Letters From Grandpa #311

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 311

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with a personal experience I had while teaching a seminar in South Bend, Indiana in January 1975. That experience has shaped my preaching and teaching for the last 45 years. First, indulge me for a little background why the date is so clear in my memory.

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A few days before, on Dec. 23, 1974 I received a phone call from Mike Pratt. He was returning from the Bahamas in his own private airplane and was forced by bad weather to land in Walnut Ridge, Ark.

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I told him to stay there and I would drive down and get him and he could spend Christmas with us. Mike had once lived with us and was like part of our family.

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He told me that he already had a motel and would let me know if he needed me to come. •

He took off the next day, his airplane encountered severe icing, a wing came off, and Mike and two companions were killed. For more information about Mike check out

https://boycemouton.com/englishbooks/files/Meditations_For_Mother.pdf

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I went through the wreckage with the FAA, collected some personal items, and in January 1975 made the sad trip to Whiting, Iowa to deliver those personal items to the grieving families. After spending the night in Iowa I drove on to Indiana to teach and preach.

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FYI, I was driving the 1963 Dodge pickup given to me by my father. The odometer turned over 100,000 miles on the way. Today, that truck is 57 years old and I am still driving it.

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Teaching an afternoon class at the River Park Church I wanted to emphasize the importance of Christ’s “divine nature”. To me it was inconceivable that Jesus would smoke cigarettes, do drugs, or engage in any questionable behavior. I want everyone to be like Jesus and share His “divine nature”.

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Unfortunately, my approach was legalistic. I quit going to the movies in 1954 and would not allow a TV in our house for many years. “Warning” against the sins of the flesh was an integral part of “my” strategy to reproduce His “divine nature”.

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To bolster this point I quoted from memory 2 Pet. 1:4 KJV: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”.

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While I had quoted that verse many times, I really didn’t understand it. Perhaps I still don’t completely understand it. On that occasion, however, I saw something in the verse I had never seen before. Apologetically, I explained to the class that I wanted to quote that verse again for my own edification. On that occasion it dawned on me that escaping from lust and assuming His divine nature does not come from “warnings”, but from his “exceeding great and precious promises”!

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It now is so obvious that I am amazed that I didn’t see it sooner. If I command you not to think about lemon pie, for example, that’s what you will think about whether you want to or not! •

Paul also recognized this and said: “I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said ‘Do not covet’. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire” (Rom. 7:7,8).

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Paul also reminded the Colossians that commanding “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” has an appearance of wisdom but “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Col. 2:20-23). Such commands do not stop lust, they produce it!

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If someone is on a 40 day fast, for example, preaching 40 sermons against delicious food does not eliminate the lust for food, it increases it!

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Consequently, for the last 45 years I have emphasized “promises” not “warnings” to help people escape from lust!

THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

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Remember! God does not make mistakes. His stated purpose for giving the Law was to “bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).

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To do this, however, mankind had to be made aware of sin. In this regard God gave the Law so that “every mouth might be stopped and all the world become guilty” (Rom. 3:19). The Law was not given to make us “innocent”, it was given to make us realize we are “guilty”. •

So the Law does not bring happiness, “the Law brings wrath” (Rom. 4:15).

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The Law was therefore added by God not to eliminate sin but “so that the trespass might increase” (Rom. 5:20).

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The Bible is clear that our sinful passions are are not decreased by the Law they are “aroused by the Law” (Rom. 7:5).

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Remember! “Apart from the Law sin is dead” (Rom. 7:8).

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Incredibly, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law” (1 Cor. 15:56). •

Other Scriptures could be listed, but I think you get the point. The Law convinces us that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Recognizing this brings us to Jesus that we might be justified by faith!

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The “warnings” bring us to Jesus, but the “promises” help us to escape from lust.

HERE ARE A FEW PROMISES TO CONSIDER

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The Bible is filled with MANY exceeding great a precious promises. Here are a few! •

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6).

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“No temptation has seized you but such as is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor. 10:13).

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“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4).

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“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja. 4:7).

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“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (Ja. 1:5).

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5,6).

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“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5).

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I think you get the point. Just as God transforms a caterpillar into a butterfly, He can also transform us into the likeness of Jesus with ever increasing glory (2 Cor. 3:18). His exceeding great and precious promises help make our transformation a reality!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce