Musick-al Notes

 Musick-al note # 193     

            God sent Jesus into the world to save the world from sin so that all men might obey Him and live with Him throughout all eternity (John 3:16, Galatians 4:4-7). His own people did not receive Him and by wicked hands they crucified Him (Acts 2:23).  Jesus, by His death, paid the price for every man’s sin (Hebrews 2:9).  The New Testament writings enable man to believe and obey him (John 20:30-31, Hebrews 5:8-9).  Paul said in Romans 6:17-18, “But God be thanked that though you were the slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” This obeying the Gospel of Christ is a very important step that every person must take for in so doing each one becomes a child of God in Christ and freed from sin (Romans 1:16, 6:17-18, Galatians 3:26-27).

            One’s obedience places one into Christ where salvation is found.  There is no one else who can save us, (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).  Man’s destiny without Christ is grim indeed, “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Matthew 25:31-34).   The contrast between the lost and the saved is found in several places.  Consider Matthew 13:41-43, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  Also Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  Jesus invites all to come to Him (Revelation 22:17) and my prayer is that everyone turn to Him in obedience to His words, then look to an eternity with Him.

            Gordon Musick

 Musick-al note # 192              

          Eternal salvation comes to those who listen to God and are obedient to Him.  God is the giver of salvation.  He alone has the right to say how any man or every man may be saved.  In John 3:16 it is written, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God’s great gift of His Son for the salvation of man is the basis of His saving man.  Peter said in Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  If there is salvation in no other name than Jesus, then every man must enter into Christ Jesus to be saved. Paul said in Galatians 3:26-27   “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  Putting on Christ is through obeying the Gospel of Christ. The gospel, Paul said is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  In Romans 6:17-18, Paul said that we obey from the heart a ‘form of the doctrine’ to be freed of sin and become a servant of righteousness. That ‘form’ is ‘dying to sin, being immersed in water, rising to a new life’ now recognized by the term ‘baptism’.  Baptism in obedience to God makes one a child of God (Galatians 3:26-27).  When one is baptized (puts on Christ) his sins are forgiven and he becomes a servant of God.   Ephesians 1:7   “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.  What shall we say then, can man follow just any way he desires and expect salvation from God?  No!  For if God spared not his only Son for our salvation, how could we look for another to save us?  Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Look at Acts 4:12.  There is salvation in no one else therefore everyone who desires salvation will come to Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of God.

            Gordon Musick

Musick-al note #  191            

         Perhaps we will all be surprised when the Judgment day comes. Many more surprises than these I write will probably occur so study the Word and think about these.

            The time will surprise everyone.  His warning is to ‘watch and be ready’ for the date and hour will be a complete surprise, coming when no one expects it!  (Matthew 24:36-42).           The standard will surprise many.  It will not be what some preacher says, what some denomination teaches or what one’s parents think, nor what we wish for, BUT the Words of Jesus (John 12:48) and his apostles who were to teach all he commanded them, so all the inspired words of the New Testament will be included (Matthew 28:20, John 14:26).   

        THE LOST will be surprised for they will be excluded from the eternal life in heaven. They may be lost because they refused all opportunities or rejected warnings and followed false doctrines (Matthew 7:13-15, 21-27, 13:37-42, Acts 4:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, Galatians 1:6-9,  2 Peter 2:1-10). One can be lost because they neglect duties, have hidden sin, believing lies, or becoming lukewarm (Revelation 3:16), thus because of their sinful hearts will be excluded – LOST FOREVER.

       MANY will be surprised for they were in churches founded by men (Matthew 15:13-14) and have believed their doctrines which were only the doctrines of man – yet are LOST (Matthew 15:9)!  What a sad path to follow in this world!  The truth is open to everyone but everyone must study and learn to follow Jesus to reach that eternal home (Hebrews 5:9).

     Even FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS will be surprised. Some that they are among the blessed to live forever. Some that they are welcomed by God’s own Son, Jesus. Some that they will understand how great the glory of God is.  Some that they will enter the eternity where no evil can invade and where there will be no tears, no sorrows and no pain. Some will be surprised when they meet the faithful of all the ages as Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and many others as well as those they knew on earth.  We will rejoice with Jesus, angels and saints as we praise God for His great love.

           Gordon Musick

 Musick-al Note # 190             

          In Hebrews 9:27 the writer states “It is appointed to man to die once and after this, the judgment.”  So judgment will come upon us. We shall not escape for all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give account of the things he has done in the body, whether it be good or bad.”  2 Corinthians 5:10. Beloved, judgment will come to each of us – not according to any claim we make, but as we truly are.  We may claim to be true Christians, put on a good front before others but we MUST remember that judgment will be according to God who sees all and knows all we think, say and do.  We may pretend love toward our brethren and they think we truly love them but God knows if we only pretend or sincerity love them.  We cannot be two-faced and escape the judgment of God for He knows all about us.  Can we say we love the brotherhood of Christ and then be speak kindly to our friends then shun even speaking to others? Should we speak well of a person to their friends, yet speak evil to others, we will find that judgment will come upon us because our words and our deeds are not equal.

          Judgment will come upon the house of God and according to Peter, and it will scarcely be saved (1 Peter 4:17-18).  Ought we to strive diligently with ourselves that we may enter into the eternal home of the soul to be with our Savior and our Father?  Yes, very diligently for Christ will remove from His kingdom any who are spots and blemishes and are defiled and cause others to sin.  Our hypocrisies will cause many to turn from the Way and speak evil of us.  Do we love Christ Jesus enough to be true followers in obedience to His Word?  We must strive for the eternal glory, turn from sin, hypocrisies, evil deeds and evil speech, or we will do the cause of Christ a great harm. .

         What will we have in judgment if we fail to discern the true values of life?  When we put emphasis upon worldly and base things to place them above spiritual things, our sense of values is misdirected.  Too many people seek the things of the world as the greatest good. Christians can also fall into this snare and place greater emphasis upon these rather than upon spiritual truths.  This misplaced sense of values will causes them to neglect the Lord’s commands. One can forsake the assembly, and give little to the church while spending much upon themselves. If we are no longer concerned for the lost, have no love for Christ, no longer seek the fellowship of Christians, and concern ourselves with this world – be sure that judgment will come upon us and we stand in peril of being lost throughout eternity.  Yes, judgment will come.  Where will you stand?  What will be our destiny – in heaven with Christ or separated from all that is good and godly.

              Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 189             

        In John 14:8-9, Philip said to the Lord Jesus, “Show us the Father”.  Did Jesus show the disciples the Father?  No, because He said, “He that has seen me has seen the Father”.  Everything that one can know of God the Father can be known by knowing Jesus the Son of God.  There are those who teach that since God is ONE God, then there cannot be three persons in the Godhead but only three manifestations of the ONE God.  Is this what the Scriptures teach? If so, how can Jesus pray to Himself as He did in John 17?  He prayed to God the Father as the Son of God who would be God the Son.  Are we to so construe His Words that He was praying to Himself?  Such would be unreasonable!

        When Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure, He said, “if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. “He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. John 16:7, 13-14. Jesus spoke not only of God the Father but also of God the Spirit.  He must go to the Father that the Spirit might come to guide the Apostles into all truth.

        It is hard for man to believe that there can be three persons so perfectly joined in love, plans, direction and purpose that they can be ONE but that is just what the Godhead is.  Three persons being ONE!  When the apostle John wrote his short epistle of 2 John he said, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”  To fail to follow the teaching or doctrine of Christ separates one from God but to live in that doctrine or teaching an individual has both the Father and the Son.  John said in 1 John 5:7, “For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”  The Word spoken here is the same as in the Gospel of John 1:1-3 and in verse 14.

        Let us not be guilty of perverting the Word of God nor destroying its work among the children of men in this world.  Let us handle it rightly and carefully that we may be pleasing to God.

        Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 188                

            To ask such a question of one’s self seems to be an impossible enigma since we profess to know and love God as revealed in the Scriptures. He is the creator of all things, even us who live and make decisions in all the affairs of our lives.  We acknowledge Him as the Father of our Lord Jesus who came to the earth to save us from our sins. We also avow that the Bible is His Word and that the new covenant was given that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and have life through his name (John 20:31, Acts 4:12),  We say we love Jesus, but have to admit that we often forget his teaching as we direct our steps. Jesus said that if we love him, we would obey his words (John 14:15, 23-23). Have we become like those spoken of in the scriptures that say they obey Him and call him Lord yet do not follow his words (Luke 6:46)?  Do we look into the perfect law of liberty (the Scriptures, (James 1:23-25) and then change its meaning or ignore its words entirely and do what we want anyway?  Those who do so are deceived or follow false teaching without knowing the Word of God. Jesus said that we must beware of false prophets who were like wolves dressed as sheep (Matthew 7:15).  Peter said there would be false teachers among the saints teaching heresies and many would follow them (2 Peter 2:1-3).   

         Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7) spoke of those who went about doing good works, saying that they were following him, yet Jesus said that he did not know them!  Why then Jesus reject them when they worked so diligently? Is Jesus saying to us that just doing good works is not enough? Isn’t obedience to Jesus Words crucial to a person’s salvation?  From Matthew 7:21-23, we can only surmise that they had not obeyed his gospel to enter into him (Matthew 7:13-14, John 10:1, Acts 2:38-41, Galatian 3:26-27).  Jesus said, “I never knew you”. It is disturbing to speak to people who have spent a lifetime looking to enter heaven and yet have never obeyed the Gospel of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).  We place their souls in danger of eternal loss by discounting and disobeying his word.  We must be IN CHRIST (Galatians 3:26-27) and follow Him as long as we live (John 14:6, Matthew 7:13, John 14:23-24).

              Gordon Musick   

Musick-al note # 187
The Bible, God’s Word, is sufficient proof that God is interested in the salvation of man. Jesus said when He comes into his glory and separates the sheep from the goats, He will say to the sheep, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”. (Matthew 25:34). Peter declared, “You know that you were redeemed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a Lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake” (1 Peter 1:18-20). God planned for man to be redeemed by the blood of His Son before the world was made. John said in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus was slain ‘before the foundation of the world’. Paul said that he preached the “unsearchable riches of Christ which God had planned from the beginning “And to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which was realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:1-11). Paul also said “We declare God’s wisdom, the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7). God planned for man to be redeemed in Christ before the world began “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He predestined in love that men were to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:4-5). “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” When we obey Him we receive the blessings which He promised before creating the world (Galatians 3:26-27).
Gordon Musick

Musick-al Note # 186
Jesus said the words He uttered while here would judge us in the last day (John 12:48). John said that these words were written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and believing we can have life through Him (John 20:30-31). How can we say we are ready for judgment when we do not know His will? Jesus came into the world that we might have eternal life (John 10:10-28). We can know His will only when we know His Word. Yet it is so easy to neglect the study of the Bible. It is easy to find some excuse for not attending Bible classes and worship. We may declare that we believe that Jesus came into the world and we honor him as Lord but if we do not do his bidding, what good is it? (Luke 6:46-49). We promise ourselves that we intend to get started someday, and the promise of doing right in the future gives our minds some ease. However we never get around to it. Are all these promises going to help us when we stand before the Lord to be judged by the Word we have neglected? Not at all, for merely promising and not doing avails nothing. We must not only begin to study the Word of God but we also must begin to do His will. A promise, if not kept is only a forfeit of good intentions. It may give us temporary relief, but if not kept, it only increases the burden which we thought was erased. If you don’t like to hear about giving, it may be because you don’t like to give! If you don’t like to hear sermons on personal work, it may be because you don’t like to call on people concerning their souls. If you don’t like lessons on prayer, maybe you need to examine your prayer life. If you feel unwelcome and strange when you attend services, it may be due to your irregularity and lack of friends.
Jesus said that to know him and God is to know eternal life (John 17:3). To know and love Jesus is to keep His words (John 14:23). John also said, “This is love for God to keep his commands and His commands are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3). I urge you to begin reading the Bible every day and listen to others who speak concerning God’s words and commandments to obey them. It is wrong to ignore the Word of God and it is wrong to teach anything that contradicts its message. Follow the Word! It is life eternal!
Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 185        

            The Bible is God’s revelation to man concerning Himself and His relationship to man.  The Bible reveals the beginning of mankind, his fall into sin, man’s history as God has dealt with him, God’s redemptive plan for man, the destiny of those who do not obey His will and the eternal glory awaiting those who are obedient to His divine will.

            The Bible speaks of the creation of man in this way, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His <own> image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27).  In the next chapter, the Bible says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7).  God formed Eve by taking a rib from the man and made Woman and gave her to the man  (Genesis 2:21-23).  Thus man (or mankind) is God’s creation, made in His own image, created from the dust of the ground and having the breath of life, being made in the form of man and woman.

            No direct statement is given in the Bible as to God’s purpose for man, however one can derive God’s purpose by what He has done for man.  God created man to give fellowship, honor and devotion to Him.  He planned that man would eventually be with Him in Heaven and enjoy His fellowship forever.  Man sinned (as God knew he would) so God set in motion His eternal purpose to redeem man.  When the fullness of the time had come, (Galatians 4:4-5).  God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  God’s plan included an acceptance of God’s redeemer and obedience to His will.  All who believe and follow His teachings will be blessed with that eternal fellowship with Him for they will have demonstrated that they want to be with Him by obeying His Son (Hebrews 5:9).

            Gordon Musick