“Anxious Thoughts”

Elder Thomas McDonald                Part 1

 I’m sure that most everyone would agree that September 11th., will be a day that we’ll all remember for a long time. It has left everyone worried about flying, riding buses. Worries about terrorism seem to consume people’s minds. Worries about being laid off from work, rising fuel prices leading us down to worries about an economic recession. And sometimes we find ourselves listening to the radio, and what do we listen to? We listen to those who give a picture of the so-called eminent “battle of Armageddon,” along with the coming of the Anti-Christ, and his “tribulation!”

And what do all of these things do to us? Right you guessed it¼WE ANXIOUSLY WORRY!  Beloved I wish that I could say to you that you will never have cause to worry, but we live in a world where there will always be things that will try to come into our lives and attempt to occupy our thoughts, and cause us “discomfort” and “anxious thoughts” It’s the old Devil’s way of trying to distract us, and rob us of our joy and peace that we have in the Church Kingdom of God.

We have to live in the very same world as everybody else lives in don’t we? Why I can tell that I have even known people who spend their time worry¼worrying about worrying! And when you get to thinking about all of this, doesn’t it only seem natural that we get to feeling like we become confused and have “anxious thoughts,” and don’t know what to do next? We find ourselves looking around for assurances that give us answers, and we sometimes don’t know whom to turn to for our answers. But let me say this to you, we are “in the world,” but glory be to God dear ones, the scriptures declares to us that “we are not of the world.” (See John15:19).

What are  “anxious thoughts?” How do they affect us? And what can we do about them? First, “anxious thoughts,” are thoughts that cause us to have feelings of  uneasiness, apprehension, and dread usually about what may happen in the future. Thoughts like, “Is my son or daughter okay?” “Will I be able to make the next house payment on time?” Or, “I wonder if that radio preacher is right about the world coming to an end and the coming great tribulation?”

In the New Testament the English word that is used for our “anxious thoughts” is the Greek word merimnao (mer-im-nah'-o) which means “to worry,” and it is translated as “thought” in Matthew 6:25-34. It literally means to have “anxious worrying thought.” This is the picture that our Lord Jesus Christ conveyed when He said, “Take no thought for your life.”  He was saying to us, “Little Child of Grace, don’t go around all the time with anxious worrying thoughts!”

And the Apostle Paul tells us, “Be careful for nothing.”  Look at the word “careful” that he uses here, it’s the very same word merimnao (mer-im-nah'-o), which tells us that to not take upon ourselves any “anxious worrying thoughts!”  So to have to understand that “anxious worrying thoughts” are only here causing us to be preoccupied with real or possible bad things that may or may not happen to us. “Anxious worrying thoughts” is the fear that maybe we’ll be embarrassed, maybe we’ll suffer pain, and maybe we’ll experience some loss, or maybe we’ll become inconvenienced by someone or something.

There are two types of worry. The first type of worry is a negative, harmful, and crippling anxious worry. And the second is positive, and beneficial concern. And the same Greek word merimnao is used to the New Testament for each type.

The other day I was talking to Elder Bob Bolden about this subject he said, “some of the worry that we have actually comes from God to show us that we can’t do everything for ourselves, and that our dependence must come from Him.” Brother Bob hit the nail on the head! This type of worry can be classified as the second type.

Now the negative “anxious worry” in the scriptures talks to us about is that troubling, fretting and anxious thoughts that become a plague in our day to day walk in life. Jesus speaks about these anxious thoughts six times in His mountain sermon (Matt. 6). He told His disciples who took out the time to climb up to where he was and listen to what he had to say, not “anxiously worry” about their everyday cares of this life; their food, clothing, shelter, and yes even their future!  The Apostle Peter instructs us to cast all of our “care upon Him,” why? because “He careth for you.” (1 Pet. 5:7).

In Phil. 2: 20, Paul was “concerned” about the welfare of the brethren at the church at Philippi (which as we have already seen is the second positive type of worry,) when he uses these words, “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.” The word “care” is the same word merimnao. This good type of “worry” encourages us into loving involvement for the sake of our brethren. To have concern for others is this positive kind of worry that moves us to pray and to serve in their best interest.

The crippling type of worry is one were we attempt to carry the load ourselves, in our own strength. We are then moved away from that healthy concern, to an oppressive, crippling worry where we:

 _    Can’t sleep because we can’t stop think about out troubles.

_    Feel guilty and can’t relax.

_    Feel afraid of something most of the time.

_    Feel like panicking in certain situations in life.

_    Refuse to look at our feelings.

_    Find blame in others for just about everything that happens to us.

_    Always feel a vague unseen fear of impending disaster.

 Why do we worry and become anxious when we have so much to be thankful for? After all God has given us His Son, who has already saved us and given us the victory.  It seems like, we because of these blessings would most certainly not have anything to worry about¼and yet¼we do worry don’t we? And sometimes we worry before we’re even aware of it. And again we ask ourselves why do we worry?

Well, there are several reasons why we worry. First and foremost is the undeniable fact that we live in this old sinful, imperfect flesh. We find that we’re no better than the Apostle Peter, in Matthew 14:22-31.  Here Peter and the other disciples were instructed by the Lord to “get into a ship,’ and to ‘go before’ Him “unto the other side’ of the lake ‘while He sent the multitudes away.” And then as they were in the boat, going across the lake He went up and prayed to His father. And while He was praying, and they were in the middle of that lake a storm came upon them with huge waves, and high winds which blew “against them.” And as they were struggling against this great big storm they looked out of the boat and saw Jesus coming toward them¼“walking on the sea.” And you would think that when the disciple’s saw Him walking on the sea that they’d be happy wouldn’t you? No, they were terrified and began to cry out in fear!

And right away Jesus spoke to them and said, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” And Peter, who was at best skeptical, said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” And Jesus said to him, “Come,” and Peter steeped out on the water in faith to go to Jesus.”

“But when he saw the great power of the wind, he became afraid. Because he took his focus off of Jesus, he thought to himself “Oh no, I’m in danger.” And no doubt he wondered if he would be able to survive the situation that he found himself in. And he began to sink! And he cried out to the Lord saying, “Lord, save me!” And right away “Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him,” and lifted him up out of the water, and He said to him, O Peter “thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Jesus then escorted him back to the boat, and as soon as they arrived “the wind ceased.” Peter was never in any danger at all¼the Lord was on his side.

And we are just like Peter, and we can see ourselves in his experience. We worry and become anxious because we feel like we are vulnerable. And when we’re left alone and in our flesh we truly are justified in these feelings. Sickness may indeed strike us. The economy could falter and fall. Our car may break down and leave us stranded. Someone could set off a bomb and kill us or kill someone we love. Someone could come up and say something very hurtful to us. We are all frail, mortal, and sensitive human beings. And we are all vulnerable physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We’re like Peter, we are all merely human flesh, and we too are capable of drowning. So why do we worry? Because we feel like we are vulnerable.

We worry and become anxious because we become aware of our vulnerability.  And because we feel vulnerable we go out and try to make our lives more secure. We lock our homes. Drive reliable cars, and try to keep them repaired so that they won’t break down on us. We go to the doctor for regular check ups. We try to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

But try though we might, things continue to come along that cause us to once again to become aware of that nagging vulnerability that we are plagued with. We become just like Peter again, we become “afraid” of the storms of our lives.

Little things like the motor in our car making a strange noise. One of our children gets sick. Or we feel that strange lump. Or maybe we hear rumors of a layoff at work. Whatever it is, it forces us to look at ourselves and see our weaknesses.

We worry because the flesh cannot feel trust in God, and His provision for us. And as children of God when we are confronted with our vulnerability, we have a choice to make. We can take our well being into our own feeble hands. Or we can trust in His grace and mercy for our timely salvation. We can know that He will take care of our apprehensions that worry us. Look at what happened to Peter when he tried it his way. He was confronted with his frailty, and he lost the use of his faith in Jesus. He couldn’t save himself, and he, like us, began to sink.

The words that Jesus spoke to Peter show us just how frail and vulnerable we are, He says to all of us, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” We stop seeing Jesus, and look to ourselves. We take our eyes off of the only One who has “all power both in heaven and earth.” We stop trusting in Christ. And when we take our spiritual eyes off of Him we no longer feel that we can trust Him with our lives, our feelings, or our future. Then we have anxious worry. And anxious worry is sin. It’s a sin because we are taking responsibilities on ourselves that rightly belong only to God.  And in our stubbornness we have refused to put our well being into His strong and capable hands.  And it’s no wonder that we worry!

Beloved we Old Line Primitive Baptist’s know that our eternal salvation is totally in the hands of our Sovereign, All Powerful God and Saviour Jesus Christ. And we will never lose out on that eternal salvation which He has so wondrously worked out for us. But while we live in the here and now, there are things that we are to do that will set us free from anxious worry, which will enable us to live in the blessings of our salvation.

We should view our worry as being an opportunity to turn our attention and focus to God, to trust beyond ourselves, to be able to talk to someone who cares for us, someone who we can cast all of our cares on, because He cares for us.

Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6: 22, He taught us that the light of the inner body is our spiritual eye, He said that if our eye is of a single focus on Christ and His kingdom, that our whole body will be full of the light of His blessings. And in doing this we discover that He is more than able to answer our vulnerability.

Beloved God is in charge. Nothing happens in this world that is beyond His knowledge and control.  Psalms 103:19 says, “The LORD hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.”  And in Psalms 67: 7 we read, that “He ruleth by His power.”  He is sovereign over all things.

When we worry, we have the feeling that things are out of control. Like something terrible is about to happen, and we’re unable stop it. When we have these anxious thoughts and worries we need to remember three important truths about God.

 1) God is everywhere present and nowhere absent. (Psa. 139:7; Jer. 23:23-24). There is no place that we can or ever will go that He is not there with us. No matter how alone we may feel, the fact is, He is always there. So we can be certain that we are never alone!

  2)God knows everything that there is to know. (Job 7:20; Psa. 33:13). He knows everything about us. He knows exactly how afraid we are, and what we are afraid of. He knows how sad we become, and what it is that scares us too. The more that we are fearful the more we are tempted to act as if God were ignorant of the situation that we find ourselves in. We don’t know what the future holds, but God does. He sees the beginning and the ending.

  3) God is all-powerful. (Gen. 17:1; 18:14; Matt. 19:26; 28:18).  When we worry we feel like no one can stop the bad things that might happen to us. Yes, when we worry we even feel like God can’t possibly care for us in our troubles and cares. But remember God has unlimited power, mercy and grace. The question that we need to be asking is, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (See Gen. 18: 1-14.)

 God is more than able to carry each and every one of our burdens. The cares and worries of our lives that weigh on us so heavily can be placed on His loving shoulders. He gave young David the grace kill a bear, a lion, and even an uncircumcised Philistine giant named Goliath. He watched over David even through the murderous rages of Saul. David said that God kept him “as the apple” of His eye,” and that He hid him “under the shadow of” of His protective “wings. (Psa. 17:8). And in Psalms 55:22 it is written, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” What a wonderful blessing to know and believe these truths that are written here for our benefit.

But how do we give our burdens and worries to God? How can we place them on His shoulders and leave them there with Him? The only way that we can do it is to trust and believe in Him who gives us our strength, the strength to act on what we know to be true. For example we know that He is an all powerful, trustworthy God. We know that He is more than able, and that He will care for us.

 

When we worry and become anxious, we hold ourselves back from trusting Him for His provision. We are putting ourselves in His place, we are saying to ourselves that we can do it better then he can. We need to turn our worries over to Him. Psalms 37:5 says, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” Beloved we don’t have to live out our lives with anxious worries, we can trust in Him because He is TRUSTWORTHY.

God is a good God, and He will drive away our fears. Then we can say along with Brother David, “Good and upright is the LORD” (Psa. 25:8), finding the assurance that we need.  We can follow the psalmist and “Taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”  (Psa. 34:8).

 

God’s love for us drives away our fears (1 Jo. 4:18).  The only fear that we should have is what the scriptures call “the fear of God” (Deut. 10:12,20; 13:4), which is an awe and reverential fear based on our love for Him. To fear Him in this manner is to love Him, and to rest in His love for us. And we can then say, “we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (Psa. 46:2).

 

God is able to sustain us in times of war, famine, and from evil men.  David said that those who trust in God “shall be satisfied” (Psa. 37:19). We will not tremble, nor be shaken. Even in the middle of the legitimate concerns of life. We need not quiver with fear and dread. Why? Because God has promised to sustain us by His power. He will always be there with us.

 

Usually when we worry¼we worry alone, and the more that we worry, the more alone and helpless we feel. But as children of God we are never alone. He said that He will never “leave us, nor forsake us” (1 Kings 8:57).

 

David said that even “when my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up” (Psa. 27:10).  Have we not at some point in our lives been afraid when we think about the fact that we will someday lose the love and companionship of our loved ones?  But God has promised that He will always be there for us even when they are gone from this world.

 

So remember the next time that you find yourself being overcome by anxious worries, turn to God and remember that, 1) He is in charge, 2) He can carry all of your burdens, 3) He can take away your fears, 4) He can sustain you, and, 5) He will never leave you alone.

 

The Differences with Calvinism

By Todd Nunley, Denton Primitive Baptist Church

Part III

I would like to take this opportunity to speak on the third topic of several differences between us, as primitive Baptists, and those of the Calvinistic belief.  I pray that what issues are spoken of do not cause hard or ill feelings and are only spoken of in a loving manner.

Throughout the scriptures, we read where God is persistent in His love and faithfulness of those that are of the flock or are the elect.  However, through the Holy Spirit, we know that God is faithful to His children by the covenant that is sealed with the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Even as a child of God, our flesh is prone, by nature, to sin.  Speaking for myself, I know that there are things that I wish I would not have said or said things that I should.  Just as my actions, there are things that I wish I would have done and things that I wish I had not done.  But, as a child of God we have a conscience or condemning heart, that was given to us by God, that weighs heavily on our heart or mind if we act in such a way that is not pleasing to our Lord.

What is revealed in this is that it is God or the Holy Spirit that keeps us or preserves us.  There is a term that is used extensively by the Calvinists that is known to some as the “Five Points of Calvinism” or is more commonly called the TULIP theory.  The acronym “TULIP”, according to the Calvinists, means Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.  However, I have heard some primitive Baptists speak of the TULIP acronym as well.  Despite their usage of this acronym, there is one prominent difference between their utilization and that of the old-line primitive Baptists.  That difference being Preservation of the saints.

The differences between the word “perseverance” and “preservation” are vast.  The word perseverance come from the base word persevere.  To persevere means to persist in a state or undertaking in spite of counter influences, opposition or discouragement.  Moreover, to use this as in the Calvinistic view of perseverance means for the saint to persist despite the adversary.  Looking at this from this point of view would make one thing that it is dependent upon the saint or man to persevere.  Nevertheless, where is the glory to God?  This statement is and can be directly linked to the beliefs of those from the Arminian belief.  Can man persevere or persist at overcoming the daily sinful nature that we experience?  No.  This is relying wholly on man to do something.  And we know that the scriptures speak specifically about the depravity of man.  Here again, this is man leaning on his own strength, desire or will to “save” himself, in an eternal sense, but can not.  Even if the term perseverance of the saints is utilized in the loosest of sense, it still relies on man to persist through difficult situations, which is totally incorrect and unscriptural.

The word preservation comes from the base word of preserve.  To preserve means to keep safe from injury, harm or destruction and is also described as to keep alive, intact or free from decay.  Another meaning is to keep up and reserve for special use.  For something or someone to be preserved would have to come from a party other than themselves.  To use this in the “preservation of the saints,” means that the saints or the elect of God are preserved by God and not by man himself.  There is nothing that man can do to preserve himself or save himself in an eternal sense.  This is all of God and nothing of man.

The word perseverance is used one time in the bible and can be found in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” The book of Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul to the saints or the church at Ephesus.  This section of the sixth chapter is speaking of the complete armor of God and being able to stand against the deceitfulness of the devil.  However, if you will notice further down in verse 20, which is a continuation from the previous three verses, Paul states that he is “an ambassador in bonds.”  An ambassador from where?  Moreover, why does he state that he is in bonds?  First an ambassador is described as an authorized representative or messenger.  Verse 19 tells us that Paul is hoping that utterance may be given to him to make known the mystery of the gospel.  But we ask from whom?  Verse 17 plainly tells us that it is from Jesus Christ.  So now that we know from where or from whom Paul is an ambassador, we must ask why is he in bonds or in bondage.  If a person is in bondage then they are considered to be a prisoner or in constraints.  Ephesians 3:1 tells us that Paul is a prisoner of Jesus Christ.  Does this mean that Paul was in prison? No. Paul was in the spiritual custody of Jesus Christ and not free to do what the lust of the flesh desired or more simply put, constrained from carrying out those lusts.  II Corinthians 5:14 tells us that the love of Christ constrains the elect, or us “For the love of Christ constraineth us;” In other words, Paul was preserved by our Lord Jesus Christ.  No where does it say that he persevered.

Perseverance of the saints came from the Arminian creed originally authored in 1610.  Article I of this creed states, “...to save in Christ, for Christ sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this His Son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end...”  This creed does not state that the elect of God are preserved but plainly exhibits the belief where by man is dependent upon himself to persevere.  Why do all Calvinistic churches believe in perseverance rather than preservation of the saints?  Why do they adopt certain issues that are from the Arminian belief?  Just as the elect are effectually called through the Holy Spirit, the elect are also preserved through the Holy Spirit.  John 10:28 tells us, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”  This verse also tells us that we, the elect, are preserved.

According to their own writings, this fifth point of Calvinism bases itself upon two scriptures, Revelation 13:10 and Revelation 14:12.  Revelation 13:10 states, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: and he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.  Here is the patience and faith of the saints.”  First, the faith of the saints comes directly from God.  It is not faith from ourselves but from the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22, 23 clearly tells us that faith is a fruit of the Spirit and that it is not of, by or from man.  Secondly, we should read the previous verse, which Revelation 13:9 states, “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”  This is not meant in the literal sense but in a spiritual sense.  God gives us a hearing ear.  Proverbs 20:12 states, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.”  Just as God gives the elect a hearing ear, God is also sovereign in whom He gives a hearing ear.  Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:” And Matthew 13:13, “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”  Thirdly, according to Strong’s Greek Lexicon, patience is another word for longsuffering.  Again, longsuffering (patience) is a fruit of the Spirit and is not something that we find within our depraved selves but is evidence of a person that has been given life by the Holy Spirit or one that hath a “hearing ear.”

In addition, Revelation 14:12, which states, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”  Again, we must see that patience is also longsuffering and is a fruit of the Spirit.  Luke 8:15 also tells us that a child of God will bring forth fruit with patience.  Again, this is evidence of an inner man, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Both of these verses state “patience of the saints.”  If an individual is a child of God or saint, they have been given spiritual life, which comes from God.  It is nothing that man has done, completed or sought out but is a gift of God.  Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” If this same individual has been given spiritual life then they are preserved or kept from decay by God.  For if, a person is decaying, then they are dead and do not have spiritual life.  Additionally, these two scriptures plainly tell us that eternal life is a gift of God and that it is not of ourselves.  They do not tell us what we must do to persevere but we are rather “preserved” by God.

The scriptures use the words preserve (30), preserved (16), preserver (1), preservest (2) and preserveth(8) on many occasions, 57 to be exact and here are just a few.  Job 7:20 tells us that God is the preserver of men.  Psalms 121:5, “The LORD is they keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.”  The word keeper also means to preserve.  II Timothy 4:18, “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”  Psalms 97:10 “ye that love the LORD hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.”  Jude 1:1 “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”

With the scriptures plainly stating that God preserves His elect and not the elect persevering, we should rightly divide the Word of Truth and not base our beliefs on what we do but rather what the Lord has given us, which is a gift that only He can give.  I’m so thankful that we do not have to rely on ourselves to persevere but rather have that comfort and peace knowing that our preservation is in the hands of an Almighty God.  I pray that the Lord will bless each and every one of you. 

 Secret Things

Elder Vernon Johnson

      Deu. 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”  God has not revealed everything there is unto us.  He has kept some things secret from us.

     Sometimes we want to know more than what is revealed.  For instance, we may want to know if some relative’s or friend’s name is written in the Lamb’s book of life.  However, this is kept secret from us.  We sometimes can see the evidences of God’s calling in peoples lives and can conclude that they are of God’s elect.  But even here we don’t have perfect knowledge.

     When God has kept things secret from us, no amount of searching or seeking is going to open it to us.

     Some men are now saying that all who die in infancy are of God’s elect.  It is not my desire or effort to try to prove or disprove this supposition that all who die in infancy are of God’s elect.  The supposition may be true or it may not be true.  I submit that only God knows the answer to that, and that he hasn’t revealed it unto us in his word.

     Most who have gone about to try to prove all who die in infancy are of the elect have used either faulty logic or else misapplied a few verses of scripture.  One such verse that is misapplied is II Sam. 12:23 where David said concerning the infant child born of his and Bathsheba’s adultery who died, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”  It is argued that this statement proves that all who die in infancy go to heaven.  The fact is, however, that David could have had reference to either heaven or the grave.  It just isn’t clear.  Secondly even if David’s reference is to heaven it doesn’t prove that every infant child who dies is heaven bound.  It would only prove that this specific infant child was heaven bound.  The context seems to suggest that David had reference to the grave or death and not heaven.  As a matter of fact heaven is not even mentioned or otherwise alluded to in the context.