and it is absolutely necessary in a man’s life, if he is to be the type of individual that God wants him to be.

8/  When we turn to the Psalms we find the fear of the Lord is set forth in a score of ways. We are to worship the Lord in fear—Psalms 5: 7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Then notice, Psalms 34: 7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Psalms 147: 11 He taketh pleasure in man? Absolutely.

9/  According to the Old Testament, how is the fear of God to be obtained. If you will, turn to Deuteronomy 4: 10 God says He would cause them to hear His words so that they might fear Him. Joshua 4: 24 And Joshua told the people after they had entered into the Promised Land that the Lord had wrought the marvels and had dried up the Jordan so they might pass over dry-shod in order that they might fear Him. 

In other words, the Word of God, in the Old Testament was to cause men to fear God, and the works of God and what He did, on their behalf. His miraculous intervention in their every day life, was to cause them to fear Him.

10/  Now let us look at the New Testament, what does God say about men fearing God? Of course, as we have told you in days gone by, He uses the word, “Forbos” in the Greek, which means ”with trembling”. It is not reverential fear. It is not having respect. Just 

one instance of this word will show you just what it means. 

Matthew 14: 22 - 26 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 

Here you can tell that these folks were frightened to death. They were afraid and they were full of fear. Jesus Christ tells us that we are to fear God. 

Luke12: 4, 5 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 

I Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; Here Peter tells us to fear God. 

Then Paul tells us the same thing in Philippians 2: 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 

We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So fear is necessary in the New Testament, and Paul talks of fear over, and over, again. The fear of God is a wholesome thing.

11/  If you feel that you are sick, you are not just what you ought to be. You go to a doctor and his diagnosis reveals that you lack Vitamin B, I am sure you would be willing to take a prescription from that doctor to the drugstore and get a bottle of vitamin B capsules. You would take them so this condition in your physical life could be corrected. Have you ever looked into your life and does God’s diagnosis reveal your indifference and your hardness and the fact that you don’t fear God? The only thing I can say is flee to the Word of God today and see who you are, what you are, what you lack and what you need. And, you will fear God and flee to Jesus Christ and trust Him as your Saviour.

12/  Now let us notice, Romans 3: 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 

Now the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of God? It is not the righteousness of man. It is not the righteousness of one who is considered a good man by the world, but, no, this is the righteousness of God, and Paul is showing here that terrible, filthy vile sinners can have the righteousness of God. Then notice that this righteousness of God being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In other words, the righteousness of God was in the Old Testament. Let me give you just one illustration of this. 

Isaiah 61: 10 There we read, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me in the garments of my salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. 

If one knows Jesus Christ, even though he is a filthy sinner, he is already dressed for eternity. God has given him a robe of righteousness. Now what is the robe of righteousness? Christ is the righteousness of God. This is the only answer to sin.

13/  There is a little verse that comes to my mind. I think it was written over 400 years ago by a child of God who understood this truth so well. It runs something like this, HAD I AN ANGEL’S RAIMENT FAIR, WITH HEAVENLY GEMS UNPRICED, THAT WONDROUS GARB I WOULD NOT WEAR, MY ROBE IS CHRIST. 

There isn’t anything in the universe that we need. God has clothed us with His own righteousness and this is our crying need—our desperate need.

14/  But now getting back to our Scripture. How do we get this righteousness? 

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. 

People say, don’t you have to be good? No, you don’t have to be good, because you can’t be good, so just dismiss that from your mind. If God should say I’ll give it to you that are good. I’ll give you this righteousness if you are good. The Lord might just as well fold it up and put it away in Heaven for all eternity, because we would never get it. He says it is by faith, and it is unto all and upon all them that believe. 

AMEN

Ref: 02/16/1964 / 265 – MAN’S GREATEST FOLLY / 6/23/2020