To Be or Not to Be… a Christian?

(Training message for House Church and individual use: preached 4/18 – 4/24/2021)

“To be, or not to be: that is the question: – ”

(Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.” Edited by Charles Knight. The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Tragedies and Poetical Works, The Wellfleet Press, 1987.)

Introduction

There are no good and bad Christians: only Christians. Prove it?

There are no good and bad overcomers: only overcomers.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

There are no good and bad trees: only ones that are alive and ones that are dead.

“And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” (Mark 11:13-14)

Let us take a popular verse that is too often torn out of context. Let us put it back into the context, where it belongs, and then… let us finally discover, really, what God has actually been saying all along. It is written,

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)

Parallelism. What is parallelism? According to Gleason l. Archer, Jr., Harvard and Princeton graduate, and professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School of Deerfield, Illinois,

“The [actual] term for “proverb” is māšāl, which comes from a root idea meaning “parallel” or “similar,” and hence signifies “a description by way of comparison.” (Archer Jr., Gleason. “The Books of Wisdom: Job and Proverbs.” A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Moody Press, 1974, p. 473.)

Parallelism – is the term used to describe the means of expression used in the Book of Proverbs. It is more than poetry. It is a divine refined art of communication. The two sides of truth… revealed.

I. The trouble with refusing to “Go” for the Lord Jesus.

Emptiness
Servitude

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” (Proverbs 11:29)

II. The triumph of surrendering to “Go” for the Lord Jesus.

Life
Wisdom

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)

III. The trial by decision to “Go” or not “Go” for the Lord Jesus.

The compensation of the righteous
The compensation of the wicked and the sinner

“Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” (Proverbs 11:31)

Conclusion: Trouble or triumph? Treason or a trail of glory?

Loving instruction and knowledge
Hating reproof

“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.” (Proverbs 12:1)