Month: December 2021

The Fountain of Life

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalms 36:9)

Recently, I was asked why I end my tabernacle sermons with the phrase, Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. Each of the sermons on the tabernacle is to explain the beautiful pictures of Christ that are displayed in the types and figures of tabernacle worship. I am reminded of verse 9 in Psalm 36 in which David writes: “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.” The purpose of these studies is to open this fountain of life to perfect our knowledge of Christ. We are not in the midst amid an academic pursuit to merely fill our heads with useless knowledge, but it is our desire to be filled with the fullness of the knowledge of Christ. To know Christ is to love Him, so as we increase our knowledge of Him so shall we increase in our love for Him.

The doctrines of God’s word elucidate the work of Christ that we might know Him better. In 1671, the great Puritan, John Flavel, presented a series of messages entitled The Fountain of Life Opened Up. In these sermons, he sought to draw the truths of Christ together to present them in an orderly fashion so that his readers could see the interdependency of each doctrine to the meaning of the whole gospel. In the introduction to his work, Flavel wrote:

“A young ungrounded Christian, when he sees all the fundamental truths, and sees good evidence and reasons of them, perhaps may be yet ignorant of the right order and place of every truth. It is a rare thing to have young professors to understand the necessary truths methodically: and this is a very great defect: for a great part of the usefulness and excellency of particular truths consists in the respect they have to one another. This therefore will be a very considerable part of your confirmation, and growth in your understandings, to see the body of the Christian doctrine, as it were, at one view, as the several parts of it are united in one perfect frame; and to know what aspect one point has upon another, and which are their due places. There is a great difference between the sight of the several parts of a clock or watch, as they are disjointed and scattered abroad, and the seeing of them joined, and in use and motion. To see here a pin and there a wheel, and not know how to set them all together, nor ever see them in their due places, will give but little satisfaction. It is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be known, and every part should be discerned as it has its particular use to that design, and as it is connected with the other parts.

“By this means only can the true nature of Theology, together with the harmony and perfection of truth, be clearly understood. And every single truth also will be much better perceived by him that sees its place and order, than by any other: for one truth exceedingly illustrates and leads another into the understanding. Study therefore to grow in the more methodical knowledge of the same truths which you have received; and though you are not yet ripe enough to discern the whole body of theology in due method, yet see so much as you have attained to know, in the right order and placing of every part. As in anatomy, it is hard for the wisest physician to discern the course of every branch of the veins and arteries; but yet they may easily discern the place and order of the principal parts, and greater vessels, (and surely in the body of religion there are no branches of greater or more necessary truth than these) so it is in divinity, where no man has a perfect view of the whole, until he comes to the state of perfection with God; but every true Christian has the knowledge of all the essentials, and may know the orders and places of them all.”

This is the reason we study the tabernacle. We must see Christ better through the systematic understanding of truth. In the tabernacle, we touch on every aspect of Christ’s work. And as if to stand back in amazement at each discovery in the unveiling of Christ, Flavel ended each marvelous exposition of the Saviour with these words: Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:8) 

For many weeks, we’ve studied the Day of the Lord and how God intends to end this world. Those without Christ should be frightened to face the Lord and indeed Paul said in 1 Thessalonians they will not escape the wrath to come. While we as Christians will not face God’s wrath, we do face hardships in life that sometimes make us think we are not in God’s favor but in His wrath. One of these problems is financial trouble.

You will notice in James chapter 5, James gives one of the most scathing rebukes of the sins of the rich that can be found in scripture. While the Bible never says it is a sin to be rich, it does give strict warnings about the deceitfulness of riches and what God expects as stewardship of the resources He gives. Most in our congregation do not concern themselves with the temptation to horde riches. It is a challenge for many of you to meet your normal everyday household needs. We find ourselves on the other end of the spectrum fretting about making the house payment or the rent for next month.

For many Christians, this seems upside down. Why must God’s people suffer trying to make ends meet when there are unbelievers that are so rich, they can’t figure out how to spend their money? Some churches developed an entire theology to answer this question. Their conclusion is that Christians that suffer with financial problems and with health problems are living short of God’s intention for them. They suffer because they lack the faith to claim all of God’s promises.

This is where our featured verse brings such comfort. Those that are not wealthy ought not to think that God will right this perceived wrong in this life. James reminds his readers of the holy prophets that suffered affliction (v.10) and patiently endured it. Could we say the prophets suffered because their faith was lacking? He also reminds them of Job (v. 11) who is the Bible’s classic example of patient endurance. Job certainly did not suffer because of lack of faith. It was his great faith that caused God to allow Satan to test him to prove that he would never turn his back on God despite the harshest of troubles. In the end, Job received the reward of endurance which was more than what he gave up at the beginning.

The point made by James in this example is not that Job received his riches in this life, which he did, but there is always the faithfulness of God in respect to the reward. Many of the Christians James addressed would never see riches in their lifetimes because they were slaves. Were they to conclude, as modern preaching says, that their lack of faith was the cause? This is wild and crazy theology—even demonic theology that arrives at such erroneous conclusions.

So, when is the Christian living in hardships to expect relief? It comes when we meet Christ. Those that live considering the return of Christ or in the hope of their immediate presence with Christ at death realize they have eternal life in the present. They are going through such a minute period in this life that it does not register on the scale of eternity. The hurts of this life are no more than a scab that will be healed and quickly cast aside. If we genuinely believe in the reward that is coming, we will endure until we reach it.

Another example James gives of patient endurance is in verse 7. The farmer toils in the field plowing and planting. It is a necessary part of receiving the harvest. The harvest will come but he cannot rush it. At the same time, he is confident the arduous work will have a happy result. I don’t think we have any farmers in the church, so think of it another way. How much demanding work and schooling does a professional endure before he becomes established and successful? The hardships are first and then the reward. James is simply saying this life is the hardship; it is the proving ground, and then the payoff of faith in Christ will be ours in the eternal home of heaven.

So, be patient. Hold on a little longer and establish your heart in the faith because Jesus is coming!

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Last week I discussed the danger of false prophets whom the apostle John referred to as “antichrists.” In my article today, I want to give you a little of the background of the religion system of the coming Antichrist of the end times. This religious system is an integral part of his government. It is a mixture of all the great religions of the world headed up by apostate Christianity.

            In has never been Satan’s primary deceptive tactic to convince people to be atheists. He knows that man was created with the innate knowledge of God and rather than fight against human nature he chooses to exploit to his best advantage man’s ignorance of the true God. Since the beginning of the church two thousand years ago, Satan’s greatest weapon has been to pervert the gospel by corrupting the church and creating a confusing counterfeit. Today, Christianity claims two billion adherents most of which have some affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Through the centuries, Roman Catholicism has proved to be a great compromiser and thus Satan’s most effective counterfeit. During the Reformation, it was common for the reformers to equate Mystery Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5) with the Roman Catholic Church. Having been part of the Catholic system themselves, they were familiar with its rife corruption.

            It has always been Catholicism method to increase her numbers by compromise. In the fourth century, Constantine saw the advantages of joining Christianity with his secular government, but it was difficult to convince pagans to give up their mythological gods. To diffuse the opposition, the gods of the pagans were given new names and incorporated into the worship of his universal church. Although known by different names, their practice of worshipping Mary, the saints, and angels predates Christianity by thousands of years going all the way back to the construction of Babel in Genesis 11. In its missionary efforts through the centuries, when Catholicism wanted to embrace a different culture, it was no problem for them to be flexible and to incorporate the superstitions of their converts into their religious system.

            In the Tribulation, history will repeat itself as Roman Catholicism will be the head of the Antichrist’s apostate religion. Compromises will be necessary to mix all the world’s religions into one satanic concoction that will help the Antichrist rise to power and control the world. The same movement is foreshadowed today in the compromises of Protestants to rejoin their harlot mother. When the ECT accord (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) was signed in 1994, many well-known Protestant and Catholic leaders agreed to cooperate in their efforts to propagate the gospel. This was done notwithstanding Rome’s gross perversion of the doctrine of justification. The chief battle in the 16^th century Reformation was the correction of Rome’s false gospel of meritorious justification. This was laid aside in the ECT as being inconsequential, which makes the ecumenicism of the agreement nothing less than the affirmation of the Antichrist’s agenda.

            In 2021, it is difficult to find a religious leader that still identifies the Great Whore of Revelation with the Roman Catholic Church. Satan’s deception goes on as one world church and religion become more of a reality every day. When the leaders of our country, many of whom claim to be Christians, cover up the atrocities of Islam and approve them as seekers finding their own path to God, they are setting up the convergence of all religions. As Congress gives up national sovereignty, they pave the way for the one world government of the Antichrist. Mix these two together, apostate Christianity and one world government, and the result is Mystery Babylon the Great, the extremely vilest enemy of God that has inhabited earth.

            Revelation 17 is the worst of the world’s history looking backwards or forwards. Thank God the King is coming! Mystery Babylon will fall, and the King of kings will reign supreme! We pray daily for God’s Kingdom to come to earth. Until it comes, we oppose religious dualism. We cannot and will not join any ecumenical efforts that promote unity by compromise. We are not ashamed to name the names of religious apostates. The day of wrath is coming. We will not be sleeping dogs who are passive and will not bark out the warning.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18) 

In our study of the end times, there is the term “last days” used several times in both Old and New Testaments but is often misunderstood. Sometimes the same concept is expressed in the way the apostle John did in 1 John 2:18 when he said, “it is the last time.” Since the Bible was completed two thousand years ago, we might think the writers were referring to a far-off time, different from theirs and referring to our own time or some other future date. However, it is clear from John’s present tense usage, “it is the last time,” that the time he was living in was also considered the last days. Hebrews 1:1-2 defines the last days as a time inaugurated with the first advent of the Messiah. This means for these past two thousand years we have been living in the last days and will be until Christ returns to close out this period of earth’s history.

The last days are characterized as a time of growth in the kingdom of God. We see this in Matthew 13 and the seven parables Jesus taught concerning the kingdom. This is a time for God’s people to witness the gospel, or as Jesus illustrates in the first parable of Matthew 13, it is a time to sow the seeds of the gospel. This is also a time of great opposition. In the second parable, Jesus described how Satan will sow tares among the wheat. The tares are poisonous plants that represent the children of darkness who infiltrate the kingdom. They hate the wheat, which is God’s people, and they hate the works of Christ. Using the term antichrists, which is peculiar to John’s writings, John describes the character of these tares. They are anti meaning against Christ. They try to destroy the growth of the kingdom by teaching false doctrines.

Antichrists are extremely dangerous because the most effective work they do is when they are able to infiltrate churches with their false doctrines. These are not people that stand outside throwing stones. Rather, they are deceitful workers that stealthily worm their way into the church and eat away at it from the inside. They represent false Christianity, and their main target is Christ Himself. If they can destroy doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the penal substitutionary nature of the atonement, justification by faith alone, the inerrancy of scripture, and other essential doctrines they are successful at destroying the gospel before it can ever take root in the heart.

John and other Bible authors warn us to be on the lookout for any deviation from the truths taught by Jesus and the apostles. The theme of 1 John is the apostle’s systematic criteria for identifying those that are not true believers. If these false teachers are characteristic of the end times, then we are sure that John was not the only one living through the last days. We are in the heat of it at this moment, especially when the people of this country have become dreadfully confused about the definition of true Christianity.  When heterodox Mormons are considered Christian, you know we are in trouble! We must be very diligent to “contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3). We are surrounded by antichrists—not my term but John’s—and a very appropriate description it is.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith