Author Archives: Pastor David Cox

Posted on by

ch34 Brethren, we must not fight!

ch34 Brethren we must not fight!

ch34 Brethren, we must not fight! explains why Christians should not be contentious, especially between brethren.

Brethren, we Must Not Fight!

By David Cox

[ch34] v1r © 2009 www.coxtractscom
You can freely photocopy and print this brochure




But about brotherly love you don’t need me to write to you, because you yourselves have learned from God that you love one another; 1Thes. 4:9

The Bible speaks of a Christian as a person who has a different personality. This person who is saved is someone who seeks to impose brotherly love in his life, in that he loves his brethren. This is a change from the carnal life he was in before he was saved, “living in malice and envy, loathsome, and hating one another.” (Titus 3:3).




Because it is important?

1Jn. 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another; because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; because God is love.

Perhaps it is not very obvious why brethren should not fight, but God hates brethren when they are fighting. First, we have to understand that God in his essence is love. Aggression, friction, strife, and fighting are things that God opposes. They are from the Devil. When two brothers get into a fight, then they are lending themselves to the Devil’s purposes. It is not God. But much more than “God doesn’t like it,” God says his children have to learn, understand, and practice love.

1Jn. 2: 9 He that says he is in the light and hates his brother, is still in the darkness. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no stumbling. 11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

God proposes a union and friendship between His children, in which a brother helps and supports his brother in what he does in life. When two people are brothers and fight, then God says that they walk in darkness and that they stumble.

1Jn. 3:10 In this the children of God are manifested, and the children of the devil: everyone who does not do justice, and who does not love his brother, is not of God.

If a person does not love his brethren, then it is manifested that he is not a child of God.

1Jn. 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters. He who does not love his brother remains in death.

The mark that a person is truly saved is that they love their brother, they do not fight, and they tend to not enter into conflicts and in contentions with their brethren. The Christian understands that God commanded that we have brethren, to have a relationship with them. In demonstrating the love of one brother to another, reveals his faith in Christ. Resistance in fighting or seeking to contend with your brethren is something that draws attention to whether one is saved or that one is still unconverted.

1Jn. 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has permanent eternal life in him. 16 By this, we have known love, in which he laid down his life for us; we too must lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

God puts love, being friendly, ignoring, hating, and murderous all on the same line. They are actually degrees of the same thing, your relationship with your neighbor is a reflection of your relationship with God. At one extreme is love, in which one dies for the other. At the other extreme is the murderer. Everything between the two is degrees from one extreme or the other. In addition, brethren share what they have in this life.

Mat. 5:43 You have heard that it was said: You shall love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse and persecute you;

When a person understands (1) the love of God,
(2) what the moral character of God is like, (3) that God is love, (4) that God is not aggressive, and contentious, then one understands God and our common salvation. It is very important to understand that everything is based on two points, as Jesus emphasized.

Mat. 22:37 Jesus said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is similar: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Salvation and the whole Christian life is based on our relationship with God, and on how we demonstrate this spiritual relationship, especially on how we accept and imitate him (Eph. 5:1 “Be imitators of God as beloved children“) i.e. nature and moral character of God, and then how we manifest this change of moral character in us to be like God through how we relate to other people (our neighbor, especially our brethren).



Irritating one another

1Co. 13:5 Love is … not irritated.
Gal. 5:26 Let’s not become boastful, irritating each other, envying one another.

God commands us not to irritate each other. The idea here is to provoke, to call for conflict and contention. A Christian is a person who seeks peace, not conflict. As Christians, we sometimes have to face even our brethren when they disobey the will of God the Father, but in general, we must be people who love their neighbors and brethren, forgetting and covering up their offenses and not seeking conflict and contention with them.

Biting and wasting away

Gal. 5:15 But if you bite and eat one another, see that you also do not consume one another.

Between the brethren, when they start attacking and destroying each other then they end up killing each other. The idea is taken literally from one animal that attacks and turns against another to such an extent that it consumes the other.

The Relationship Between One Another

Jn. 13:34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Jn. 15:12 This is my commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you.
Jn. 15:17 This I command you: Love one another.
Rom. 13: 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

It is essential to see the importance that Jesus placed on his children having a loving relationship with each other. This relationship defines and reveals the moral character of God, and one announces God living within them by living in this way.

Upholding one another and putting up with one another

Col. 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. As Christ forgave you, so do you.

Simply put, if one is saved, he supports and endures his brethren. We seek peace, forgiving each other if we are children of God.

Forgiving one another

Eph. 4:32 But be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God also forgave you in Christ.

If you seek and want to be forgiven by God, then He gives you the test of someone offending you so He can see if you really want forgiveness IN YOUR OWN LIFE. If you want to be forgiven by God, then you will also forgive others, bearing their offenses, not holding a grudge and envy against them. God sees the sincerity of your heart toward the salvation that God gives you through how you forgive other people who offend and annoy you.

Exhorting and teaching you

Col. 3:16 The word of Christ abundantly dwells in you, teaching and exhorting one another in all wisdom…

When we understand the Bible and the will of God, then we understand that it is our task as children of God to be those who proclaim the virtues of God (“that you proclaim the virtues of him who called you ” 1Pet 2:9). In this, we explain and live God’s word (God’s will in words and actions) for others. We encourage and teach, but we do not litigate or be aggressive and conflictive in nature.

Cheer up and build yourselves

1Thes. 5:11 Wherefore encourage one another, and build one another up, just as you do.

The truth of a saved person is that he encourages and edifies his brethren instead of fighting with them.

Download

ch34-cox-brothers-must-not-fight.pdf (304 downloads)

More Tracts from the Church Category

Author Pastor David Cox

Pastor David Cox

See also Why People leave your church (posts November 6, 2020)

Posted on by

salv58 Are there few who are saved?

Are there few who are saved? is a tract that questions that many people will be saved. Those who are saved, have faith, not works.

By David Cox

[salv58] v1 © 2019 www.coxtracts.com
You can freely photocopy and print this brochure





Luke 13:23 And someone said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And he said to them, 24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate; because I tell you that many will try to enter, and will not be able to.

Lucas 13:23Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?And he said unto them,  24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

The world and many religions propose that almost e

Are there few who are saved? How difficult is it to be saved?

By David Cox

[salv58] v1 © 2019 www.coxtracts.com
You can freely photocopy and print this brochure

Luke 13:23 And someone said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And he said to them, 24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate; because I tell you that many will try to enter, and will not be able to

The world and many religions propose that almost everyone will get to heaven. “All roads go to heaven” and “All religions are the same and end up in heaven.”

They are very popular concepts. But how true are they? What does the Word of God (the Bible) say about this? Jesus implied that many become religious and how they are on the way to heaven, but few will actually make it. The problem is that many religions and churches present a false gospel, and deceive people to believe that they are correct when it is not true.

Easy Believism

Many churches and religions reduce salvation to a prayer and you go to heaven no matter how you live afterward or really what you believe in, and this is called easy believism. Easy believism is a type of false Christianity where people profess to be saved or that they have a saving relationship with Jesus the Savior, but they do not care to live like Christ, or manifest a deep love for Jesus. But the Bible shows us that we are saved by faith. Eph 2:8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. So the living faith within you is what saves you. But what is faith? Faith is not good works, but good works do not produce faith or salvation, but faith produces good works (evidences).

James 2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself. 18 But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

In other words, if you really have faith, there will be evidence in your life. By these evidences of your relationship with Jesus Christ, your faith can be seen.

James 2:19 You believe that God is one; well you do. The demons also believe , and tremble.

So James teaches that not every kind of belief saves. Even the demons believe in some things, but they know that their destination is not heaven, and they are afraid of their future. The Pharisees of the Jews were very religious, but Jesus identified their destiny as hell, they were the children of their father the Devil .

Sinners go to Hell

Revelation 21:8 But cowards and unbelievers , abominable and murderers, fornicators and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars will have their share in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

A coward is a person who does not believe what God says he can do. He is more afraid of the Devil than he is afraid of God, but he does not believe that God can fulfill his promises of protection and power. An unbeliever is a person who simply does not believe what God says. It seems to him that if a parakeet is speaking instead of the Creator of the Universe. The abominable are the people who sin in the grossest way against the character of God . For example, God made male and female, and the two were paired into one family. There are people who match men with men or women with women. This is an abomination in the eyes of God. Speaking of bad temper, hell is still filled with murders. If you imagine a line with love at one end, the sacrificing his life for your life like Jesus on the cross, and at the other end of that line, a person taking the other’s life, that’s true. The person who hates others is approaching homicide. The sorcerers are people who leave asking God for what they want in life, ignoring God’s dominion over the world , and 1) a sorcerer seeks demons or spirits to help them, or 2) seeks charms to help them . But they ignore God in their lives.

From their bad deeds it is seen that they have no faith in Jesus Christ or in our Father God .

Are there few who are saved?

Luke 13:23 And someone said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And he said to them, 24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate; because I tell you that many will try to enter, and will not be able to.

The answer is that there are numerous people who think they are going to heaven, but they will not get there. Very few actually achieve salvation. Everything revolves around faith. True saving faith generates a godly, holy life that is very similar to Jesus Christ. If a person claims to be a Christian, or even a “pastor” of a Christian church, but does not lead the corresponding life, he is probably not really saved.

Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate; because wide is the door, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it; 14 for narrow is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do you pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 Thus, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

“Wide” is to say “easy.” There is no real effort to enter there. Narrow means that it is difficult to find and stay at it. Bad (false) doctrine produces bad behavior. Many people do not care about their doctrine or their conduct showing their heart.

The Marks of a Christian

Mark 4:15 And these are the ones by the wayside : in whom the word is sown, but after they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These are also those who were sown on rocky ground : those who, when they heard the word, immediately received it with joy; 17 But they have no root in themselves, but are of short duration, because when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, then they stumble. 18 These are the ones that were sown among thorns : those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, enter and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And these are the ones that were sown in good soil : those who hear the word and receive it, and bear fruit thirty, sixty, and one hundredfold.

First, those “by the road ” are the people who refuse even to listen to the gospel. The demons of the air and his father snatch the plan of salvation from them in such a way that they neither hear nor receive the gospel. They flat out go to hell. Then there are people who enter the gospel in a way, but when they see that the way to heaven is hard, that they have to suffer without things, they abandon the gospel. Others likewise enter with joy, but leave the cares of the world and the pleasures (Luke 8:14) of taking priority in their life over their salvation and spiritual life. Few are that actually bear fruit for salvation .

1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth ; 7 But if we walk in the light , as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The very strong marks, that the person is saved, are that he walks in piety and that he loves his brother. To practice the truth is to live the moral principles of the Bible, which Jesus lived . Salvation is FROM SIN . We accept Jesus Christ because we want neither sin nor its consequences. It is a declaration of war against sin in our lives , and we also declare that we are for godliness, what Jesus Christ represents and is an example of it. When you see “Christians” living like their father the Devil, they do not have God as their Father. Your fruits will prove who you are.

1Jn 2:10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no stumbling.

1Jn 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do justice, and who does not love his brother, is not of God.

1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers . He who does not love his brother remains in death.

1Jn 4:20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

1Jn 4:21 And we have this commandment from him: Whoever loves God, love his brother also .

The second mark of a true Christian is his desire not to be alone in the fight against sin . 2Ti 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts, and pursue j justice, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart . A true Christian looks for a good church where there are saved people who call on the Lord with a clean heart. This is the problem, people do not want to go to hell, but neither do they want to deny their enjoyment of sin. You can’t have both . If you seek salvation, it is only by repenting of sin. This is a denial of one’s carnal desires and practices.

Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ( Phil 1:29; 2Tim 1:12 )

The reason why so few are going to get into heaven is because they want to avoid hell only. They don’t love God. They do not love the moral character of God. There is the stumbling block of the cross . Jesus denied himself, and submitted to the will of God the Father in dying on the cross as a sacrifice for all . But everyone must still submit to God’s will if they go to heaven.

This is not burdensome

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love God’s children, when we love God and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome .

There are many people who pray to God for salvation. But among so many, very, very few love God and His character. These few are saved because their faith is sincere. There is not so much of a problem of obeying the commandments of God, only of removing one’s bad habits and then imposing what God wants, justice, piety, love to the brothers in Christ. By asking Jesus to be your Savior, one can do this with clear effort. Seek Christ as your Savior right now!

More Tracts from the Salvation Category

Download

salv58-cox-Are-there-few-that-are-truly-savedv1.pdf (3131 downloads)
Posted on by

ch55 Who runs the Local Church?

Who runs the Local Church? is a tract by David Cox on how the local church should be governed, a pastor leading, elders advising, deacons serving.

By David Cox

[ch55] v2 © 2021
http://www.coxtracts/
You may freely reproduce this tract for free distribution



Continue reading →

Posted on by

ch64 The Church is not a Circus

ch64 The Church is not a Circus

The Church is not a Circus:
Our purpose is not to entertainment

By David Cox

[ch64] v2 ©2018 www.coxtracts.com/
You may freely reproduce this tract




Your concept towards something determines how you participate and interact with it. Sorry is the soldier that thinks his standing on guard duty is optional, or that he can sleep while on duty.

Continue reading →