The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1968

Oll ~ tart d To ,Live? by Re v . Wm. A. Brock This 111cssagc first appeared in The Hilliard Northwest News . It is one of a nu111ber of n1essages written by Rev. Wil Iiarn A. Brock, Pastor of the Maranatha Baptist Church in Columbus. Brother Brock and hrs people place such rnessages ,n this community paper as a ,neans of reaching the people of their area for Christ. They find it to be n,ost fruitful. OL' R TE T: L11/..e 12: 16-20. "He /Jake a parable i1nto tl1e111, sa.vin~f!· the grot111d of a certain rich 111a11 bro11gl1t fort/1 plentif11ll) 1 • A nd /1 e t /1oz1ght withirL himself, saying, 1r/1at l1all I do becai,se I l1ave 110 roo11 1-vhere to bestow 1ny f ruits? And /1e said. tl1i ivill I do; I ~,i/1 p11 ll do lvn 111), barns and build greater; and t/1ere l\ 1 ill I bestoii' all 1ny fri,its a1 d 111y goods. A rid I will say to 1ny soul, 011/. tl101t /1ast 1111,c/1 good laid up for ,nany years; take thine ease, eat, dri11k a11d be 111err)' . B11t God said, unto hi 111, Tho1t foo l, this night shall t/1)' soz,l be req11ired of t/1ee; tlien whose shall t/1ose things be which thou l1as provided?'' When does life begin? We h ear many logans abou t this . Often some– one ay , " I t's great to be alive. Life begin at forty." One of the popular ong of a p ast era said , ' ' life is ju t a bowl of cherries." Our text above is t itled the p ar able of the rich fool. H e th ou gh t he was really living. H e was sure th at for him life h ad really begun . The Bible describes two k inds of life. One is called n atu ral l ife a nd the other u pernatur al life . Con ider for a few mon1ents the subject of n a– tural life. The W ord of G od ays t h at natural life is th e re u lt of natura l birth. God calls t his f le h. John 3 , ,er e 6 - ' 'That which i b orn of the flesh i flesh." In Romans ch apter 8 ver e 8 we read " o th en they th at are in t he flesh cannot plea e G od.' ' R o·m ans chapter 7 verse 18 ' 'F or I know in me. that is in my fle h dwelleth no good thing." I Corinth ans 2. ver e 14 ' The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." The heart is described in Jeremiah 17, ver e 9 "The heart is d eceitful and desperately wicked wh o oan know it?" The Bible describes natural life as being brief. And our own every d ay life is proof of these tatements. Life seem long when we look ahead but when we look back it i just the opposite. The P al mi l d e cribet; life 4 DECEMBER, 1968 as a tale th at is told - to begin the story and before you h ardly realize it t he tory i f inished. Life is de– scribed a a dream. They tell u s that dream l ast fo r seconds or at the mo t, fo r minu tes . Li.fe is described as sleep . We no more tha n l ay our head on ou r pilloiw than it seems the alarm i r inging. In the New Testament book of J am es, li fe is de cribed as a "vapor th at appearth for a lit tle time and then vanish eth away." The write r of the Book of Ecclesiastes says thait n a tur al life is like a sh adow. I aiah ays tha t it is like a thread th a t is cu t by ,the weaver . J ob d escribes life as a f lower that w ithe r . P eter say it i like grass . The writer of 11 Samuel gives u s a pic ture we can under stand. F or he say " life, human life is like water p oured f rom a pitcher on to the sand. ' There are m a ny kinds of life t oday. T her e is t he li fe of those who love pl easure - the life of the wordly minded - the li fe of the r eligiou s per o n. There i t he life of the fo r– m ali t. I f the Bible c a n so vividly and truthfully describe n a tural life, ought we not b elieve wh a t it s ays about upern atur al life . This is a second kind of life. In the Bib le it is not only de– cr ibed a supernatura l but as piritu– al life, e ternal life . Of course this k ind of life i. the re ult of uper- 11 att1ra l l1ivth . '"[hi s type of life ha l1 'en orclainccl by iod . T h n 1 verse 16 - th a t most fan1i liai of vcrc;c~ say~, " For od 50 lovccl th< wo rld th at He gave Hi~ only hcgottc r Son th at who';ocvc r bc li evcth in Hin ~ho tild no t pcri h bltt have cvcrl astin1 li·fe." . o throt1 gh the Lo rd Jesu 5 Chri 1 God has mad e po5sible the Bible lif, d ec;cribed a spiritual , eternal life. H ow d o you obtain thi s supernatura li fe? l·t is imple - Read Acts 16: 31 " Believe on t he Lord Jesus Ch,rist an, thou halt be saved . . .' ' This de cribe how to obtain supernatura life. The Bible compares natural lif a nd supernatural life. Of the natufa ]ife it says it has a duration - thi duraitio n is called ' 'time' '. And witl the n a tural life it says tthere is n, hope. H ave you ever read the Boo of Eccles iastes. This book describe the inability of natural life to mee e ternity. The writer of Ecclesiastes ttrie every thing. He tried the pleasure o the world, he tried religion, he trie philosophy , he tried weal,th an· , hobbies and with all that he tried h c ame to the same conclusion - "a· is vanity." Oh that people would lear this lesson in their life - that a lif lived f or self and for ,the world with out God is vanity . And that nothin under the sun can really satisfy th human life. Christ said in John 11 verse 25 "I am resurrection' ' He is the r, stor er of lost life. Not merely th body , but of life which was forfeit~ by the sin of Adam, of fellowsh i which was forfeited because of man' in. People with only natural life hav no fe llow hip with God. So Chri~ says "I am resurrection, I rest(2r li fe, I re tore fellowship." He says " am life." He offers to continue w,ha He restores . "Whosoever liveth an, be lieveth in me' ' . . . He guarantee the eternalness of salvation and o heaven - ' 'shall never die.' ' WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN? Th Bible say that life begins with th L ord J e u Christ. Who so findet Him findeth lif e. So one who tay in hi sin, wrongs his own soul. The little chorus ·ays : Life begins when Jesus comes ir Bringing joy and gladness withir Gone sin and sorrow and brigh each tomorrow, For life begins when Jesus come 1 in.' ' WHAT KIND OF LLFE DO YOl HAVE? THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIS