[Biblemat] S) BIBLICAL ARITHMETIC

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

BIBLICAL ARITHMETIC

     Way back when, in a one-room schoolhouse, I was taught,
among other things, arithmetic.  We learned to add, subtract,
multiphy and divide.  Those things were the basics.  In this
lesson we will focus our attention on the basics of biblical
arithmetic.

Addition: -- Man is warned of God toward the beginning, the
middle and the end of the Bible not to add unto His Word: "Ye
shall not add unto the Word which I command you..." (Deut.
4:2).  "Add thou not unto His Words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found 
a liar" (Prov. 30:6).  At the end of the Bible
we read concerning the book of Revelation, "If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues
that are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18).

     It is a contemptible thing to go beyond what God has com-
manded.  Instrumental music found its way into the worship
of the church by adding to the Word of God.  There is no New
Testament authority for it.  We could say the same thing about choirs, 
Saturday night observance of the Lord's Supper, church kitchens and gymnasiums, 
elders overseeing
the work of several churches, divorce and remarriage for 
about any cause and women leading prayer in the public wor-
ship.  Let God be true, but every man a liar (Rom. 3:4).

     On the other had, there are some good, profitable things
we must add to our Christian life.  Peter wrote that we should
give diligence to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-con-
trol, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.  He
continues by saying if we do these things we shall never fall
(2 Pet. 1:5-11).

Subtraction: -- God said: "Do not add to what I command you
and do not subtract from it" (Deut. 4:2, NIV).  We read again
in Revelation that if "any man shall take away from the words
of the book of this prophecy that God shall take his part out
of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things written in this book" (Rev. 22:19).

     Many in so-called Christendom have subtracted he Lord's
Supper from weekly observance and observe it quarterly or
semi-annually.  The first century church observed the Lord's
Supper every first day of the week (Acts 20:7).  They have tak-
en away the eldership of a local church (Acts 14:23; 20:17)
and replaced it with a one-man pastor.  Baptism has been sub-
tracted from the conditions of salvation for an alien sinner
(Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38) and works have been taken away from
faith, making faith dead (Jas. 2:26).

Multiplication: -- After the birth of New Testament Christianity
there was phenomenal growth of the church.  We read: "And
the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly" (Acts 6:7).  The apostles had
filled Jerusalem with the doctrine of Christ (Acts 5:28).  They
ceased not to teach and preach daily Jesus Christ in the tem-
ple and from house to house (Acts 5:42).  The disciples went
forth and sowed the seed of the kingdom and saw a great
harvest as a result (Acts 9:31; 11:19-21).

     Brethren, some of us need to get away from just church
house religion and plant the seed into the hearts of lost men
and women.  Most of our preaching and teaching is for our-
selves, week after week and month after month.  We need to
put "go" back into the GO-SPEL.  We need ot outreach for the un-reached, both 
congregationally and individually.

Division: -- Paul wrote: "Study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the Word of Truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).  Many fail to make a distinct-
ion between the Old and New Testaments.  The Old Testa-
ment (Covenant) was a law for the nation of Israel, the Jews,
while the New Testament (Covenant) is a universal law for us
all, both Jew and Gentile.  We don't learn how to be saved or
worship God by going back to the Law of Moses, the Old Cov-
enant.  We learn these things from the New Covenant, the law
of Christ (Col. 2;14; Gal. 3:24,25; 6:2; Heb. 10:9).  Let us right-
ly divide or handle aright the Testaments.

     Then there are those who fail to rightly divide when they make fleshly 
Israel God's chosen people today, even though
Jesus said the kingdom of God would be take from them and
given to another nation (Matt. 21:43).  That nation is now
spiritual Israel, the church (Gal. 6:16).  This same crowd makes a 
distinction between the church and the kingdom, 
thereby making the church an accident.

     And one more thing; some brethren seem to get a little
mixed-up and think that division means we ought to divide 
the church (Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10-12).  On that point Paul
said, "Let there be no divisions among you..." (1 Cor. 1:10).
             ----- Weldon Warnock in Biblical Insights, Vol. 6, No.
11, Nov. 2006.   </HTML>
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