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Considering Things Which Made Peace with God Possible (part 2)

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, tears streaming down His cheek He considered both the first Passover as well as the reason He was there that day. I believe that He remembered “the things that made for the peoples peace” when they were in bondage in Egypt – two things then made for their peace:

…God’s hand and sanctified blood

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying…” (Exodus 12:1)

“‘… I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12–13)

As Jesus rode in to the city of Jerusalem, the place where God said he would place His name (2 Kings 21:4), and the place, which after having been renewed one day in a distant future, God will dwell with men face to face (Rev.21:2); He wept because He saw that just as the people had seemed to have forgotten what God had done to deliver them on the actual day of Passover they also did not recognize the things which God was doing in the moment of Christ’s “triumphal entrance” into the city to make peace with God possible for them.

You see, just as in the first Passover, two things were about to work together again for the peace of God’s chosen people:

…God’s hand and sanctified blood.

When we talk about God’s hand we should understand that we’re speaking of God’s strength – He delivered Israel from Egypt by His strong and mighty arm:

“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” (Exodus 6:6)

He brought the plagues upon Egypt and later in His continuing act of deliverance toward His people He would part the waters of the sea and enable the people to cross the sea bottom as if on dry land. 

So, let me ask you something…was there power in the blood of the Passover lamb?

“No.” No there was no power in the blood of the Passover lamb; it’s blood, painted on the lintel and posts of the door (Ex. 12:22) was symbolic of the obedience of those who put it there according to God’s command. There was no power to save in that blood but when God saw the blood, recognizing and honoring both the peoples obedience and His own promise, He spared them from the destroyer (see Exodus 12:23) covering their door Himself.  The lamb’s blood was sanctified by God but the power to save was His alone…

…in Jesus Christ both God’s hand and sanctified blood are present.

Jesus is the power of God – today He not only sits at God’s right hand but is in fact God’s right hand man – He is the strength of God and unlike the blood of the Passover lamb Jesus’ blood has power – power to do more than cover one’s sins it cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7) and removes sins penalty (Ephesians 1:7), power to give one a right standing before God, power to deliver one from death…Jesus’ blood has power.  Here’s the thing, the Bible states that “… according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22).  In order for the power of Jesus’ blood to be effective in our lives to grant us forgiveness and bring us to peace it had to be shed.

Jesus wept not only because He was about to give His life for the peace and deliverance of his people and they neither knew it nor cared; He also wept because He knew the price that all who reject Him will pay.

It was by God’s hand and sanctified blood that His grace and forgiveness is ours today. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8), praise Him for “His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

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The Assembling

After the statement made by democratic presidential hopeful “Beto” O’Rourke to take away the tax-exempt status from churches which refuse to accept same sex marriage, a wave of fear driven panic erupted on social media and in the public square; the fear, in my mind stems from an unhealthy understanding of what the church is and is not.

What is the church?

Is it four walls and a roof? No, the church is more than an at-risk piece of real-estate which may be taken or forcibly closed by forces, political or activist which are opposed to or offended by that which is taught there. Jesus said in (Matthew 16:18) “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it.” Before there were incentives for Christian pastors and churches to hold their tongues about various national and controversial issues the church has stood. Why? Because the church is not something dead made of wood or steel– the church is alive and it draws its power to live and survive from Jesus Christ!

The church is people – people who met underground and, in some places, still do to worship the King of kings and it was people who met from house to house and in some places still do to worship the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The church is people who meet under highway bridges, in city parks, on street corners, under tents, in business offices and break-rooms, in youth camps and in front of flag poles – sometimes just two or three believers and the Lord (Matthew 18:20), sometimes 10’s and hundreds, even thousands of us; but it is people, not brick and mortar neither wood or steel and within each one of those people is the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6-19).  

The church is not a man – it isn’t a little known or even a well-known pastor even though sometimes the church has taken a beating because of the person speaking for the Lord. Look again at (Matt. 16:18), Jesus did not say that He was building His church on Peter’s back but on the message which Peter had received from Almighty God concerning Jesus in (v.16-17):

“Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”  

The gates of hell may prevail against a man BUT Jesus declared that the gates of hell would NEVER prevail against His Word or His church. He did not say that hell and all that is in it would not try to prevail against the church He established on His name, reputation and work for the redemption of ALL mankind; He just said that IT WOULD NOT SUCCEED!!!

Concerning the church, the writer of Hebrews wrote in (Hebrews 10:24-25) “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Some have used this verse to beat people into being in the four walls every Sunday but I think that the verse addresses something far more important than church attendance.

It addresses a need.

Listen, I never found the kind of love, acceptance, kindness and grace which I have known as a part of the body of Christ in the world around me. That is what the church is – the body of Christ; and from it, not the brick and steel but from Spirit filled people you should be discipled, challenged, encouraged, lifted up and sometimes even disciplined and corrected. Wherever and whenever we come together as believers, it is to “stir up love and good works” in each other and as the days we live in grow bleaker and more chaotic we need to come together as often as we can to support and encourage one another in the “fight”’ to liberate those still walking in spiritual darkness.

As the day fast approaches and the world around us continues to call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20) don’t panic, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:25–26) and don’t forsake the assembling of believers together wherever that gathering may be; “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”” (Hebrews 13:5–6)

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Redeem the Time

I am one of approximately 7.7 billion people on planet earth and I spend a lot of time telling others suggesting how other people should live their lives. I do not make these suggestions because I personally feel as if I’ve risen to a level above others but because I believe that there is a better way to live and that way, for me and frankly I believe for all people is informed by the Bible.

I often feel as if people are turned off by my posting because it’s either too detailed, too dull (come on) or too personal and their impression that I think too much of myself. My co-workers see these posts…they KNOW that I’m not perfect; some of the members of my previous church see these posts and they KNOW that I’m not perfect and some people from the church I presently attend also see these posts and KNOW that I’m not perfect what many who see these posts don’t seem to know is that I’m not writing from a position of perfection or attainment – I’m still en-route to spiritual maturity as well. Like the Apostle Paul said in (Philippians 3:13-14) I can say, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

In honesty, sometimes I struggle to “forget those things which are behind” – those few successes and many failures which dot my past and hinder my present. But dwelling on them other than to learn from them and move on is not a very good use of the time God has given me.

Speaking of time, we all know the value of it, don’t we? That it is, as James said like “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” – that is, its like an exhaled breath on a winters day in Buffalo.

We understand that time is fleeting; we understand that it is passing in a irretrievable way and that once it is past there is no getting it back. But there is a way to make the most out of it and Paul encouraged believers to do just that; he wrote (Col. 4:5-6):

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

Given Paul’s instructions here, how many of us after an honest evaluation of the way we spend our time would discover that we have not put it to the best use?

While we have a view that redeeming the time is to make the most of the moments we have many also have the idea that it is to buy back or reward or reclaim the time we have spent back from the daily grind which consumes so much of it. I take vacations; I like time off but sometimes we take that time to reward ourselves for our hard work – in doing so we declare that the time we have on earth is OURS to use as we wish.

Don’t get me wrong, a day, a week, a month even to unwind, recenter and refocus is great – nothing wrong with it at all! But Our life, our time is not ours to OWN but it has been given to us to USE as the Giver of life sees fit.

Does that mean no more days off, no more recreation, no more vacations and no more fun?! Not really. What redeeming the time does mean is that every moment we have been given, whether spent with our kids on vacation or on the job with our co-workers their need to know the Lord Jesus Christ should drive our words, attitudes and actions towards them. In his sermon yesterday, Russel at Parkway reminded us to “breath life into every conversation” – that is what it means to redeem the time!

The best example of course is not mine, not even the apostle Paul’s but Christ’s – He used the time He had to do His Father’s will and redeem us, as the redeemed we are called to follow His lead.

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An Outburst of Mercy

You may have heard about what happened during the sentencing phase of a trial involving ex-Dallas police officer Amber Guyger found guilty of murdering a man named Botham Jean in his own apartment. Some people say that this was a racial issue between black and white, some say that the sentence is an overdue condemnation of racial profiling and the use of force by law enforcement but the brother of the victim, Brandt Jean in his heartfelt words to the convicted ex police officer made it about something more. (Please watch the video below)

That kind of mercy is UNCOMMON not only to the world at large but even among the followers of Christ.

WHY?

Revisiting the Old Testament book of the prophet Jonah, I think we find an answer to the question. Jonah, you might remember was not asked but commanded to go to Nineveh (see Jonah 1:2) but instead of obeying the Lord, the prophet in essence went in the exact opposite direction (see 1:3) toward Tarshish. The reason for his disobedient refusal to go to Nineveh may be understood by the words we read in (Jonah 4:2):

“So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”

Jonah was a faithful Israelite, he saw the Ninevites as brutal enemies of his people worthy of God’s judgement but his disobedience was proof that he was willing to allow his patriotism to supersede his duty to God. As (Jonah 3:10) indicates, the prophet knew that the purpose in God’s declaring his impending judgment on those people carried with it the ulterior motive of mercy:

“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

Jonah fled and disobeyed the command of God because he could not hold out mercy to a people as detestable to him as the Ninevites.

How about you and me?

We live in a nation so divided today. Hate – some real, some imagined and some invented keeps people partitioned, separated and segregated from one another and unwilling to extend the two things every one of us needs – mercy and grace.

Is there a group of people, a political leader or party or a type of person that you could not be merciful toward – someone for whom you hope the worst or at the very least don’t care about at all? Warren Wiersbe reminds us that “it is good for God’s people to remember what it is like to be lost and without hope.” He said, “How easy it is for us to grow hardened toward sinners and lose our compassion for the lost.”

Brandt Jean lost his brother and instead of condemning his brothers killer, he hugged her, wished the best for her and extended Christ to her – in one act he incensed those driving the narrative of hate with his expression of Christ like love while inspiring the rest of us by his example.

One thing I know, whether you are a merciful or a merciless person, each of us will one day be in need of some grace or some mercy at the hands of someone we harmed or offended and it is this reality towards which I would like to offer some food for thought from the word of God.

(Matt. 5:7) “Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.”

(Luke 6:31) “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”

(Mark 11:25) ““And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

(James 2:13) “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

In the comments about the video of Brendt Jean’s outburst of mercy on his brothers killer one man said, “you’re a better man than me.” Maybe we wouldn’t do what Brandt Jean did but that wouldn’t be because we couldn’t – John wrote in (John 1:16): “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” Join me in taking a lesson from our Lord, taught through the brokenness of a violently bereaved young man – try to fill your world with grace and mercy instead of hate and division.

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Actively Still

We all have our battles to fight – things that keep us all night with the same thoughts and questions that plague our days: “what if“…”what now“…”why now“…and “what’s next?” We go to bed wore out and wake up unrested with no answers, only bags under our eyes and the wrinkles of worry streaking across our faces. Peace eludes us more than the fish on a Sunday afternoon at the coast.

We all have our battles to fight.

Today my friend and pastor Mike Hurt, preaching from the book of James, started a series titled “Life Hacks for Tough Times.” He reminded us to hit the pause button when times get tough – to respond instead of react; he reminded us to pray.

But what stayed with me most of all was the plain counsel of God he shared from the first part of (Psalm 46:10):”

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!“

I’ve been thinking about those words, “be still and know” all day.

How can something as simple as leaving all of our deepest cares, concerns, griefs and troubles in the hands of an all knowing and all powerful God be so hard? The Psalmist even tells us in (v.11):


“The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.”
Selah

The same God who made that promise to the wandering, wicked and wayward Jews of the Old Testament reminds us again in (Hebrews 13:5): “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is present and powerful and still so many of us lack peace.

Myself included…sometimes.

It is far easier and more natural to worry about fearful and grieving things than it is to give them to God, patiently waiting and trusting in Him, but what would your life look like if you did?

It would look like sitting back, poll in hand and cancer in the body, trying for the “grand daddy” of all Red Fish. It would look like a blissful trip to the zoo with the grandkids after the loss of a dear family member. It would look careless even reckless and irresponsible to those who didn’t get it but it’d be right where God wanted you in the midst of it.

Yes, we all have our battles to fight but by faith and because of His grace we do not fight alone. My friend, it may only be when you stand still before Him in the most worrisome moments of your life that you will see His glorious deliverance.

The psalmist, after he finished going on about exalting the God who would be known by those who just stood still in confident reliance upon Him finished his psalm with a word ~ selah; musically it means to pause but to the child of God, it means pause and ponder the words you have just read.

I hope you will….

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Unmistakable Change

In my devotions today I was again reading about the anointing of Saul to be Israel’s first king by Samuel the prophet (1 Samuel 10). What grabbed my attention was another general principal for the Christian found in a very specific prophecy (v.6):

“Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you (upon Saul), and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.“

The principal involves what happens when the Spirit of God is in anyway involved with human beings — they are changed. Saul received unction, or an special enduement to prophesy when the Spirit of God came UPON him. In other words Saul was enabled to do what he otherwise could not – he was changed. As we read on about Saul, after he had been made king, he began to do wickedly before the Lord resulting in the Lord’s rejection (see 1 Samuel 15:26) and ultimately the departure of God’s Spirit from upon the man (see 1 Samuel 16:14).

For those who trust in Christ it can NEVER be as it was for Saul because the Spirit of the Lord does not reside temporarily UPON us but dwells WITHIN every believer (Roman’s 8:9-11):

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

(See also 2 Tim.1:14, 1 Corinthians 3:16 and James 4:5)

My focus today is however on our understanding that the presence of the Holy Spirit either within or upon us will make us new ~ it will change us. If our understanding is correct, why are so many believers living what seem to be unchanged lives?

The Spirit cannot help but manifest the character of God. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is that character but I don’t have to tell you that those traits (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance), which are not incrementally added to a believers life but present all at once in the Spirit are often not ALL apparent in those who have received the Lord.

We block, we quench (1 Thess.5:19), we hinder and grieve (Ephesians 4:30) the Spirit through our own choices and attitudes and as result do not bear witness to the change Christ makes in a life.

Are such people not really Christians?

Didn’t Paul regularly deal with believers who didn’t act like it (for an example read 1 Corinthians or Galatians) and yet he called them brethren – brothers and sisters in the faith and he challenged them to change.

In light of all this I want to challenge you today as I am challenged: if you want to move your little part of the world closer to Christ – if you want to be more like Jesus then learn to cooperate with the Spirit within you; your yielding will usher in a change that will be unmistakable.

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When We Pray

Just a few thoughts on the subject of prayer today.

So, what do you say to the God who knows everything? Do you need to name every name, describe every illness and need and above all demand what it is you think needs to be done in every situation? What does God desire and expect of us when we pray?

As we unpack these questions let me make it clear that brevity is NOT my concern when it comes to the important privilege of talking to God. As much time as we need to speak to and more importantly hear from God is exactly how long we should take in prayer. One passage which has always been a sort of guideline for me concerning prayer is (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2):

“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.”

While the thrust of Solomon’s words are clearly aimed at the rash vows which men make before a God who will hold you to every word, a general principal is also identified which caries into our concern for prayer – “God is in heaven, you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.” In light of this, consider the words of the Lord Jesus Himself as found in (Matthew 6:7): “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

The reason that we should keep our part of prayer short should be obvious – we are to defer to Him who is greater in knowledge of yesterday, today and tomorrow and to Him who with the tiniest part of His own wisdom made Solomon wiser than any other man. We are to defer to Him who has all of this – everything we see and even everything we can’t see under control.

God has a plan.

In (Jeremiah 29:11) a very specific word is given to the Israelite captives in Babylon, the Lord says: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Within this verse however is another general principal, namely that God knows the thoughts (machăshebeth – thought, intention, plan) that He has towards each of us. He knows His plans for the believer and the unbeliever, every man, woman and child – every one individually; this important truth comes into play in our prayers as we petition the Lord for individual needs. While we only see the illness, calamity, tragedy and suffering and ask for relief accordingly the Lord KNOWS what He is doing and as hard as it may be to hear, God has a plan for the pain He allows in our lives. This does not mean that we should not ask for relief – Job did but it does mean that like Job we must accept the adversity that sometimes comes asking instead of “why me Lord,” the question, “Lord, what are you trying to teach me” or “Lord, what is Your plan in all of this?”

So what does God desire and expect from us when we pray?

He expects faith. “Without faith,” the writer of Hebrews declares “it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Likewise James declared a principal in his instruction concerning a prayer for wisdom when he said: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…” Jesus also taught that faith was an important component to prayer (Mark 11:24): “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” It should be stressed that your faith should not be in your ability to believe but rather in our God who is faithful (Mark 11:22; Lamentations 3:22-23).

He expects submission. Jesus taught in (Matthew 6:9-13):

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Rather than , “Lord gimme what I want” we are to pray “Lord, whatever you want “- this is our expression of surrender to His superior plan. In the example of prayer from which we are to model our own prayers we also find that our dependency on the Lord is also an expected part. In reality, we won’t pray over anything we think we have covered by our own strengths and abilities. My advice is to check those along with any self-righteousness you or I may have at the door; our best is always nothing more than filthy rags (see Isaiah 64:6) – no one more so that God can sing “anything you can do – I can do better; I can do anything better than you.”

Finally, thanksgiving is expected and deserved every time we pray: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” Paul wrote in (Philippians 4:6). It is the will of God that we always be thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:18) – thankful when we have cancer (not for it), thankful when we’re broke (not because we are), thankful in abundance and in poverty, thankful for even the tiniest infusion of God’s grace in our lives. We are to be thankful to the God who chose to allow His Son to suffer for our sins, granting those who believe on the name of the Lord eternal life instead of what we deserve. The fact is, that believers in the worst of situations are still most blessed because of God’s great grace towards us.

It isn’t an exhaustive list but you get the gist of it – pray for people and situations, express your heart of concern and your hope but in the process defer to the will of God in faith, submitting to His will rather than demanding your own way and be grateful to our gracious God; these are a few of the things God desires and deserves from us when we pray.

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The Elephants in the Room concerning Eternal Security

The idea that a person can maintain their status while at the same time doing whatever they wish doesn’t gel too well with what we’ve experienced in life. For instance, if a man commits a crime against society, he cannot remain a free man; the law dictates that there is a price to be paid. Likewise, if a man commits adultery against his wife, typically their relationship either suffers greatly and they fight to fix it or the relationship is over – in either case his standing between he and his wife is changed.  But those same failures, as shameful as they are for a believer, do not end the relationship that the man has with the Lord.

This is the understanding we have of eternal security – we were saved by grace apart from works (see Ephesians 2:8-9); we were saved by the precious blood of Christ rather than tradition or personal sacrifice (see 1 Peter 1:18-19). If as unbelievers, we could do nothing to save ourselves from the wrath of God over our sins, it carries that neither can we, as the redeemed of God, do anything to remove ourselves from the relationship with God the Father gained through Christ the Son.

But there remains a menacing set of elephants in the room to be dealt with concerning the doctrine of eternal security and Paul rhetorically pulls them out in (Romans 6:1):

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

Here, the voice of the legalist and the liberal are heard in their extremes. The legalist shouts with indignation, “WHAT?!!!!! Do you mean to say that a person can continue to sin and still be saved???!!!” At the same time, the liberal gleefully sings, “I can do whatever I like!!! I am a child of the King!!!”

Paul had just finished saying in (Romans 5:20-21) “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Just as the truth about Jesus which our pastor reminded us about again this morning (and you can never be reminded enough about this important truth) that Jesus is not less than or equal to whatever we are or ever will go through but “Greater Than” – the grace He made available to us all though His blood is also greater than any offence we can commit. The hymnist writing of the Grace Greater than Our Sin called it the “marvelous grace of our loving Lord – grace that EXCEEDS our sin and our guilt…”

After preaching or teaching on God’s Great Grace, I have had people posit the argument Paul anticipates in (Romans 6:1), usually with the voice of the legalist and it is usually because that person fails to really grasp the grace of God. Such a person is speaking the words of the prodigal’s brother after the wayward son returns to his Father and then is graciously loved on (Luke 15:29-30):

“’Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’”

The legalistic brother here was maximizing his brother’s sin, minimizing his own sinful attitudes and behavior and ignoring the fact that his father had been exceedingly gracious to BOTH sons.

Can we sin and still be children of Almighty God? Yes.

Will we desire to sin in order to test the limits of His grace? Listen to Paul’s answer (Romans 6:2-4):

“Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Paul’s words are stronger in the original than we have translated them, (v.3) actually answers the absurdity of the question with – “Are you ignorant” of the realities born out of our connection with the Lord Jesus?!” (emphasis mine) Arguing that (v.6) believers should no longer be slaves of sin Paul stated in (v.7) that “he who has died has been freed from sin.” We have been cleared of wrong-doing, justified and set apart for eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ – the new man in Christ is associated with Christ’s death: Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV)

Since this is true, rather than testing the limits of God’s grace as a liberal or His patience as a legalist let us all do as Paul suggested in (Romans 6:11) “…reckon (consider) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Do I, does the Lord advocate and condone open sin from those claiming to love Him? No. Sin DOES have an effect – how long is up to you – on one’s relationship with God. But grace and restoration ARE available to the one who confesses rather than attempts to conceal their failure (see 1 John 1:9). As a wise believer once taught, “when you become a believer, your ‘want to’ changes;” you won’t always DO as you should and that WILL affect your relationship but not your identity as a child of God nor your destiny of shared glorification (see Romans 8:17,30) with Him.

Remember, from the arms of the Lord will no believer be torn (see John 10:28) nor will He turn away or “cast out anyone who comes to Him” (John 6:37) by faith.

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The Cornerstone of Eternal Security

Blind.  That’s the best way to explain our lives before Christ – we were spiritually blind.

We thought that we were ok – no better and no worse than the next guy; we hadn’t killed anyone after all and on the whole felt that we were pretty good people. I’d say that our blindness was more of a color blindness – you know, the kind of sight that allows you to see things but just not entirely as they are; or maybe it was more like tunnel-vision – we only see what is right in front of us. In reality, both are true to an extent but they don’t really hit the nail on the head: spiritually speaking, people DO NOT see things entirely as they are, not only that but their spiritual vision is further hampered by their limited perspective and understanding; most of all they are literally blind to the fact that they have a need that God saw fit to meet from the beginning of time.

The Bible states in (Revelation 13:8) that Jesus, “the Lamb of God” was “slain from the foundation of the world.” In other words, in God’s grace and omniscience a plan was set in motion from BEFORE time began to redeem people who had yet to be created. The apostle Peter says in (1 Peter 1:20) that Jesus (the Lamb of God) was “foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

Why? Why, should be the question you ask when you read such words.

The answer pertains to the other blind-spot in our spiritual vision – our need. Most of us didn’t know Adam from…well, Adam and many still don’t know today that as the pater familias of us all, his sin and the curse that resulted from it has been inbred into and applied towards every single man, woman and child of his race. Adam wasn’t a Jew, wasn’t Greek, wasn’t a Muslim, a Christian, an African American, Caucasian or Hispanic – he was the first man and he is the human father of the human race. He doubted God’s goodness and disobeyed (along with his wife Eve) the clear instruction of the Lord (see Genesis 3). His sin changed our standing before God. The Bible says in (Romans 3:23) that “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and that the payment or “wages for sin is death” but through Jesus Christ a gift has been given – “eternal life” at the expense of the life of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Jesus wasn’t killed in eternity past; He was killed right smack dab in the middle of time – at “just the right time” or “in due time” the Bible says in (Romans 5:6) but it was for grace that He died – grace towards all of Adam’s race. Grace towards you.

Still we couldn’t see. He rose again from the dead (see John 20-21) sealing His promise of eternal life to all who believe (see John 3:16 and John 11:25-26) and still we couldn’t see. We have had the word of God concerning Jesus for over 2,000 years – we can all read what I’ve written here for ourselves in the pages of scripture but most don’t because most don’t see their need of grace as I said in the beginning of this article. In God’s grace, after Jesus had finished his redemptive work and returned to His Father (see Acts 1:1-11) the Holy Spirit of God began to “draw” sinners to God – to open their eyes to the fact they were sinners in need of God’s grace (see John 6:44; John 16:8-10) so that when their eyes ARE opened, they may “call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved” (Romans 10:13, see also 1 Corinthians 6:11).

When you have called upon the Lord, receiving both spiritual sight and life and having then been “sealed by the Spirit for the day of redemption” (see Ephesians 4:30) you become eternally secure by the grace of God (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

The life of Jesus Christ – His blood sacrifice, His resurrection from the dead and the grace He makes available to each of us IS the cornerstone of the doctrine of eternal security; without the grace of God made available to us through His Son, eternal security – a peace and a place with God forever could NEVER be possible.

Let the Lord open your eyes and see all that has been done to make such a peace possible for you…

*Yes, last week I did write on this same topic, stating that this week I would write about one of the dangers of an immature understanding of eternal security. But I realized that I needed to establish the foundation of God’s grace upon which the doctrine is built first. In the next post, we WILL address some of the concerns which a faulty understanding of this grace can produce in our thinking.

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Dangerous Doctrines to Avoid

Is it ever a bad idea to make sure that you know where you stand with the Lord? Yes and no. While on the one hand it IS good to be sure of your salvation it is never good to doubt it once you have appropriated the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem you to your life. Our salvation after all, though it is processed in our minds is NOT solely academic; we hear the word, receive the word and believe the word but believing is not merely intellectual assent, in other words, we are not saved simply because we agree with the word of God concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ – we are saved when we not only agree but apply the word to our own life specifically.

Jesus did not die for us in general – He died for you specifically (see John 3:16).

This is why the question He asked Martha in (John 11:25-26) is not only important for her to answer but for us as well. Consider it as we read it:

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?‘”

Do you believe that Jesus is enough?

The message series begun at church today was titled “GreaterThan” and today our youth pastor, Russel spoke to Jesus being greater “not equal to or less than” but greater than anything we have faced, are facing or ever will face; to that I would add that the works which He performed to make our redemption and eternal life possible are greater than any effort you could ever make on your own behalf. When we doubt our salvation or fear we have lost it, it is because we have forgotten that it was “not by works of righteousness which we have done,” (Titus 3:5) “but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

Can you lose what you did not labor to gain? Can you lose what you could not obtain by your own effort? No and no but can you lose a gift? You can lose a gift but you cannot lose the gift the Jesus Christ gave you because – “eternal life IS eternal.” He said in (John 6:37) “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” His work of redemption on your behalf never becomes less than enough to save and KEEP YOU SAVED!

Still we struggle – we sin, we fail to live up to our high calling in Christ Jesus and in those moments when what is closer to us seems more apparent we forget the fact that we are saved (Hebrews 7:25) “to the utter most.”

In my years of Christian life, being one myself who more than a few times has failed to live up to my calling, I have found myself in terror as I gazed into the warnings we find in Hebrews to those who (Hebrews 10:29) “treated the blood of the covenant by which (we) are sanctified” (the covenant made between us and God through the blood of Jesus) “as a common thing” and in their backsliding put the Lord (Hebrews 6:6) “to an open shame.” I thought either I had lost my salvation or that I never had it because of my sinfulness. I lived in doubt, confusion and fear – is THAT what the Lord has called us to? Didn’t John write all that he wrote so that we could “KNOW that we” (1 John 5:13) “have eternal life“?!

Words like those found in the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where he wrote in (v.5): “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified;” had me in a constant state of self-examination to the point of self-condemnation. Word’s pulled out of context can do that…

Let me give you the gist of his rhetoric in that section – Paul was being harassed by some who called his calling and apostleship into question; his second letter addressed that issue in some detail and there was perhaps a concern that some of the weaker brethren might be overtaken by the false teachers pushing that narrative about him. As it happens to men of great passion and zeal, Paul’s exasperation and irritation may have found a vent with words like those found in (v.5) where he seems to turn the table on those who would question his relationship with the Lord saying – “take a look at your own life” or “are you hearing yourselves?” But whether it was a rebuke or a sincere call on Paul’s part for the Corinthians to see if there was either evidence of conversion or ongoing relationship with the Lord, the believers at Corinth were the PROOF – they were (2 Cor. 3:3) “an epistle of Christ, ministered by us” (by Paul and team)…”written by the Spirit of God“…”on tablets“…”of the heart.“

Paul was NOT calling their salvation into question – He was trying to get them to do likewise concerning him.

In a round-about way, my hope for this post is simply this: that each of us would come to fully know WHO we are in Christ, understanding that we are who we are based not on anything we have done but on everything which Jesus has done for us. Today you are either a non-believer who has yet to come to trust in Jesus for salvation or you are a believer who has trusted in the Lord’s finished work on your behalf but you can NEVER lose what the Lord has granted you eternally.

(Next week we will consider the danger of making the above truth a license to sin…)

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