{"id":2855,"date":"2018-03-02T23:43:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T23:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2024-02-22T16:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T16:39:44","slug":"little-word-big-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2855","title":{"rendered":"Little Word\u2014Big Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong> page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus once said, \u201cWe must work the works of him that sent me&#8230;\u201d (John 9:4). <em>Must <\/em>refers to that which is necessary, indispensable, required, or obligatory. What are some things one <strong>must <\/strong>do (emph. DM, in all quotes) to be saved at last?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>One <\/strong><strong>MUST <\/strong><strong>Believe in God<\/strong>: \u201cAnd without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God <strong>must <\/strong>believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him\u201d (Heb. 11: 6). Belief is the necessary beginning point in anyone\u2019s relationship with God. Those who genuinely believe in God also believe in His Word and in Jesus Christ, His Son. The context of this passage (including all the chapter) indicates that the belief God requires is more than a mere intellectual admission of His existence. Rather, it is one that cannot be defined apart from obedience to His will (cf. Jam. 2:14\u201326).<\/li>\n<li><strong>One <\/strong><strong>MUST <\/strong><strong>Be Born Again<\/strong>: \u201cYe <strong>must <\/strong>be born anew\u201d (John 3:7b). Jesus had earlier stated of this second birth, \u201cExcept one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!\u201d (v. 5). Birth of water refers to baptism in water, in which act one is cleansed of his sins by the blood of Christ (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3\u20134; Rev. 1:5). Birth of the Spirit refers to the spiritual begettal by the Holy Spirit through His Word. One is \u201c&#8230;begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God&#8230;\u201d (1 Pet. 1:23). The new birth simply refers to one\u2019s hearing and believing the Gospel, resulting in baptism, as the Lord Himself explained, \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved\u201d (Mark 16:16). Salvation is not possible apart from this new birth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>One <\/strong><strong>MUST <\/strong><strong>Worship God in Spirit and Truth<\/strong>: \u201cGod is a Spirit: and they that worship him <strong>must <\/strong>worship in spirit and truth\u201d (John 4:24). <em>Worship in spirit <\/em>means that our spirits\/hearts\/minds must be involved, sincerely engaged. <em>Worship in truth <\/em>means in harmony with and according to the Truth of God\u2019s Word, particularly the New Testament (the authority of the Old Testament perished with Jesus on the cross [Col. 2:14; Heb. 9:15\u201317; 10:9\u201310]). God does not accept whatever men choose to offer Him in worship (Gen. 4:4\u20135; Heb. 11:4). He accepts only those acts of homage He has authorized; all else is \u201cvain worship\u201d (Mat. 15:9; Col. 3:17).<\/li>\n<li><strong>One <\/strong><strong>MUST <\/strong><strong>Be Judged by the Son of God<\/strong>: \u201cFor we <strong>must <\/strong>all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad\u201d (2 Cor. 5:10). None shall escape or avoid the Judgment; it is an appointment we shall all keep (Heb. 9:27b). The standard of judgment for all who have lived since the cross will be the New Testament of Christ (John 12:48). Those who are wise will prepare for, rather than ignore this Great Day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While <strong><em>must<\/em><\/strong> is a very small word, it possesses a very big meaning!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">While <em>must<\/em> is a very small word, it possesses a very big meaning!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in <em>The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, April 22, 2012, of which I was editor.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Attribution: <\/strong>From <em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 page.] Jesus once said, \u201cWe must work the works of him that sent me&#8230;\u201d (John 9:4). Must refers to that which is necessary, indispensable, required, or obligatory. What are some things&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2855\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Little Word\u2014Big Meaning<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,43,74,36,15,165,40,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baptism","category-worship","category-conversion","category-faith","category-judgment","category-new-birth","category-plan-of","category-salvation","wpcat-37-id","wpcat-43-id","wpcat-74-id","wpcat-36-id","wpcat-15-id","wpcat-165-id","wpcat-40-id","wpcat-72-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2855"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23605,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions\/23605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}