Reproach of Men

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:9-10)

It is not generally taught that Israel lost the truth of being born-again at salvation, but the above passage declares just that. Unfortunately, like Israel, modern churches are losing fundamental truths and are not even aware of that fact, or even how it could be taking place. The failure to maintain the truth is the most critical failure any individual can have. But this is not limited to individuals, as churches are made up of individuals. The failings of individuals within the churches ultimately become the failings of churches if not checked.

This lesson focuses on the failure of Israel to maintain the truth and how that relates to the New Testament church. It is a lesson we should all pay heed to as no church or individual is immune from failing.

I pray it is profitable for you.

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Maintaining the Truth

In Christ,

Paul W. Davis

The following is in response to a column by Laurence Vance, dated 19 July 2011, and titled “Thank You for Your Service?” in which Mr. Vance excoriates the U.S. Military and those who support them and thank them for their service to America. This response is written and published publicly because of one outstanding feature of the column: overt and blatant bitterness.

And four, what is a Vietnamese man – who most certainly has relatives, or friends or neighbors of relatives, that were killed or injured by U.S. bombs and bullets during the Vietnam War – doing joining the U.S. military where he can be sent to shoot and bomb foreigners like the U.S. military did to his people?

And aside from these four things, I’m afraid I must also say: Sorry, soldiers, I don’t thank you for your service.

• I don’t thank you for your service in fighting foreign wars.
• I don’t thank you for your service in fighting without a congressional declaration of war.
• I don’t thank you for your service in bombing and destroying Iraq and Afghanistan.
• I don’t thank you for your service in killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans.
• I don’t thank you for your service in expanding the war on terror to Pakistan and Yemen.
• I don’t thank you for your service in occupying over 150 countries around the world.
• I don’t thank you for your service in garrisoning the planet with over 1,000 military bases.
• I don’t thank you for your service in defending our freedoms when you do nothing of the kind.
• I don’t thank you for your service as part of the president’s personal attack force to bomb, invade, occupy, and otherwise bring death and destruction to any country he deems necessary.

Thank you for your service? I don’t think so.¹

Everyone needs to know: This is not a Christian spirit and attitude. It is not a Scriptural spirit and attitude.

Mr. Vance,

Have we just a bit of bitterness? I see NO justification for your attitude and spirit anywhere in the New Testament.

I don’t find it in John the Baptist:

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. (Luke 3:14)

I don’t find it in the Lord Jesus Christ:

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion,² beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. (Matthew 8:5-13)

I don’t find it in the apostle Peter:

And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius³ met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. (Acts 10:25-48)

I don’t find it in the apostle Paul:

But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. (Acts 27:21-36)

1. http://lewrockwell.com/vance/vance250.html↩
2. An officer in the Roman military.↩
3. Cornelius was a Centurion in the Roman Army.↩
4. Note: Phelps use of the passage is out of context. However much he would like it to be so, America is not ancient Babylon.↩

In addressing the questions raised by Aaron, we can examine them in whatever order we desire. However, since there is an order to things, a failure to examine them in proper order will yield some very interesting results for our doctrine. In the Scripture, there is an order to building doctrine, which is expressed in the following passage:

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. (Isaiah 28:9-13)

Hence, to begin to understand what the Scripture states as far as doctrine is concerned, one must be a born-again child of God, and have some amount of maturity. Moreover, there must be a willingness to learn in the manner the LORD has prescribed, which is “precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” and that process cannot be hurried, rushed, or shortcut, as the LORD God will not bless such “workarounds” as he made quite clear to the apostles:

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. (John 16:12)

And again, that any learning is totally dependent upon what the LORD allows:

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. (Hebrews 6:1-3)

Thus, we have to do everything, including the way we approach and address doctrine, the way the LORD God is pleased with, else we aren’t going to get very far and be right in our determination of what proper and correct doctrine is. In seeking to accomplish this, one of the first things we must understand is that Scripture is to be trusted implicitly. This is not to say we blindly trust Scripture, but that we trust it implicitly, the LORD God having proven its accuracy.

Therefore, when we come to understand that Scripture is silent on a matter, we implicitly understand that we also should be silent on the matter and not “pry” into what we can infer about the matter. Additionally, when Scripture demonstrates that we “started in the middle” of a subject, we should accept that correction and seek the actual beginning of how the subject is addressed. A prime example of this concerns what the whole focus of the Scripture is, or “What the Bible is All About.” Interestingly enough, finding out what the Scripture is all about doesn’t require an entire book, but only a few of passages from the Scripture itself:

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (Luke 1:67-75)

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44-47)

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:9-10)

Hence, by the above passages, the whole focus of the Scripture is the Lord Jesus Christ and His work to effect the redemption of man.¹ Thus, by beginning where the LORD wants us to begin in Scripture, the answer to this question, which often yields books, is given by just a few passages of Scripture that are easily understood. So it is with the following questions:

1. Why is it that one unregenerate person believes the gospel and not another?

5. What principle in him made him choose what he did?

Now, when I was originally given these questions I was told that I could not say “I don’t know.” and leave it at that. I supposed the assumption was that because the Scripture does not tell us why one person chooses to believe and another doesn’t, it means that unregenerate individuals cannot of themselves choose to believe the truth, and thus be saved. In fact, this is the Calvinist/Reformed Theology position. However, it carries the implicit assumption that in gaining the knowledge of good and evil, we somehow are not ever able to recognize or elect anything right, good and true. This implicit assertion of Calvinism is directly contradicted by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself:

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:9-11)

Clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ who is God Himself, plainly acknowledges and points out, using it to teach the goodness and mercy of God, that we do know, and are able to recognize what is good and right and true, even though we are evil. Our problem is not that we cannot see and acknowledge the truth. Rather, it is a quite severe unwillingness to submit to that truth we recognize and acknowledge. There is a fundamental difference and distinction between acknowledgment of a particular truth, and submission to that truth.

Since the Scripture does plainly teach that all individuals can and are able to recognize the truth, and are able to choose between the truth and a lie, and yet does not explain why one chooses and another does not, I replied back to the challenge with the following:

Well, first off, your “”I don’t know” is not an answer.” is rank hypocrisy due to the fact that you Calvinists cannot explain what the criteria is that your “god” uses to determine who he will save and who he will send to hell. If you can show me that criteria in the Scripture, then I will accept this condition of not using “I don’t know” for an answer. Otherwise, I am going to invalidate at least two (2) of your questions, possibly others.²

Of course, what I received back was some very circular logic about God performing His pleasure, in choosing to save some whensoever, and howsoever He wills. What I was never sent was an actual set of criterion for how God decided who would be saved and who would be condemned. So it was that I choose to proceed to answer the two specific questions that have no answer with an explanation from Scripture as to why there is no answer. The long and short of it can be given quickly:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:) (II Chronicles 6:30) see also I Kings 8:39

Here we plainly see two things:

First, it is clearly understood that the question posed by the LORD in Jeremiah, is a rhetorical question in which the obvious answer is “No one.” Which is to say that each and every individual’s heart lies to them and deceives them about their true intentions. We do know from the rest of Scripture that this applies to those who are not born-again in Christ, and thus are unregenerate.³ Since every person was at one time (and most still are) unregenerate, Jeremiah, Chapter 17, verse 9 applies equally across the board to everyone, so long as they remain dead in trespasses and sins. If at some point they come to Christ for salvation and are born-again in Christ Jesus, that changes. In our unregenerate state this is how we are — every single one of us.

Second, as Solomon made very plain (and the LORD caused it to be recorded twice in Scripture), it is only the LORD God who knows the heart of an individual as it really is. No one else is either capable of, or privy to the inner workings of the heart of man. This stands to reason as we are expressly told we cannot know our own hearts. How then could we actually evaluate the heart of someone else? After all, if our own vision and understanding are impaired, how could we knowingly, honestly pass judgement as to what is in the heart of another? The best we are given to judge by is what the Lord Jesus instructed during the sermon on the mount:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 7:15-20)

As one brother in Christ put it some years back, we are at best “fruit inspectors.” The long and short of it is our hearts lie to us, and we cannot discern what is actually in the heart of another. Moreover, to repeat, only the LORD God knows what is in each and every individual’s heart. Hence, why one particular person chooses to believe and another doesn’t, is a complete mystery to us, but not to the LORD God. However, He has plainly chosen to not waste time explaining the intricate “whys” and “wherefores” of one person versus another. After all, what real purpose would it serve anyway? First off, most folks would deny that is what is happening in their hearts, and second, they would view it a mere entertainment. Thus, no real good would come of it. Nonetheless, there is a day coming in which all those inner workings and thoughts will be revealed.

To be continued . . .

1. Yes, the statement is true. Everything the Scripture gives us significant detail about does fit within the framework of bringing about the salvation of man and how the LORD God accomplished that work. It is at once and the same time, both utterly simple and terribly complex and complicated.↩
2. private e-mail to Aaron↩
3. Here I can just see the Calvinist trying to claim victory by saying this proves their contention that one must be regenerated to believe. However, it does not as their strange contention that one must be regenerated to believe, directly contradicts a number of passages in Scripture.↩

The above message is a prime example of how not to fight the spiritual war we are all involved in.

Why?

Because the doctrinal implications of the message run quite contrary to the Scripture, and sends an, at best ambiguous and at worst flat wrong, message.

Now, I know that the people that put up this message mean well. I am relatively certain that they do not intend harm to the message of salvation, or to its Author. However, if we consider what the Scripture has to say, versus what the sign says, we will find a distinct dichotomy. Why do I see it this way?

Consider the following:

The message of the sign is thus:

If we are to avoid spiritual foreclosure, we need to bank with Jesus.

This is reworded, but the meaning does remain the same. Since that is the message of the sign, its plain implication is that we are by default, spiritually solvent. What that would have to mean doctrinally is that we are already justified before God, and that if we do not “bank” with Jesus, we will experience “foreclosure.”

Assuming that the word ”bank” as it is used here, means that one is trusting Christ for their salvation, and that the word “foreclosure,” as it is used here, must mean to lose one’s salvation, or to be cast into Hell, then we must conclude that the implied meaning is that, at some point, we might fail to trust Christ and thus be found wanting before God.

However, that is not what the Scripture declares to be the case. Perhaps the most famous passage of Scripture is John 3:16, which declares the wonderful and lovely message of salvation that is available to everyone.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

However, everyone seems to stop there as well, and absolutely go no further in the passage. The problem is, is that the imperative of believing the gospel is lost if one stops at the 16^th verse. If we continue on, we find that verse 17 is very much like verse 16. But, verse 18 contains a very strong warning to those who refuse to believe:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

Verse 18 tells us two very important things:

• Those who have believed in Christ for their salvation are not condemned.
• Those who have not believed, are already condemned.

You see; we do not have to do anything to be sent to hell. If we just live out our lives and ignore God, or play the religious game and never actually come to Christ for our salvation, we are already condemned and our destiny is set — we will go to Hell. In short we are, in the vernacular of the sign, in foreclosure already. Spiritually, our foreclosure happened a long time ago and we never noticed. If is possible to put it this way (and I’m not certain it is) what we need to do is get out of spiritual “foreclosure.”

But, this does raise another question as to the viability of the message of the sign. What is meant by the term “bank with Jesus?” Whatever they meant by the use of the phrase, is not all that clear to me. In fact, it really could be taken at least two ways for sure, and more if we think about it.

If we take it the most obvious meaning of the term, it means that one is to allow Christ to carry something in trust. Taken with the rest of the message, and the fact that a church put up the message, it definitely means something spiritual, but really is unclear as to what that spiritual thing is. We can assume that it is one’s soul, but we really cannot be certain.

The second meaning is more akin to buying fire insurance. If we want to avoid foreclosure, let’s “bank with Jesus” and that won’t happen.

However, neither one of the above meanings even comes close to explaining what salvation is, and why it is imperative that one come to Christ for salvation. Nothing is spoken of, or even implies, that faith has to be operative, and that one must repent. However, the Scripture declares that both are required before one can be saved.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:2-5)

Thus, two vital elements for coming to Christ for salvation are not even hinting at in the sign. Instead, we are told that we should “bank with Jesus” if we are to avoid “spiritual foreclosure.” Moreover, we are not told what in the world the phrases “bank with Jesus” and “spiritual foreclosure” actually mean. Rather, we are left to draw our own conclusions.

When it comes to fighting this spiritual war, unfortunately the individuals at the church which posted this sign have little to no understanding about the critical need for getting the message correct. Without an accurate message about what the gospel is, and what one must do to be accepted in the sight of the LORD God, they will, without ever realizing it, condemn individuals to an eternity of unimaginable suffering in Hell.

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file is generated from Music Publisher 6 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:13-15)

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file modified in Anvil Studio 2011 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. (Psalm 71:19-23)

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file is modified by Anvil Studio 2011 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.  Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.  Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.  And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130)

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file is modified by Anvil Studio 2011 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:5-7)

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file is modified by Anvil Studio 2011 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:39-44)

Citation, lyrics and music are copied from The Cyber Hymnal and are public domain. Midi file is modified by Anvil Studio 2011 and is piano only. Lyrics may be modified for doctrinal accuracy. This version is not copyrighted. If you find it a blessing, please feel free to use it. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:2-5)