An excerpt from a Bible Study (CHRISTIAN DUTIES).
Please note:
In this Lesson, we have not attempted to give a prosy kind of guidance. Instead, only a skeleton outline has been presented so that the Student may read the scriptures for himself or herself and write in the prosy style if he or she so desires. The work involved has been immense and therefore it has been thought unwise to write a prosy kind of a lesson as it would have been very long. So many scriptures have been given so as to be thorough. However, several may have been overlooked due to human weaknesses and frailty. Also, some may have been misplaced. Please, do kindly correct the errors that might have been made unintentionally.
INTRODUCTION:
When God’s Word is abiding in the believer, his attitude is always: “The Lord lives in me!”. This attitude is imprinted in the heart of the believer by the Holy Ghost. The Word of God is written in the heart by the Holy Ghost and as Jesus said, “I am the Life”, so the Word of God is made alive and is seen at work in the life of the believer.
John 15:7; Colossians 3:16; 1 John 2:14; Psalm 119:11; Jeremiah 20:9;
(contrast: John 5:38) The believer, abiding in God’s Word has this attitude : “I live through Christ”. He has been enabled by the Holy Ghost to die to self and live only through the Word of God. In every aspect of his life, only the word of God is seen in action. Fulfilling the word of the Lord makes us the living epistles ( John 8:31; 2 Timothy 3:14; 2 Timothy 2:15; Psalm 1:2-3; Psalm 119:97).
“Moreover it is REQUIRED in stewards, that a man be found FAITHFUL” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
We are living in a day that is marked by UNFAITHFULNESS. The mystery of LAWLESSNESS is already working (2 Thes. 2:7) and this condition of total disrespect for God’s requirements will continue until the Lord returns (Luke 18:18).
INFIDELITY is rampant, not only with respect to marital obligations, but with respect to any moral obligations. It is a day when men cannot be counted on or trusted for anything. It seems that the only sure thing you can count on is that men will be unfaithful, and this problem is not found exclusively among those outside of Christ. Many of those who name the name of Christ are also among the unfaithful. In this age or in any age, it is a very rare thing to find a faithful man:
“Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”
(Psalm 12:1).
Everyone of us shall someday give account to God. The issue then will not be how FAMOUS or FLAMBOYANT (showy) or FLASHY (outwardly successful) we were, but how FAITHFUL we were:
“Well done, thou good and FAITHFUL servant: thou hast been FAITHFUL over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” (Matt. 25:21).
A faithful person is the person who fulfills a given responsibility and who rightfully carries out an obligation or duty. The believer desires to please His Saviour and be faithful to Him. In order to find my God-given responsibilities and duties, I must go to the pages of God’s Word, the Holy Bible.
Many unsaved people know what is required of them by God since many of them attend some denomination but they are totally frustrated by their continual failure to perform that which they know they should do.
“For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I…for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:15-18).
God must bring us to the point where we realize that in and of ourselves we do not have what it takes to be faithful.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only SOURCE of a faithful life and an obedient life. He is our LIFE (Col. 3:1-4) and He is our VINE (John 15:1-7). Apart from Him we are totally unfaithful (John 15:5) but in Him we have all the resources that we need to fulfill our duties and keep His commandments (Phil. 4:13; 2:13; Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Thess. 4:8; 1 Cor. 15:10; Col. 1:29). It’s His sa1vation, it’s His life, it’s His working, it’s His power, it’s His grace and He gets all the glory! Every believer should honestly confess the following: “I acknowledge that, of myself, I am totally unable to fulfill my God-given responsibilities and duties, but I TRUST, even as my Lord Jesus has commanded in His Word that I should do these things, that He will by His grace enable me to do them. I am trusting the LIFE and POWER of the RISEN CHRIST to work in me mightily.”
The believer finds great comfort and encouragement when he remembers that the Christ who lives in Him IS FAITHFUL (see Hebrews 3:l-2). My faithful Saviour can live out His life in me. Jesus never fails!
