Christianity in the Light of History

Tacitus, the Greatest Roman historian, was born 52 A.D. He wrote a history of the reign of Nero in 110 A.D. In it he said “…Christus [Christ], from whom they got their name, had been executed by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberias was emperor; and the pernicious superstition was checked for a short time only to break out afresh, not only in Judea, the home of the plague, but in Rome itself, .. ” (Annals 15:44)

Suetonius (120 A.D.) wrote in his Life of Claudius, “As the Jews were making disturbances at the instigation of Christus [Christ], he expelled them from Rome.”

Pliny the Younger was Governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor. He wrote to the emperor in 112 A.D. about the sect of Christians, who were in “the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day, before it was light, when they sang an anthem to Christ as God.”

Pilate Dedication Stone

Archaeology and the Bible:

In June 1961 an inscription on a limestone block, found at a Roman amphitheater in Caesarea Maritima, rocked the scholarly world. The block, which was once used as a dedication stone of a nearby temple and now reused for seating at the local amphitheater, had an extraordinary inscription. It read: .Tiberieum, (Pon)tius Pilatus, (Praef)ectus Iuda(eae)… Those scholars who questioned Pilate‘s existence stood refuted.

What Power Does God Have Over Evil Actions?

B.H. Carroll

Providence is an effective, all-comprehensive, divine agency that touches every event in the physical and spiritual world. Many of God’s saints, in the hardest and darkest times of their lives, have had peace by their understanding of and faith in the Lord’s providential care. The Lord God omnipotent reigns! B.H. Carroll (1843-1914) explains further:

If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3)

The providence of God is not only preventive and permissive of evil but is also directive. What do I mean by directive? I mean that God so directs evil actions as to disappoint the purpose and expectation of the sinner and his tempter. Let us get that very clear. Two scriptures will serve to show that God’s providence is directive with reference to the actions of evil men when it so operates that this evil action shall miss its issue, shall come to another issue neither intended nor desired by the perpetrator.

The first scripture is from the book of Genesis. The wicked brothers of Joseph, who had sold him into Egypt, are now in trouble in that very land. Their consciences accuse them:

“And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother,in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.” (Genesis 42:21, 22.)

This was the human side. On the other hand, hear Joseph: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life *** to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” That is, you meant evil. God directed that action so as to change it into an issue that was not foreseen nor purposed by you. The other scripture is from the fourth chapter of Acts. These two will answer for a thousand. They equal in importance any in the Bible:

“And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou has anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:24-28.)

Now here was an entirely independent purpose and expectation on the part of Herod, on the part of Pilate, on the part of the Jews. They meant death and ruin and yet God’s providence governed their very malice to an issue neither foreseen, desired nor purposed by them, in that it accomplished not only His own predetermined purpose, working not for the ruin but for the salvation of the world.

Yet another term may be employed to show how the providence of God touches evil actions, to-wit, determinative. Terminus means a boundary, a limit, and to determinate is to set a boundary. The providence of God then touches evil actions by putting a limit upon them. An illustrative case or two may be rapidly stated. The devil wanted to get hold of Job, to worry and destroy him. He asked the Lord for an opportunity. God, having purposes of His own to accomplish concerning Job and others, gave the permission but set a limit at Job’s life: “You may take his cows; you may take his camels; you may take his children so far as their earthly health and existence is concerned; you may touch Job himself and cover his body with loathsome ulcers, but the life of Job, the soul of Job, the spiritual standing of Job in the sight of God, oh, devil, you cannot touch.” There God puts an impassable barrier.

In the same direction are the words of the Psalmist:

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul; then the proud waters had gone over our soul; blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped. . . .” (Psalm 124:1-7)

Leave out the determinative providence of God, that feature of God’s providence that sets a limit to the wrath of evil men and the devil, and the foundation would be removed, and then what could the righteous do?

God, Relativism, And The Law Of Non-Contradiction

The God of the Bible is the God of perfect order and perfect logic. He has created this world and established the laws of logic in it. These laws are absolute and applicable to all men, in all times, and in all places. They are not relative because they are a reflection of the holy, righteous, and perfect character of God. The moral law of God is our rule of life. It is absolute objective truth.

37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:36-38)

If you accept the philosophy of relativism; that there is no ultimate truth, then power becomes the arbiter of truth. Let’s take the idea of multiculturalism: It is a belief that each ethnic group must exist in their own little sections of society and their truth and their morality is right for them. The result is a fragmented society where there is no standard to bind everyone together. Such practices result in the destruction of that civilization, because no one is allowed (political-correctness) to stand up and say that the practices of some group are wrong. Those who advocate relativism want you to believe it is tolerant. It only allows, however, each man his own truth if that man doesn’t believe in absolute truth.

You must understand that relativism self-destructs logically. Perhaps you hear a relativist say, “There’s no such thing as absolute truth!” Ask him this question “Is that absolutely true?” If he says “Yes,” then he has admitted the reality of absolute truth. If he says “No,” he has denied the truth of his original statement.

So if the relativist has no truth apart from what he makes up for himself, then the only person he can lie to is himself. He may swear under oath to tell the truth, but he does not believe in absolute truth. The truth he tells may be absolute lies.

The relativist also has no basis for accusing someone of doing something wrong. Since, there are no standards by which to judge actions, he cannot call things right or wrong. It is impossible to ask for justice when there is no absolute standard of justice. The only world that can have objective, absolute truth and morals is a world created and governed by God. The Bible refutes the philosophy of relativism. The Bible gives us truth and morality. The Bible teaches us the truth about God. Absolute truth exists because God is a God of absolute truth.

The Bible also teaches us the truth about the world. The Bible tells us that God created the world and all of the laws that exist in the world. The laws God created are fixed. No one can make up his own laws and his own truth. There are laws of logic in the world because God created the world. God created the laws of nature and moral laws for all men. These laws are true because God is the ultimate source of absolute truth.

Truth And Pastors

John MacArthur

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . (1Timothy 6:11-14)

There are many who have differing opinions over a pastor’s job description. We should all agree, however, that his primary task is to teach us the truth of the Word of God. John MacArthur discusses this responsibility:

What do you look for in a pastor? Not how interesting, not how clever, not how short his sermons are, not how popular he is, not how cute he is, not how slick he is. How well does he guard the truth? How faithful to the truth is he? How skilled in an understanding of the truth? How…strong in the proclamation of that truth? You may be a pastor, but if you do not guard the truth, you’re not a man of God. This is a lifelong responsibility.

A young preacher came to Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse, great Philadelphia theologian and preacher, and said, “Dr. Barnhouse…he said…I’d give the world if I knew the Bible like you do.” He said, “Good, because that’s exactly what it’ll cost you.”

This is all we live for, is to know the Word and to make it known. The man of God, called by God, given one responsibility, to proclaim His truth. To do it, he must flee the things that corrupt. He must follow after…the issues that lead to holiness. He must fight his whole life long, and he must be faithful to the truth to the end of the age.

The typical church service, somebody said, is like a merry-go-round. Crowded with people sitting down in a seat they had to pay for, controlled by a man who has nothing to say. There’s a lot of music, lots of motion up and down, some good feelings, but, unfortunately, you get off exactly where you got on. How sad. (“Identifying a Man of God”)

Christianity Is Not A Light Subject

John MacArthur

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . (1 Timothy 6:11-14)

There are many “so-called” Christian Churches in our day where we find a very lax attitude when it comes to teaching and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Doctrines, confessions, and creeds are no longer used or taught. I fear that church social activities have replaced Christ as the center ohurch. Who should be held responsible for ignoring the deep and serious teachings of the Scriptures? What happens when we enter the church seeking only our weekly snack of Christianity-lite? John MacArthur offers his insight into this problem:

[T]he man of God is known by what he flees from, what he follows after, and, thirdly, what he fights for. Verse 12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” The man of God is a fighter. He is a boxer, a wrestler, a soldier, a battler, a protagonist. He is engaged in relentless war. 2 Timothy 2, the Apostle Paul says that, “He suffers hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, disentangled in the affairs of everyday life. He pleases the One who enlisted him to be a soldier.” We battle the kingdom of darkness which yields its ground very reluctantly. We face many adversaries, and, as we have been saying in the last few weeks, we know that the enemy of our souls hates what we do. . . .

I met with the pastor of the largest seeker friendly church, and he said to me, “You know what your problem is MacArthur? You need to lighten up.” And I smiled. I said, “It’s really hard to do in the middle of war.” Fight the good fight. It is a good fight, isn’t it? It’s a noble fight. To fight against the kingdom of darkness with the truth. The only weapon we have is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, right?

And I think that’s one of the serious problems today, is people aren’t taking the battle as seriously as they have to take it. And He helps us with that. “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you are called.” What does that phrase mean? He simply means this: Get a grip on the fact that you’re dealing with eternal issues. How can you treat the ministry shallow…in shallow terms? How can you treat it trivially? This is war, and eternity is at stake. “You knew that…He says in verse 12…when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. You knew that when you confessed Christ, when we were all there gathered.” He’s probably referring to His ordination when the elders laid hands on Him and set Him apart from the ministry. “You confessed at that time that this was a mater of eternal issues. You’re not just slapping people around with some puffy gloves here. This is a life and death matter. Get a grip on it.”

Lighten up! What kind of a statement is that? A man of God is called to eternal issues. Having confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, he publicly commits himself to a battle over eternal issues. As long as he lives, he fights the good fight, the noble fight for the souls of men against the kingdom of darkness and against the world, the flesh, and the devil. That’s why he has to be sober-minded. That’s why he has to be cut off from this world, ’cause the battle is so critical. A man of God is marked by what he flees from, follows after, and fights for.

The Story Of The Red Hand

John MacArthur

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . (1 Timothy 6)

From the desk of John MacArthur:

I remember years ago reading a…kind of a striking story in Irish history. There is a badge of barony in the history of…of Ireland called the Red Hand of O’Neill. The O’Neill’s, a ancient Irish family, and the Red Hand of O’Neill is the…the symbol of the O’Neill family. They…they got that sort of badge of barony in the most bizarre way. There was a time when an expedition to Ireland was allowed before it was fully settled. And the provision was made by those who had the authority that the first hand on the land possessed the land. One of the men was O’Neill, from whom, by the way, descended the princes of Ulster, now Northern Ireland, which is Protestant today. He was rowing as furiously as he could trying to get there and to claim the land. But another boat took the lead, and he fell behind. And the historian writes, and I quote, “With a grim look of mingled wrath and triumph at the rival boat, the strong-minded, iron-nerved O’Neill dropped the oars, seized a battle ax, chopped off one of his hands…hopefully not his throwing hand. I guess not…and threw it onshore so his hand was there first.” You say, “That’s pretty drastic action.” Got that right.

Jesus says something like that when He says, “If your right hand…offends you…what?…cut it off. If your right eye offends you, pluck it out.” People would do that in the pursuit of land. What drastic action would you take in the pursuit of holiness? Essentially what Jesus said. You have to deal dramatically. You have to deal drastically with sin. You can’t even be a pastor and can’t even be a man of God unless you’re blameless and above reproach. God helps, you know, along the way, brings trials into your life. My life, I mean in the process of…of shaping my life, you know, you go through all kinds of things. Patricia’s terrible accident…some years ago, and my son, one time with a brain tumor and all the issues of life that come and go. My own illnesses on occasion and struggles with people in the church. The Lord brings in enough trials to keep purging you. Criticism, persecution, hostility…rejection, defection…God does His part to humble us, to run stakes through our otherwise proud human flesh to keep us running after holiness.

Spurgeon, in his inimitable way, said it like this, “A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing about light and vision, while he himself is absolutely in the dark. He is a dumb man, elevated to the chair of music, a deaf man fluent on harmonies and symphonies. He is a mole professing to educate eagles. Such is a graceless pastor.” Now, you may be a preacher. You may even be a pastor, but if you’re not running after holiness, you’re not a man of God. (“Identifying a Man of God”)

The Pursuit Of A Godly Heart

John MacArthur

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . (1 Timothy 6)

The man of God is known for what he flees from and for what he pursues. What then is the pursuit of a godly heart? John MacArthur writes:

This is a life-long pursuit. Proverbs 15:9 says, “The Lord loves them that pursue righteousness.” Not success, not fame, not size, not popularity, not esteem, not reputation. We are running after righteousness. And six words are here, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Righteousness is doing right on the outside. We pursue right conduct. Godliness…is right on the inside. That’s motivation. That’s the heart. Do you pursue what’s right on the outside, and you cultivate what’s right on the inside. Your motives, your desires, your heart, then your behavior.

You pursue faith. Actually, this means confident trust in God for everything. You literally put your life and ministry and everything you have in God’s hands, and you trust Him. You live under His glorious, beneficent, gracious sovereignty. You pursue love. What is that? Selflessness. Willful sacrifice…you’re characterized by perseverance. That is endurance in trial and difficulty and trouble and persecution and suffering. And the word gentleness is actually the word meekness or humility. I mean it couldn’t be any more clear. Are you a man of God? You are if, having been called, you are faithful to the proclamation of the Word of God, and all the while you are running as fast as you can away from the love of money and all the vices that go with it. And you are running as fast as you can toward these things: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and humility. . . .

This is the pursuit of a godly heart. This is a pursuit of a godly righteous life. In Psalm 50 verses 16 and 17 it says, “To the wicked God says, ‘What right have you to tell of My statutes?'” To a wicked man, God says, “Who do you think you are opening your mouth and speaking My Word? What right have you…he says…to take My covenant into your mouth, for you hate discipline, and you cast My Words behind you.” That’s some strong indictment, isn’t it? “You stand up, and you speak of My statutes? You take My covenant? You talk about My gracious provision for salvation? You put those words in your mouth? And you hate discipline? And you cast My Words behind you? You’re wicked…God says.”

Psalm 101:6 says, “He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not.” So the man of God is known by what he flees from and what he follows after. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I beat my body to bring it into subjection.” Literally uses the word translated buffet in the English, but it means to strike with a fist in the face. I give a knockout punch to my body to bring it into subjection, literally to knock it out. To KO my human desire, lest in preaching to others I myself would be disqualified. I have to…I have to be a running man. I have to pursue these things…And people will feel the power of a godly life. Preaching puts the nails of truth in, but example pounds them deep…John Owen wrote, “A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouth of the public, but what he is in secret before Almighty God, that he is and no more. No more.” (“Identifying a Man of God”)

The Man Of God Flees Temptation

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good

John MacArthur

confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Timothy 6)

Paul tells us in verse 11 to “flee from these things.” One of the most notable things destroying modern ministries is the love of money.  I touch on that example because the love of money drives pastors to change their theology and wander away from the faith.  You must flee the ministry if you do it for love of money.  The man of God will flee the evils associated with loving money.  It is always discouraging to see a ministry running toward money.  It is a prominent feature of false teachers.  John MacArthur writes about additional temptations that the man of God must flee:

[T]he man of God is known by what he flees from. Notice verse 11, “But flee from these things, you man of God.” Flee. This is a Greek verb, fuagay, from which we get fugitive. It is a vivid one. It is in the present. It means keep on fleeing. You are a fugitive. You are on the run. Your whole life as a man of God, you are on the run. It pictures one running from a plague. That’s how the word would be used; Or running from poisonous snakes, having come across them in their den in a field; Or running from a pursuing, attacking enemy. You are on the run. The man of God is known by his fleeing.

Back in the 1st chapter verse 4, we find some of the things that we have to flee as a man of God. He says, “Don’t pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, giving rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith.” In other words, run away from error and false religion and philosophies and heresies that corrupt the truth. And you’re running, verse 5, toward “A goal, and the goal is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Unlike some who stray from these things and have turned aside to fruitless discussions.” You flee from error. You flee from worldly philosophy.

Chapter 4 verse 7, “Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women.” Silly, foolish fables rather than the truth. “Rather discipline yourself for godliness.” You’re always running. You’re running from error. You’re running from human folly. 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee from youthful lusts.” You’re running from that, as well. And back in 1 Timothy 6, look at verse 20. “Avoid worldly, empty chatter, the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ – which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” Stay away from liberalism. Stay away from those who assault the Scripture. Stay away from attacks on God’s authoritative Word.

We are running men. We are fleeing all the time from error. But that’s not all. We’re fleeing from lust and sin. But that’s not all. Look here, verse 11, “Flee from these things.” And we have to ask the question, “What are these things?” Well, obviously, it’s what come before. Go back to verse 5. “Depraved men…in verse 5…who are deprived of the truth, false teachers, suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” People who are false teachers are always in it for the money. “But godliness…verse 6…actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” You never pursue money. You pursue godliness. You pursue money, you’re never content. You pursue godliness, you get contentment.